Donald Neilson - Murderer - Biography.com Donald Neilson Donald Neilson, also known as the "Black Panther," is the English murderer responsible for the death of Lesley Whittle. IN THESE GROUPS Famous People Who Died in Norwich, Norfolk, England Synopsis Donald Neilson was born on August 1, 1936, in Bradford, England. After leaving the army for his family, Neilson took up burglaries to supplement his income. He robbed and killed at post offices before kidnapping Lesley Whittle, an English heiress. An enraged Neilson killed Lesley over a failed ransom exchange. Eventually Neilson was caught and convicted. After serving consecutive life sentences, Neilson died in prison in 2011. Post Office Murders Donald Neilson was born Donald Nappey in Bradford, England, on August 1, 1936, and seems to have enjoyed a relatively normal, crime-free childhood in Britain, marred only by the teasing and bullying that he was subjected to on account of his surname. He was married in 1955, and the birth of his daughter, Kathryn, five years later prompted him to change his name to Neilson, so that she would not suffer a similar fate.

Neilson was persuaded by his wife to give up a career in the army, and they settled in Bradford, where he tried various professions, including the building trade and security work. Financial success was not forthcoming, and in 1965 he branched out into house burglary to supplement his income. Despite committing hundreds of burglaries, his new trade did not provide the income he hoped for, and he graduated to armed post office robberies by 1967, committing at least 19 over a seven-year period. In 1972, one of these raids resulted in the non-fatal shooting of a Lancashire postmaster, who misguidedly put up resistance during the raid. Neilson's practice of wearing a dark-colored balaclava during his robberies earned him the sobriquet "The Black Panther" from the media. Neilson's hardened criminal behavior became more entrenched with each robbery and, on February 15, 1974, during a raid on a Harrogate sub-post office (a privately-run post office), he shot dead the postmaster, Donald Skepper.

Having kept a low profile following the first murder, and the ensuing police hunt, he took another life seven months later, when postmaster Derek Astin was shot dead in Lancashire during the course of another raid. The police quickly came to the conclusion that they were looking for the same killer in both cases. Just nine weeks later, a third postmaster, Sidney Grayland, was shot dead during the commission of a robbery in the West Midlands. Forensic evidence at the scene linked this death to the first two. Despite the three deaths the media showed little interest in the attacks, and Neilson was dissatisfied with the lack of attention, as well as the relatively slim pickings to be had from the post office raids. Lesley Whittle Murder Still searching for that elusive big payout, Neilson settled on kidnapping as his best route to success, choosing Lesley Whittle, a 17-year-old heiress to a transport fortune. He gathered as much information about her as he could and made comprehensive plans for her incarceration, as well as the delivery of the ransom that he planned to demand for her return.

On January 14, 1975, Neilson broke into the Whittle family's Shropshire estate and abducted Lesley from her bedroom without incident, leaving a ransom note that demanded 50,000 pounds. The note also gave detailed instructions for the ransom drop by Lesley's brother, Ronald, and included a warning not to involve the police. Lesley Whittle was held in a drainage shaft beneath Bathpool Park, in Staffordshire. The Whittle family chose not to heed the ransom warning, and informed both the local police and Scotland Yard of the abduction. Poor communication between the different police factions led to a media leak, which convinced police that the kidnapper had been scared off by the media attention. This wasn't the case, however, and when Neilson called the designated phone box in accordance with his ransom instructions, Ronald Whittle was not there to take his call. Two further ransom delivery attempts were bungled over the next 72 hours, as a result of both poor police coordination and bad luck, but at least police were sure that Lesley was still alive at this time, as it was her voice that recorded the details for the second failed ransom drop, in Bathpool Park itself.

On the tape, she seemed calm and collected, given the circumstances. It has been claimed that Neilson spotted a police vehicle in the area at the time of the second drop and decided not to risk a police trap, aborting the ransom drop. Unbeknownst to the police, the second failed attempt ended just yards from the drainage shaft where Lesley was imprisoned, but no search of the immediate area was carried out at the time. Furious that his instructions had not been followed, Neilson waited nearby for Ronald Whittle and the police to leave before entering the drainage shaft and killing Lesley Whittle in a rage. Had police conducted a thorough search before leaving, there was every chance they might have discovered Lesley alive. On the same night as the last aborted drop, Neilson was involved in a freight train terminal robbery, during which a security guard, Gerald Smith, was fatally injured. Forensic evidence again linked the crime to the Black Panther post office heists, but no connection was made to the Whittle kidnap at that time. It took police more than a week to discover Neilson's stolen getaway vehicle, which he had abandoned close to the terminal, in which tapes of Lesley Whittle's voice and ransom drop instructions were found.

Arrest and Trial Despite the discovery of her body, police made little progress on the whereabouts of the "Black Panther," and it was nine months later, on December 11, 1975, that he was caught. Having returned to post office raids following the failure of his kidnap attempt, he was finally apprehended by two policemen in Mansfield Woodhouse, near Nottingham, for acting suspiciously in the vicinity of the local post office. A search of his home revealed panther masks, as well as a model of a black panther and, after extensive questioning, Neilson confessed to being the Black Panther. Regarding the murder of Lesley Whittle, however, he claimed her death had been an accident, and that she had been accidentally knocked from the ledge in the drainage shaft. Neilson's trial commenced at Oxford Crown Court on June 14, 1976, amidst a media circus. He was charged with four murders, as well as various other charges of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm, robbery, kidnapping and firearms possession.

