13 November 2023 , 20:00
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The unsolved brutal death of Playboy Bunny Eve Stratford is set to be re-examined in a new ITVX crime series after her former colleague pleaded for the case to be re-examined.
The killing of Eve, who at the time of her death was only 22, is one of three murders that will be analysed for the programme. Filmmaker Marcel Theroux interviews Eve's friend Barbara Haigh in the two-part series of The Playboy Bunny Murder, as she worked alongside Eve as a Playboy Cocktail Bunny at the Playboy Club in London's Mayfair in 1975. The programme airs on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Playboy Bunny Eve Stratford was found dead in her her home in 1975
Lynda Farrow was found dead near her home in Hounslow four years after the murder of EveThe pair's close friendship is illustrated in a picture taken of the two at the time, just weeks before the murder, wearing the trademark Playboy Bunny outfits. Eve, who was also known as Eve Van Bock and Bunny Ava, was found in her bedroom with eight to 12 cuts to her throat and tied up with a scarf and stockings around her legs and it is believed she had also been raped. Speaking of her friend's vicious death, Barbara remembers feeling sick when news emerged that Eve had been killed.
Speaking to Marcel, Barbara said: "She would never have done anything to provoke that sort of murder. She's only a kid and there's nobody left to defend her. Her parents are dead, her whole bloody family's dead. There's no one but us old boilers who were around in 1975 who can protect her." At the time, detectives working the high profile case claimed that there was no sign of forced entry leaving them to believe that Eve knew her attacker and had invited them in to her home.
Filmmaker Marcel Theroux re-examines the murder of Playboy Bunny Eve StratfordSix months later, Lynne Weedon, who was only 16, was found attacked and raped in an alley near her home in Hounslow at 11pm on September 3rd. Lynne died from her injuries the following day. Eve and Lynne's murders were linked after matching DNA was found on them - but they did not know each other.
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By 2015, 40 years after both Lynne tragic death, her mother Margaret Weedon pleaded with the public to come forward with any information. She said: " It has been 40 years since our beautiful young daughter Lynne was violently taken from us. We are well aware that whoever murdered Lynne also murdered Eve Stratford. That young lady also had her life snubbed out. Her family have died now. Another true life sentence.
Barbara Haigh pleaded for her friend Eve's murder to be re-examined for ITV crime seriesThe crime series also takes a look at the death of Lynda Farrow who was knifed to death in her home in 1979, believed to be by the same killer. She had worked as a croupier in London. Marcel Theroux has spent the last four years trying to find police files on the case and looking for breakthrough information.
He said: " This is a story that has obsessed me for years. How could a serial killer kill multiple victims in 1970s London and remain unknown? What evicence was missed? What clues were the police of the time unable to make use of? As witnesses reach the ends of lives and memories fail, this might be the last chance to get justice for the three victims.
The Playboy Bunny Murder is on at 9pm on ITV & ITVX on Monday and Tuesday