Justice for Joe McKenzie at last?

Published: 20th May, 2011
by DAVID ST GEORGE and ANDREW JOHNSON

THE twin brother of a part-time actor who was brutally murdered nearly 30 years ago has welcomed a new investigation by Scotland Yard.

Frank McKenzie, who was born and brought up in Islington, is now 67 and the last surviving family member of his brother Joe’s generation.

Joe was battered to death with a lump of concrete by muggers in Holloway Road in 1982 shortly after leaving the pub. He was robbed of a week’s wages he was carrying at the time of the attack.

Police failed to track down the killers but Frank hopes that new technologies such as DNA evidence will help trace those responsible. 

He also hopes that in reviving the investigation “cold case” detectives will loosen tongues that have been silent for so long and unlock consciences of those who know what happened to 37-year-old Joe.

Joe, who was gay, had a wide circle of friends. He lived with widowed mother Emily at Canonbury Court in Sebbon Street, St Mary’s. He had been drinking in the Norfolk, Cock and Mulberry Tree on the night he was attacked. 

A powerfully built “gentle giant” who stood over six foot tall, his case led to TV, radio and newspaper appeals by police. 

But despite a four-month inquiry no clue to the identity of the killer or killers came to light.

“It’s very sad for me that the killers have never been found,” said Frank. 

“He was a lovely bloke. He’d do anything for the community, anything for charity. 

“Our mother has gone now, but she often asked if I thought the killers would ever be caught. 

“The years have just passed, however. In those days they said unless the killers are found within 48 hours there’s little chance.

“So I’m extremely pleased the case is being reopened. I’m a happy bunny if I tell the truth. 

“There’s only me left from that generation of the family. My dad has already passed and my older brother has died. 

“It would be a great burden lifted to know that justice had been done. I still think about it often. It’s such an appalling way for someone to die, and all over one week’s wages. 

“I think he showed too much money in the pub. 

“He was told his taxi had arrived and he thought the landlady had called it for him. When he stepped outside, well, that was it.” 

An “unlawful killing” verdict was recorded at St Pancras Coroners Court where a jury heard that Joe, a porter at the nearby Royal Northern Hospital and former Smithfield meat market worker, was found on waste land near Whittington Park by a woman walking her dog. All he had on him was a Valentine’s card. 

“It will be the answer I have been searching for ever since, if the police find out what happened, why, and 

the identities of those responsible,” said retired Camden Council electrician Frank, of Primrose Hill.  

Frank, who took part in a reconstruction of his twin’s last-known movements in the hope of jogging memories, added: “We all know that advances in science and detection work in recent years have often solved cases 30 or 40 years old and led to convictions. 

“What I am hoping for is closure so that I can put the ghost of a dear and good brother to rest at long last.”