Lesley Whittle 50 years on: Chilling case of Donald Neilson's kidnap victim left to die underground

-Credit:Mirrorpix
-Credit:Mirrorpix


Born to a life of privilege, heiress Lesley Whittle tragically spent her final days starving and lonely at the bottom of a 54ft ventilation shaft connected to a disused mine in one of North Staffordshire's most shocking crimes.

Serial killer Donald Neilson - nicknamed the Black Panther - grabbed the terrified 17-year-old from her bed exactly 50 years ago on January 14, 1975 before her body was eventually found in Kdsgrove's Bathpool Park 52 days later.

Motivated by greed Neilson - who'd already murdered three sub-postmasters in armed robberies - targeted Lesley after reading about a widely-reported family dispute over the will of her father George Whittle, who'd passed away in 1972.

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The head of a successful Shropshire-based coach firm, self-made businessman George left behind a fortune of £300,000, intended for his partner Dorothy, and their two children, Ronald and Lesley. The hardworking family couldn't have been any more different to Neilson, who burgled 400 homes in the 70s, with his black clothing and balaclava earning him the nickname 'The Black Panther' among officers.

Wicked Neilson kept an eye on the Whittle family home in the sleepy village of Highley for more than a year, working out their movements and entry points into the six-bedroom property. Then, one cold January night in 1975, Neilson struck - cutting the phone wires before creeping into the Whittles' home via their garage.

He then made his way to Lesley's bedroom, gagging and tying her before forcing her into a stolen Morris 1100 car, while she was clad only in her dressing gown and slippers. The teenager, remembered as a bright, studious girl with aspirations to attend Sheffield University, was never seen alive again.

Lesley Whittle - kidnap and murder victim.

Young Lesley was then driven two hours to Bathpool Park 65 miles away in Kidsgrove, where she was made to climb down a drain at gunpoint. Neilson then kept Lesley captive on a narrow platform at the bottom of the dark and dingy shaft, while demanding her family pay a £50,000 ransom for her safe return.

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In a ransom message Lesley was forced to make for her mother, she was made to say: "There is nothing to worry about, mum. I am okay. I got a bit wet but I am quite dry now and I am being treated very well, okay?" In reality, Lesley was kept unclothed on the ledge, with a hood placed over her head and a wire noose around her neck to keep her tethered.

Tragically, following an extensive search and a botched ransom drop, Lesley's body was eventually found on March 7, 1975, hanging from a wire noose attached to a pipe. She was naked, apart from a pendant given to her by her boyfriend, and a postmortem examination determined she had been starved for at least three days leading up to her death, weighing just over six stone, despite Neilson's later claims in court that he had brought her fish and chips. Her bare feet were just seven inches from the floor of the shaft.

The discovery triggered the most intensive murder investigation ever seen in Staffordshire and sent shockwaves through the town of Kidsgrove. speaking to The Sentinel from his home at Baswich, Stafford, in 2005, Detective Chief Superintendent Harold Wright said: “It was a feeling of immense sadness — and the knowledge that we now had a murder inquiry on our hands. It may have happened 30 years ago but you remember some murders much more than others.

Aerial view of Bathpool Park after the discovery of the body of Lesley Whittle, 17 years old, who was kidnapped from her home in Highley, Shropshire, by Donald Neilson, also known as the Black Panther. On 7 March 1975 she was found dead at the bottom of a drain shaft.
Aerial view of Bathpool Park after the discovery of the body of Lesley Whittle, 17 years old, who was kidnapped from her home in Highley, Shropshire, by Donald Neilson, also known as the Black Panther. On 7 March 1975 she was found dead at the bottom of a drain shaft. crime murder murderer kidnapping 1970s ©Mirrorpix -Credit:Sunday Mirror

“She had been wired up like a dog to a ledge and would have spent terrifying days in the pitch black, hearing only the rats scraping about, the water running and the rumble of the trains overhead. When we found her she was naked, wearing nothing but a necklace.”

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The post-mortem found that Lesley died from shock, with the fall stopping her heart. It's believed it may have taken her up to four minutes to die, as her neck hadn't broken. The investigation into her kidnapping and, ultimately, murder, involved over 400 officers from three separate police forces, as well as the Metropolitan Police.

“I didn’t mind who found him. I just wanted him found as soon as possible,” said Mr Wright. "Over the next nine months, we learnt everything there was to know about our killer — except his name and address.

“I often said we would know immediately when we found our man. It was a massive inquiry. We even had to get the floors checked at the police station to ensure they wouldn’t buckle under the weight of the files.

“I didn’t have a day off work for the next nine months. We worked from 8.30am and if we got home before 11.30pm that was a good day. We were under pressure — the eyes of the whole country were watching us.”

