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The following reconstruction is created assuming that all the people who say they were at 304 that morning really were there, and did all the things they claimed to have done. It does not take into account any 'extra' persons. Obviously there are many permutations possible, but really I have done this just to show that it would be just about possible for everyone to be telling the truth, or something like it. |
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After breakfast, which lasts from around 9am - 9.30am, Joe goes to the control room. Patrick Pink clears up from breakfast then goes into the office (he often acted as a kind of unofficial secretary at 304). Some time later, probably around 9.45am, Margaret Blackmore arrives. For some reason Joe himself answers the door, and asks her to go and buy milk. He returns to the second floor. Michael arrives around 10am. Pink answers the door this time; they exchange pleasantries and Pink goes to tell Joe that Michael is there. Joe does not come down but shouts down to Pink to send Michael home for the day. He maybe also asks Pink to get Michael to ask Mrs. Shenton to come up. On the way out, Michael pops into the shop and relays the message. Mrs. Shenton goes up to see Joe, stopping briefly to speak to Pink. Around 10.15am, she and Joe have a brief argument, lasting three or four minutes. The first shot is fired around 10.20am. Mrs. Shenton falls down the stairs as Pink comes out of the office, having heard the bang. It is at this point that Jim Wilson, also having heard what he knows to be a shot, runs out of the shop and up the stairs, pops his head round the door long enough to see Mrs. Shenton's body, and bolts immediately. He sees Pink bending over the body, but Pink doesn't see him as he has his back to the main door, and Wilson is there probably less than twenty seconds. He stops briefly to tell Albert Shenton there has been an accident; he probably doesn't even go into the shop but shouts through the open door. Joe is now reloading the gun. Pink runs back to the office to call the police, and, while he is on the phone, Joe fires the second shot, killing himself instantly. Meanwhile, Margaret Blackmore has returned with the milk, and, finding the street door open, she goes in, sees the bodies, steps over them and looks briefly into the studio, sees no-one else around who needs help, and leaves, maybe to telephone for help from her own flat, which is only a few doors away. Blackmore and Pink don't see each other because he is on the phone by now. He finishes his phone call and waits for the police; it is about 10.35am. The police and ambulance arrive, and the press almost simultaneously; Mrs. Shenton is hurriedly removed to an ambulance, dying on the way to hospital. The police investigation begins; scene of crime photographers and forensics experts document the physical evidence, while detectives start interviewing Pink and Albert Shenton, and also his son John, who arrives a few minutes later. The pathologist arrives to declare life extinct. Joe's body is taken to the morgue, where DC John Corner identifies him. There will be a post-mortem and an inquest on March 9th. The gun is impounded for evidence. The inquiry team starts interviewing potential suspects. The scene is officially sealed until the investigation is over, after which it is cleaned and the receivers move in to assess the contents and arrange the auction which is held to raise money to pay Joe's creditors. |
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