Prosecutors were unable to charge him with the murder of security guard Gerald Smith, as he had survived more than a year and a day beyond the brutal attack, and the law prevented a murder charge being brought, despite his eventual death being a direct result of this attack. The law in the United Kingdom has since been changed to prevent this anomaly from recurring. On July 1, 1976 Neilson was unanimously convicted on all charges, with the exception of two charges of attempted murder. He received five life sentences in total, with the judge insisting on no possibility of parole. In 2008, Neilson applied to the High Court to have his minimum term reduced to 30 years. His appeal was rejected, however, and the court told him that he would spend the rest of his life in prison. After suffering from pneumonia and a chest infection, Neilson died prison in Norwich, Norfolk, England, on December 18, 2011. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

Citation Information Donald Neilson: Murderer known as the 'Black Panther' who killed four people | The Independent Wednesday 21 December 2011 00:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Donald Neilson died after spending much of his life in prison for the murders of four people, three men and a teenage girl, which he committed in a two-year killing spree in the 1970s. When he was placed behind bars he was so agile, athletic and ferocious that he was known as the Black Panther. Thirty-six years later, old and infirm, he died without showing any trace of remorse or pity for his victims. He killed at least three men in the course of armed robberies which he carried out by the score. His teenage victim was Lesley Whittle, who he kept tied up and unfed in a disused underground ventilation shaft. She died from hanging, either because she fell or because he pushed her over the edge into a drain. Three years ago Neilson, suffering from motor neurone disease, took a legal case seeking his release.

Refusing him, a judge said he had subjected Lesley Whittle to "a dreadful and horrific ordeal" and had been ruthlessly prepared to shoot to kill during his robberies. He was described during the manhunt for him as Britain's most wanted criminal, his record of multiple murders placing him among the ranks of the most notorious serial killers. He was born in Bradford in 1936 as Donald Nappey, a name which attracted some ridicule at school, and later in the army, before he changed it to Neilson. His childhood was said to be unhappy, especially after his mother died when he was 11. During his time on national service in Aden, Cyprus and Kenya he found military life to his taste. According to a one-time friend, "He was small, wiry, energetic and quite fit. He seemed to enjoy playing at soldiers, fighting, wrestling, anything where he could show his physical prowess." This taste for matters military stayed with him: when he was finally arrested police found in his home a collection of guns, masks and other paraphernalia. After the army he did not settle well into civilian life, working as a builder, taxi-driver and in other jobs.

He took to breaking and entering on a large scale, carrying out at least 400 burglaries without being caught. He then moved into more serious crime, committing armed robberies at many post offices in Yorkshire and Lancashire. His practice of carrying a shotgun was to cost three men their lives. Along the way he acquired the nickname of Black Panther after the wife of one of his victims said he dressed in dark clothes and was "so quick, he was like a panther." While he often carried out detailed planning before his raids he had no compunction about opening fire when confronted, sometimes apparently acting more like a commando than a criminal motivated by money. A detective said of him: "You do what he tells you to do, otherwise you die. He was a determined man in that anyone who challenged him died." Three sub-postmasters who encountered him during robberies were shot dead in 1974, in Harrogate, Accrington and the West Midlands. In other incidents he meted out savage beatings to those who got in his way.

His most notorious killing came in 1975 with the kidnap and murder of teenager Lesley Whittle in a scheme which he conceived after reading that her Shropshire family was well off. He crept into her bedroom and kidnapped her, leaving behind ransom notes demanding £50,000. He concealed Lesley in a ventilation shaft, where she remained for seven weeks while he attempted to obtain the money. But through misunderstandings and bungles this never happened. Large-scale searches failed to locate her until, nine weeks after the abduction, her body was found hanging in the shaft. Neilson had placed a wire noose around her neck on a ledge, though he always claimed she had not pushed her and she had fallen off. It was almost a year after the abduction that he was eventually caught after two policemen on routine patrol became suspicious of him. When they questioned him he pulled out a shotgun but was overpowered, after firing his weapon during fierce struggles. Witnesses said he fought "like a wild animal". There was later considerable criticism of the performance of police, with accusations of a lack of efficiency.

It later emerged that a former Chief Constable had destroyed many documents on the case when he retired, maintaining that he had given his word that material not wanted in evidence would never be disclosed – "the reason being it might have been poking our noses into the private lives of people and upsetting families". Neilson's guilt was quickly established with the discovery of his arsenal of weapons and a fingerprint at the scene of Lesley's death. He spent nine hours giving an 18-page statement confessing to the kidnapping. At his trial he admitted kidnapping and blackmail but denied murder, saying he had carried the girl "like a baby" to her hiding place. "The situation she was in was that she did not know where she was going," he said. "She had to be reassured to let her know I was on her side, as it were." He declared in court: "I disclaim all responsibility for her death. I did not kill her. My conscience is clear as far as the act of killing her. I did not." He was given life for murder. A few days later he was given three further life sentences for the murders of the three sub-postmasters, with a stipulation that he should never be released.

