Joy Hewer

listener discretion is advised. Walthamstowe is a town in East London which is known today as a bustling and cultural center, famous for the William Morris Gallery and its many shops and public transport links into central London. It retains much of its history charm while also feeling like part of a big city. In nineteen ninety five, fifty two year old Joy Hewer lived in Walthamstow in a flat within a complex named Saint David's Court. Around fifty five other

people lived there during that time. Joy was a well known resident, living in a flat on the sixth floor. She was known for being kind, smiley and extremely welcoming. Joy had grown up in the area and lived alone in her flat. Despite the fact that she lived alone, it was known that she was not lonely. She spoke to her parents often, as well as her siblings and her nieces and nephews. She was friendly and warm, and her neighbors loved speaking with her and seeing her around.

One of her neighbors described her as quote she was one of the loveliest people living here. She was always smiling and helping elderly people. Joi had been a primary school teacher at the local school, Woodhouse Primary. She was known as a kind and diligent teacher who cared a lot about the children in her care. In nineteen ninety, Joy had decided to retire early from her job, and since then she had devoted her whole life to volunteering. She was a devout Christian who did everything she could

to help and support others. She volunteered at several churches in the area. However, Saint Mary's in Walthamstow was one that she visited most regularly. She would help by completing general admin tasks, volunteering at the soup kitchen, and cleaning

the church. Joi was happy to help anyone she could, and Reverend Paul butler from Saint Mary's later stated that when he became reverend in nineteen ninety four, Joi was the first person to welcome him to the area and explain how much she was happy that he was there. This just exemplifies who she was as a person and her caring and supportive nature. It was known that Joy also volunteered at the London Healing Mission, and this was to help homeless people and those that may be drug dependent.

She attended meetings at the mission on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so on Tuesday, the seventeenth of October nineteen ninety five, Joy followed her usual routine of heading down for the meeting at the mission. She was there until around three thirty pm, when a colleague of hers saw her leaving for the day. It was then known that Joy visited the chemist close to her home around five fifty pm. She then headed straight home to Saint David's Court, arriving

around ten minutes later. On her way in, she saw another resident and spoke to them. Joy stayed in that night and it's known that she spoke to several people on the phone that evening. At around nine forty pm, she phoned her brother. However, he wasn't in, and she spoke to her nephew instead, asking him to tell his dad to wring her back and that she was in all evening, she told him it wasn't urgent. This seemed like a normal evening for Joy, who enjoyed speaking to

people on the phone and socializing. At around ten thirty pm, the couple who lived two floors below Joy were woken by some very loud banging noises that they could hear through the ceiling. One of the residents of the flat said that she was concerned as the flat directly above them was empty at that time and she was worried that it was being burgled as the bangs were that loud. She stated they did stop and she lay back in bed. Around ten minutes later, though, she then heard footsteps which

she described as heavy. They were running down the communal staircase. It then went quiet. This was an unusual occurrence at Saint David's Court and did concern her. At around eleven eighteen pm that same evening, a nine nine nine call was received. It was later found that this call had been made from a phone box on Fullburn Road, close

to Saint David's Court. The caller told the operator that he had been driving past the flats when he noticed some flames and smoke coming out from one of the floors. He said he couldn't work out which floor it was coming from, and when he was asked whereabouts he was located, he wasn't sure what street he was on. He's heard on the phone call asking someone who was stood at the bus stop which road they were on. He eventually said that they were on the junction of Wood Street

near Walthamstow Town Hall. Fire services were dispatched to Saint David's Court, where they noted that smoke had started to fill the lobby and they quickly established that it was coming from a flat on the sixth floor. The flat belonged to Joi Heuer. When they entered, they discovered two separate fires. One was located in the lounge area and one was in the bedroom. These fires were quite quickly extinguished. However, when they were they made a discovery they had found

