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David LASHLEY

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: February 4, 1977
Date of arrest: February 17, 1989
Date of birth: September 30, 1939
Victim profile: Janie Shepherd, 24
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to life in prison on March 19, 1990
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Janie Shepherd killing - David Lashley - The rapist who murdered out of sheer hate 

In April 1977, some 10 weeks after her disappearance, the body of a young australian woman wa found on a common  near St Albans.  She had been savagely raped and murdered. Police became convinced that her killer was a known criminal but it was to take 13 years to bring him to justice. 

 
 

David Lashley

In 1977, 24-year-old Janie Shepherd disappeared from West London. Ten weeks later her body was found. The prime suspect was David Lashley, a sex offender who was known to have made attacks similar to the Shepherd case.

Lashley was sent to prison for other crimes, but on his release eleven years later, advances in forensic science using DNA evidence meant he was convicted for the Janie Shepherd murder.

 
 

Major cases of psychic investigation

The Janie Shepard murder

This was, once again, a murder that captured the attention of the British public. Janie Shepard was an Australian girl, in her early 20’s, whose murdered body was found in the back of her red Mini car in a desolate area of Hertfordshire.

Police investigations had revealed no clues or answers. The information issued by them had been that there seemed to be no motive for the killing. Janie was a normal, happy young woman, not known to be promiscuous.

Some weeks after the murder, a journalist, on another matter, was interviewing Cracknell. During the course of his interview the journalist asked him if he had any views on the Janie Shepard case. Cracknell replied that he was puzzled by the fact that she was considered to be apparently innocent and not promiscuous. He had a definite impression of an I.U.D. coil (birth control device worn internally) lying on the back seat of the red Mini. He felt she must have gone into the back seat of the car quite willingly, for sexual purposes.

The reporter left, but later telephoned Cracknell, stating that he had approached Scotland Yard’s Press Office. They had categorically denied that any such device had been found. Cracknell, however, insisted this was not true.

A few hours later, Cracknell received a telegram, urgently requesting him to contact the journalist. On doing so he was told that he had been visited by officers from the Murder Squad, who stated that the coil was in fact found on the back seat – and in their opinion, only the murderer would know this.

Despite his attempts to protect his source of information, and to prevent his own arrest, he finally gave Cracknell’s name as his informant.

His reason for contacting Cracknell was to inform him that officers from the Murder Squad were on their way to arrest him!

A few hours later, two officers from the Murder Squad did indeed visit Cracknell’s home, to interview him. It was a comparatively simple matter to convince them of his true identity and profession. They then asked if, subject to official sanction, he would assist them in their enquiries. Cracknell then, in a flash of psychic intuition, told the Police officers that there was nothing further he could do as the murderer was already in prison. He described him as being black, with a scar on his cheek. He felt he was currently serving a prison sentence for rape.

The police then left and Cracknell heard nothing further from them.

It was some seven years later when a black man with a scar on his cheek was arrested at the prison gates (having served seven years for rape) and charged with the murder of Janie Shephard. He was subsequently found guilty.

Cracknell’s uncanny psychic ability in this case has yet to be explained scientifically. Yet, without leaving the confines of his home, or becoming actively involved, he solved a murder – despite nearly being arrested as a suspect.

RobertCracknell.com

 
 


Janie Shepherd, 24

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
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