Goodnight, John-boy: Chapter 14
In which we jump forward to 2016 and the Metropolitan Police Cold Case Unit report on Jean Maudling's murder.
Welcome to Book Two of my dark comedy thriller series, Read Em And Weep.
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METROPOLITAN POLICE COLD CASE UNIT NOVEMBER 3RD 2016
Detective Inspector Mary Read
A PROFILE OF MRS JEAN MAUDLING
Jean Ryan was born in Ballana, Ireland, in 1925, emigrating to Britain in 1940. In 1944, she was a singer at The Eight Veils club in Old Compton Street, Soho, London. Between 1942 and 1945, four women were murdered by the ‘Blackout Strangler’ in Soho. One of the victims was Jenny Clarkson, another singer at The Eight Veils who was Jean’s best friend. The identity of the ‘Blackout Strangler’ has never been discovered.
We have investigated and found no connection between these murders and Jean’s subsequent death by strangulation in 1957.
John Keen, later known as the TV celebrity ‘Fabulous’ Keen, was a doorman at The Eight Veils during this period, but we have investigated and found he had no connection with this case, despite various allegations on conspiracy websites.
At The Eight Veils, Jean met Peter Maudling, a young scientist working for the Ministry of Agriculture, and they married in 1944. In 1945, the couple went out to the British colony of Nigeria. Their daughter Annie was born in Nigeria in the same year. Peter was often away for long periods ‘up country’ and Jean began a relationship with Ernest Gambo, their houseboy.
When their interracial relationship was discovered, there was a scandal. Women like Jean were described as having ‘gone native’. The Maudlings were sent home in disgrace in 1947 and Peter Maudling was forced to resign from the colonial service.
Peter subsequently took up a post as a seed analyst with seed merchants M&R Pell, at the King Edward VIII docks, East London. The family bought a house: 2, Mordle Street, Stoke Basing, close to the docks.
Peter’s job was well-paid, and Jean had a sophisticated taste in clothes. She would regularly wear fur coats, muffs and stoles and this was the subject of much gossip in the neighbourhood.
Peter began drinking heavily. His wife’s infidelities, expensive tastes, and his loss of status may have contributed to his subsequent mental illness. He used a derelict property at 10, Mordle Street to produce ‘moonshine’ beer. The couple spent several periods of time apart up to the time of Jean’s death.
Their son, David, was born in 1949.
Jean craved respectability and hoped to achieve this by becoming a leading member of her local Catholic church, St Mary’s. She joined the Virgin Soldiers, a women’s organisation affiliated to the Knights of St Pancras, an order of wealthy businessmen who dedicate themselves to helping poor and disadvantaged children.
John Keen was the Grand Master of the East London Province of the Knights of St Pancras at this time, but, again, this has no relevance to the case.
According to Jean’s daughter Annie, her mother had two secret, extra-marital relationships:
Bill Peat, a chemistry teacher and Knight of St Pancras who also sang in St Mary’s church choir with Jean.
Ernest Gambo, who emigrated to Britain and took a job as a stevedore in the King Edward VIII docks.
Annie also states that her mother and Canon Williams, the local priest and chaplain of the Knights of St Pancras, were ‘very close’, but insisted that there was no impropriety in their relationship.
Jean bought a copy of The Fourpenny One comic for her son David on Saturday 9th March 1957, from a local newsagent, Stanley Cooper, who had a shop in Commercial Lane, just off Commercial Road. A next-door neighbour, Mr Ross, recalls seeing Jean Maudling entering the newsagent’s premises and overheard her attacking Cooper, screaming, ‘I’ll give you a fourpenny one, you bastard.’ He estimates the time as approximately 11.00AM.
This is the last confirmed sighting of Jean before she disappeared.
Cooper was taken to Stoke Basing Hospital on Saturday 9th March at 6.00PM. His facial injuries indicated he had been hit with a blunt trauma instrument, almost certainly the blood-stained knuckleduster found in Jean’s shopping basket.
On Tuesday 12th March 1957, Peter Maudling reported his wife missing to the local police.
Jean was known to regularly spend time away from the marital home. So the local police believed she had gone off to begin a new life with ‘one of her fancy men’. They did not suspect foul play.
We know that all five men: Peter Maudling; Stanley Cooper; Canon Williams; Ernest Gambo, and Bill Peat, were in contact with Jean around the time of her murder on or shortly after 9th March 1957.
We will next consider each of them as persons of interest in this case.
Goodnight, John-boy is the first book in the Read Em And Weep series and is on sale digitally or as paperback.