This story comes from Tottenham in north London. It is name you will know even if you haven’t spent time there because of their football teams, or perhaps because of the events which happened here in 2011. The Tottenham riots were instigated following the fatal shooting of 29 year old Mark Duggan by police officers, in Tottenham. The shooting sparked disturbances which spread across London and the country.
Tower Gardens is a popular residential area of Tottenham. Originally known as the White Hart Lane Estate, it was constructed between 1904 and 1928 and was one of the first municipal ‘Cottage Estates’ in the world. The properties began life modestly and remain affordable today – by London standards at least! Ninety one year old William Reilly was a retired builder and a popular resident on the Tower Gardens Estate, having lived with his family there since 1977, although he was not originally a Londoner. In fact, Bill was born in Balla in County Mayo as part of a large family. Known locally as Bill, he was a hardworking family man and the type of person we seemingly see fewer and fewer of today; those local characters who everyone knows and respects. Dare I slip into true crime podcast cliches and call him a pillar of the community? He had a strong work ethic and despite the manual nature of his job, he continued working right up until the age of 78. But of course, age catches up with all of us sooner or later and the same was true of Bill. His sight had suffered and he had become partially sighted. His hearing too was in decline and he had begun to rely on a walking stick and zimmer frame. When we pick up the story in December 2010, Bill had been a widower of 12 years. He had three sons and also enjoyed the company of his six grandchildren. He lived with oldest son James but was also assisted by carers who visited him up to three times a day. Bill had many friends and he and son James regularly attended local pubs for the odd drink, particularly at weekends. The Blue Moon pub was a favourite haunt for the pair and they were well known in here. Despite the double blow of the death of his wife and failing health, Bill had a decent quality of life and was enjoying his retirement.
On the afternoon of 29 December, Bill was at home and enjoying the company of long standing friend Carol Palmer. Christmas television was playing – it was time of year when many of us in the UK are in that post Christmas slumbering state. You know what I mean. Not quite sure of the day of the week let alone the date, eating whatever comes to hand and enjoying perhaps a few drinks as the days merge lazily into one another. This though, wasn’t dissimilar to Bill’s usual routine. He would after all, regularly sit in the living room listening to the TV (due to his poor eyesight), and would be visited by his final carer of the day usually around 8 pm. Just before 5 pm though, Bill had another visitor call to his house – 49 year old Melanie Cole. Bill had first met Melanie whilst he was as the Blue Moon pub with his son James some 18 months previously.
The father and son duo often drank there together at weekends and it was on one such occasion when Melanie had been invited back to Bill’s house, but things had turned sour when Bill suspected her of stealing from him. Indeed, Bill had even given her the nickname of the ‘bottle pincher’ – believing that she had taken a whisky bottle which contained a sum of his loose change. Despite this, and having been warned off, she would still occasionally turn up unannounced at Bill’s home, usually in the hope of nabbing a cigarette or a drink from the pensioner. Melanie was a known alcoholic and drug user, making the lure and pull of a free drink too much for her to resist despite her warnings to stay away from Bill’s home. When she arrived at Bill’s house on this occasion, she smelt strongly of alcohol having clearly been drinking for much of the day. When she arrived, Carol Palmer who had been with Bill, decided to make her excuses and leave. Bill was now alone in the property with Melanie Cole, Bill perhaps extending some festive cheer to someone that he had previously wholly discouraged from visiting him.
Bill’s son James had been out running several errands before returning to the house with a friend, just before 6 pm. The first thing James noticed which he found slightly odd was that his dads bedroom was shut – this would not normally be the case – and his walking stick was in the hallway, which was equally as unusual. Even if he knew this was a little out of the ordinary, James could never have foreseen what he would uncover upon opening his father’s bedroom door. Sat on the edge of his bed was Bill Reilly – 91 years old don’t forget – drenched in blood and having obviously been the recipient of a violent attack.
