Murder of Deborah Linsley

Although there were about 70 people on the train, and Linsley apparently fought and injured her attacker, only one passenger reported hearing anything suspicious.

Stored blood evidence from the scene allowed the case to be re-examined a decade later using DNA technology, and in 2002 it was re-opened with a major publicity campaign.

[2] On the afternoon of Wednesday 23 March,[6] Gordon gave Deborah a lift to Petts Wood station,[1] where she boarded the Orpington-to-London train at 14:16.

[2] The train was a 4EPB electric multiple unit number 5115 with compartment stock[1][7] made up of a mixture of carriage types.

[10] Following the murder, British Rail emphasised that trains always had at least some corridor-type carriages to give passengers a choice of corridor or non-corridor compartments.

[2] Linsley had defence wounds on her hands,[2] and a spokesman for Scotland Yard said that she may have been trying to defend herself from a sex attack,[11] though police did not find any evidence of sexual interference.

The cortege was accompanied by a police escort between the church and cemetery,[13] where Deborah Linsley was buried in the bridesmaid's dress she would have worn at her brother's wedding.

The au pair who heard the attack was criticised by the Coroner for not pulling the communication cord, despite believing that someone was being raped.

[12] In response to Linsley's murder, British Rail's Eastern Region ordered its guards to proactively patrol their trains and be particularly observant for women travelling alone.

Likewise, the police advised that passengers should be vigilant on the railway generally, but particularly to "avoid [carriages] where the only means of escape was directly onto the line or platform".

[4] A detective has suggested more recently that not only was the attacker injured and probably bloodied but likely "behaved in a different way after the murder", which friends or relatives may have noticed at the time.