The murder of Roy Tutill occurred on 23 April 1968 in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England, United Kingdom. The victim was a 14-year-old schoolboy who was

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d and

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

on his way home from school. The murder went unsolved for 33 years, until Brian Lunn Field confessed to the crime after DNA evidence surfaced in 2001. It was the oldest cold case to be solved in the United Kingdom until the conviction of David Burgess for the 1966 murder of Yolande Waddington in 2012.

Murder

Roy Tutill, known as "Tuts" to his friends, disappeared on 23 April 1968 on his way from Kingston Grammar School in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

, to his home in

Brockham Brockham is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is approximately east of Dorking and west of Reigate. The village lies south of Box Hill, with the River Mole flowing west through the village. At the ...

. He left school at 3:30 p.m. and boarded a bus with his friends. To save on bus fare to buy a new bicycle, he then decided to hitchhike the rest of the way home, something he did regularly. Tutill was last seen in Chessington, trying to hail a car. Tutill's parents, Dennis and Hilary, notified Surrey Police when he failed to arrive home that evening. The police took a

missing person A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...

's report, but did not begin investigating until the following day. The body of the schoolboy was found by a policeman three days later outside the gates of

Cherkley Court Cherkley Court, at the extreme southeast of Leatherhead, Surrey, in England, is a late Victorian neo-classical mansion and estate of , once the home of Canadian-born press baron Lord Beaverbrook. The main house is listed Grade II on the Nation ...

, in Mickleham. He had been

strangle Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...

d and

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

Investigation

The only information police learned was that a bus driver had seen a schoolboy talking to a driver of a silver-grey Austin Westminster Mark II car. The driver was described as a "short, stocky man with whitish-grey hair." The same car had been reported seen near where the body was dumped. Samples taken from Tutill's body and clothing were analysed at the time, but provided no evidence except that the suspect was of either 'A' or 'O'

blood group A blood type (also known as a blood group) is a classification of blood, based on the presence and absence of antibodies and inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates ...

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

was called in to assist in the investigation, but there were no breaks in the case. The investigation remained open and was regularly reviewed. Detectives, however, held the belief that the perpetrator was a repeat offender and the murder was not a random act. In the 1970s, investigators travelled to Scotland to interview a man named Brian Lunn Field from

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, who had been sentenced to two years in prison for the attempted abduction and indecent assault of a 14-year-old boy in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. In December 1996, a partial DNA sample was recovered from samples taken from Tutill's trousers, which had been kept in a freezer. In the late 1990s, a national review was held to investigate unsolved murders and see if any could be traced to current convicts or other crimes. Investigators in the Tutill case became aware of assaults of two young boys in Scotland. They were not able to locate Field, who had last been heard of in the 1980s. In 2000, a match was made of the DNA sample from the Tutill case that was matched to Field, who had DNA taken when arrested for

drunk driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is invo ...

in September 1999 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. Field had been working as a gardener and not paying any taxes. Surrey Police set up

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

on Field in Birmingham. His

criminal record A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...

included a 1969 fine for

gross indecency Gross indecency is a crime in some parts of the English-speaking world, originally used to criminalize sexual activity between men that fell short of sodomy, which required penetration. The term was first used in British law in a statute of the Br ...

, the 1970s assault in Aberdeen, and two sentences in the 1980s of four years each for two counts of unlawful sex with underage boys and falsely imprisoning two teenage boys.

Arrest and confession

On 21 February 2001, police arrested Field at his flat in Birmingham. He was held in police custody during which time his detention was extended for more than the initial 24 hours in order to assist the investigation. Field denied knowing Tutill or having anything to do with his death, and whilst admitting to his historic

sexual offence Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

s against boys said he had put that behaviour behind him. Just before Field was put into his cell for a third night he had been asked to submit DNA samples. Field could not sleep that night, and the following day he confessed in detail to the abduction, rape and murder of Tutill. He said he had seen the boy get off a bus and thumb for a lift, and that he had picked him up. He then drove the boy to a

layby A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...

where he anally raped him over the front seat and, when he finished, panicked. Field drove to a second layby and strangled Tutill by wrapping a rope around his neck twice.Killer in My Village Season 1 Episode 2 He kept the boy's body in his car's

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is cle ...

for several days before dumping him in woodland.

Sentence

On 15 November 2001, 65-year-old Field was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Tutill. He pleaded guilty to murder, but not sexual assault. Tutill's parents did not live to see his murderer sentenced. Until Field was convicted, Tutill's murder had been the only unsolved child murder case in Surrey.

References

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