Julie Perigo

Julie Perigo was stabbed to death at her flat on the Downhill Estate at 55 Kidderminster Road in Sunderland.

She was last seen alive on 16 May 1986 at 12.30pm.

She had also spoken to a friend on the phone at about 1.30pm, telling her that she was due to see someone later, saying the 'Old Geoff' was going to pop over to see her.

Her body was found a week later on 23 May 1986 after her sister became concerned and went to the police. When the police went to her address they broke in to find her dead. She had been dead for a week. Newspapers found unopened behind her door indicated that the murder happened between sometime after 1.30pm on 16 May and 17 May 1986.

She died from shock and haemorrhage after having been stabbed multiple times in a frenzied attack in her bedroom.

She had been a high-class prostitute and an ex-stripper, and had told a friend on the day that she was murdered that she was going to meet a client at lunchtime that day.

Her flat was described as neat and tidy. She had had two grown-up children.

It was noted that a woman knocked on her window at about 4.30pm on 16 May 1986, but she found the blinds were down and she got no answer.

Her boyfriend said that he had arranged to meet Julie Perigo on 16 May 1986 and called at her flat at about 6.30pm but had been unable to get an answer and left. He said that he continued to try and contact her over the following week, but without luck.

A taxi was later seen around midnight waiting outside Julie Perigo's block of flats. It was said that one man had been in the car and that another man then ran from Julie Perigo's flat and drove the taxi away.

The police said they found no signs of a forced entry into her flat. It was noted that her flat door faced away from the street which meant that clients could visit discretely.

They added that there was no evidence to suggest that it had been a sex attack.

Police later found her diaries with the names of her customers from around the country and they interviewed over 6000 people. They added that she had had a close association with prostitutes.

It was heard that she would entertain men for money at her council flat. It was reported during the police enquiry that men, some married and many from professional and business backgrounds, contacted the police in secret resulting in more details about her bizarre and seedy lifestyle emerging. The police said that they would contact her through a sex magazine and visit her for the purpose of sex for payment.

She used to advertise for customers in sex contact magazines such as Phoenix, the national client contact magazine, Jet Scene, and The Northen Link, which was described as the magazine that:

It was noted that she either placed ads herself, or a friend would pass clients on to her.

Her real name was Joan Margarite Perigo, but she preferred to be known as Julie.

Julie Perigo also had family in London, South Wales and Hastings and the police interviewed them in order to build up a picture of her.

She also had two ex-husbands who had both been still living on Wearside, two children and a boyfriend who she had been seeing for a number of years.

Her boyfriend had been a 44-year-old unemployed shot blaster and a bachelor. He said that he had first met her about three years earlier in the Shoreline nightclub in South shields but that their relationship as prostitute and client later radically changed into a deeper and more meaningful affair.

He said:

He went on to note that Julie Perigo suffered from arthritis and that she would entertain clients once every three weeks or so and not every night at her Sunderland home. He said that some of her clients came via a female friend who advertised in a sexual contact magazine.

Her boyfriend added:

Her boyfriend noted that he had gone to see her on 16 May 1986 at about 6.30pm but got no answer and that when he next went to try and see her on 23 May 1986 that he found the police there.

He said that when he was told of her murder he broke down, noting:

However, it was noted that he was soon eliminated from the enquiry.

Neighbours said that Julie Perigo was a kind-hearted woman and although she didn't work, she appeared to be financially well off and took a taxi almost everywhere she went.

A former neighbour said:

She went on to say that she recalled Julie Perigo talking about her boyfriend from South Shields, saying:

A 20-year-old neighbour that lived in Kidderminster Road with his girlfriend said:

Shortly after her murder the police said they were anxious to trace a man that was seen boarding a taxi outside her block of flats, about 12 hours after she was last seen alive. A dark coloured Ford Cortina with a yellow taxi sign on the roof picked up the man just before midnight at 11.45pm on 16 May 1986, and the police said that they would like to hear from both the driver and the passenger.

The police said they were also trying to trace the driver of a taxi that was seen driving west along Kidderminster Road towards Ravenswood Road.

It was later reported that the police had been unable to trace two men that they had been seeking to identify, they were:

• A well-built man in his 60s who visited Julie Perigo around the time of her murder.
• A man in his 20s that had tried to contact Julie Perigo two days before her murder.

The man in his 60s was thought to have been known to Julie Perigo as 'Old Geoff' and to have been a former client of hers. He was described as:

• Mid 60s.
• 5ft 9in tall.
• Beer Belly.
• Smart appearance.
• Well spoken.

The police later released a photofit of the man in his 20s that they were trying to trace. He was described as:

• About 25.
• Used the name Michael.
• Possibly from Wallsend.
• Had a slight stammer.
• Client of Julie Perigo.

It was noted that three men were arrested during the investigation, but no charges were made.

A Crimewatch appeal was later made on Thursday 10 July 1986 in which an appeal was made to trace 'Old Geoff'.

Following the programme it was reported that a mystery caller phoned in with a partial description of a person seen with her on the day that she was last seen alive, noting that the details given tied in with other information that police had which had not been revealed anywhere else and they appealed for the caller to call back.

It was noted that during the police investigation that they interviewed 6,000 people, with 794 of them being taxi drivers, as it was known that Julie Perigo frequently used taxis.

It was noted that it was generally thought that she had been murdered by one of her clients, however, it was noted that other possibilities had not been eliminated.

The case was reviewed in 2002 following developments in DNA analysis and a 46-year-old suspect was brought in for questioning, but without any progress being made. It was noted that the man had also been interviewed over the Wearside Jack hoax letters and tapes that had previous been sent in to the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry, which at the time had not been resolved.

The flats along Kidderminster Road where Julie Perigo had lived were all later demolished between 2009 and 2015 and new housing built.