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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.
