Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods

Anthony John Hardy: The Camden Ripper

Elizabeth Valad and Brigitte MacClennan

Not long after Hardy was apprehended, investigators were able to obtain the identification of two of the victims whose remains were discovered at his home and in the trash bin. They were identified as Elizabeth Selina Valad, 29, of London and Brigitte MacClennan, 34, of Camden. The two women were found to have a lot in common.

Elizabeth Valad
Elizabeth Valad

Bob Graham suggested in a September 2003 article in The Scotsman, that Elizabeth was a rebellious woman who lived a wayward life from as early as her teens. Born in Nottingham, England, in 1972, Elizabeth was the only child of Iranian professor Hassan Valad and his British wife Jackie. The couple lived a short while in America. Yet, the marriage broke up when Jackie decided to return with Elizabeth back to Nottingham. At the time, Elizabeth was about one year old.

Jackie was quoted in Grahams article saying that her daughter was a very difficult child who mixed with the wrong people as a teenager. She further stated that Elizabeth dropped out of school and moved to London by herself at age 16. From that point there was little contact between the two.

The Daily Mail reported that at age 18, Elizabeth began a relationship with a man with whom she lived with in London. Shortly into the relationship, Elizabeth became pregnant and later gave birth to her little girl. The three lived with one another for a brief period before Elizabeth left her newly formed family in search of a different lifestyle.

It was further reported in The Daily Mail that Elizabeth worked in a massage parlor where she became involved with a married millionaire, who set her up in an expensive apartment and provided her with luxurious gifts. After some time, she moved out and started to date other people. The article stated that she began to take crack cocaine and went back to prostitution to fund her lifestyle. Her addiction eventually led to her death. Hardy was thought to have played upon his victims vulnerabilities by luring them to his flat with the promise of money or drugs.

It was Elizabeths torso that was found at Hardys residence and her legs that were discovered by the homeless person in the bin. It was difficult for investigators to identify her initially because her hands and head were never found. However, they were able to obtain a positive ID on her by processing the serial numbers found on her breast implants.

Brigitte MacClennan
Brigitte MacClennan

Brigitte MacClennans identity was revealed on January 6, during a brief hearing at a Hendon court where Hardy was charged with the murders. Brigitte, whose torso and other body parts were found in garbage bins, was identified through her DNA. Like Elizabeth, her head and hands were never found.

According to a Tahira Yaqoob and Michael Seamarks January 2003 article in The Daily Mail, Brigitte, a native New Zealander and mother of two boys, worked as a prostitute in Camden. The money she earned from selling her body was mostly used to finance her crack cocaine addiction. Hardy was believed to have been one of her customers, which is how she ended up in his flat. The article suggested that Brigitte was murdered on or before December 30, 2002, at around the same time Elizabeth was killed.

The murders of Elizabeth and Brigitte led to a reinvestigation into Sally Whites death of alleged natural causes. It was believed that Hardy might have actually murdered her and simply got away with it when the pathologist incorrectly diagnosed her cause of death as a heart attack. They just had to prove their theory. However, after a brief inquest it was determined that Sally had indeed died of natural causes related to chronic heart disease. The findings would later be disproved following surprising new evidence brought forth by Hardy.

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