Cheryl Shackleton

case that needs the extra exposure. Today we're going to be covering the nineteen ninety one murder of Sheryl Shackleton. Her murder was both unexplained and strange, given her body was recovered far away from where she was known to live and there were no reasons why she would have been there. There were many aspects of the case which had no explanation, including much of Sheryl's actions before she was murdered. This episode contains descriptions that some listeners may

find distressing, so listener discretion is advised. On February the third, nineteen ninety one, a dog walker was taking a stroll through Telegraph Hill Park in Broccoli in South London. It was around five thirty am and the time that many dog walkers decided to leave their homes to travel to nearby parks. Telegraph Hill is a popular spot for walkers, given that it's a relatively small park, was an excellent view of London. This dog walker, however, came across a

disturbing discovery. On his journey into the park that day, he discovered the partially closed body of a woman. It appeared that she'd been what has been described as posed in a grotesque position, and she had clear injuries to her body. It was evident that this woman had been attacked and possibly beaten. Given the injuries noted and the fact that she was partially clothed also gave rise to lots of questions. The police were immediately called to the scene,

which was cordoned off and analyzed. The woman's body was sent for a post martem to establish cause of death, and this information was extremely useful. The initial injuries were the result of what seemed to be a sustained attack. The woman had a ruptured spleen along with hemorrhaging. She had suffered exposure from the cold weather in February, and

her cause of death was listed to strangulation. The post martem could not ascertain whether she had been sexually assaulted, but the way that the body had been posed after death suggested a possible sexual mode behind the murder. This immediately sparked a murder investigation, and the Metropolitan Police knew that they were looking for a killer who had no concerns about murdering a woman and leaving her out in

the cold in a public park. This was a very dangerous person and it was crucial that they find them. The problem in this investigation was that they did not know who this woman was, and trying to identify her was proving difficult. Police turned to the BBC show Crime Watch in an effort to try an identify her, given that the woman had nothing with her that could help with this. The program with the segment about the unidentified victim was aired in February nineteen ninety one, that same

month that she was found. The woman was described as being about thirty years old with blue gray eyes. She was five feet tall and wore size ten clothes. The woman's outfit was also shown on the program insisted of black trousers, a mustard yellow colored waistcoat along with a black shawl with tassels on the end, along with black boots. The program also explained that they did know something about

the woman's movements despite not knowing her identity. The woman had reportedly been seen on a ferry from France and had told people that she was on her way back from visiting her ex husband in Paris. The woman was English, as noted by witnesses. The same woman had also been spotted on the one four to one bus around eleven thirty pm the Saturday evening before her body had been found in the New Cross area where Telegraph Hill Park

was located. As well as this information, a drawing was shown of the woman's face in the hope that someone would know her and be able to identify her quickly. This appeal would prove to be extremely fruitful, as it reported that a month after her discovery, her identity confirmed. The victim was thirty four year old Sheryl Leslie Shackleton. The identity of the victim caused the police to have even more questions about what had happened to her and

why she was there. From their investigation, they found that Sheryl was actually from the Lancashire town of Nelson, which is around three miles outside of Burnley. From what they could find out, she didn't have any links to London or the area of New Cross. Sheryl was well known in the area where she lived in Nelson and the neighboring town of Colin. She was the daughter of a farmer, Pendall counselor Arthur Jeffreys, and by all accounts, had grown

up in a loving and prosperous family. She had got married and her and her husband owned a jewelry store which was located on a shopping arcade in Colintown Center. The couple had a son together named Sean, and they even set up a stained glass business together. They were well known and well liked in their community. Despite this success and the outward appearance, the marriage between Sheryl and her husband was not going well and there were marital problems.

It was decided that they would separate and the couple's son, Shahn, decided to go and live in Yorkshire, where his dad eventually moved to. This is where family and friends noticed a shift in Sheryl and her behavior became a lot more erratic. It was clear at this point that she had begun struggling with her mental health and the stress and strain of the previous few years had started to

weigh on her. It was known that she sold her home on Messenger Street in Nelson, and instead of living somewhere permanently, she began to travel around the country with her belongings all packed up in a suit case. As well as her belongings, it was also known that she would travel around with large amounts of money on her to fund these travels that she was doing. By early nineteen ninety one, Cheryl was traveling around erratically and moving

from place to place quite rapidly. It was clear that her mental health was an issue and she was an extremely vulnerable person, sometimes putting herself in quite dangerous situations whether she was aware of it or not. Police were able to establish that in the six days before her murder, she had traveled to France and back into the UK in a way which has been described as haphazard. During

this time, she crossed the English Channel four times. At the end of January, it's known that she took a coach from London to Paris for the day before getting on a coach which was bound for Barcelona in Spain. She didn't get off there. She got off the bus in Montpellier, in the south of France. It's unclear how she got from Montpellier to Calais, but it's known that she next got the ferry back to Dover, then got the ferry back to Calais before finally returning to Dover,

all within the space of thirty six hours. Sheryl then returned into London Victoria's Station around midnight on Friday February the first, where she then traveled to Brighton and back again, trying to search for somewhere to stay for the night. It was then known that Cheryl was seen on the evening of Saturday, February the second, at the Amersham Arms off license in Deptford, southeast London. This appears to be the last known sighting of Sheryl before she was killed.