Several years ago he appeared in a documentary in which he said of his nickname: "The public loved it, didn't they? I mean it filled its purpose. If they had called me the Pink Panther you wouldn't have got half the response." When in 2008 he applied to the High Court for his release a judge described his actions as premeditated and committed for gain against particularly vulnerable victims. Rejecting Neilson's application he said of his crimes: "There are and were no mitigating features." Donald Nappey (Donald Neilson), murderer and armed robber: born Bradford 1 August 1936; married 1955 Irene Tate (one daughter); died Norwich 20 December 2011. More about: Murderer Donald Neilson, the 'Black Panther', dies - BBC News BBC News Murderer Donald Neilson, the 'Black Panther', dies 19 December 2011 Close share panel Image caption The rejection of an appeal in 2008 meant Neilson was never released Donald Neilson, the multiple murderer known as the Black Panther, has died, the Ministry of Justice has said.

The 75-year-old died on Sunday after being taken from Norwich Prison to hospital with breathing difficulties. Neilson, from Bradford, was convicted of four murders, including that of 17-year-old Lesley Whittle, kidnapped from her Shropshire home in 1975. Three years ago he lost an appeal to have his life sentence, imposed in 1976, reduced to 30 years. A Prison Service spokesman said Neilson was taken to hospital in the early hours of Saturday after suffering breathing difficulties and was pronounced dead at 18:45 GMT on Sunday. "As with all deaths in custody, the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation," he said. Neilson murdered 17-year-old heiress Lesley Whittle in 1975, having shot dead three sub-postmasters during armed robberies between February and November 1974. The earlier victims had been: Donald Skepper, shot dead in Harrogate, North Yorkshire; Derek Astin, in Higher Baxenden, Lancashire; and Sidney Grayland, in Langley, West Midlands.

'Horrific ordeal' Also responsible for about 400 burglaries during a 10-year criminal career, the killer was dubbed "The Black Panther" as a result of witness descriptions of his dark clothing and powerful physique. Neilson, who had been a builder, kidnapped Miss Whittle from her home in Shropshire and left a ransom demand for £50,000. The teenager's body was later found hanging in an underground drainage system, where Neilson had secured her by the neck with wire. In 2008, High Court judge Mr Justice Teare ruled the killer must never be released from prison, saying: "This is a case where the gravity of the applicant's offences justifies a whole life order." The judge said the three murders of sub-postmasters "involved a substantial degree of premeditation" because Neilson took a loaded firearm with him which he was prepared to use. Mr Justice Teare added: "The manner in which the young girl was killed demonstrates that it too involved a substantial degree of premeditation or planning.

It also involved the abduction of the young girl." The location and manner of Lesley Whittle's death "indicates that she must have been subjected by the applicant to a dreadful and horrific ordeal", he said. BBC NEWS | UK | England | Black Panther 'to die in prison' Black Panther 'to die in prison' Donald Neilson was convicted of four murders in total The killer who became known as the Black Panther has been told he will spend the rest of his life in jail. Donald Neilson, now 71, appealed to the High Court to have his life sentence lowered to 30 years, meaning he would be eligible for parole. He was convicted of four murders, including that of 17-year-old kidnap victim Lesley Whittle, who was snatched from her Shropshire home in 1975. Judges ruled Neilson, originally from Bradford, would have to die in prison. At the time of Lesley's murder, Neilson was already wanted for killing three sub-postmasters in armed raids in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Accrington in Lancashire and Langley in the West Midlands.

He was eventually caught by police when he was seen acting suspiciously outside a post office near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire in December 1975. Advertisement 1976 report on the case and sentencing of Donald Neilson When officers went to question him, he tried to hijack the patrol car and shot one of them. His trial in Oxford heard how he had meticulously planned Lesley's kidnapping for three years after reading in the press about a court case over a disputed will involving the Whittle family. He read how schoolgirl Lesley, who lived in Highley, had inherited the fortune to one of the biggest private coach companies in the UK, which had bases in Shropshire and Worcestershire. Neilson kidnapped her on 14 January 1975 and demanded a ï¿½50,000 ransom from her family. Hundreds of police officers were involved in the search for the 17-year-old across the UK, but her body was found hidden in a drain in Bathpool Park, Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, two months later. Neilson's fingerprints were found to match one of those in the drain shaft. He was finally convicted and given four life sentences in July 1976.

Neilson was known as the Black Panther because of his trademark balaclava which he wore while carrying out the crimes. Donald Neilson Donald Neilson Money Crime: For five years, he was known as the Black Panther, the man involved in four post office raids in Barnsley, Harrogate, Accrington and Langley, West Midlands. These resulted in the murders of Donald Skepper, Derek Astin and Sidney Grayland, and the attempted murder of Frances Grayland. Then on 14th January, 1975, Neilson kidnapped Lesley Whittle, having planned the crime for two years. He led the police and her family on a three week trail of clues. Whilst planting the clues, he committed the attempted murder of Gerald Smith, who saw him acting suspiciously. The police finally found the body of Lesley in a flood drainage shaft system in Bathpool Park on the 7th March, 1975. He was finally arrested on 11th December 1975. Not one to go down without a fight, he was finally also charged with the attempted murder of one of the arresting officers, Stuart MacKenzie.