Joy's body. It quickly became apparent that Joi had not passed away as a result of the fire, and the post martem established that Joi had actually been stabbed in addition, she had also been sexually assaulted. It would appear that the fires had been set after the attack and the murder had taken place, and it's been speculated that this had possibly been as a way to remove forensic evidence from the scene. Police began to look into how someone

could have got into the flat that night. Joi was known to be a cautious person who cared about her own personal safety. She wasn't someone who would have just let a stranger into her home, and her flat had a chain link lock as well as a peephole that was installed in her door. There appeared, however, to be no forced entry at the home, and Joi was found wearing her NightWare, meaning that she'd probably been in bed at the time that the attacker entered her home. Had

she let someone into her home? Had this been a stranger or someone she knew. Police reportedly could find no evidence that anything was missing from the home, and they didn't find the murder weapon there either. There was one intriguing piece of evidence, though, Police recovered two used coffee cups from the home, which could suggest that someone had visited Joy that night. Who was this and why had

Joi let them into her home. Police set about trying to speak to everyone that knew Joy and might be able to shed some light on who this could have been. Everyone who knew her spoke of her as a kind, understanding, and caring woman who only wanted to help other people. Police could find no one who had any reason to harm Joy, and her timeline of that day was quite easy to establish, given that she'd been at the mission for most of the day and had spoken to people

on the phone for most of the evening. There was a period of time between three point thirty and five fifty pm where Joi was unaccounted for. However, it's unclear this time was important to the murder. The time of the murder seemed to coincide with the bangs heard by the downstairs neighbors and the footsteps on the stairs, and this was only forty five minutes after speaking to her

nephew on the phone. As well as speaking to people who knew Joy personally, they also spoke to the residence of Saint David's Courts and reviewed footage from the CCTV, which was located at the entrance. Police knew that whoever let the killer into the building had done so through the two way into commsystem. None of the residents reported that they had let an unknown man into the building, and most other people were found to be accounted for and had a reason to be in the building that day.

There were a couple of people who police wanted to speak to, though A man had been seen in the building at six thirty five pm. This man had reportedly been stood by the lifts and had been spotted by a couple who were moving in and they'd had a chat with him. He was described as white, well spoken, with a boyish face, and was around five feet seven inches tall. He was stated that this man was not a suspect, but they wanted to speak to him, identify

him and rule him out. A crime Watch reconstruction was shown on TV to try and drum up leads, and an e fit of this man was created. Another lead that police wanted to follow up with was the man who'd called in the fire at eleven eighteen. They knew that it had been made from a phone box on Fulburn Road, and they knew that he had asked someone at a bus stop what the road name was. They were trying to locate both of these men in the

hope that they could help them with the investigation. They published the nine to nine to nine call on the Crime Watch episode in case someone could identify the voice. Another significantly that police wanted to follow up with was a report from a witness who was driving past Saint David's Court when a man sprinted out of the flats and ran across the road, causing the driver to stop suddenly. This man was described as black and six feet four

inches tall. It was unclear if this man had anything to do with the crime, but if he did, then he was not caught on CCTV entering the building at any point. The police did have one CCTV image of someone who who were very interested in speaking to. It was someone who was also unaccounted for and the police could not identify. This man also entered at a crucial time in the known timeline. He was thirty to forty years old, was white, and was seen wearing a light

colored jacket. He entered at around ten thirty p m. The CCTV image was grainy and difficult to make out. However, it was hoped and is still hoped, that somebody might know something. This information was all important, but who these people were was difficult to ascertain. Despite the appeals that took place at the time and the Crime Watch episode,

information was not forthcoming in the case. It proved difficult to find out any new information, and those that knew Joy could not imagine who would have wanted to harm her. This is the way that the case seemed to stay, with little movement or progress being published. Twenty fifteen marked the twenty year anniversary of the case and the Metropolitan Police appealed for information. Detective Inspector Susan Stansfield urged anyone who hadn't come forward before to do so now. Her

sister Peggy also spoke in a BBC article. She said she was no harm to anyone and stated we've never forgotten the moment that we were told she'd been murdered. It will never make any sense to us. She lived a quiet and peaceful life which was totally at odds with her last terrifying moments. There was another Crime Watch appeal shown in twenty fifteen in the hope that information

would come forward. It's reported that there's a twenty thousand pound reward available for anyone with information leading to a conviction. It's clear that Joy's family have continued to appeal for information and are dedicated to finding the killer. Joi has not had justice and she deserves it as well as her family who deserve answers. It's now coming up to thirty years since it happened, so if you do know anything about Joi Huer's murder, please contact the Metropolitan Police

on one oh 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 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. You can subscribe on YouTube and

follow us on social media as our ways. I'm Caprice and this has been unseen the