Rolex murder: How victim’s watch led police to killer
One of the first cases revealing the potential of jewellery to aid investigators involved a mystery body dumped at sea and an expensive Rolex.
Ronald Platt accompanied his friend, Albert Walker, on a fishing trip in July 1996. But it was to end in murder when Walker killed him and threw him overboard.
In a bid to make sure the body was never found Walker tied an anchor around his victim’s body thinking it would decompose at the bottom of the sea.
However, Mr Platt was hauled out of the English Channel two weeks later by trawlerman John Copik and although his body was too decomposed to be identified, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch was still in good order and was used to identify its owner and secure Walker’s conviction.
Police were able to determine the date of death by examining the date on the watch calendar. As the Rolex movement had a reserve of two to three days of operation when inactive, and was fully waterproof, they were able to pinpoint the time of death to within a small margin of error.
A meticulous search through Rolex’s records then confirmed Platt as the owner.
Jigsaw analysis of Walker’s whereabouts on the day of the murder helped prove his guilt and he was jailed for murder in 1998.
In his haste to cover his tracks Walker failed to realise the watch would lead police straight to him.
In an unrelated case, jewellery found on the body of a murdered teenager helped identify her five months after she went missing.
Shafilea Ahmed, 17, disappeared from her home in Warrington in 2003. Her body was later found in the River Kent in Cumbria. She was identified using a gold zigzag bracelet and blue topaz ring discovered on her remains.
Her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, in 2012 were convicted of her murder and jailed for life.