Leonard Gomm

Leonard Gomm was stabbed to death by his taxi-cab on a grass verge near the hamlet of Hampden Gay, Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire on 13 June 1990.

He had been stabbed though the heart and had another smaller stab wound to the left of his chest and marks around his mouth.

He was a taxi driver and his blue Ford Granada taxi, registration A592 ARD, was found nearby in the lane. His body was found by a passing lorry driver at 10.50am in a ditch about five yards from his taxi-cab.

He had earlier picked up a fare from Gloucester Green bus station in Banbury Road, Oxford at about 6.15am after he radioed his employers to say that he was taking a fare to Bicester. It was said that the prime suspect in his murder was that last fare, but the man was never traced. He was described as having long hair.

The police said that they thought that the motive for the murder was an argument that escalated.

Two witnesses said that they had seen Leonard Gomm driving his taxicab about early that morning with a fare. The police said that they were working on the theory that his last passenger was his murderer but noted that they had no evidence to prove that.

The last sighting of his taxi was at 7am near Bletchingdon when it was thought he had been having a heated discussion with the man in his taxi about where they were going to go.

It was noted that nothing was taken from his taxicab and the motive was not known. When he was found, he had money in his pockets and the cash box in his taxicab was left untouched.

The murder weapon was never found.

Amongst the possible leads, the police said that they were interested in identifying a hitch hiker who had been picked up about 8 miles from Hampden Gay and later dropped off in Banbury. The hitch hiker was thought to have been headed for Glasgow and was noted for having had facial injuries indicating that he had recently been in a fight.

The police said that they were also trying to trace a man who had been seen that day over a four-hour period in Oxford City Centre who had been carrying a light-coloured sports bag.

Several arrests were made during the investigation, but no one was ever charged.

Leonard Gomm had worked for ABC Taxis in Cowley after having retired from the Cowley Rover works.

In 2010 the police revealed that they had found new forensic evidence that they hoped would help solve the case and released a similar statement in 2020. In their 202 appeal the police said that they thought that the murderer might well have confided with someone over the murder. They also appealed for anyone that knew of anyone that might have ever appeared 'obsessed' with the case.

Leonard Gomm was from Forest Hill and had three grown up children. He was also known as Lennie Gomm.