Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
John Francis Duffy and David Mulcahy, better known as the Railway Rapists and Railway Killers, were a murderous duo who, in the 1980s, preyed on women at remote railway stations around London, raping them and later killing some of them. The two had met whilst attending Haverstock Secondary School in Chalk Farm, north London. From then on, the two outsiders were inseparable. John was bullied by his classmates because of his short stature and acne. David was also regarded as an oddball. A deep friendship developed, in which the two boys confided in each other about their shared sadistic fantasies of violence, which they soon put into practice on animals. For instance, David used a hedgehog as a cricket ball, which led to him being expelled from school. After leaving school, both got married and took up regular jobs. Whilst David worked as a plasterer, John worked as a joiner; he was also employed by British Rail, which is why he had knowledge of the railway network. It was from 1 July 1982 that the series of rapes of women at remote railway stations began. The first rape took place in Kilburn, in north London. The victim was a 22-year-old woman who was on her way home from a party when she was suddenly abducted, dragged into a shed, stripped and finally brutally raped by both men whilst blindfolded. The series of rapes briefly ceased in 1983, which was linked to John’s divorce. But then, within a very short space of time, more women were brutally raped at night at railway stations in north London. A total of 18 women were raped within four years. The Metropolitan Police in west London were put in charge of the rape cases, and their investigation, codenamed ‘Operation Heart’, was in full swing. According to the traumatised women, one of the perpetrators was a short, red-haired man, whilst the other was significantly taller. But soon, mere rape was no longer enough. On 29 December 1985, 19-year-old Alison Day fell victim to the pair. She had gone to pick up her boyfriend from his job at Fairway Graphics in a deserted industrial estate not far from Hackney Wick station in north London. Unfortunately, she ran straight into John and David, who raped Alison at knifepoint before forcing her to walk across live railway tracks to the railing of a bridge. Alison fell from the bridge into the canal, where she managed to reach the bank. But John and David were already waiting there; they pulled her out of the water and strangled her with a tourniquet. They then weighted her body by placing paving stones inside her coat before disposing of it in the River Lea. The Metropolitan Police conducted the investigation under the name ‘Operation Lea’. Half a year later, on 17 April 1986, the pair attempted to knock 15-year-old Dutch schoolgirl Maartje Tamboezer off her bicycle in West Horskey using a taut wire stretched across the road. As Maartje noticed the wire and braked, she was promptly abducted, dragged into a shed and raped in turn by both men. She was then strangled. She was struck several times on the head with a stone. Her body was subsequently set alight. The Surrey police launched ‘Operation Bluebell’. Superintendent Charles Farquhar had taken charge of the investigation into the murder of Alison Day and soon established a link with the rapes near the railway lines. He also identified parallels with the murder of Maartje Tamboezer. Just under a month after the murder of Maartje Tamboezer, on 18 May 1986, 29-year-old Anne Lock, a secretary at London Weekend Television, was abducted and murdered after getting off the train at Brookmans Park station in Hertfordshire. The investigation into the murder was conducted under the name ‘Operation Trinity’. For the first time, computers and an earlier version of HOLMES, an information technology system, were used. Following intensive investigations, a strong lead pointed to John, who was known to the police for sexually assaulting his former wife. During a search of his home, a cord called ‘Somyarn’ was found, which linked him to the first two murder victims. Due to his job as a joiner for British Rail, he had knowledge of the railway system. Furthermore, the police commissioned a profile of the perpetrator from the psychologist David Canter; of the 17 points in the profile, 13 applied to John. David, too, was questioned during the investigation as his best friend. John was finally arrested on 26 November 1986 after following a woman into a secluded park. Not only were items found on him that linked him to two murders, but some of the rape victims were able to positively identify him as their rapist, despite their trauma. The evidence against John was sufficient to charge him with three murders and several rapes. The police knew that John had not committed the crimes alone, but John remained adamantly silent about the identity of his accomplice. John stood trial in 1988 and was found guilty of two counts of murder and four counts of rape. He was acquitted of the murder of Anne Lock. He received the minimum sentence of 30 years, which was later increased to life imprisonment by the Home Secretary. After his conviction, John confided in a forensic psychologist that he had had an accomplice. However, he refused to reveal the man’s name at any cost. The police were certain that David was his accomplice, but the evidence against him was insufficient. For this reason, the young police officer Les Bolland was sent to John’s cell; he befriended him and interviewed him. He worked alongside the psychologist Dr Jenny Cutler, and together they succeeded in getting John to finally tell the whole truth after more than nine years in prison and to reveal who his accomplice was. This may also have been because David had never got in touch with John. Nine months after the interviews, John was charged with 17 counts of rape. He pleaded guilty to all of them, which he had committed together with his best friend David. David had also been the driving force behind not only raping the women, but also killing them. He had thus set the first murder in motion by accidentally mentioning John’s name in the heat of the moment whilst raping Alison. They selected their victims near railway stations whilst driving around at night. They always listened to Michael Jackson’s song ‘Thriller’ whilst doing so. John could no longer be charged with the murder of Anne Lock, as he had already been found not guilty. Following John’s confession, David was arrested; he already had a previous conviction for assaulting one of his four sons. His trial began on 11 September 2000 in Court 1 of the Central Criminal Courts. David denied everything during the trial. But it was to no avail, as on 2 February 2001, thanks to advances in forensic science and DNA technology – which were now capable of analysing evidence from the earlier crimes – he was found guilty of five counts of rape, five counts of conspiracy and three counts of murder, and sentenced to three life sentences. Whilst David is serving his sentence at HMP Full Sutton near Pocklington in East Yorkshire, John is serving his sentence at HMP Frankland in County Durham. Neither will ever be released from prison alive.