Neilson was only apprehended in December 1975, when officers Stuart Mackenzie and Tony White handcuffed him after he pulled a gun on them while acting suspiciously at a sub-post office in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. They didn't know at the time that they were disarming Lesley's kidnapper, however, his fingerprints proved to be a match for some found in the drain shaft.

The police tent covering the area where Lesley Whittle was found in Bathpool Park
The police tent covering the area where Lesley Whittle was found in Bathpool Park

Mr Wright brought Neilson to Kidsgrove where he was quizzed for two days solid. He finally confessed to his crimes but maintained the killings were all accidental.

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Neilson, who attempted to portray himself as a caring kidnapper, claimed Lesley had died after accidentally plummeting from the platform while moving to make room for him to sit. He was ultimately found guilty of her murder, however, as cheers broke out in the courtroom.

In July 1976, Neilson was jailed for life for the murders of Lesley and the sub-postmasters, and died from motor neurone disease in prison in 2011, aged 75.

For The Sentinel’s crime reporter at the time, Mick Wood, it was the biggest story he ever covered. “People living there couldn’t believe what was happening. Their quiet town had become a focal point of the whole nation,” he said.

Speaking about Neilson in a Channel 5 documentary, former head of West Midlands CID, John Plimmer, said: "He was a homicidal maniac, but, no, I don't think he was mad. He was evil. Men like him, they are expressionless, there are no feelings there. They have an objective to achieve and anyone who gets in the way cops it. What made the case so difficult was the fact he was a lone wolf. He lived up north and was committing crimes in the Midlands. Most criminals work in their own comfort zones, but he was a lone wolf who was prepared to wander."

The funeral of Lesley Whittle
The funeral of Lesley Whittle

Black Panther timeline

1965: Former soldier Donald Neilson started his criminal career, breaking into houses.

1967-1972: It is estimated Neilson committed at least 19 robberies during this period.

1972: The first sign of violence, as Donald Neilson, wearing a black balaclava, shot and wounded a Lancashire sub-postmaster. Fortunately, the injuries were not life threatening.

February 15, 1974: Neilson shot and killed sub-postmaster Donald Skepper, at his New Park post office in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

September 6, 1974: The Black Panther murdered Derek Astin in Accrington at the Higher Baxenden Post Office.

November 11, 1974: Sydney James Grayland is killed at the sub-post office in Langley, West Midlands. Neilson also violently beat the sub-postmaster’s wife, leaving her for dead.

January 14, 1975: Heiress Lesley Whittle was abducted from her home in Highley, Shropshire. Neilson left a box of Turkish Delight on a rug in front of the fireplace with a ransom demand for £50,000, along with instructions for a member of the family to go to a telephone box to receive specific instructions on where to deliver the money. The message warned Lesley would be killed if police were called.

Donald Neilson, who murdered heiress Lesley Whittle in 1975 and also shot dead three sub-postmasters during armed robberies -Credit:PA Wire
Donald Neilson, who murdered heiress Lesley Whittle in 1975 and also shot dead three sub-postmasters during armed robberies -Credit:PA Wire

January 16, 1975: Lesley’s brother, Ronald Whittle, was at the specified telephone box at 11.30pm to receive a taped message recorded by Lesley, instructing him to retrieve a note from the back of the kiosk. It told him to go to another telephone box at Kidsgrove Post Office to receive more instructions. He was eventually led to Bathpool Park, but he was late after getting lost. He flashed his lights and shouted, but found no-one in the park.

February 7, 1975: Police discreetly searched the park. Nothing was found.

February 10, 1975: The news blackout imposed on the case was lifted.

March 6, 1975: A search of Bathpool Park was launched.

March 7, 1975: Lesley Whittle’s body was found in a shaft at the park.

December 11, 1975: Two policemen stopped Donald Neilson in Mansfield. He gave them a false name and then pulled out a gun, ordering him them to drive him to the nearby village of Blidworth. They eventually managed to overpower the gunman outside a fish and chip shop, with the help of customers and a miner.

June 14, 1976: Donald Neilson’s trial started. He was charged with the abduction and murder of Lesley Whittle, of making a demand for £50,000 with menaces and threatening to kill Lesley Whittle; burglary and stealing fire-arms in Dewsbury and at Cheadle Hulme; the murders of Donald Lawson Skepper in Harrogate, Derek Astin in Accrington, Sydney James Grayland in Langley; the attempted murder and grievous bodily harm to Margaret Grayland; the attempted murder of PC Stuart Mackenzie and Gerald Arthur Smith; and possession of two shotguns with intent to endanger life. He was handed five life sentences by the court.

June 12 2008: An appeal on behalf of Neilson was rejected.

June 29, 2008: HM Prison Service confirmed that Neilson had developed Motor Neurone Disease.

December 18, 2011: Donald Neilson died of breathing difficulties in Norwich hospital, at the age of 75.

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