The search continues for a convicted paedophile connected to one of Britain's most disturbing unsolved murders - the 1967 Tattingstone Suitcase killing of teenager Bernard Oliver.
Raymond Varley, 78, has completely vanished after escaping extradition on child sex charges in 2014 by claiming he suffered from dementia. Varley was previously jailed in 1975 for abusing boys alongside Dr John Byles, the prime suspect in Bernard Oliver's murder.
The Horrific Discovery
Bernard Oliver, a 17-year-old warehouse worker with learning difficulties, disappeared after leaving his Muswell Hill home in north London on January 6, 1967. His family reported him missing the following morning, beginning an agonising ten-day wait.
The tragedy culminated when walkers discovered two suitcases dumped behind a hedge in Tattingstone, Suffolk - 70 miles from where Bernard was last seen. Inside, pathologists found Bernard's body had been 'expertly' dissected into eight pieces.
Post-mortem examinations revealed the teenager had been raped and strangled before his body was dismembered. The case became known as the Tattingstone Suitcase Murder, shocking the nation with its brutality.
Paedophile Ring Connections
Documents released in 2004 identified Dr John Byles, a former ship's surgeon, as the prime suspect in Bernard's murder. Byles was part of the 'Holy Trinity' paedophile ring that included Varley and Reverend John Fairburn Poole.
Between 1971 and 1974, the trio abused dozens of boys at Poole's Holy Trinity Church in Huddersfield, selling photographs of their victims to paedophiles in Denmark.
Byles fled to Australia in 1974 when detectives uncovered his involvement in the abuse ring. He was found dead in a Queensland hotel room in January 1975, having apparently taken a drug overdose while wanted for extradition to Britain.
Escaping Justice
Varley's journey after the abuse convictions saw him move to Thailand before facing extradition to India on child sex charges. However, he avoided British justice in 2014 when Appeal Court judges accepted dementia claims, despite being suspected of involvement in abusing over 150 children at a Goan orphanage.
The Daily Mirror's investigation has found no trace of Varley, who also used names Raymond Ashley and Martin Ashley. No death certificate exists in UK records, and authorities cannot confirm whether he remains under monitoring.
Another suspect, Dr Martin Reddington, had his surgery in Muswell Hill near where Bernard was last seen alive. Reddington faced charges in Australia in 1977 for indecent assault on a male, having previously fled to South Africa to avoid similar charges in Britain.
Family's Enduring Pain
Bernard's younger brother Tony, who was only 13 when the murder occurred, described the lasting trauma in a 2011 interview. He recalled the horrifying moment he identified his brother from the severed head photograph police released to the media.
'I knew straight away it was Bernard,' Tony said. 'I just had this horrible gut feeling. I didn't need to be told. I just knew.'
He remembered Bernard as 'considerate and harmless', adding: 'It will never go away. I will die with this. I have dreams all the time of things that happened, listening to Bernard talking, going to the pictures, him being there, and I wake up and there's no one there.'
Recent Developments
In recent years, witness Robert Thurston came forward describing a frightening encounter near Ipswich docks around the time of the murder. He recalled seeing two suitcases and a tall man wearing surgeon's gloves emerging from shadows.
'The guy we saw was very menacing,' Thurston stated. 'I have been too frightened to come forward until now to be honest.'
Suffolk Police confirmed the case remains open and subject to periodic reviews, like all unsolved major crimes. The haunting mystery of who killed Bernard Oliver and precisely why continues to evade resolution nearly six decades later.
