The Old London Affair - The Curiously Overlooked - Australian True Crime
Australian True Crime - The Portland Murders
The Old London Affair - Part 2 - The Curiously Overlooked
In 2013, a cold case detective named Tom Hogan sat down with eleven hundred reports and began reading. The investigation into the murders of Claire Acocks and Margaret Penny had been running, in various forms, for more than twenty years. Five thousand people had been interviewed. Detectives had worked in every Australian state. No one had been charged.
By the time Hogan was deep enough into the file to form a picture, something was bothering him. Not one thing. A shape in the negative space. A figure the investigation had looked at briefly, decided didn't fit, and moved past.
He would later describe Robert Penny, Margaret's husband, as "curiously overlooked."
In part two of The Old London Affair, we go inside the investigation: the suspects who died before they could be cleared, the fugitive from a separate Adelaide family massacre who turned up in Portland one month after the murders, the phone intercept that caught an elderly man discussing a theory he had no good reason to have, and the DNA result that arrived on day two of the committal hearing and changed everything.
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Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay
Sources
• The Standard, Warrnambool. "Portland's salon killings still chill 20 years on." 2011.
• Wallace, L. (2012). Horrible Man: Sinister Secrets and Truths Untold — The Portland Hair Salon Murders. Fontaine Press.
• The Standard, Warrnambool. "Husband Robert Penny charged over cold case murders at Portland hair salon." April 13, 2015.
• The Standard, Warrnambool. "Families left in the dark." June 30, 2017.
• Wright, T. "Portland hairdresser murder mystery persists after all these years." The Age, October 2, 2017.
• 3AW. "Man charged over Portland hairdressing murders dies while on bail." March 2016.
• Coroner Jacqui Hawkins, findings of inquest, June 30, 2017. Cited via The Standard and The Age.
• Presswire. Statement from Aphra Williams regarding film project, June 29, 2017.
• News. "Renewed search for SA murder fugitive." October 2, 2016.
The Old London Affair - Part 2 - The Curiously Overlooked
In 2013, a cold case detective named Tom Hogan sat down with eleven hundred reports and began reading. The investigation into the murders of Claire Acocks and Margaret Penny had been running, in various forms, for more than twenty years. Five thousand people had been interviewed. Detectives had worked in every Australian state. No one had been charged.
By the time Hogan was deep enough into the file to form a picture, something was bothering him. Not one thing. A shape in the negative space. A figure the investigation had looked at briefly, decided didn't fit, and moved past.
He would later describe Robert Penny, Margaret's husband, as "curiously overlooked."
In part two of The Old London Affair, we go inside the investigation: the suspects who died before they could be cleared, the fugitive from a separate Adelaide family massacre who turned up in Portland one month after the murders, the phone intercept that caught an elderly man discussing a theory he had no good reason to have, and the DNA result that arrived on day two of the committal hearing and changed everything.
Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast
Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast
Contact us - [email protected]
Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay
Sources
• The Standard, Warrnambool. "Portland's salon killings still chill 20 years on." 2011.
• Wallace, L. (2012). Horrible Man: Sinister Secrets and Truths Untold — The Portland Hair Salon Murders. Fontaine Press.
• The Standard, Warrnambool. "Husband Robert Penny charged over cold case murders at Portland hair salon." April 13, 2015.
• The Standard, Warrnambool. "Families left in the dark." June 30, 2017.
• Wright, T. "Portland hairdresser murder mystery persists after all these years." The Age, October 2, 2017.
• 3AW. "Man charged over Portland hairdressing murders dies while on bail." March 2016.
• Coroner Jacqui Hawkins, findings of inquest, June 30, 2017. Cited via The Standard and The Age.
• Presswire. Statement from Aphra Williams regarding film project, June 29, 2017.
• News. "Renewed search for SA murder fugitive." October 2, 2016.