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4 Landor House on Wesbourne Park Road, W2, where Ashraf Amrani murdered his parents - Hassan & Zohra
Welcome to the Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast and audio guided walk of London's most infamous and often forgotten murder cases, set within and beyond the West End.
EPISODE NINETY-THREE:
Today’s episode began as a violent sexual assault on a young woman, a humiliating and traumatic rape which changed her life forever, but this isn’t the victim’s story and neither is it the culprit’s, it’s about two innocent people who the system was designed to protect, but ultimately failed.
THE LOCATION
As many photos of the case are copyright protected by greedy news organisations, to view them, take a peek at my entirely legal social media accounts - Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
The location of 4 Landor House where Hassan & Zohra were murdered is where the lime triangle is. To use the map, click it. If you want to see the other murder maps, such as Soho, King's Cross, Paddington, etc, you access them by clicking here.
I've also posted some photos to aid your "enjoyment" of the episode. These photos were taken by myself (copyright Murder Mile) or granted under Government License 3.0, where applicable.
Credits: The Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast was researched, written and recorded by Michael J Buchanan-Dunne, with the sounds recorded on location (where possible), and the music written and performed by Erik Stein & Jon Boux of Cult With No Name. Additional music was written and performed as used under the Creative Common Agreement 4.0. SOURCES: As this episode is recent, there was no police file available at the National Archives, so I used court records, first-hand accounts, local knowledge and press articles.
MUSIC:
TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE: THE LANDOR HOUSE MURDERS. SCRIPT: Welcome to Murder Mile; a true-crime podcast and audio guided walk featuring many of London’s untold, unsolved and long-forgotten murders, all set within and beyond the West End. Today’s episode began as a violent sexual assault on a young woman, a humiliating and traumatic rape which changed her life forever, but this isn’t the victim’s story and neither is it the culprit’s, it’s about two innocent people who the system was designed to protect, but ultimately failed. Murder Mile is researched using authentic sources. It contains moments of satire, shock and grisly details, and as a dramatization of the real events, it may also feature loud and realistic sounds, so that no matter where you listen to this podcast, you’ll feel like you’re actually there. My name is Michael, I am your tour-guide and this is Murder Mile. Episode 93: The Landor House Murders. Today I’m standing on Westbourne Park Road, in Bayswater, W2; to the west this road leads to Reg Christie’s murder house at 10 Rillington Place, to the east leads is Felic Sterba’s twisted death-pact at Ralph Court, we’re three streets south-east of the culprit’s homes of the Wormwood Scrubs police massacre and two roads north of the mysterious death Emmy Werner - coming soon to Murder Mile. Westbourne Park Road is the architectural equivalent of a cinema hotdog. At first, you’re drawn in by its alluring sights, sounds and smells, and as you take your first bite from either end, it’s proves to be a real treat to your senses, but by the time you reach the middle, you realise it’s nothing more than a disgusting, soggy, smelly mess made of the cheapest off-cuts from a dying donkey’s arsehole. Being not quite Notting Hill and not exactly Bayswater, this part of Westbourne Park Road is a nowhere land stuck between the posh bits - where the millionaires quaff quail’s-egg smoothies, the celebrity paedos discretely skulk like nonce ponces dressed in gold lame tracksuits and the tax-dodgers shuffle their sixty-two credit-cards wondering which pseudonym to use - where-as here it’s so grim, anyone who strays too far, usually stop, thinks “maybe I’ll turn back” and tucks their wallet into their shoe. This is the land where time forget, but the debt-collectors and the discount pizza parlours didn’t. On the junction of the Great Western Road is the Brunel Estate, a series of mismatched flats and tower blocks covering a square block right up to the A40 flyover. It’s a dull, old and imposing rabbit’s warren of garages, bin-chutes and concrete stairs, that no-one dares enter except the residents. But it’s not a bad place; as designed to provide affordable homes for good people in a pricy area, the Brunel Estate houses many vital key-workers who keep the city alive and (in return) receive very little pay or credit. Squashed between a looming tower-block and two colossal sets of flats is Landor House; a 1960’s two-storey maisonette with brown brick walls, white window sills, a flat roof and a mishmash of handrails and ramps, as these identically quaint little homes are reserved for the estate’s elderly and disabled. And although they look almost sweet, one of these little flats holds a very dark and recent secret. As it was here, on Friday 13th February 2015, at 4 Landor House, that the parents of a convicted sex-offender