Margaret Frame

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Brighton, England

Summary:

Margaret Frame was a 36-year-old mother murdered on October 12, 1978, in Stanmer Park, Brighton, England. She was raped, stabbed, and her body was concealed in a shallow grave and dragged 500 yards. The case remains unsolved and is known as the 'Beast of Stanmer Park' murder.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On the evening of October 12, 1978, Margaret Frame left her job as a cleaner at Falmer High School on Lewes Road in Brighton around her usual finishing time. She began her familiar walk home across Stanmer Park to her residence on Saunders Hill in Coldean, a journey she had made nearly every day. She was attacked and killed in the park. Following the murder, the perpetrator returned to the body and dragged it approximately 500 yards across the park before burying it in a shallow grave. The attacker removed her clothes and jewelry and attempted to sever her head, likely to make identification more difficult. Margaret was stabbed in the back, struck on the head, and her throat was cut from ear to ear. She had also been raped. When Margaret did not arrive home that evening, her husband Peter became deeply worried. After spending most of the day searching for her himself, he reported her missing to police on October 13. A massive hunt for Margaret ensued with police and volunteers searching the area. Ten days after her disappearance, on October 22, 1978, her body was discovered in a shallow grave in Stanmer Park.

Additional Details:

An intense investigation was launched by Sussex Police. Detectives conducted approximately 5,000 house-to-house inquiries in the local area and took 2,500 statements from members of the public. Hundreds of people contacted detectives offering help after Margaret's discovery. Police carried out a fingertip search of Stanmer Park looking for the murder weapon, believed to be an extremely sharp, serrated long knife, but it was never found. Margaret's missing jewelry was circulated to the public in the form of replicas. Her background, relationships with family, friends, and colleagues were thoroughly examined. In 1991, criminologists Christopher Berry-Dee and Robin Odell noted a possible link between Margaret's unsolved 1978 murder and the 1986 Babes in the Wood murders (later solved). Russell Bishop's father was arrested in 1978 in connection with Margaret's murder but was never charged. A 2006 investigation resulted in the arrest of three men, who were subsequently released without charge. DNA was later extracted from the recovered murder weapon (found in 2002 after being lost in 1974), but the profile was not found in the police database. The case has been noted as possibly linked to serial killer Peter Tobin based on geographical proximity during the time period, though no formal charges have been made. The murder remains unsolved, with Sussex Police periodically reviewing the cold case every two years. The killer earned the nickname 'The Beast of Stanmer Park' from local media and residents.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 27, 2026