Linda Cook

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Portsmouth, Hampshire

Summary:

Linda Cook, a 24-year-old barmaid, was raped and murdered in Portsmouth, England on December 9, 1986, while walking home from a friend's house. Her body was discovered at Merry Row, with evidence of brutal stamping injuries. An innocent man, Michael Shirley, was wrongly convicted but exonerated in 2003 based on DNA evidence, marking the first time in the UK that a conviction was quashed on newly available DNA evidence. The case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

At approximately 23:30 on December 8, 1986, Linda Cook left her home on Victoria Road North, Portsmouth, to visit a friend on Sultan Road in Buckland. She left her friend's house shortly after midnight on December 9 to walk home. Between 00:30 and 01:00, she was attacked on a patch of wasteland known as Merry Row, adjacent to Lake Road. Her assailant raped her, then stamped upon her with such violence that her spine was fractured, her larynx was crushed, and her jaw was broken. He left a distinctive footprint from a trainer with the word 'FLASH' imprinted on the sole on her abdomen. Her half-naked body was discovered the following afternoon on December 9 in the Merry Row wasteland.

Additional Details:

The murder occurred shortly after a series of six sexual assaults in the Buckland area between October and December 1986, and the killer was initially dubbed the 'Beast of Buckland' by media. When police revealed footprint evidence from a trainer matching the word 'FLASH,' the case became known as the 'Cinderella Murder.' Due to public pressure to solve the crime quickly, Michael Shirley, an 18-year-old Royal Navy able seaman stationed at HMS Apollo in Portsmouth, was arrested in January 1987 after being identified by Deena Fogg, a woman he had met at Joanna's nightclub on the night of the murder. Shirley owned a pair of the distinctive 'FLASH' trainers, and a blood test showed his blood type was compatible with semen traces (though this was shared by roughly one-third of British males). He was convicted in January 1988 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1992, the case was highlighted as one of 110 potential miscarriages of justice in a report to the Home Office. In 2002-2003, new DNA tests on semen swabs proved that the semen was not attributable to Shirley. The Court of Appeal quashed his conviction in July 2003, after he had served 16 years in prison. This marked the first time in the UK that a conviction was quashed based on newly available DNA evidence, with support from the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The case was reopened following Shirley's exoneration. Retired Norfolk police constable Chris Clark has suggested that serial rapist and murderer Paul Barry Taylor, convicted in 2012 of murdering Sally Ann McGrath in 1979 and of other sexual offences, may be responsible for Linda Cook's murder. Taylor had moved to Fareham in 1985, just six miles from Portsmouth, and a pattern of sexual assaults followed his movements. A witness reported seeing a man resembling Taylor running near Merry Row on the night of the murder. David Fuller, a hospital electrician convicted of two murders in 1987, was investigated but eliminated as a suspect. As of recent reports, the case remains unsolved, with Hampshire Police periodically appealing for information.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 24, 2026