Keith Lyon was a British schoolboy who was murdered in 1967 while walking alone on the South Downs. [1] The murderer has never been identified and no charges have ever been made. [2] [3] The murder investigation that took place following the murder has been described as one of the biggest to have ever taken place in Sussex. [3]
Keith Lyon was 12 years old when he was murdered. [1] Lyon attended Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School and was a gifted classical musician. [4] His parents were Valda and Ken Lyon, the latter of whom was a band leader in Brighton. [2] He had a younger brother, named Peter, [2] who was 7 at the time of the murder. [5] The family lived in the village of Ovingdean. [2]
On Saturday 6 May 1967 [1] Lyon left his house after 2 pm [6] to walk to Woodingdean on his own to buy a geometry set. [2] Lyon was walking along a bridleway that links the villages of Ovingdean and Woodingdean, in an area called Happy Valley near Brighton. [4] Keith was wearing his school uniform even though it was a Saturday. [4] At approximately 3 pm (about 45 minutes after leaving his home) Lyon was attacked and stabbed to death. [6]
At 4:15pm a 16 year old girl discovered the body while walking her dog. [1] The body was found in a location that overlooks the English Channel and is above the private girls school Roedean. [2] The body was discovered under some bushes [1] on a grassy bank. [3] and it appeared to have been thrown from the bridleway down the hill. [2] The girl ran back to Woodingdean to fetch the police who arrived quickly and cordoned off the area. [6]
Lyon had been stabbed 11 times in his front and back. [4] Lyon’s pockets had been turned out and his 4 shilling pocket money and keys were missing. [1] [2] Later that day Ken Lyon was preparing to perform at the Metropole Hotel in Brighton when he was notified of the death of his son. [7]
A few days after the murder a steak knife with a white handle was found in the grounds of a school around a mile away. [4] Evidence was also discovered that someone had cleaned blood off themselves at a nearby public toilet. [1] The blood was found to be Lyon’s. [8] Two female witnesses reported seeing four boys fighting near some bushes on the bridleway on the afternoon of the murder at a time prior to the discovery. [2] A bus driver reported that on the day of the murder he noticed that two youths on his bus, that was travelling to Whitehawk, were in a visibly agitated state. [2]
The murder investigation that took place following the murder has been described as one of the biggest to have ever taken place in Sussex. [3] 75,000 house-to-house inquiries were made and 2000 school children were interviewed. [2] The police took the fingerprints of over 5000 teenagers in the area. Despite there being a number of suspects no charges were ever made. [3]
In 2002 the murder weapon and other items associated with the case were rediscovered in the basement of the Brighton police station. [3] The other items included a cigarette butt, clothes and a blood stained tissue. [7] Following this rediscovery, two men were arrested. However, they were released on bail and after four months the police confirmed that they were no longer suspects. [8]
In 2006 it was announced that police were looking for a family that emigrated to Canada with their teenage son shortly after the murder. [3]
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