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I am looking for information on merchant navy officer & engineer Richard Charles West born July 10th 1940 possibly in Scotland was killed in Grimsby July 13th/or 14th in 1974. He also lived in 7 Brook Drive, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex and Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.
re the killing:-
What happened to the owner of the Mayflower Club, Proprietor Mayflower Club, Washdyke Lane, Immingham, Victor Vivian Roy Blake born in 1928 or 1929, and the bouncer and car hire driver, Leslie Christian Dean born in 1948 of Oxford Street Grimsby, that killed him by forcefully throwing him down the stairs.
Did they at the second trial they got off or were indeed charged with manslaughter – and if they are possibly still alive... see below for the people named in the newspaper clippings.
COURT TRIAL DATA – BACK OVER 30 YEARS
Is there a way I can access the court trials of 30 years ago? The last hearing was in the Strand, London the criminal court January 1975...
CAN'T FIND BIRTH RECORD – MAY BE SCOTTISH
I cannot find a birth record for him on genesreunited.... he may have been born in Scotland and I get stuck there trying to find an online search.
POLICE RESEARCH – DEAD END
I have contacted the information officer of the Lincolnshire police. Lincolnshire policed Grimsby at that time. In 1974 the policing body was changed from Humberside to Lincolnshire – I am unsure of the date or how that affects the “archives”.
I even made an information request – oddly enough they can't find anything on him which I find very strange.... several emails went back and forth. I have also been onto the general information office as there may be a question of who owns the data... it got a little tricky here – but either way the Lincolnshire police has nothing on Richard Charles West. The Humberside police also looked and put us on to the Lincolnshire police....
SOME LEADS I STILL HAVE TO FOLLOW
Grimsby Central Library (01472 323603) - Local paper archived records
North East Lincolnshire Archives - Town Hall, Town Hall Square, Grimsby, DN31 1HX.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm
merchant navy must have an association or archives of photographs....
dock authority – who were they back then.... do they still have information?
ship owners - Shell Mex & BP Ltd, London
CORONER INFORMATION
died on the 14th July 1974
buried in Scartho Road Cemetery on the 26th July 1974 in grave Section 153 Row D Space 22.
34 years old when he died and was recorded as being an Engineer.
RICHARD WEST INFORMATION
Richard Charles West
Merchant Navy Officer Richard Charles West
engineer
born July 10th 1940 – possible in Scotland
- third engineer on the Ardrossan ship that visited Grimsby
the ship Ardrossan was in Grimsby, Immingham, Lincolnshire, U.K., July 13th 1974
Richard C West was killed July 13th 1974 – but death recorded for the 14th (time was between midnight and 1am...?)
NEWSPAPER COVERAGE
Richard West, probably celebrating his birthday went on land and ended up in the Mayfair nightclub – a place of disrepute apparently - in Immingham,Grimsby at midnight. He asked the cook to dance -the cook said no. He was thrown out of the nightclub, and kicked down the stairs by the owner and bouncer of the nightclub and died at about 1am. There was a witness of a lady – she is a bit of a mystery... then there were two trials – but I am missing the end result of that … it is possible that the people that killed him are still alive.
They changed their legal council between the first hearing and the second. Also strange is that Richard Charles West was a merchant navy officer and an engineer from a very reputable family I heard but is made out to be a drunken “Seaman” in the courts...
Also there might have been some racial issues as one judge says do not think about the colour... so who is “coloured” … we say “black” these days....
There is coverage on 20.1.1975 in the Evening Telegraph regarding the trial. Here are the people mentioned in the newspaper clippings and the context they were referred to as:-
Mr Justice May
Lincoln Crown court
Det Supt Ron Sager
Deputy Head of Humberside CID
issued statement Monday July 15th 1975 according to Grimsby Telegraph
Det Inspector Cyril King
Inspector D. Stevenson
asked for the remand
Victor Vivian Roy Blake (first qc brian pettifer on legal aid- 2nd qc
Peter Blake)
(kicked Richard West down the stairs – charged with manslaughter)
Proprietor Mayflower Club
Washdyke Lane
Immingham
aged 46 in 75
47 in another article
Leslie Christian Dean (1st QC Mr Robin Bloomer on legal aid, 2nd QC Mr
Edwin Jovett)
(kicked Richard West down the stairs – charged with manslaughter)
Bouncer and Hire car driver
Oxford Street
Grimsby
aged 27 in 75
Peter Taylor
2nd qc for Blake for the criminal court in the strand
John Oliver
Mayflower Club Bouncer?