became the forgotten victims of a system designed to protect the innocent. (Interstitial) A crime consists of a victim, a culprit, a motive, an incident, sometimes an arrest, an investigation, a trial and (hopefully) a conviction, where those held responsible are punished. But these incidents also impact on those who exist in the case’s periphery - in this instance - the offender’s parents. Hassan & Zohra Amrani were universally regarded by their friends and neighbours as a lovely couple; they were kind, polite, welcoming and hospitable, and although there’s very little we can say as they kept-to-themselves, there is no denying that they were decent people who lived a good life. Having migrated from North-West Africa - perched along the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea - Morocco is a stunning contradiction of geography; with its lush-green valleys to the west, its scorching Sahara Desert to the south and its snow-capped peaks of the Atlas Mountains to the north, but as beautiful as it is, Morocco is a region riddled with instability. As being hacked apart by its former French, Spanish, Portuguese and British invaders who divvied-up its lands, split apart its people and plundered its wealth, what was left was a country in political, religious and economic instability. Having fled to the calmer shores of the British Isles, Hassan & Zohra made a new home in West London; a strange land where the air was dirty, the water was hard and the sun was hidden by a thick grey gloom. Nothing grew here but concrete buildings and tarmacked roads. And being two thousand miles from everything they knew – with the Brunel Estate being crammed full of new faces, new voices and new cultures from around the world - finding a sense of safety here as everyone was a stranger, they sought to create a new stability by embracing others like they were their own family. As people, Hassan & Zohra were raised to appreciate what they had, to strive to do better, to obey the laws and to never forget those values. So, in the mid 1980’s, when they were blessed by the birth of two beautiful babies, these family values were imprinted on the child’s identities; with a girl they named Tohfa (the Arabic word for ‘gift’) and a boy called Ashraf (which means ‘the honourable one’). For the Amrani family, life was simple but good. Tohfa & Ashraf were educated at local schools, they had a good group of friends, they were raised to be devout Muslims, they were never without (as both parents worked), every night they ate well as Hassan was passionate chef, every day they were loved as Zohra was a professional child-carer and an amazing mother, and they lived in a small but beautifully neat maisonette at 4 Landor House, which was kept pristine and clean by their very proud mother. In 2007, Hassan & Zohra were overjoyed when Tohfa gave them a grandson. Family was everything, and this adorable new addition to their brood proved that all their hard work as parents had paid off. But where-as, Tohfa excelled, Ashraf struggled. Like many young men, rebelling against his parent’s more traditional wishes, Ashraf found it difficult to find his feet but also his own identity. Desperate to be his own man with his own life, job, home and freedom, but - unable to settle on a career and living under his parent’s roof and rules - the older he got, the more he felt trapped. As expected, tensions rose in the family home, and although Ashraf was involved in a few minor skirmishes, he never posed a problem or danger to his friends or family. And yet, no-one could have foreseen what was bubbling underneath. In June 2010, 25-year-old Mohammed Ashraf Amrani Marrakchi, known as Ashraf, a trainee plumber from West London stood trial at Southwark Crown Court. Just as any good parent would do, Hassan & Zohra were there to support their son, as sat in the public gallery (surrounded by scribbling journalists, giddy gossips and his victim’s furious family there to witness him receive a lengthy prison sentence) their eyes filled with tears and their heads hung low as their handcuffed son was led into the dock. For Hassan & Zohra, the trial was mercifully short, but during this ordeal, these good parents were confronted with the shocking and irrefutable evidence of their son’s heinous crime, which Judge Stone would describe as ‘a sustained and sickening attack of violence, humiliation and depraved sexual acts’. The details of the attack were never reported and (for her protection) the victim’s name was withheld, but as a key exhibit in his prosecution, the jury was shown the mobile phone footage which he had shot. Only the jurors saw the grainy images, and those in the gallery heard only the sounds, but their uneasy reactions filled in the blanks of what was obviously a brutal, traumatic and distressing assault. (Muffled video) Listening to the video, Hassan & Zohra’s hearts were ripped apart by the appalling truth that, just seven months earlier, while they were out earning an honest income to keep him fed and clothed, their son had lured a 23-year-old woman back to their family home. In the pristine rooms that this elderly couple had shared so many happy memories in, their boy barked orders at his petrified