Method: Lesley Whittle was hanged with a steel wire cable. All of the other victims were shot with a .22 pistol. Sentence: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Shropshire | Chief had Panther notes destroyed Chief had Panther notes destroyed Donald Neilson was convicted of four murders in total A police chief who led the hunt for a killer known as the Black Panther has spoken about why he ordered notes taken during the inquiry to be destroyed. Former West Mercia Police Chief Constable Alex Rennie, 92, had the documents destroyed when he retired. He was involved in the search for Donald Neilson who was convicted of four murders, including that of Lesley Whittle, 17, from Shropshire, in 1975. Mr Rennie said the notes had not been used in court or in evidence. 'Gave word' He said hundreds of people had been interviewed as police tried to find a reason for Lesley's kidnap and murder. Talking of the investigation he said: "In this instance we took statements and information from a tremendous number of people on the premise, and I gave my word, that if it was not wanted in evidence it would never be disclosed.

"The reason being it might have been poking our noses into the private lives of people and upsetting families." He said the destroyed notes were not of evidential value and were not used in court. Mr Rennie said journalists and all sorts of people had "virtually demanded" the information be released so they could "write books and make money". "That would have been quite dishonest and might have caused irreparable damage to families," he said. Donald Neilson, now in his 70s, was known as the Black Panther. He was already wanted for killing three sub-postmasters in armed raids in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Accrington in Lancashire and Langley in the West Midlands when he snatched Lesley from her home in Highley. Judges recently ruled he would die in prison. Bookmark with: Donald Neilson | Real Life Villains Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] Early life Neilson, known previously as Donald Nappey, married 20-year-old Irene Tate in April 1955 at the age of 18. His wife persuaded him to leave the army where he was serving as a national serviceman in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry .

Their daughter, Kathryn, was born in 1960. After his daughter's birth, Nappey changed the family name to Neilson so that the little girl would not suffer the bullying and abuse he had endured at school and in the army because of his surname's similarity to the word nappy . He was also bullied because of his short stature, five feet six inches. According to David Bell and Harry Hawkes, Nappey bought a taxi business from a man named Neilson and decided to use that name instead of the former. An alternative theory, proposed by a lodger, Miss Lena Fearnley, who stayed with the Neilson family in the early 1960s, is that Neilson took the name from an ice-cream van from which he and Irene often bought ice-cream for their daughter. Miss Fearnley told the BBC in an interview that he told her, "I like that name." Turn to crime A jobbing builder in Bradford , West Yorkshire , Neilson turned to crime when his business failed. It is believed he committed over 400 house burglaries without detection during his early days of crime.

Before he became notorious as The Black Panther he was sought under a variety of nicknames such as The Phantom and Handy Andy. To confuse the police, he adopted a different modus operandi every few weeks. For example he would steal a radio from each house and abandon it nearby then when that pattern of behaviour was established he would drop it and do something else. Proceeds from simple housebreaking were low however and after stealing guns and ammunition from a house in Cheshire he upped his criminal activity which resulted in him turning to robbing small post offices. Neilson committed eighteen such crimes between 1971 and 1974. His phobia about dogs meant that he avoided post offices with guard dogs. His crimes became progressively more violent as he sought to protect himself from occupants prepared to put up a resistance to defend their property. In February 1972 he gained entry to a sub-post office in Rochdale Road, Heywood , Lancashire during the night. Leslie Richardson, the postmaster, and his wife woke to find a hooded man in their bedroom. Richardson leapt out of bed to tackle the intruder while his wife phoned the police.

During the struggle, Neilson showed Richardson his sawn off shotgun and snapped in a West Indian accent, "This is loaded." Mr Richardson saw that the gun was pointing up at the ceiling and there was no danger of anyone being shot. He snapped back, "We'll find out if it's loaded," and pulled the trigger himself blasting two holes in the ceiling. The fight continued and Richardson managed to pull Neilson's black hood off to reveal not the West Indian he had expected but a white man with dark staring eyes. Neilson then stamped mercilessly on Richardson's feet breaking several toes and kneed him in the groin. As Richardson collapsed on the floor, Neilson made his escape empty handed. Richardson gave police a description of his masked intruder which turned out to be inaccurate in many respects. [1] Several other photofits of Neilson were similarly unhelpful to the police but one, made by sub postmistress Margaret Grayland, was extremely accurate. Turn to murder Neilson's first three murders occurred in 1974. He shot dead two sub-postmasters and the husband of a sub-postmistress as well as brutally battering sub-postmistress Margaret 'Peggy' Grayland in post office robberies.

He killed Donald Skepper in Harrogate in February 1974, Derek Astin of Baxenden near Accrington in September 1974, and Sidney Grayland in Langley , West Midlands during November 1974. [3 ] The Baxenden murder gained Neilson the nickname The Black Panther when, during an interview with a local television reporter, Astin's wife, Marion, described her husband's killer as "so quick, he was like a panther". Alluding to the killer's dark clothing, the enterprising reporter ended his piece by asking "Where is this Black Panther?" and the soubriquet stuck. The Whittle case made him Britain's most wanted man in the mid-1970s and the kidnapper was irrefutably linked to the post office shootings when he shot security guard Gerald Smith six times while checking a ransom trail and forensics showed the bullets were fired from the same .22 pistol that was used to shoot Derek Astin and Sidney Grayland. Kidnap and murder of Lesley Whittle Lesley Whittle (1957–1975) was a 17-year-old girl and was Neilson's youngest victim.

