MARGARET BLACKMORE

Then wife of Ritchie, and friend of Joe's, who lived a few doors south of 304 (at no. 280, just past the bridge for trivia buffs). Her story:

She went to the studio in the morning, around 9 or 10am. Joe answered the door, looking wild-eyed, and wouldn't let her in. He gave her some money and asked her to go and buy him a pint of milk, which she did. On returning to the studio, she found the street door open and went up. She walked past Mrs. Shenton's body, went up to the landing, stepped over Joe's body and went into the studio. She did not see anybody else in the flat.

Unfortunately, this is all we know. I do not know how or when she left, but if she was really there, it must have been almost immediately, as there is no record of her being seen or interviewed by the police. Pink says he did not see her (but she didn't see him either, and if he was in the office using the telephone, they wouldn't have seen each other anyway).

JIM WILSON

An estate agent dealing with the property. His story:

He was in the shop discussing the terms of the lease with Albert Shenton. He heard a bang, went out of the shop and into the flat. He saw Mrs. Shenton's body, and says he recalls seeing someone bending over the body. He was only in the flat for a few seconds, and didn't get any further than the main entrance. He left immediately, not wanting to get involved, stopping briefly in the shop to tell Mr. Shenton that there seemed to have been some kind of accident. He is adamant that he only heard one bang. Personally, I believe there must have been a longer period of time between the shots than the couple of seconds that Patrick Pink describes, so it could be that Wilson poked his head around the door during that time, and Joe was still alive then.

Pink also says he did not see Wilson, but as Wilson was only there for a few seconds, and Pink was otherwise occupied, that's not surprising. Wilson's story backs up Blackmore's story in one respect; that the street door was open, which was an extremely unusual occurrence.

Shortly afterwards, a band (Chad Carson & The Senators) arrived for a previously booked session. The police were there by that time and the band were not allowed toenter the property.

Also arriving shortly afterward was the Shenton's son, John, who was called to the scene by detectives.

Some theorists have placed another, mystery, person at the scene – this will be examined in the later section on murder theories.

Several newspapers describe a young man who ran out of the studio and down the road, shouting that there had been an accident. It has always been assumed that this was 'Michael', but looking at the terminology ('an accident'), it's highly possible that this was Jim Wilson.

In the biography, Pink states that he asked Michael to call the police, but Michael took fright and ran. Pink does not mention this in any other account that I am currently aware of. I wonder if, in the confusion, he assumed that Jim Wilson was Michael, who was supposed to have left immediately after calling Mrs. Shenton upstairs. Pink was aware of seeing someone and thought it was Michael, as he would not have expected to see anyone else. Wilson would have been in his early 20's then, young enough to be mistaken for Michael; Albert Shenton was the only other person Pink might have expected to be there, and he certainly could not have been confused with Michael.

As far as I know, no one has ever spoken to Michael. It was stated in the biography that Michael was a pseudonym used by the author to protect the man's identity, and I have always assumed that Michael and Thomas MacNamara, who is mentioned in several newspapers, were one and the same. However, Michael is also mentioned in one of the newspapers and it's possible we're dealing with two different people. (Having said that, Patrick Pink was identified by a variety of different names in different reports, which is no doubt the mistake of the journalist involved.)

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