Try to picture the scene. Blood spattered the bed, the walls and even the ceiling, such was the ferocity of the attack he had endured. Stunned, James asked his father what had happened, to which Bill was able to stammer: ‘It’s your fault, a woman has given me a mauling, she took money from me.’ Even hardened police officers that were called to the scene were shocked by the severity of Bill’s injuries, especially to a fragile elderly man who wouldn’t have been able to put up much of a defence. Bill was rushed to the Royal London Hospital, where the extent of his injuries was confirmed. Multiple skull and facial fractures were compounded by a broken jaw, and confirmed the force that he must have been attacked with. Miraculously, Bill clung on to life – here after all, was a strong willed example of man – but over the following few days he developed an infection which contributed to his health ailing further and made any form of recovery impossible. Bill Reilly died eight days after his horrific attack, on 6 January 2011. The fact he survived for this period of time at such a vulnerable age was indeed incredible, but for an elderly man die in such circumstances was just inexplicable to his family and the local community.
The news that Bill had died in hospital sent the community into shock and also sent police into immediate action with Det Ch Ins John Oldham of the Met Police opening a murder hunt and an investigation into the death was instigated. A post mortem was conducted at the Haringey Mortuary and revealed the cause of death as both pneumonia and blunt force traumatic head injury. The pathologist noted Bill had suffered at least 20 separate injuries to his head and face which were consistent with at least three blows with a heavy object. Back at the scene in Bill’s bedroom police had found wine and spirits bottles all heavily blood stained which seemed to be the weapons that had been used. Bill’s brown jacket was found hanging on his zimmer frame and was heavily blood stained in such a way that it appeared the killer had perhaps attempted to clean their hands on the jacket. Other potential clues lay in the property; a cigarette end found in the living room offered a potential DNA sample, as did an open can of Strongbow cider left in the kitchen. Forensics experts would do their work here and hopefully elicit valuable evidence. Another key element of the early part of the investigation was for the police to speak with the last people to have been with or have Bill.
You will recall that Bill’s friend Carol Palmer had been with him prior to Melanie Cole’s arrival. With police believing that Bill had been attacked merely an hour or so after Carol had left the house, Carol’s information that Melanie Cole was in the house at this probable time of the attack placed Cole at the head of the list of those whom police wished to speak to. On January 7th Melanie Cole was arrested and taken into custody at an East London police station. Cole denied attacking and subsequently murdering the pensioner throughout interview, however, the DNA evidence compiled at the scene was as compelling as her inability to explain what she had been doing at Bill’s house on the day he was so savagely attacked.
It was only two days later, on January 9 that Melanie Cole was charged with murdering the pensioner. In April she stood before the Old Bailey and entered a not guilty plea to the murder of Bill Reilly, whereupon a Crown Court trial was set for August . Cole’s trial began on 8 August, again at the Old Bailey, and was expected to last up to 10 days. As the jury were sworn in, they were all oblivious to the fact that it was not even the first time Cole had stood at the Old Bailey facing charges of murder.
Incredibly only 6 years previously she had been suspected of killing her landlord, 47 year old Robin Williams. Robin had been found dead in a bath at his Tottenham home having been hit over the head with a bottle and also stabbed. Despite forensic tests revealing that Cole had the victim’s blood on her clothes, she walked free after two separate juries failed to reach a verdict. But frustratingly for police, they were of course, unable to disclose this information to the jury so as not to prejudice the case against Cole. These types of situations have always frustrated me, but for the police it must be a source of real annoyance when they spend time and resources in compiling as water tight a case as possible, and they are fully aware of a defendants history but are unable to disclose such information. Clearly, it is very understandable why they are not able to do so – yet it still must be so frustrating for them. I’d be tempted to mention it outside court to a juror wouldn’t you? I guess this is one of the many reasons why I am not a detective.