The interesting thing about this last sighting is that Cheryl was seen there with her suitcase, which she had been known to have with her throughout her travels. This suitcase was not found with her body in Telegraph Hill Park and therefore had gone missing between Saturday evening an early Sunday morning. It was speculated that the killer must have

taken the suitcase after the murder. If they had, then was this to steal Cheryl's belongings or the large amount of money that it was known that she carried with her. The fact that Cheryl had been all over both the South of England and France in the week before she was killed was certainly interesting and showed that Cheryl may have been facing a mental health crisis. It did not, however, make it much easier for police to narrow down who may have come into contact with her and wanted to

kill her. The police also did not know why Cheryl had been seen at that particular off license or what she had intended to do once leaving there. Following the appeal for information, however, some witnesses did respond, saying that they had seen her in the time before she had been murdered. These witnesses rang in anonymously to give them the information. The first witness told police that she thought she had seen Sheryl with a man at around twelve

fifteen a m walking through the park. Another witness said she also saw a man and a woman on Endwell Road close to the park around one fifteen a m. The man and the woman were reportedly talking about Paris, which it was known was where Ryl had visited. A third woman later came forward. She said that her and her friend had also seen this same man and woman at around the same time as the second witness. The man was described as white, around six feet tall, and

between twenty five and thirty years old. These witness sightings appeared to suggest that Chryl was with a man that evening. Police were very interested in where Cheryl might have met this man and why they were in that particular area. They had a tentative timeline from these witness sightings. They believed that Cheryl had been spotted on the one for to one bus around Telegraph Hill Park around eleven thirty

pm on the Saturday evening. A similarly described woman was then spotted close by at around twelve fifteen pm with a man, and then again around an hour later at one fifteen am. If this was Cheryl, then she had remained in that same area for around two hours and then remained there during and after her murder. What was the connection to this area or had Sheryl just ended

up there after returning from France. The police continued to appeal to the public in the hope that someone had something more concrete to offer, but unfortunately this did not appear to be the case. In the time after Cheryl's murder, police continued to investigate and try and figure out who would have wanted to murder Cheryl. Despite the effort put into the investigation, years began to pass without any leads

or any suspects emerging. In two thousand and six, Sheryl's case was brought to the forefront again when a new crime Watch appeal was distributed and the case was reopened due to new DNA technology. It was hoped that this new technology may help to solve some of the many questions that remained about Cheryl's case. While it does not appear that DNA brought forward any suspects, the national appeal

did reportedly lead to some anonymous tips. Detective Inspector Desnellum's stated about this, I believe in the fifteen years since it happened, the killer has spoken to somebody or boasted to someone about this murder. He stated that there had been about eleven calls naming around five suspects who might have been involved, as well as another call about a

new witness. He said he was very interested in speaking to someone who named a suspect who was already in prison for a double murder, and from a landlord who rang up about someone who boasted about murder. It was stated that a few weeks after these new cars came in, the Metropolitan Police had managed to eliminate one of these suspects, and that half of the witnesses who had rang him

were unable to give any more credible information. During this two thousand and six appeal, Chryl's son Sean spoke to crime Watch about how he had been impacted by his mother's murder. He was just nine years old when Cheryl had been murdered and this must have affected him hugely. The fact that they'd still not found out who killed his mum must be something that stays with him always, and the families of victims should always be at the

forefront of any investigation. The sad fact is that Cheryl's case is still unsolved in the present day and there has been no real public movement on the case. Cheryl has not been able to get justice, and neither has her family. Cheryl was someone who had mental health struggles and she was a vulnerable person. She traveled from place to place with no real home to stay at, and often carried around large amounts of money. It appears that she would speak to many people and was sociable, and

all of these things added to her risk level. Did Cheryl just come across the wrong person at the wrong time who took advantage of her. This would seem likely given that she had moved around frequently and therefore had not put down any routes in a particular place. This is so tragic, and she left behind people who loved her. The Metropolitan Police have stated that the case will never be closed and they will always take tips and new information.

If you know anything about the murder of Sheryl Shackleton, then please contact police on one oh one our crime stoppers at eight hundred five five five one one one. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to the exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month. You can also get access to new episodes early in ad free. You can use the link in the show notes to visit Patreon and see what

we offer. You can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also just share the episodes. As always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen sire. The figure