Whittle was the daughter of noted coach transport business owner George Whittle, who had left his entire fortune to his second wife and their children, Ronald and Lesley. After reading about a family dispute over George's will, and three years of planning, on 14 January 1975 Neilson entered the Whittle family home in Highley , Shropshire , and kidnapped Lesley from her bedroom. Neilson calculated that the family would not materially miss £50,000 of their fortune, and so made a subsequent demand in a note left at the family home for that sum. A series of police bungles and other circumstances meant that Whittle's brother Ronald was unable to deliver the ransom money to the place and time demanded by the kidnapper. Whittle's body was found on 7 March 1975, hanging from a wire at the bottom of the drainage shaft where he had tethered her in Bathpool Park , at Kidsgrove , Staffordshire . The subsequent post-mortem examination showed that Whittle had not, in fact, died slowly from strangulation, but instantaneously from vagal inhibition . The shock of the fall had caused her heart to stop beating.

Neilson may have pushed Whittle off the ledge where he had kept her. An alternative to this scenario is that Neilson was not even there when Whittle died and that he panicked and fled on the night of the failed ransom collection without returning to the shaft, believing the police were closing in on him, leaving Whittle alive in the dark for a considerable period of time before she fell to her death. The pathologist noted that Whittle weighed only 98 pounds (44 kg) when found, her stomach and intestines were completely empty, she had lost a considerable amount of weight and was emaciated . He concluded that she had not eaten for a minimum of three days, the length of time it takes for food to pass through the body, but added it could have been much longer. Capture and arrest In December 1975, two police officers, Tony White and Stuart Mackenzie, were in a panda car in a side road keeping a watch on the main A60 trunk road leading out of Mansfield in North Nottinghamshire when they spotted a small wiry man scurrying by carrying a holdall. As he passed the police car he averted his face, drawing Mackenzie's attention.

As a matter of routine, they called him over to question him. The man said he was on his way home from work, then produced a sawn-off shotgun from the holdall. He ordered White into the back of the car. The policeman opened the car door but the gunman snapped,"No time for that, climb the seat"! The officer did so with alacrity and the gunman settled himself in the passenger seat, jamming the gun into Mackenzie's armpit. He ordered them to drive to Blidworth , six miles away and told them not to look at him. This presented PC Mackenzie with a problem. Gently he explained to the gunman that they were going the wrong way and he would have to turn the car round. The gunman agreed but warned both officers if there were any tricks they would both be dead. As they were driving along Southwell Road the gunman asked if they had any rope. As White pretended to look, Mackenzie reached a junction in the road. Turning the steering wheel violently one way then the other, he asked,"which way, left or right"? causing the gunman to look toward the road ahead.

White saw the gun drop a few inches and realised this was his chance; he pushed the gun forwards and Mackenzie stamped on the brake. They screeched to a halt outside The Junction Chip Shop in Rainworth. The gun went off, grazing White's hand. MacKenzie fell out of the driver's seat, banging his head on the road. He staggered to his feet and ran towards the fish and chip shop screaming for help. Two men, Roy Morris and Keith Wood, ran from the queue outside the chip shop and helped overpower Neilson. Wood subdued the gunman with a karate chop to the neck before Morris grabbed his wrists and held them for White to snap the handcuffs on. The locals attacked him so severely that in the end the police had to protect him. They hauled Neilson to iron railings at the side of a bus stop and handcuffed him there before calling for back-up, and when they found two panther hoods on him, they realised that they had probably caught the most wanted man in the U.K. In the subsequent investigation, Neilson's fingerprints were found to match one of those in the drain shaft.

In the interview at Kidsgrove police station when he confessed to the kidnap of Whittle, Neilson gave an 18-page statement to DCS Harold Wright, head of Staffordshire CID, and Commander Morrison of Scotland Yard, with the statement handwritten by DCI Walter Boreham. Trial and conviction During his trial at Oxford Crown Court , Neilson's defence lawyer Gilbert Gray QC contended that Lesley Whittle had accidentally fallen from the ledge and had hanged herself, and that Neilson had fed her chicken soup, spaghetti and meatballs, and bought her fish and chips and chicken legs. These claims were contested by the prosecution as lies. Neilson had provided his victim with a sleeping bag designed to prevent hypothermia, mattresses, survival blankets, survival bags, a bottle of brandy, six paperback books, a copy of the Times, the magazines Vogue and Home, a small puzzle and two brightly coloured napkins. These items were found in the shaft, and in the subterranean canal running below it, by the police. While on remand, Neilson was interviewed by a forensic psychiatrist, Dr Hugo Buist Milne. Dr Milne's examination found no evidence of insanity.

The psychiatrist told the defence team, "I've examined him and he's the classic psychopath of all time." After the case Milne said he was convinced of Neilson's truthfulness when he said he had not murdered Lesley Whittle. However, his claims that the other four deaths were accidental were dismissed by the psychiatrist as excuses for aggressive behaviour. Neilson's defence team, solicitor, Barrington Black, junior counsel, Norman Jones and leading counsel Gilbert Gray all remained convinced of their client's innocence of murder in the Whittle case believing his conviction was simply a reflection of public opinion, a backlash of the publicity given to the hunt for the kidnapper and killer and that he should have been convicted only of the lesser charge of manslaughter. [8 ] In July 1976, Neilson was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Lesley Whittle, for which he was given a life sentence. Three weeks later he was convicted of the murders of two postmasters and the husband of a postmistress. [3 ] In total Neilson received five life sentences .