Regardless, the case against Cole was certainly strong and the police were very hopeful that she would not be able to walk free from the Old Bailey this time around. The prosecution case opened with the suggestion that Cole had turned up to Bill’s house with one thing in mind, and that was that she had no intention of leaving until she had taken some money from him. ‘It is the prosecution case he was murdered for money,’ said prosecutor Zoe Johnson. She said that on the day he died Bill had between £30-80 on him, keeping his money in the pocket of a jacket in his bedroom. She told the court that Melanie Cole was the last person to have seen Bill before he was gravely wounded, and that she was a heavy drinker and drug user. Any doubt that it had been Cole at the house was quashed when it was revealed that she had been positively identified in an ID parade by Carol Palmer (the woman who had been visiting Bill when Cole arrived). Jurors heard how Bill was found by his son James covered in blood sitting on his bed. He had suffered a torrent of heavy blows to his head with a full bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and a bottle of liqueur. Let’s remind ourselves at this point that the recipient of such savagery was a 91 year old man – as vulnerable an individual as one could possibly be. It was also alleged that Cole had visited her friend Wendy Turner following the attack on Bill Reilly. Drenched in blood, she had rocked up in somewhat of a daze saying: ‘I am in trouble. I have got blood all on me, what have I done, what have I done.’ Cole refused to explain what had happened but just continually muttered ‘what have I done, what have I done.’ She then told her pal: ‘If I get caught for this I will go away for a long time.’ Wendy though, wasn’t too shocked by what she had heard and simply assumed that her friend was high on drink or drugs – she may well have heard her friend saying similar things in the past whilst being under the influence, but as you can imagine, to a jury it was all very damning and incriminating testimony.
To compliment this account, the prosecution were also able to outline DNA evidence, where a full profile of the accused was discovered on the liqueur bottle which was believed to have been one of the objects used to batter the pensioner. It was revealed in court that Melanie Cole had been dating one of Bill’s sons some months prior to the attack at the family home. The defence suggested that Cole had gone to the house that fateful day to possibly rekindle their relationship. The prosecution didn’t accept this for a moment, insisting that the reason she went to the house was purely to obtain money. Police found that she had stolen in the region of £80 from Bill which they believed she spent immediately on crack cocaine. Cole was almost certainly aware of where the pensioner kept his money and she had robbed him previously on at least a couple of occasions. Melanie Cole denied that this had been the case, and maintained that when she left the home on 29 December, Bill was perfectly fine and in good spirits and she had left him watching television.
This contradicted the forensic evidence found of course, but her defence continued to portray Cole as someone who would not commit such brutal and violent acts. As we mentioned earlier, she had walked free from the Old Bailey on two occasions when on trial for the murder of a former landlord. She would not swerve justice for a third time.
On the 22nd August the judge sought a verdict from the Old Bailey jury. This time there was no hung jury and no need for any retrial as Cole was found guilty of the murder of the 91 year old. Any fonder memories she may have had from being freed from the same court room a few years earlier dissipated as her fate was announced. She was given an immediate life sentence and ordered to serve 30 years as a minimum period. The judge said: ‘It may be that you are never released and that you die in prison. You battered to death a 91 year old man in his home in order to get money from him for drink or drugs. It may only have been £20. What is truly shocking is the brutality of what you did.’
At the conclusion of the trial the court heard about Melanie Cole’s previous experiences within the Old Bailey. The judge, whilst in agreement with the decision not to reveal the previous trials to the jury, did criticise the CPS for their handling of the case, saying that it had left the prosecution in a disadvantaged position. As an aside, this would not be the one and only criticism he would level towards the CPS. In April 2012 he launched an extraordinary tirade about spelling mistakes in court papers at the Old Bailey. After reading the charge sheet the judge threw the papers down on to the bench in disgust and fumed: ‘It’s quite disgraceful. This is supposed to be a centre of excellence. To have an indictment drawn up by some illiterate idiot is not good enough.’ The judge was certainly an unforgiving one and to think that some say judges are arrogant beyond belief. Surely not.
