AlexOC
12-12-2008, 08:44 PM
Short Story:
A Paedophile who served 4 months for abuse/rape to a child was found stabbed in his caravan after months of abuse and hate from the community causing him to move into the caravan, he was found with mutilation to his genitals.
Full:
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1094055/Convicted-paedophile-struck-stabbed-death-stripped-mutilated-suspected-vigilante-attack.html
A paedophile was hacked to death and his genitals mutilated in a frenzied assault by a suspected mob of vigilantes.
Andrew Cunningham, 52, was found naked and soaked in blood at his caravan home in Wandsworth, south London.
Police are investigating whether the attack was an act of vengeance.
He had served four months in prison for a sex attack on a local schoolgirl aged 15, in 2000, and was on the Sex Offenders' Register until March this year.
But he may also have been targeted over accusations he molested the two-year-old daughter of a barmaid at a local pub.
Mr Cunningham was found on Wednesday with multiple stab wounds to his head, neck and chest on the site of the Riverside Haulage company, where he worked as a truck driver and also kept his caravan.
A man who lives nearby claimed: 'I saw a group of about three or four kids hanging around that night.
They were about 16 or 17 and they were trying to have a fight with someone and shouting, "Come here, come here, come here". They were being very aggressive and looking at the caravan.'
Police said Mr Cunningham may have known his killer or killers because there was no sign of damage to his door, which he usually kept locked.
Recently, drinkers at the local pub claimed he had groped a barmaid's daughter. Although this allegation was never reported to police, mobs reportedly drove past his caravan chanting: 'Die, paedo, die.'
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/12/article-1094055-02C81FA8000005DC-371_468x312.jpg
Alan Cunningham was discovered stabbed to death in a caravan in Wandsworth south-west London. Above, a police cordon at the scene
Mr Cunningham moved to the caravan because vigilantes set fire to a bag of rubbish outside his former house in Wandsworth in 2003. It came after he was arrested over allegations he was openly grooming children. He was released without charge.
Yesterday Wazir Zadran, a 23-year-old worker at a nearby fish factory, said: 'I heard it was a planned attack but do not know any more than that.
'Everyone knew he lived there and everyone knew he was a paedophile. I used to hear him listening to the radio every night. It was always really loud, just blaring out music.'
Joe Hart, 46, a former neighbour, claimed: 'He used to befriend young lads and invite them round, letting them do what they wanted. He'd ask the boys to bring over young girls and then make passes at them.'
Mr Cunningham was a father-of-five who was separated from his former partner. His body was discovered by his employer, known as Rodney, after he failed to turn up for work.
He said: 'He had a stab wound in his neck and there was blood everywhere. The bed was soaked with it and his head was lying in it. He was a lovely man, he couldn't do enough for me. The customers loved him, people used to say, "I don't want anyone else, I want Andy".'
Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/12/article-1094055-02C8F051000005DC-495_468x313.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/12/article-1094055-02C8F051000005DC-495_468x313_popup.jpg)
The scene at Riverside Road at Windmill Business Centre, Wandsworth, south London, where Andrew Cunningham's bloodied, naked body was found
Alan Hawkins, 52, who has a welding workshop near the site and occasionally asked Mr Cunningham to deliver steel bars in his lorry, said: 'You would knock on his door if you needed him.'
But yesterday there was little sympathy from drivers passing by the scene of Mr Cunningham's death. One white van driver shouted: 'He was a nonce, he deserved it.'
A man who had laid a bunch of £1.99 flowers the day earlier removed them and said: 'I put them here yesterday because someone was killed but when I found out he was a paedophile I thought, "I am not going to leave flowers for someone like that".'
But another bunch of flowers was laid by a 15-year-old girl called Lucy, who said: 'I used to go round his caravan instead of going to school. He never laid a finger on me. He told me to go back to school.'
The girl, who was accompanied by her father, was later taken to Sutton police station to make a statement.
A tag on her flowers read: 'To Andy, the best man alive no matter what people say. To those who hate, you may carry on hateing (sic). There was no need for what happened to you.
'Me and the family will miss you. We all love you, may you rest in peace. Love Philip, Lucy, Andrew, Alan, Connor, Carol, David and everyone who really knew you.'
Linda Whelan, 43, a friend of Mr Cunningham, said: 'He was a lovely guy. He did used to like younger girls. Andrew was in his 50s and liked girls who were about 19 but that doesn't make him a paedophile. I can only imagine if he slept with someone under 16 that he didn't know she was underage.
'He wasn't someone who got into fight, but he could look after himself. There must have been a few of them. It's absolutely horrible.'
A police source said detectives were focussing on recent incidents rather than the 2001 conviction, and added: 'Damage was caused to his genitals. He was loathed by a large number of people so we have a lot of potential suspects.'
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola, leading the investigation, said: 'This was a vicious and brutal attack, and whoever carried out the assault is still out there and could carry out a similar attack on anyone else.
'It could well be he invited his killer into his caravan. It could be he knew who his killers were. We're currently at an early stage in our inquiries, and are keeping an open mind.'
DCI Scola said people in the local area 'knew about his history'. Officers are studying CCTV film from around the murder scene.
Two months ago, an elderly paedophile in Norfolk, Gordon Boon, 73, was found strangled in woodland while on licence from prison for sexually abusing a girl of eight and two others aged 13. His killer remains at large and police have been hampered by a lack of people coming forward to help because of his past.
Eight years ago, notorious paedophile William Malcolm, 47, of North London, accused of molesting children as young as three, was shot dead in a suspected attack by vigilantes after he walked free from court on a technicality.
