An assortment of protagonists has been suggested, including the Kray twins, the Richardson gang, a blackmailer (unidentified) or some black magic outfit or other that Joe may or may not have been involved with. The most popular methods of entry put forward are either the murderer slipped in from the street while the door was open and hid somewhere, or that he came in through one of the two traps or the skylight on the roof. The method of exit is a resounding vote for the roof, that the murderer climbed out and hid on the roof until the police had gone, and then climbed down the back of the building somehow.

The only other prints found on the gun other than those who were present on the day belonged to Heinz. He hadn't been near 304 in weeks and, after five hours of questioning by detectives, was released. That Heinz was the murderer is one of the most outlandish theories yet and seems based solely on the two facts that the gun was his and that Joe owed him money. Taking the second point as a motive, there were probably about three hundred potential murderers around at the time. It may also be partly due to an unfortunate remark made by this author some years ago to the effect that "I suppose we shall hear that someone saw Heinz climbing down the drainpipe next", in response to a bunch of particularly ridiculous theories in circulation. About six months later, the comment came back to me in a Chinese Whisper, "Did you know that…" which just goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you hear.

Because of the lack of an extra set of prints on the gun, some murder exponents have deduced that there was a second weapon involved, and the shotgun was planted to make it look like suicide. All the injuries that Joe and Mrs. Shenton suffered were consistent with the shotgun, and as the police indicated right from the start that they were "…not really looking for another party", the idea of the second weapon must be consigned to the wild conjecture file.

As for the entry or exit via the roof, both the traps and the skylight had been sealed shut during the construction of the studio in 1960, and the skylight had also been painted over. Having said that, Joe was not the owner of the building, and had the owner required access to the roof from the inside during the intervening period, he would have been perfectly within his right to unseal the traps. There is no indication either way as to whether this was ever done or not.

Let's take a closer look at the suspected culprits…The Kray Twins were supposed to have shown an interest in the Tornados, and the Blue Rondos had played at a Kray- owned club in the Highbury Corner area a couple of times, a mile or two south of 304. The Krays did have a lot of interest in the entertainment world, and north and east London was their 'patch', so it's possible that Joe at least met them once or twice. While I can stretch my belief a little to say they may have tried for protection money from Joe, believing him to be a much richer man than he actually was, to kill someone like him was not their MO. Their crimes of violence were generally aimed at their 'own kind', rival gang members and the like; besides which, Joe was too high profile and at the same time, too 'small fry' for them to risk an arrest over. The Richardsons were from the South side of London, and vehement rivals of the Krays. Despite rumours that the Richardsons may have tried to get to the Krays through Joe somehow, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever of any Joe-Richardsons link. It's extremely unlikely that somebody like Joe would have ended up a pawn between two rival gangs, even IF there was a Joe-Kray link and IF the Richardsons knew about it. Both gangs have been accused in an earlier incident when Joe was found half conscious in his car, apparently having been beaten up, but the truth seems to be that no-one has a clue what really happened. It would appear that the gangland fraternity is merely a handy scapegoat to pin the blame on.

Funnily enough, the 'black magic people' would seem to be the most likely perpetrators (if any of them can really be described as "likely"). If Joe was really as involved as we are led to believe, and he had maybe witnessed or heard about some dubious ritual or goings-on, this could provide a possible motive. However, the identities of the people involved are so vague that it's unclear exactly who we're trying to blame here.

Again, whom any 'blackmailer' involved in a murder plot might be is unknown. From what little we know about the blackmail attempts on Joe, they seem to have been amateur demands for fairly small amounts of money made by vague acquaintances out to make a quick buck. Although Joe maintained throughout his life that he was being blackmailed because of his homosexuality, no specific demand has ever been referred to, and it would be more likely that a blackmailer would threaten or carry out violence to a relative or friend of the subject, rather than just bump off the subject themselves; after all, if the person is dead, how will they get their money?

Of course, all the murder theories by necessity place an unknown person on the scene. Although the knee-jerk reaction of the police was to accuse Patrick Pink, he was quickly cleared, and despite his changing story and occasionally evasive manner, few people have ever seriously considered him a suspect. As for Mrs. Shenton, it would have been a little difficult for her to blast herself in the back with a shotgun, fall down the stairs, reload, shoot Joe and somehow throw the gun down next to him; although I have actually heard it suggested that maybe she was the triggerman (or woman)!

An intriguing theory arose from a séance (at which this author was not present; somebody who claims to have been there related this to me), in which a young man named "Frank Rust" gave the following beyond-the-grave information: Frank said he was an 18-year-old boyfriend of Joe's, who lived at 'The Close' in Holloway, and was at 304 the morning of the shooting. He said it should have been he who received the first, fatal blast, and not Mrs. Shenton. He hanged himself in his garage shortly after, unable to bear the thought that it might all have been his fault. Why he should have been shot, he does not say. Research has shown that although there was no street actually named "The Close", there was an area known locally by that name, on the other side of the road from 304, about half a mile north. This was largely industrial buildings and garages, and no longer exists. An interesting letter surfaced some time after this story was told to me, which was published in a music magazine and expressed great sadness at Joe's premature demise. The letter came from one Linda Rust of The Avenue, Hampstead. Unfortunately, all attempts to trace her have met with dead ends.

Whatever one may make of the story, Frank Rust would seem not to be the murderer anyway, merely another intended victim, if he even existed. It was supposedly stated at the inquest that a 'young boy' – too young to be Patrick Pink (who was somewhere around 22-ish at the time), Jim Wilson or any of the other numerous people alleged to have dropped in – was at 304 that morning, but as that was told to me by someone who had it told to him by a friend of someone who's third cousin twice removed might have known the cleaning lady (or something like that), I doubt there's anything to it. Besides which, we already know that Michael had been there, and he was only about 17 at the time, so would seem most likely to have been him, if anyone.

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