Mentioned by Blake in trial as person picks up people who have been
kicked out from the bottom of the stairs...
Franklin Sikora
Drummer in a trio at the Mayflower
Thoresby Road
Scunthorpe
Lincolnshire?
Miss Daphne Ann Groves
ex Madame previously convicted of soliciting...??
Princess Street
Immingham
Lincolnshire?
Mr Simon John Bentley-Beard
identified body....crew member – what position? Was he there on the
evening in question?
Warwick
LM Gibbon
Assistant Deputy Grimsby District Coroner
adjourned hearing for two months
Angela Waller
the cook
Worsley Road
Immingham
Miss Shirley Barker
Market Place
Cleethorpes
(saw him outside the ladies
– drinking but not drunk
-fall off a chair – other article says he leant against the table and fell...
she followed him out
She said Richard said “I am alright” to the bouncer
Jimmy
witness at Mayflower
said you don't do that to a man whether he is drunk or not
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I'll put the newspaper clippings up later tonight - on a blog or somewhere... have to go out now so won't be online until 7pm tonight to check responses.
Thank you.
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For Ref.
England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2006
about Richard Charles West Name: Richard Charles West
Birth Date: 10 Jul 1940
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1975
Age at Death: 34
Registration district: Grimsby
Inferred County: Humberside
Volume: 7
Page: 0409
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I am not entirely sure on this one but.
England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1916-2005
about Philip E West Name: Philip E West
Spouse Surname: Beck
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1926
Registration district: Croydon
Inferred County: Surrey
Volume Number: 2a
Page Number: 600
Find Spouse: Ada F beck, mainly because it is in surrey.
A birth cert would answer all your questions really
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those are the siblings I believe; and that looks like the birth registration alright - thank you.
One of the siblings - possibly Michael may have died in a car crash that same year in 1974.
Margaret is still alive - married with children in Kent. (so this perhaps shouldn't be in this section... not sure as it is the first time that I am posting here)
It's more about finding the ancestors higher up; and possibly then too the people in the trial.
I can put the clippings up later tonight.
Thank you all for your help. :-)
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Here are the newspaper articles regarding the trial if anybody has any more information on the people involved or the trial... hope you can read them - I think if you click on the image - then hold down the "Control" key whilst hitting the "+" button the type gets larger.
http://richardcwest.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/see-attached-for-newspaper-articles.html
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collen
Deleted Margarets date of birth.
Suex
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some answers about some of the names mentioned
Name: Victor Vivian R Blake
Birth Date: 16 Aug 1928
Date of Registration: Dec 1998
Age at Death: 70
Registration district: Hounslow
Inferred County: London
Register Number: 37C
District and Subdistrict: 2371C
Entry number: 171
Leslie Christian Dean - no death record to 2006
All Leslie C Deans in the births index were born 1920-1929 - you can find them at freebmd, use middle initial only not name:
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl
A Leslie Dean, no middle initial, was born in 1948 and another was registered in early 1949.
Franklyn Sikora would be in his early 60s now; birth but no marriage or death recorded to 2006. But he appears on the electoral list only to 2007. ... I suspect he married under a slight variation of his name; again, details can be sent privately.
Daphne Groves married shortly after the event and is nearing 60.
A Simon J B Beard ... I am deleting the bare-bones info I had put here ... he is a member of this website. I think he is probably the person you would most like to be in touch with out of all these. Use the 'search trees' button to search family trees for just the surname Bentley-Beard and then click on the 'find out more' button beside the tree owner's name.
I hope he still uses the email address he registered with here so that he gets notice when you send him a message.
If that does not work, we here can help you locate and get in touch with him if you would like to do that.
It would be appreciated here if you were to explain what your interest in the death and trial are. I hope this information helps.
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Richard West's sons, my cousins, grew up thinking that their father died in a car crash and only found out the truth recenlty.
So in order for them to achieve closure they have asked me to help in finding out as much as possible about how their father died.
Hence I am interested in the trial and the people involved - in order to paint them a clearer picture and complete their father's, my uncle's mourning process albeit 34 years later...
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