Expert: Mark Smith - 11/23/2005

Question
Thank you so much!  I'm pretty sure the case in question is the one in 1947, as my father remembered that it had something to do with a lake or pond, and he believed he heard about it shortly before he met my mother (which was in 1950). Strangely enough, I had heard of the 1955 case quite recently, although the short reference I have doesn't mention Potters Bar - only the general area where it took place.

Do you happen to know where I might find any more detailed information about the 1947 case? While there is a chance that my father's aunt exaggerated her involvement in this case, he got the impression that she was in some way related to either the victim or the people who found the body, and had given some kind of statement to police. We are trying to solve some very puzzling genealogical mysteries in our family - this may be a piece of one of them.

Once again, thank you very much.  I stumbled across this site by accident, and am delighted with your knowledge and quick response.

Barbara
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Followup To
Question -
There is a family story that a relative was in some peripheral way involved in a murder that took place in Potters Bar sometime after WWII but before the mid 1950s.  I have a reasonable knowledge of crime and murder in the UK, but can't find any mention of this crime.  My father remembers it as being in the national newspapers (he lived in Hull at the time and read about it), but doesn't remember anything else. Have you ever heard of this?  We are in Canada, so I can't check archives etc. personally.
Answer -
Hello.
There were two famous murders in that area during the period 1945-55, both by an amazing coincidence took place on the Potters Bar golf course.
The first was in 1947. 44 year old railwayman Albert Welsh went missing after going for a walk on 18 November 1947. Six months later in May 1948 two schoolboys discovered his severed arm in the undergrowth near the 7th green. The police dragged the pond near by and found the rest of his dismembered body. The killer was never caught.
The second occurred on 29 April 1955. Mrs Elizabeth Currell took her dog out for a walk on the golf course and never returned. The next morning her body was found near the 17th tee, she had been battered to death with an iron tee-marker that lay nearby with a bloody palm print on it. Over 9000 palm prints were taken in the area and one was found to match 17 year old Michael Queripel. He confessed to the motiveless murder and was sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure, the term given to life imprisonment when the prisoner is under 18 and too young to be executed.
These are the two most likely cases, but there could have been more, less publicised killings.
Mark  

Answer
Hello Barbara. I found the information in a book entitled "Murder Whereabouts" by J H H Gaute and Robin Odell published in 1986 by Harrap Ltd. It has details of the case in the Golf Course chapter.
The best source would be the newspapers of the time, especially the local ones, but I don't think they are available online yet.
Perhaps if you contacted a Hertfordshire or Potters Bar historical society or family history group they might be able to send you copies of the local newspaper reports.
Mark