1998 Letchford & O'Connor murders

The burned bodies of Claire Letchford (40) and Beryl (Dornie) O'Connor (75) were both discovered dead in their residences which had been set on fire during January of 1998. Mrs O'Connor had been strangled and there was evidence that Mrs Letchford had been strangled before their bodies were set on fire, using their clothes to fuel the flames. Mrs Letchford was found dead at her rented basement flat at 46 Cornwallis Gardens, where she lived alone, almost as a reclusive, on January 18, 1998. Due to the similar circumstances of both deaths, police linked the crimes.

Inquest

The Home Office pathologist said Mrs Letchford had been found badly burned with a pair of shoelaces tied around her neck and a cushion cover over her head, restraining her and dragging her into the hallway before she was set alight and died from inhaling smoke. The fire brigade reported two separate seats of fire had been located in the flat with no sign of forced entry or electrical fault. The police said her killer probably entered through the front door, which had been left unlocked.

Mrs O'Connor was found at her home on the 26th of January in a top floor flat at Clifton Court, Holmesdale Gardens. Police investigating the murder of Claire were told by Beryl that she felt unsafe. Fire crews attending the Clifton Court fire found the front door to the flat open, with Beryl found in the bedroom. A medical professional reported to the inquest that "She had been alive at the time the fire started. I am quite satisfied this woman died of asphyxiation after suffering from strangulation."In spite of intensive investigation (Operation Envoy) by the police , little progress was made in finding the murder for 11 years. The investigation was re-opened in following a Broadmoor patient's confession to the murders in addition to the attempted rape and murder of a Czech student on a London bound train soon after the train left Hastings in the same year as the murders during June of 2010, the student being discovered in a toilet by a guard on the Hastings to Charing Cross train service during the return journey.

Confession

Whilst in Broadmoor for an unrelated offence - the rape of two Spanish students in Eastbourne - Graham Fisher confessed to attempting to strangle both of the Hastings women, then setting their bodies on fire utilising articles of their clothing. In addition, he claimed to have cut some flesh from Ms Letchford's arm and eating it; some sources claiming that he bit the flesh away. At the same time he also confessed to the rape of the Czech student and another woman in Bromley. Police suspected that a potential move out of Broadmoor into a general prison prompted these confessions to ensure he remained in Broadmoor, where he had reportedly built a comfortable life.

In the trial at Lewes Crown Court, Fisher was sentenced to serve a further 21 years at the high-security hospital.

The murders featured in a True Crime documentary in June of 2026; 'UK Crime Files: Evil Walks The Streets'.