The brutal unsolved murder of Playboy Bunny Eve Stratford, who was found dead with eight to 12 lacerations to her throat in 1975, is revisited in a new documentary series. Eve, also known as Eve Van Bock and Bunny Ava, was discovered in her Leyton flat, bound with a scarf and stockings around her legs, and is believed to have been sexually assaulted.
Friends recall the devastating news
Barbara Haigh, who worked alongside Eve as a cocktail waitress at the Playboy Club in Mayfair, described being overcome with nausea upon hearing of her friend's death. Speaking to Marcel Theroux for ITVX's 'Playboy Bunny murder', Barbara said: "She would never have done anything to provoke that sort of murder. She's only a kid and there's nobody left to defend her. Her parents are dead, her whole bloody family's dead. There's no one but us old boilers who were around in 1975 who can protect her."
Eve's best friend, former Playboy Bunny Sheen Doran, now 75, worked with her at the Park Lane club in 1966. She told the BBC: "It was very good money, but very hard work. You are a glorified waitress. You had to stand for 10 hours in heels. But we felt safe on the job." She added that they had room managers and no one was allowed to touch them.
The crime and investigation
In March 1975, Eve had been Girl of the Month on the front cover of Mayfair magazine. Police later concluded that the magazine cover likely enticed her killer. She was murdered after walking home from Leytonstone Tube station at about 15:30 after a meeting with her agent. At 16:30, neighbours heard a male and female voice and then a loud thud. At 17:20, her boyfriend returned to find her dead. Officers found no indications of forced entry, leading them to suspect Eve knew her killer.
Six months later, on 3 September 1975, 16-year-old Lynne Weedon was attacked and raped in an alleyway near her Hounslow home at 11pm. She died of her injuries the next day. DNA evidence linked the two murders, though the victims had never met.
Appeals for justice
In 2015, Lynne's mother Margaret Weedon appealed for information, saying: "It has been 40 years since our beautiful young daughter Lynne was violently taken from us. We are well aware that whoever murdered Lynne also murdered Eve Stratford. That young lady also had her life snubbed out. Her family have died now. Another true life sentence."
The documentary also examines the death of Lynda Farrow, a croupier knifed to death in her home in 1979, believed to be by the same killer. Marcel Theroux, who spent four years investigating, said: "This is a story that has obsessed me for years. How could a serial killer kill multiple victims in 1970s London and remain unknown? What evidence was missed? As witnesses reach the ends of their lives, this might be the last chance to get justice for the three victims."