Outside court DCI Steven Lawrence said: “Bill was a well known figure in the local community. He was a widower with three sons and six grandchildren whose life was sacrificed in order to feed Cole’s addiction to drink and drugs. Melanie Cole is an evil woman and I am pleased with the jury’s unanimous verdict. Although nothing can bring back Bill, I hope today’s sentence will help in some way to alleviate the family’s loss.’ Detective Inspector Keely Smith also worked on the case and offered more light on the feeling within the force, about Melanie Cole’s past: ‘It’s frustrating but careful consideration is given to whether or not we would let the jury know about that case. She wasn’t actually found guilty, there were two hung juries. It was frustrating when she stands in the box and her defence counsel says she’s not a violent person. Who knows what would have happened if she had been convicted back then. She would definitely still be serving her term of imprisonment.’ Of course, we all understand the reasoning and ultimately the tragedy in this case was that an elderly man lost his life at the hands of a woman who, under a different earlier jury, may well have not been able to commit the murder of Bill due to being behind bars. It just makes the crime even harder for the family to take.
Melanie Cole would ultimately serve not even three years of her sentence. On 10 March 2015 she died in St Joseph’s Hospice. She thought she had beaten breast cancer having been diagnosed in 2006, but it returned and spread rapidly through her body to the point where it was untreatable. An inquest into her own death heard that her partner, George Vela, who attended the hearing, was exasperated that physically she had deteriorated so badly that he could not understand how ‘A prison full of people could not pick this up.’ There had been delays in her treatment, but a coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes and although a delay in receiving treatment had prolonged her suffering, it would not have saved her life.
This was of little concern to the family of Bill Reilly. In a statement, his son Sean told how his dad had been much-loved by his friends and family and had been killed in a ‘brutal and mindless act’. He added: ‘He stood for decency and integrity – qualities which Melanie Cole knew nothing about.’ The contrast in how Bill Reilly and Melanie Cole had lived their lives could not have been starker.
So what do you make of what we have heard today.
I talk a lot of this podcast about how someone who is murdered is forever destined to be entwined with the person who kills them. If you search Bill Reilly, you may see a picture of Bill but you are just as likely to see a picture of Cole too. It annoys me, as they lived such separate lives, but what can you do?
And I think the death of an older person evokes particular emotions in us. Why is this? When an elderly person is murdered, it tends to evoke a particularly strong emotional reaction for several reasons – the same as when someone very young is killed. There is something around vulnerability as elderly individuals are often seen as vulnerable and less able to defend themselves, making their murder feel especially cruel. Society generally feels a duty to protect the elderly, so when they are harmed, it strikes a deep chord of injustice. The there is innocence. Elderly people are typically viewed as non-threatening, peaceful, and often far removed from conflict. Their murder seems senseless and unfair, intensifying feelings of shock and sadness. Finally, we have an inbuilt respect for age, maybe less so in the UK than other cultures which have a strong respect for older generations, honouring them for their wisdom and life experience. When an elderly person is murdered, it can feel like an attack on that respect and the dignity they’ve earned over a lifetime.
And why? For a few quid to help Melanie Cole fund her drink and drugs habit. There surely was no need to use the violence she used, but I think we can assume she was too out of it to probably know the damage she was causing until too late.
And what of the family of Bill. They are left with the shocking and violent end to a really good life. The torment of his death and trial by a murderer who probably should not have been free to kill Bill, had the courts convicted Cole earlier. It just isn’t fair is it?
This story was released as on an episode of the UK True Crime Podcast, episode 410, ‘An Ordinary Day’.
Sources:
Murdered man, 91, identified after Tottenham attack – BBC News
Woman jailed for life for murdering OAP with wine bottle | The Independent | The Independent
Woman jailed over Mayo man’s murder – The Irish Times
Wine bottle killer faces life | London Evening Standard | Evening Standard