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Peter Houghton

Age: 46

Sex: male

Date: 14 Mar 2005

Place: Fawns Manor Close, Bedfont

Peter Houghton was found dead in his home on Fawns Manor Close, Bedfont on 14 March 2005.

He had been tortured to death over an extended period.

He was last seen on 4 March 2005 drinking in the Bell on the Green Public House. He was also known to drink in the Load of Hay in Bedfont, and the District Arms in Ashford.

His body was found sliced and mutilated three days after his death. He had lacerations and slashes to his neck and chest.

Police were unable to determine a motive or whether it was the action of one person or a group. It was noted that he was not known to have been involved in any criminal activity.

A man was tried for his murder after it was found that he had been taking money out of Peter Houghton's bank account with his bank card. However, he was found not guilty. The police said that he had tortured Peter Houghton to get his PIN number.

He said that he had gone to Peter Houghton's flat on 5 March 2005 after being invited in the early hours, and had seen his PIN number on a piece of paper but that when he had left Peter Houghton was alive. Peter Houghton was thought to have been murdered soon after. The man had said, 'I was really quite drunk. I'm not a violent person'. The man had used the cards at 4am on 5 March 2005 to take out £700 with which he bought sports gear, clothing, food and trainers. He also continued to use his cards for about a week.

Peter Houghton was found dead on 14 March 2005 by which time the man had spent £1,910 of Peter Houghton's money leaving the account empty.

However, there was no forensic evidence linking the murder to the man.

The police noted that whoever had killed Peter Houghton would have had a lot of blood on them and would have had to have cleaned themselves and that anyone seeing them would have noticed.

A knife was later found outside in a bush, but there was no DNA on it or fingerprints.

Peter Houghton had been an accountant.


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