Jim Morrison stabbing: Police offer reward in appeal over officer’s 1991 London killing
Police are appealing for help in solving the 30-year-old murder of a young detective stabbed by a bag thief he was chasing.
They believe there is still a chance to find the killer who vanished among the night-time traffic and streets busy with Christmas partygoers in central London in 1991 – and they are offering a substantial reward.
Detective Constable Jim Morrison, 26, was off duty and had just left a pub in the Strand to walk home when witnesses saw him trying to arrest a suspect near the Covent Garden piazza.
The man, thought to be a young North African, pulled out a knife and ran off as the officer threw off his coat and jacket and chased him.
After a pursuit into Aldwych, the suspect stopped beside the Indian High Commission, turned and stabbed unarmed DC Morrison three times.
An international manhunt led to inquiries in France, Belgium, Germany and Canada and several suspects were arrested, but no one was ever charged
The officer had been married for three years, had joined the Criminal Investigation Department around the same time and was already earning a reputation for a flair for tackling street crime.
His widow Victoria is still haunted by the futility of the way in which he died.
She said: “We had talked about the risk because of the job he did, but you never think it’s going to happen to you. It was devastating, life-changing for me and Jim’s family and all who knew him.
“It was a complete waste of a life, over a handbag, but being a police officer Jim always wanted to do the right thing and be law-abiding.
“At the end of the day people carry knives and are willing to use them at all costs. They simply don’t value life.
“I hope we can find the man who did this. Anyone who commits a crime like this would have to tell somebody, so there are people who know what happened and I would like them to come forward and tell it. Even after all this time it would mean everything to me and Jim’s family.”
It was a Friday night two weeks before Christmas, the streets full of pub-goers and theatre crowds spilling out of evening performances, so plenty of potential witnesses to the chase and the murder.