A new BBC documentary airing tonight (13) will delve into the unsolved murder of Alfrded Swinscow, and claims a family friend with ‘a history of violence’ was one of two suspects police have identified.
Mr Swinscoe’s remains were discovered in a field near Ravenshead last year and his family identified him by a pair of odd socks he was wearing.
The investigation by the BBC has established that a family friend is one of two suspects in the unsolved murder.
Both suspects in the murder were known to Alfred and one was a family friend with a history of violence, it will reveal.
The Odd Socks Murder, which will be broadcast on BBC One in the East Midlands also uncovers that Alfred’s family gave one of the suspect’s names to the police at the time of his disappearance
The documentary raises questions about the thoroughness of both that original investigation – and the current murder inquiry.
Alfred (54) was last seen alive by his family in the Miners Arms pub in the Derbyshire village of Pinxton in January 1967. His remains were found in a farmer’s field in April 2023, and it was discovered that he had been beaten and stabbed repeatedly in the neck. Alfred’s grandson, Russell Lowbridge, identified his body by the distinctive socks he was wearing.
In August 2024, Nottinghamshire Police identified two suspects in Alfred’s historic murder. However, both suspects have since passed away and have not been named by the police.
While the BBC have said they will not be naming the suspects, interviews with those who knew the family friend, as well as historical records, build a picture of a man with a history of violence.
In August 2024, Nottinghamshire Police said this suspect had access to a vehicle and carried out a violent assault in April 1966 – a year before Mr Swinscoe was killed, inflicting some similar injuries on the victim.
The BBC has established that the victim of that attack was a man called John Shawcroft.
He has lived in Pinxton all of his life. He drank in the Miner’s Arms, where Mr Swinscoe was last seen, and saw him regularly.
He also knew the “family friend” suspect well.
“We used to go drinking,“ he said. “And mess about with motorbikes and cars.”
But their friendship ended suddenly one night in April 1966.
After driving to Mansfield to go drinking, the pair were sitting in the man’s car together.
Without warning, he hit Mr Shawcroft in the face, then walked from the driver’s side to the passenger seat, dragged him out of the car and kicked him repeatedly as he lay on the floor.
“We were just talking. Next thing bang,” said Mr Shawcroft. “I can remember him kicking me and that were it. I just lay there, I did.”
Mr Shawcroft was left “bleeding profusely”, and was so badly injured he was in hospital for two weeks.
Nottinghamshire Police said some of his wounds were similar to the blunt-force injuries believed to have been inflicted on Mr Swinscoe.
His attacker was convicted of malicious wounding, one of the most serious violent offences in our legal system.
After Alfred’s body was unearthed in 2023, the police issued an appeal for information, but have been accused of disregarding potentially new evidence from other witnesses. The BBC revealed details of its investigation to Mr Swinscoe’s grandson Russell Lowbridge.
“It don’t seem right, does it,” Mr Lowbridge said. “They put an appeal out there for the public to help, and to me that’s just snubbing them.”
- The Odd Socks Murder will broadcast on BBC One on Friday, December 13 – and will be available on BBC iPlayer.
