Sharon Hoare

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Fulham, London, England

Summary:

Sharon Hoare, a 19-year-old from Bristol, moved to London in pursuit of a modeling career but instead became entangled in the world of high-class prostitution. In August 1991, she was found brutally murdered in her Fulham flat, having been beaten, throttled, and bludgeoned. Despite extensive investigations, her killer remains at large.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

She was last known to have returned to her flat alone in Brompton Park Crescent by taxi at about 2am on 10 August 1991 after she had been turned away from a London hotel. Sharon Hoare was found strangled in her flat in Brompton Park Crescent, Fulham on 10 August 1991 at about 3pm by her flatmate. She was found naked on her bedroom floor having been beaten, throttled and bludgeoned. It was thought that she had been hit over the head with a blunt instrument and then strangled with a rope or ligature of some kind. Sharon Hoare also had injuries to her hands and arms as though she had attempted to defend herself. The police said that they thought that she had been murdered at about 2.30am. It was noted that during the struggle, the handset on her phone had been knocked off and that all subsequent calls that came were made to her number would have met an engaged tone. The police also added that there were no signs of Sharon Hoare having been raped.

Additional Details:

Sharon Hoare had grown up in Bristol, England where she lived with her family in areas like Bedminster and later Yate. After leaving school, she completed a secretarial course and worked as a typist. Ambitious and drawn to the glamour of the fashion world, Sharon moved to London in pursuit of a modeling career. She initially lived with a friend in Fulham who was already involved in escort work. Unbeknownst to her family back in Bristol, Sharon quickly entered the world of high-class prostitution. Using aliases such as "Nicky" or "Siobhan," she worked through escort agencies, meeting clients in upscale West End hotels. These encounters could earn her up to £500 per session, a substantial sum in 1991. The police later said that they thought that she had been murdered by a client or by someone that she knew and someone that she saw regularly. They noted that whilst it was possible for someone to get into her ground-floor flat from the outside, there were no signs of a forced entry and the building had a system of entry phones and a permanent security guard who patrolled the block. The team interviewed over 800 people, including clients, escorts, and others in the industry, and took blood samples from many suspects. Four people were arrested during the investigation, with five emerging as possible suspects, but no charges were ever filed. On 16 August 1991 another prostitute, a 24-year-old woman, was attacked in Kensington, about a mile from Fulham, and was left for dead, and the police said that they thought that she had been attacked by the same man that had murdered Sharon Hoare. Sharon Hoare's ex-boyfriend was later arrested at Sharon Hoare's funeral on 31 October 1991 after he attempted to enter the church against her families wishes. Her funeral took place at the Grace Evangelical Church in Westerleigh near Bristol. In a 2013 Channel 5 documentary series Killers: Behind Bars, Professor David Wilson, a criminologist and former prison governor, suggested the case should be re-examined in light of Anthony Hardy, the notorious "Camden Ripper." Hardy, convicted in 2003 of murdering three women and dismembering their bodies, had a history of mental illness and violence toward sex workers. Despite extensive efforts, including appeals on programs like Crimewatch, Sharon Hoare's murder remains unsolved more than three decades later.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 27, 2026