[6 ] The judge also gave Neilson a further 61 years: 21 years for kidnapping Lesley Whittle and 10 years for blackmailing her mother. Three further sentences of 10 years each were imposed for the two burglary charges from which he stole guns and ammunition and for possessing the sawn off shotgun with intent to endanger life. All the sentences were to run concurrently. The judge told Neilson that the enormity of his crimes put him in a class apart from almost all other convicted murderers in recent years. Neilson was found not guilty of the attempted murders of sub-postmistress Margaret "Peggy" Grayland and PC Tony White but guilty of the lesser alternative charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mrs Grayland and possessing a shotgun with the intent of endangering life at Mansfield. A charge of attempting to murder a security guard named Gerald Smith whom he shot six times while checking the Whittle ransom trail was left on file because of legal complications due to fact that Mr Smith died more than a year and a day after being shot. Had this charge gone ahead, he would have told the court that the six bullets had been fired at a dog but instead accidentally hit the unfortunate Mr Smith.

The trial judge recommended that Neilson receive a whole life tariff . After the verdicts, his counsel, Gilbert Gray QC, visited him in the cells below the court. He found his client in the corner of his cell curled up in a foetal position, totally broken and dejected, filled with immense remorse for Lesley Whittle and her family. [9 ] 2008 appeal Following subsequent legal judgements in various other cases, and the implications of European Union Human Rights laws, Neilson was confirmed on numerous occasions to be on the Home Office's list of prisoners with whole life tariffs, as a succession of Home Secretaries ruled that life should mean life for Neilson. In 2008, Neilson applied to the High Court to have his minimum term reverted to 30 years. On 12 June 2008 Mr Justice Teare upheld the whole life tariff, saying: [10 ] [11 ] “ This is a case where the gravity of the applicant's offences justifies a whole life order. The manner in which the young girl was killed demonstrates that it too involved a substantial degree of premeditation or planning. It also involved the abduction of the young girl.

The location and manner of Lesley Whittle's death indicates that she must have been subjected by the applicant to a dreadful and horrific ordeal. ” Death In 2008, Neilson was diagnosed with motor neurone disease , a progressive and fatal condition. [12 ] He was taken from Norwich Prison to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the early hours of 17 December 2011 after developing breathing difficulties and was pronounced dead the following day Donald Neilson, serial killer, 75 - Google Groups Donald Neilson, serial killer, 75 Showing 1-19 of 19 messages Serial killer Donald Neilson dies Donald Neilson, the serial killer known as the Black Panther, has died, the Ministry of Justice has said. The 75-year-old died on Sunday after being taken from Norwich Prison to hospital with breathing difficulties. Neilson was convicted of four murders, including that of 17-year-old kidnap victim Lesley Whittle, who was snatched from her Shropshire home in 1975. Three years ago he lost an appeal to have his life sentence, imposed in 1976, reduced to 30 years.

A Prison Service spokesman said Neilson was taken to hospital in the early hours of Saturday after suffering breathing difficulties and was pronounced dead at 18:45 GMT on Sunday. "As with all deaths in custody, the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation," he said. Neilson murdered heiress Lesley Whittle in 1975 and shot dead three sub-postmasters during armed robberies. He was also responsible for the burglaries of some 400 sub post offices. In 2008, High Court judge Mr Justice Teare ruled the killer must never be released from prison, saying: "This is a case where the gravity of the applicant's offences justifies a whole life order." -- Please visit my town - Every visitor increases the population by one. Email: davidu...@bigfoot.com (remove VEST to reply) > Please visit my town - > Every visitor increases the population by one.

> Email: daviduriV...@bigfoot.com (remove VEST to reply) Funny how I feel unaffected by this serial killer I had never heard of till now because he's obviously from England or some other part of Great Britain and I only know the top American killers and very few foreign ones. But I don't need an ocean to make me not care. Even in my own hometown, if I pick up the paper and read about a killer on the loose or some kind of disaster that is not occurring directly in my neighborhood or at least very close to it, then it's like who gives a shit? I think everyone has a bit of that in them. Sometimes I recognize that I'm also uncaring in an ethnic way. I might pick up the paper and read about a lunatic killer on the prowl and they'll give a list of his victims names that have an ethnic tinge to them and I'll say, "Oh, that's happening over there", referring to the black part of town, and it's like now I don't have to worry about the killer but I also miss out on some of the excitement his being on the prowl might otherwise bring.

I'm reading about this Black Panther serial killer and I'm thinking, "How come I've never heard of this guy?", when I came to the name of the town Shropshite and the name of the prison Norwich and I assume it's England or somewhere I've never been and never will be. But even if the killer lived near me, let's not forget, when one killer dies another takes his place. The Black Panther will strike again, if under another name. TJ >On Dec 19, 7:57=A0am, David Uri < daviduriV...@bigfoot.com > wrote: >> >> Neilson was convicted of four murders, including that of 17-year-old >> kidnap victim Lesley Whittle, who was snatched from her Shropshire >> home in 1975. > Funny how I feel unaffected by this serial killer I had never >heard of till now because he's obviously from England or some other >part of Great Britain and I only know the top American killers and >very few foreign ones. But I don't need an ocean to make me not >care.