hostage, and having stripped her naked, beaten her black and blue and forced this weeping woman to scrub the bath like she was his slave, having threatened to slash her open with their own kitchen knife - on their bed, in their home - he subjected her to a sustained, brutal and horrifying rape. By the time the video had stopped, with the jury silent, sweating and visible shaken, even before they had left to deliberate, there was no denying that Ashraf, ‘the (so called) honourable one’ was guilt. In front of everyone, as the hacks snooped to snatch a soundbite for their grotty tabloid rag, Hassan & Zohra felt a sickening sense of shame as their little boy – who was now branded as a convicted rapist and a registered sex-offender - was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison. The conviction was a small consolation for a woman whose life would forever be traumatised by his actions, but with it not being a big story, it was briefly reported in the press and quickly forgotten. That night, Hassan & Zohra returned to the Brunel Estate; where their neighbours polite silences spoke volumes, and yet, behind their own walls tongues couldn’t help but wag - “their son’s a convict”, “their boy’s a rapist”, “he attacked her in their house”, “in their bathroom” – and (while Ashraf was locked-up far away) they were forced to return to their family home where the brutal rape had taken place. And no matter how hard Zohra scrubbed, the shame remained. They never spoke of what happened, and out of respect for a lovely elderly couple who deserved better, no one dared to question them. With the offender punished and imprisoned, that is where most stories end… …or, at least, that is where it should have ended. (Interstitial) By the spring of 2014, after four and a half years in prison and with two and a half left to serve - owing to good behaviour - Ashraf was released. The prisoner early release scheme was designed to help convicts re-assimilate back into society, with many tried and tested systems and safeguards in place to protect the target, the perpetrator and any potential victims. It’s not fool-proof, but it does work. So, with strict limitations placed on his movements, Ashraf had to adhere to the terms of his licence: “Rule One – Offenders must be of good behaviour and must not commit any offence”. For his parents, this rule was a blessing as it kept Ashraf in check, as should he be drunk, on drugs or in possession of a knife, it could terminate his licence and lead to his return to prison for the duration of his sentence. “Rule Two – Offenders must keep In-touch with their supervising officer and to receive them where you are living”. This was a second blessing for his parents, as Ashraf’s behaviour, movements and his circumstances would be monitored, on a weekly basis, by an independent professional. “Rule Three – Offenders must permanently live at an address approved by their supervising officer and to get permission if staying one or more nights at a different address”. Again, to prevent him from re-offending, Ashraf was banned from living near his victim or frequenting with other criminals, so although inconvenient, the only place Ashraf could live was with his parents, but family is family. “Rule Four – Offenders must only do work approved by their supervising officer”. This posed a big problem, as prior to his incarceration, Ashraf had started training as a plumber, but as the terms of his licence prohibited him from being near any children or lone females, this career path was over. “Rule Five – Offenders must not travel outside of the UK without the permission of their supervising officer”, which meant that for the next two-and-a-half-years, he couldn’t visit his relatives in Morocco, but then again, he was a convicted criminal who was still serving his sentence for a violent rape. Like many licenced offenders, he had to report to his local police station on a weekly basis, he was placed under a strict curfew which limited the locations and times he was permitted to be out in public, and he would be subjected to questioning, inspections, drug and polygraph-testing, on a random basis. Failure to do so could result in his immediate return to prison for the duration of his sentence. But as a convicted sex-offender, to protect the public, rightfully his restrictions were even tougher. Ashraf was placed on ViSOR (the Violent and Sexual Offenders Register); a nationwide multi-agency system used by the police, probation and prison services to monitor registered sex-offenders, whose risk factors are assessed by the Jigsaw Team, a division of the Metropolitan Police Service. As part of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, his additional restrictions included: “Rule One – Offenders must not use any device which records images and/or connects to the internet, unless its history is stored for routine inspection”; a rule that no-one would argue against, as part of his conviction related to the recording of violent sexual footage (possibly) for his own gratification. “Rule Two – Offenders must notify their supervising officer of any the information relating to their bank account, passport, mobile phone, credit or debit-cards and details of their