Lesley Whittle

The murder of Lesley Whittle occurred in January 1975, in the United Kingdom and dominated national headlines for 11 months. The investigation of her kidnap and murder involved over 400 officers from the Shropshire, Staffordshire and West Midlands police forces and the Metropolitan Police.

Whittle, aged 17, was kidnapped from her home in Highley, Shropshire, by Donald Neilson, who by that time had committed over 400 burglaries and three fatal shootings. He was known to the British press as the Black Panther, for the black balaclava he wore during robberies of post offices.

Neilson held Whittle in an underground drainage shaft of a reservoir at Bathpool Park in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire. He had placed a hood over her head, left her naked, and tethered her to the side of the shaft by a wire noose. After what was later seen as a bungled police operation, including two failed attempts to engage with Neilson's demand for a ransom of £50,000, her body was found hanging in the shaft on 23 March 1975.

After being arrested 11 months later in Mansfield, in July 1976 at Oxford Crown Court Neilson was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Whittle, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Three weeks later he was convicted of the murder of three post office workers, and given three further life sentences.

Lesley Whittle, born 1957, was the daughter of George Whittle, the founder of Whittle Coaches, and his girlfriend Dorothy. At the time of her kidnap, Lesley was a student at Wulfrun College, Wolverhampton.

To avoid estate taxes, George Whittle gave three houses plus £70,000 in cash to Dorothy, £107,000 to his son Ronald, and £82,000 to Lesley during his life. He died in 1970, aged 65. As he had left nothing to her, George's estranged wife, Selina Whittle, began legal proceedings in May 1972 to obtain reasonable provision from her husband's estate. The story was picked up by the Daily Express.

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