Member-only story
Brutal Stabbing of Woman on Train Unsolved Despite Killer’s Blood Found at Scene
Only one person on the busy train heard Deborah Linsley scream, and they did not alert an official.
Deborah Linsley was a 26-year-old hotel manager living in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally from London, England, she was the daughter of Marguerite Linsley, a retired DSS fraud investigator, and Arthur Linsley, a retired insurance broker.
In March 1988, Deborah returned to England to attend a hotel management course and prepare for her brother Gordon’s wedding, at which she was a bridesmaid. She stayed with her parents in Bromley, a town in Greater London.
On March 23, Deborah’s brother dropped her off at the Petts Wood railway station, and she boarded the 2:16 PM train from Orpington to London Victoria.
The train had two kinds of carriages. Some were fully open like the average commuter train nowadays, but others were unconnected compartment coaches with side doors leading onto the tracks. Deborah sat in one of these old-fashioned six-person compartments.
The train arrived at platform 2 in London Victoria at 2:50 PM, and a British Rail porter began conducting a routine walk-through. When the staffer reached one of the compartments, they found Deborah’s lifeless body slumped on the floor and surrounded by blood.