vehicle”. At any time, the offender’s records could be inspected for misdemeanours which may revoke their licence. “Rule Three – Offenders must notify their supervising officer when residing in a house with a child for more than twelve hours and are not permitted to be alone with anyone under the age of eighteen, or any lone females”; a rule which would include a girlfriend, his mother, his sister and his nephew. As a convicted sex-offender, who was rightfully being punished, given the length of his sentence and the severity of his crime, even though the terms of his prison licence would expire in two-and-a-half-years, Ashraf could remain on the sex-offenders register for as little as ten years, or as long as life. That was part of his punishment… but it also punished those who the offender was forced to live with. After less than a year of living with their 30-year-old son in their small maisonette at 4 Landor House, both Zohra who was 59 and Hassan who was 72 had retired and earned the right to enjoy their twilight years; to relax, to laugh, to smile, to sing, and to share some quality time with their young grandson. But with a registered sex-offender in their home, their freedoms were curtailed too. As the physical, mental and emotional strain of supporting him took its toll, Hassan & Zohra began to look older and frailer, and although they had always been decent law-abiding citizens, they were being penalised too, except their only crime was being a birth relative of the offender. Unable to support himself, the elderly couple provided their son with everything he needed, but slowly their limited finances drained away. Living in the same house that this convicted rapist had committed his sexual assault, each day was a painful reminder of his horrifying crime. Being shut-in, as he spiralled into a depressive decline, attempted suicide several times and failed to get psychiatric help, tensions began to grow, as - fuelled by cannabis and ecstasy - his aggressive and violent outbursts escalated. But Hassan & Zohra were trapped. In early February 2015, high on drugs, low on mood, mentally collapsing and with none of the systems in place seeming to communicate, even though he had broken almost all of the terms of his licence, friends and neighbours grew concerned for Ashraf’s mental health, as well as the safety of his parents. One-week prior, three friends stated that Ashraf was unusually agitated and tense; one saw him pacing and brandishing a knife, another said he had a face like thunder and looked like he was going to kill someone, and a third stated that he had flown into a blind rage and attempted to strangle him. Ashraf had committed several serious probation breaches – drugs, weapons and assault – just one of which should have led to his immediate return to prison and psychiatric help… but the system failed. And it would fail again, again and again. On Tuesday 10th February at roughly 1am, Police were called to reports of disturbance in Westbourne Park; an Arabic male in his early thirties was witnessed chasing a member of the public whilst wielding a large knife. Assigned to the incident, Sergeant Gordon & PC Gill disarmed the assailant, restrained him with handcuffs and leg-straps, secured him in the back of the van, and arrested him on suspicion of causing an affray and allegedly threatening a man with a knife. As arrests go, it was textbook. With no wallet, the suspect gave the officers a false name, but having used this alias before, the Police National Database linked the suspect’s details to 30-year-old Ashraf Amrani of 4 Landor House. Seeing that he was a convicted sex-offender, out-on-licence, who had violated multiple conditions of his probation, including; curfew, drugs, assault, use of an offensive weapon and giving false details to the Police, he was detained and driven to Paddington Police Station. Again, as arrests go, it was textbook. On route, Ashraf began to deteriorate, and concerned for his health, the officers took him to St Mary’s Hospital, where medics discovered he had taken a nine ecstasy tablets. Being too sick to be detained and requiring two days to stabilise his condition, standard practice was to assign an officer to guard the convicted sex-offender, until he was fit to be formerly charged and returned to prison. But he wasn’t. In a decision that Sergeant Gordon later admitted was “very wrong”, Ashraf was released on ‘street bail’, a discretionary power for front-line officers which requires the offender to volunteer themselves on a later date at a local Police station, a power reserved for minor offences like shoplifting. He then left the prisoner in the custody of the medics, and told them to call 999, should he attempt to leave. At no point during this incident did the arresting officer inform the probation service that one of their violent sexual offenders had been arrested, as there was no law in place which required him to, so no-one at ViSOR or Jigsaw were notified. At 3am, two hours later, Ashraf discharged himself from hospital. The next day, Zohra was seen walking through the Brunel Estate, a neighbour stated she looked tired and talked of wanting to return to Morocco. They didn’t speak long, as Hassan needed her back home