A Paedophile who served 4 months for abuse/rape to a child was found stabbed in his caravan after months of abuse and hate from the community causing him to move into the caravan, he was found with mutilation to his genitals.
Full:
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1094055/Convicted-paedophile-struck-stabbed-death-stripped-mutilated-suspected-vigilante-attack.html
A paedophile was hacked to death and his genitals mutilated in a frenzied assault by a suspected mob of vigilantes.
Andrew Cunningham, 52, was found naked and soaked in blood at his caravan home in Wandsworth, south London.
Police are investigating whether the attack was an act of vengeance.
He had served four months in prison for a sex attack on a local schoolgirl aged 15, in 2000, and was on the Sex Offenders' Register until March this year.
But he may also have been targeted over accusations he molested the two-year-old daughter of a barmaid at a local pub.
Mr Cunningham was found on Wednesday with multiple stab wounds to his head, neck and chest on the site of the Riverside Haulage company, where he worked as a truck driver and also kept his caravan.
A man who lives nearby claimed: 'I saw a group of about three or four kids hanging around that night.
They were about 16 or 17 and they were trying to have a fight with someone and shouting, "Come here, come here, come here". They were being very aggressive and looking at the caravan.'
Police said Mr Cunningham may have known his killer or killers because there was no sign of damage to his door, which he usually kept locked.
Recently, drinkers at the local pub claimed he had groped a barmaid's daughter. Although this allegation was never reported to police, mobs reportedly drove past his caravan chanting: 'Die, paedo, die.'
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/12/article-1094055-02C81FA8000005DC-371_468x312.jpg
Alan Cunningham was discovered stabbed to death in a caravan in Wandsworth south-west London. Above, a police cordon at the scene
Mr Cunningham moved to the caravan because vigilantes set fire to a bag of rubbish outside his former house in Wandsworth in 2003. It came after he was arrested over allegations he was openly grooming children. He was released without charge.
Yesterday Wazir Zadran, a 23-year-old worker at a nearby fish factory, said: 'I heard it was a planned attack but do not know any more than that.
'Everyone knew he lived there and everyone knew he was a paedophile. I used to hear him listening to the radio every night. It was always really loud, just blaring out music.'
Joe Hart, 46, a former neighbour, claimed: 'He used to befriend young lads and invite them round, letting them do what they wanted. He'd ask the boys to bring over young girls and then make passes at them.'
Mr Cunningham was a father-of-five who was separated from his former partner. His body was discovered by his employer, known as Rodney, after he failed to turn up for work.
He said: 'He had a stab wound in his neck and there was blood everywhere. The bed was soaked with it and his head was lying in it. He was a lovely man, he couldn't do enough for me. The customers loved him, people used to say, "I don't want anyone else, I want Andy".'
Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/12/article-1094055-02C8F051000005DC-495_468x313.jpg (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/12/article-1094055-02C8F051000005DC-495_468x313_popup.jpg)
The scene at Riverside Road at Windmill Business Centre, Wandsworth, south London, where Andrew Cunningham's bloodied, naked body was found
Alan Hawkins, 52, who has a welding workshop near the site and occasionally asked Mr Cunningham to deliver steel bars in his lorry, said: 'You would knock on his door if you needed him.'
But yesterday there was little sympathy from drivers passing by the scene of Mr Cunningham's death. One white van driver shouted: 'He was a nonce, he deserved it.'
A man who had laid a bunch of £1.99 flowers the day earlier removed them and said: 'I put them here yesterday because someone was killed but when I found out he was a paedophile I thought, "I am not going to leave flowers for someone like that".'
But another bunch of flowers was laid by a 15-year-old girl called Lucy, who said: 'I used to go round his caravan instead of going to school. He never laid a finger on me. He told me to go back to school.'
The girl, who was accompanied by her father, was later taken to Sutton police station to make a statement.
A tag on her flowers read: 'To Andy, the best man alive no matter what people say. To those who hate, you may carry on hateing (sic). There was no need for what happened to you.
'Me and the family will miss you. We all love you, may you rest in peace. Love Philip, Lucy, Andrew, Alan, Connor, Carol, David and everyone who really knew you.'
Linda Whelan, 43, a friend of Mr Cunningham, said: 'He was a lovely guy. He did used to like younger girls. Andrew was in his 50s and liked girls who were about 19 but that doesn't make him a paedophile. I can only imagine if he slept with someone under 16 that he didn't know she was underage.
'He wasn't someone who got into fight, but he could look after himself. There must have been a few of them. It's absolutely horrible.'
A police source said detectives were focussing on recent incidents rather than the 2001 conviction, and added: 'Damage was caused to his genitals. He was loathed by a large number of people so we have a lot of potential suspects.'
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola, leading the investigation, said: 'This was a vicious and brutal attack, and whoever carried out the assault is still out there and could carry out a similar attack on anyone else.
'It could well be he invited his killer into his caravan. It could be he knew who his killers were. We're currently at an early stage in our inquiries, and are keeping an open mind.'
DCI Scola said people in the local area 'knew about his history'. Officers are studying CCTV film from around the murder scene.
Two months ago, an elderly paedophile in Norfolk, Gordon Boon, 73, was found strangled in woodland while on licence from prison for sexually abusing a girl of eight and two others aged 13. His killer remains at large and police have been hampered by a lack of people coming forward to help because of his past.
Eight years ago, notorious paedophile William Malcolm, 47, of North London, accused of molesting children as young as three, was shot dead in a suspected attack by vigilantes after he walked free from court on a technicality.