80-year-old man jailed for killing woman 49 years ago after DNA breakthrough

A man has been jailed for killing a woman 49 years after the case was opened.

John Apelgren, 80, was found guilty of killing 22-year-old Eileen Cotter, who was strangled to death and left by a block of garages in Highbury, north London, on the afternoon of June 1, 1974.

Apelgren, of Bryden Close in Sydenham, was sentenced today to 10 years in jail at the Old Bailey for the manslaughter of Ms Cotter.

The case into Ms Cotter’s death went cold as her killer could not be identified. But following a review of her case and analysing DNA samples from the original investigation, police were able to make a breakthrough.

The key to solving the case was the arrest of Aplegren in February 2019 for a domestic assault.

After admitting this offence, his DNA was found to match samples recovered from Eileen’s body decades before.

Eileen, who had lived in north London, had been a sex worker at the time of her death, and various DNA samples had been recovered from her body.

Detectives worked closely with forensic scientists to prove that the location of the DNA evidence on Eileen’s body pointed to a timeline of events which meant only Apelgren could have been the killer.

On June 22, 2022, Apelgren was arrested and charged.

The prosecution argued that Apelgren had sex with Eileen before he killed her, and then left her partially undressed in a garage courtyard behind Hamilton Park, in Highbury.

In a police interview, Apelgren said at the time of the murder he was living in Leyton, he denied having been to the Hamilton Park garages, said he did not know or recognise Eileen and claimed he never went to the general Highbury area.

He later conceded he did have sex with Eileen, but did not kill her.

Apelgren was also sentenced to six months in prison for the indecent assault of an 18-year-old woman at his own wedding in 1972.

The woman told police about this when she was spoken to during the investigation into Ms Cotter’s death. She had never disclosed it to anyone before then.

Detective Chief Inspector Laurence Smith, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “This case demonstrates the Met’s deep commitment to solving any act of violence against women and girls, no matter the length of time that has passed.

“The expertise of our forensic department and the detailed work of my homicide detectives has resulted in a conviction almost half a century after Eileen was killed.

“John Apelgren has been brought to justice for his crimes.”

Pictured top: From left, John Apelgren, and 22-year-old victim Eileen Cotter (Picture: The Met)