Even in my own hometown, if I pick up the paper and read about >a killer on the loose or some kind of disaster that is not occurring >directly in my neighborhood or at least very close to it, then it's >like who gives a shit? I think everyone has a bit of that in them. >Sometimes I recognize that I'm also uncaring in an ethnic way. I >might pick up the paper and read about a lunatic killer on the prowl >and they'll give a list of his victims names that have an ethnic tinge >to them and I'll say, "Oh, that's happening over there", referring to >the black part of town, and it's like now I don't have to worry about >the killer but I also miss out on some of the excitement his being on >the prowl might otherwise bring. I'm reading about this Black Panther >serial killer and I'm thinking, "How come I've never heard of this >guy?", when I came to the name of the town Shropshite and the name of >the prison Norwich and I assume it's England or somewhere I've never >been and never will be.

But even if the killer lived near me, let's >not forget, when one killer dies another takes his place. The Black >Panther will strike again, if under another name. Then you missed the prediction some twenty years before the fact when Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (as "Dorlock Homes" and "Watkins" respectively) attempt to bring in "the Shropshire Slasher"?...the uncannily prescient cartoon title was "Deduce, You Say"....r Donald Neilson, the Black Panther: A cold-blooded campaign of terror - Birmingham Mail Donald Neilson, the Black Panther: A cold-blooded campaign of terror Donald Neilson, the serial killer known as the Black Panther, has died. Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email THE sound of the voice that emerged from the crackle of the cassette tape underlined the chilling reality a West Midlands family had become embroiled in. Sounding near to tears, kidnapped teenage Shropshire heiress Lesley Whittle could be heard trying to reassure her desperate mother.

Forced to record the one minute and 29 second message by her cold-hearted kidnapper, the A-level student said: “There is nothing to worry about mum. I am okay.” Lesley, 17, was found to be missing from her bedroom of the family home in Beech Croft, Highley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, about 7am on January 14, 1975. A ransom note, demanding £50,000 for her safe return, was found punched out on Dymo plastic tape, normally used for marking binders and folders. It was so detailed it stretched a foot-and-a-half in length. However, it wasn’t until a month later that police revealed Lesley’s kidnapper was the killer dubbed the Black Panther. The Black Panther got his nickname from the way he dressed all in black, hid his features behind a balaclava and sneaked stealthily around in the dead of night to commit his crimes. He had eluded police for years as he burgled homes and robbed post offices. In each case, the post offices were broken into by a robber who would wake his victims and demand they hand over the safe keys.

But his savage wave of crime took a dramatic – and deadly – turn on February 15, 1974, when the hooded robber shot dead 54-year-old Donald Skepper at his post office in Harrogate, Yorkshire. Seven months later he struck again, killing Derek Astin, 43, during a struggle at his sub-post office in Accrington, Lancashire. Two months later, the ‘Panther’ emerged from the shadows to strike in the Black Country. On a chilly November day, Sidney Grayland and his wife Dorothy were in their post office, in Langley, Warley, when he struck. Mr Grayland, 54, had gone to lock up the rear of the store when his wife heard a loud bang as he was blasted in the stomach. She was beaten around the head and left for dead. Police believe the Panther did not wear his traditional balaclava because he didn’t intend for either victim to live. He escaped with just £1,000. And then the Black Panther went quiet – until January 1975 when he kidnapped Miss Whittle.

Police investigating the seemingly unconnected shooting of security guard Gerald Smith also that January found the bullets matched those in the Post Office murders. It was thought Mr Smith was shot after disturbing the Panther as he set up his ransom trail. In March 1975, almost two months after the kidnapping, police descended into the labyrinth of dark tunnels beneath Staffordshire’s Bathpool Park, near Kidsgrove, in the search for Miss Whittle. Her body was found hanging by a wire from the bottom ledge of a 30ft sewer shaft. Her feet were inches from the ground after the wire had snagged around a stanchion and she had died of a fatal shock to the nervous system. However, the Panther had made the tiniest of mistakes that was to unmask him. A partial fingerprint on a notepad found in the drainage complex led to officers identifying him as Donald Neilson. His capture, when it came, could hardly have been more mundane. In December 1975, two bobbies were on patrol in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, when they spotted a man near a sub-post office. But as they approached the man he pulled out a shotgun and ordered the pair to get back in the vehicle in a desperate bid to flee.

But his escape bid ended minutes later when one of the constables lunged at Neilson, causing the gun to go off. Two passers-by raced to help and the Panther was handcuffed to railings. For several days Neilson, then 39, refused to answer questions. But he finally made a full confession, saying he had accidentally knocked Lesley off the ledge. On the opening day of the trial, June 14, 1976, Neilson pleaded guilty to kidnap and demanding money with menaces but not guilty to murder. The prosecution accused the builder of pushing Miss Whittle to her death from a precarious ledge amid fears he was about to get snared by police as his ransom plans went awry. But Neilson said she slipped. Taking the stand, his violent temper soon emerged. In a shrill voice he declared: “I disclaim all responsibility for her death. I did not kill her. My conscience is clear as far as the act of killing her. I did not.” The jury disagreed and on July 1 they returned a unanimous guilty verdict. Days later, he was convicted of the murders of Mr Skepper, Mr Astin and 54-year-old Sidney Grayland.

