A thief who caused two elderly siblings to have a heart attack after brutally beating them in their home has finally been brought to justice almost three decades later. Officers arrested Danville Neil in 2020 after they discovered his DNA on a binocular strap used to tie up one of the victims who he assaulted in their East London property.
Neil, 65, of Sandrock Road in Lewisham was found guilty of the 1993 murder of William Bryan and manslaughter of Anne Castle at the Old Bailey following a two week trial. He will be sentenced on November 25 at the same court next week, My London reports.
Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke said: “We have been able to achieve justice for Anne and William, and their family who have waited 29 years for this day to come. Twenty nine years of not knowing how their loved ones died and who was responsible.
"That is a pain no one should have to endure and I just hope this result can bring them some small comfort and peace of mind.
“Neil is a callous and calculated individual, who has continued to deny any involvement in the incident despite the overwhelming forensic evidence against him. He entered the home of Anne and William that night intent on carrying out a burglary.
"The home they had shared for nearly 50 years. But it was not enough for him to just invade their home and steal from them. Instead he killed them during a violent and heartless attack."
Anne’s daughters Janice and Cynthia said: “Our mother spent her whole life in east London where she raised her five children, who went on to give her 13 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
"She was the most wonderful loving and caring mother and grandmother who was thoughtful in every way. She always put everyone before herself and was a great pillar of the community – well loved and respected by all who knew her.
"Uncle Billy was a kind-hearted, thoughtful and generous uncle to all the family. Always happy and so grateful for how he had been looked after.”
Both victims were assaulted and William was restrained with a dressing gown tie round his feet and a binocular strap round his hands. Anne, 74, suffered a heart attack, while William, 71, was smothered, causing him to go into cardiac arrest.
The siblings had stayed on the Minerva estate in Bethnal Green for nearly 50 years after Anne bought the property in 1943 with her husband who passed away in 1987. Two years later William moved in after he became ill and he continued to live there until the day of the dreadful attack.
On August 22, just after 5pm a friend of Anne's called her and the pair left to go to their weekly Sunday appointment at the Clarion Social Club. They stayed there for the evening and parted ways outside Anne's flat at around 8:50pm.
A neighbour remembered hearing a female scream around 9:30pm that night but believed it was coming from outside after checking his window. A second neighbour recalled that at 11:30pm all of the lights in the flat were switched on and she could see someone moving in the lounge.
A young boy also reported that he was woken up that night by someone shouting “Get out of here” multiple times. A neighbour who noticed that all the lights were on and the balcony door had been open for ours knocked on the flat door and phoned the police when no one answered.
Officers arrived at the property on the evening of August 23 and noticed that a small window in the kitchen was open along with a lot of cupboards. With the help of a ladder provided by fire brigade officers, they managed to enter the property through the open balcony door and discovered the dead bodies of Anne and William.
Anne was flopped in an armchair and William was lying on the floor on his side with his hands and feet restrained. A hammer was uncovered in the hallway and a screwdriver on the lounge floor.
A total of £4,665 in cash was found in bundles hidden around the flat and it's likely more cash had been stolen. A number of expensive rings were also missing, two of which had been removed from Anne's fingers along with a portable CD and cassette player.
A post mortem examination concluded that Anne had suffered from a heart attack due to the shock of the break-in and multiple bruises were discovered on her arms, suggesting she had also been tied up. William's cause of death was given as Asphyxia and a heart attack and he also had injuries caused by blows to the head and from being heavily restrained.
It's not been confirmed how the killer got inside the home but officers said it was likely that Neil knocked their front door and either talked his way in or forced entry. Significant inquiries were carried out at the time to try and uncover the killer with the investigation time being heavily reliant on witness accounts, intelligence and examination of the scene - particularly the examination of finger and foot marks left by the suspect.
The case was reviewed again six years later and whilst a partial DNA profile was acquired from the binoculars strap, no individual was ever identified. Fast forward 29 years, officers received some ground-breaking information regarding the case and resubmitted the strap for testing to take advantage of the significant advancements in forensics technology they had not had access to before.
The tests showed that the DNA under the knot of the strap belonged to Danville Neil. The jury heard how only a year before the incident Neil had just been released from an eight year prison sentence for two South London burglaries in 1984.
During both previous crimes, his female victims were assaulted in their homes and their possessions were stolen. On October 1 2020, officers obtained a search warrant for Neil's home in Lewisham and he was later arrested.
He initially denied having any involvement with the incident and claimed he was involved in any criminal offences back then aside from “bartering, buying and selling” stolen goods and cannabis. Neil, who was 35 at the time of William and Anne's deaths, has continued to deny playing any role but was unable to provide a feasible explanation as to how his DNA ended up on the strap used to restrain William.
Acknowledging that it was his DNA on the item, Neil made up a far fetched tale about selling various items at car boot sales and suggested William may have bought the binoculars from him at one of these events. The jury chose not to believe his lies and convicted him for his crimes.
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