New Book Claims Boxer Freddie Mills Was 'Jack The Stripper'

The body of one of the victims of sixties serial killer was found in Acton

A new book claims that boxing champion Freddie Mills was the murderer known as Jack The Stripper responsible for brutally killing six women in West London in the sixties. The body of one of his victims was found in Acton.

Author Michael Litchfield has written in ‘The Secret Life of Freddie Mills’ that he confessed his guilt to a Scotland Yard detective who was a fellow Freemason but arranged his own death before he could be brought to justice.

Six women were killed with their bodies all being found in West London usually close to the River Thames. The first victim was found by the river in Hammersmith in February 1964 and then in April the body of Irene Lockwood was discovered on the riverbank near Dukes Meadows. In July Mary Fleming was found in a garage forecourt Berrymede Road off Acton Lane in Chiswick. In February 1965 police officers discovered the corpse of Bridget 'Bridie' O'Hara at the Heron Trading industrial estate in Acton.

All the women were found stripped naked and had died by strangulation.

Mills who was born in Bournemouth, was a world light/heavyweight boxing champion (1948-50) who became a night club owner, actor, and television presenter in the 1960s. After retiring, he has a number of small film parts and a presenter on the BBC pop-music programme Six-Five Special. He also became owner of a restaurant in Soho, which later became a nightclub frequented by the Kray Twins.

He had been named as a suspect before but was never arrested in connection with the case and the killings stopped after he was found dead at the wheel of his car in what was ruled to be a suicide. Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent John Du Rose was put in charge of the case after the discovery of the sixth victim in an industrial estate in Acton early in 1965. Litchfield claims Du Rose failed to notify his superiors that he knew Mills before being given the case for fear that he would have been taken off it. Mills had become a person of interest in the investigation as information about his personal behaviour became known to the police.

According to the book in July 1965 when Mills started to believe the net was closing in he met Du Rose at the Freemasons’ headquarters in London and confessed to being the killer. The conversation was allegedly recorded by a hidden tape recorder with the tape later being destroyed. It is claimed that Mills said that he hoped his masonic connections would allow the charge to be reduced to manslaughter and that he requested some time to sort out his affairs. However, author then says that Mills offered the Kray twins £1,000 to arrange a hit man to execute him on the condition that his death would be quick and there would be no warning. He was found dead shot by a .22 calibre rifle of the kind used in fairgrounds. The post-mortem ruled that there was no suspicion of foul play.

Litchfield’s source for this story is former policeman Bob Berry who says that it was told to him by gangster Frankie Fraser. He says he has known the details for some time but delayed publishing due to possible legal action or retaliation from London gangland figures.

The book is the latest in what has become a cottage industry based around attempting to explain who was responsible for the murders. Neil Milkins, the author of the book 'Who Was Jack the Stripper?' totally dismisses the possibility of Freddie Mills being a serial killer. He says on our forum, "most persons would I believe think the alleged evidence to be preposterous. For instance in the book Freddie Mills had allegedly confessed to John du Rose the officer in charge of the case that he was the killer. But because Du Rose and Mills were Freemasons Du Rose never told his superiors. Even more ludicrous - fact Freddie Mills was desperately short of money when he died yet the book claims he gave the Kray Twins £1000 to assassinate him. Rightly Freddie's daughter Susan and his stepson, actor Don McCorkindale are incensed."

The Secret Life of Freddie Mills by Michael Litchfield is published in paperback by John Blake Publishing price £7.99.

September 12, 2017