Britain’s most wanted criminal was jailed for life on all four murder charges, including that of Lesley Whittle. * The coroner's inquest into the death of Neilson will open on Wednesday. On Saturday, the 75-year-old was taken to Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital from Norwich prison with breathing difficulties and was pronounced dead at about 6.45pm on Sunday, the Prison Service said. The inquest into his death will open at 10am at the Coroner's Court in Norwich. >> Next page: The Black Panther: From burglary, to murder ... to jail >> The Black Panther: From burglary, to murder ... to jail Donald Neilson, left a trail of murder as he stalked the country. Here are the key dates: Early 1970s police in Lancashire and West Yorkshire link a series of burglaries at post-offices February 15, 1974, hooded robber shoots dead 54-year-old Donald Skipper at his post office in Harrogate, Yorkshire. September 1975, Derek Astin, 43, shot dead during a struggle at his sub post-office in Accrington, Lancashire.

November 1974, Sidney Grayland and his wife Dorothy, known to friends as Peggy, targeted in their post office, in Langley, Warley. Mr Grayland, 54, is shot dead, Peggy is beaten and left for dead. January 14, 1975, Lesley Whittle, 17, is found missing from her bedroom of the family home in Beech Croft, Highley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, about 7am. A £50,000 ransom made for her safe return. January 17, 1975, Lesley’s anguished brother Ronald was dispatched to Bathpool Park, in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, to make the demand but he can’t find the instructions which had been left behind a telephone kiosk. On the same night security guard Gerald Smith is shot and injured by Neilson after disturbing the crook as he laid the ransom trail. February 1975, police link the kidnap of Miss Whittle to the post office murders March 7 1975, Miss Whittle is found dead is the underground labyrinth of drainage passageways in Bathpool Pool.

December 1975, Donald Neilson is finally arrested by two policemen on patrol in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, after being seen near a sub-post office. June 14, 1976, Neilson pleaded guilty to the kidnap of the 17-year-old and demanding money with menaces but not guilty to her murder on the first day of his trial. July 1 1976, after one hour and 55 minutes of deliberations jury returns a unanimous guilty verdict. July 1976, Neilson also convicted of the three post office murders and is jailed for life. In 2008 and suffering from Motor neurone disease, Neilson appealed his sentence, requesting it be muted to a maximum of 30 years. High Court judge Mr Justice Teare ruled the killer must never be released from prison. Like us on Facebook Most Read Most Recent Murderer Donald Neilson, the 'Black Panther', dies - Dollars BBS | News Murderer Donald Neilson, the 'Black Panther', dies (1) 1 Name: ASURA !0UZD1OR/j.

: 2011-12-19 11:11 ID:slska0wL (Image: 224x299 jpg, 13 kb) [ Del ] Donald Neilson, the multiple murderer known as the Black Panther, has died, the Ministry of Justice has said. The 75-year-old died on Sunday after being taken from Norwich Prison to hospital with breathing difficulties. Neilson, from Bradford, was convicted of four murders, including that of 17-year-old Lesley Whittle, kidnapped from her Shropshire home in 1975. Three years ago he lost an appeal to have his life sentence, imposed in 1976, reduced to 30 years. A Prison Service spokesman said Neilson was taken to hospital in the early hours of Saturday after suffering breathing difficulties and was pronounced dead at 18:45 GMT on Sunday. "As with all deaths in custody, the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation," he said.

Neilson murdered 17-year-old heiress Lesley Whittle in 1975, having shot dead three sub-postmasters during armed robberies between February and November 1974. The earlier victims had been: Donald Skepper, shot dead in Harrogate, North Yorkshire; Derek Astin, in Higher Baxenden, Lancashire; and Sidney Grayland, in Langley, West Midlands. Horrific ordeal' 1976 report on the case and sentencing of Donald Neilson Also responsible for about 400 burglaries during a 10-year criminal career, the killer was dubbed "The Black Panther" as a result of witness descriptions of his dark clothing and powerful physique. Neilson, who had been a builder, kidnapped Miss Whittle from her home in Shropshire and left a ransom demand for £50,000. The teenager's body was later found hanging in an underground drainage system, where Neilson had secured her by the neck with wire.

In 2008, High Court judge Mr Justice Teare ruled the killer must never be released from prison, saying: "This is a case where the gravity of the applicant's offences justifies a whole life order." The judge said the three murders of sub-postmasters "involved a substantial degree of premeditation" because Neilson took a loaded firearm with him which he was prepared to use. Mr Justice Teare added: "The manner in which the young girl was killed demonstrates that it too involved a substantial degree of premeditation or planning. It also involved the abduction of the young girl." The location and manner of Lesley Whittle's death "indicates that she must have been subjected by the applicant to a dreadful and horrific ordeal", he said.

Question: Donald Neilson, convicted of four murders in 1975, was known by which nickname?
Answer: THE BLACK PANTHER