quickly. Zohra waved her goodbye, entered her front door, and was never seen again. Nobody saw or heard anything, and although - later that evening – Police were dispatched to reports of a disturbance, as the occupier refused to open the door, they were unable to gain entry to 4 Landor House. On Friday 13th February, just a few hours later, paramedics were called to Mickleton House, a seven-storey block of flats next-door to Landor House. Entering via Westbourne Park Road, and to the left of the rabbit’s warren of garages, about fifteen feet off the floor, Ashraf was found on the first-floor roof of the communal bin-store; he was alive but unresponsive. With high levels of cannabis and ecstasy in his system and several self-inflicted knife wounds slashed across his wrists, Ashraf had staggered-up the circular staircase, leaving an ever-increasing trail of blood right up to the very top, as from its highest point, the chronically-depressed man threw himself from the seventh floor, plunging almost sixty feet, as his body slammed onto the concrete roof below, fracturing and breaking his legs, his ribs, his back, his pelvis and sustaining a severe head trauma. He was rushed to St Mary’s Hospital, but later that day, he died of his injuries. As part of protocol, on Saturday 15th February, Police were sent to 4 Landor House to notify Hassan & Zohra Amrani that their son had died. The officers knocked but got no reply; the curtains were closed, the house was silent and the neighbours were concerned, having not seen the couple for two days. Forcing entry and seeing signs of a violent struggle, Police found two bodies. In the upstairs bathroom, dumped in the bath, 72-year-old Hassan had been stabbed in the stomach, the kitchen knife had sliced into his liver, as slowly the frail pensioner bled-out. And crouched in a foetal position, on the floor of the downstairs toilet, 59-year-old Zohra has been suffocated with a plastic carrier bag and repeatedly beaten over the head. An investigation was launched, but no other suspects were sought. (End) An inquest was held at Royal Courts of Justice on the 9th August 2015, where the jury returned a verdict that Ashraf Amrani had unlawfully killed his parents and committed suicide whilst the balance of his mind was disturbed. His drug-abuse, his mental state and the restrictions of his licence were taken into account, with Sergeant Gordon’s decision to issue a ‘street bail’ raised as a significant factor in all three deaths, as well as multiple failings by ViSOR, Jigsaw, the Met Police and the legal system itself. Mr Richmond QC, solicitor on behalf of the Amrani family wrote to the Home Secretary insisting that all agencies involved in an offender’s probation must be informed of any arrest by those out on licence. Having referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the Met’ Police stated that they would implement the three following recommendations; firstly, that Sergeant Gordon would be issued with a written warning for misconduct; secondly, that ‘street bail’ is only authorised by a custody sergeant; and thirdly, that Jigsaw units are informed as soon as one of their offenders is arrested, bailed or charged. As of today, only the first recommendation has been put in place. The prisoner early release scheme was designed to protect the victim, the culprit and the public, but what it often fails to recognise is that when a prisoner is released, and the conditions of their licence is - rightfully - strict to stop them reoffending, this can have a serious impact on the innocent, those good decent people on the periphery of the case, like Hassan and Zohra – the offender’s parents. OUTRO: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for listening to Murder Mile. Up next is my weekly blah-de-blah-de-blah, glug-glug-glug, munch-munch-munch, complete with some aimless waffle and a quiz. Oooh. So stay tuned till after the break for Extra Mile. Before that, a big thank you to my new Patreon supporters who are Julie Balchin, Caroline Collins, Cecilie Brinkmann and Susy Q, I thank you, with a special thank you to Geoff Leach and Anne-Marie Griffin for the kind donations, which probably haven’t been squandered on cake. Probably. So I thank you. Plus a big thank you to everyone who posted a review of Murder Mile on your podcast app’, I did a shout-out on my social media, and loads of people came rushing to the rescue, so I thank you also. Murder Mile was researched, written & performed by myself, with the main musical themes written and performed by Erik Stein & Jon Boux of Cult With No Name. Thank you for listening and sleep well. Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian, podcaster and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London”, nominated "one of the best true-crime podcasts at the British Podcast Awards 2018", one of The Telegraph's top five true-crime podcasts and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totaling 50 deaths, over just a one mile walk
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AuthorMichael J Buchanan-Dunne is a crime writer, podcaster of Murder Mile UK True Crime and creator of true-crime TV series. 
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