Skegness Magazine

December 18th 1986

THE mother of murdered Skegness schoolgirl Nicola Spencer, pictured left, met pressmen yesterday and made a plea for help in the hunt for her daughter’s killer.

Still heavily sedated, 25-year-old Christina Spencer said very little at the specially arranged press conference, but pleaded for anyone who knew anything to come forward. “I want the person who has done this caught,” she said.
Seven-year-old Nicola was found strangled at her home in Grosvenor Road, Skegness on Thursday night. She had been left alone in the top floor bedsit while her mother went out with friends.
At the press conference fair-haired Mrs Spencer said she believed Nicola must have known her killer.
“She would not have opened the door to anyone she didn’t know,” she said. Nicola had been told never to answer the door when she was alone.
“All I can think of is: why? She never did any harm to anybody.”
Mrs Spencer described her daughter as a very friendly very happy girl, who always enjoyed herself.
When asked if she thought someone in Skegness had information which might lead to her daughter’s killer, she said: “Someone is bound to know something. Whoever it is, they’re going to get you. I just hope the police get you before I do.”
Christmas treats Mrs Spencer had lined up for her daughter included a trip to Panda’s Palace, due for last Saturday and Cinderella at the Arcadia this Saturday.

Mrs Spencer, pictured right (centre), who sat between her sister Viola and a policewoman, kept her eyes down throughout the press conference. She had to be carried out at the end in a state of great distress.
Det Supt Tom Coates, the man leading the hunt for Nicola’s killer said yesterday that there were no new developments in the enquiry.
Baffling detectives is what motive there could have been for the killing.
Nothing was stolen from the flat and there was no sign of a forced entry. Det Supt Coates said they had not ruled out that Nicola was sexually assaulted, until they had the results of laboratory tests. But there was no obvious sexual attack.

Coroner opens inquest
AN inquest into Nicola’s death was opened and adjourned by Spilsby District Coroner Mr Ian Mitchell-Smith at Skegness Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Pc Stewart Bishop told the coroner that, in response to information received, he went to Flat 6, 21 Grosvenor Road, Skegness, on Thursday night, where he saw the body of a young girl, which was identified to him by Mrs Christina Spencer as that of her daughter, Nicola.
At 6.45 am the following day Pc Bishop identified Nicola’s body to Home Office pathologist Prof Alan Usher
Det Supt Tom Coates told the coroner that a postmortem was carried out on the body of Nicola Spencer by Prof Usher, who found that the cause of death was strangulation.
Mr Mitchell-Smith adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed.

Computer Check

POLICE hunting Nicola’s killer are using the latest technology. Over 1,000 pieces of information have been fed into the latest police computers in a bid to catch the killer.
Ninety-six officers from all over the county have been drafted into Skegness for the inquiry and some leave has been cancelled over Christmas.
Twenty officers will continue working on the case over Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The number to ring if you have any information is Skegness *******.

The bedsitting room in which Nicola was found is pictured left. The decorated Christmas tree is topped by a home-made paper angel. (Photo: Eric Spencer).

Appeal response ‘good’
DET Supt Coates says the response from the public for help as police hunt the killer had been very good.
House-to-house enquiries were being made and he said the police were very grateful to the many members of the public who had come forward to help.
However, he was still keen to hear from anyone who was in the Grosvenor Road/ Cavendish Road area of Skegness between 8 pm and 11 pm on Thursday night.
Even if they do not think they heard or saw anything suspicious they should contact the murder incident room in Skegness immediately. “Their information will be treated in the strictest confidence,” said Det Supt Coates.
It was possible that some close relative or friend of the attacker might know something, he said.
Sister of Mrs Spencer, Mrs Viola Durant also made an emotional plea for help with the murder hunt this week. She told reporters that her sister regretted leaving Nicola in the flat alone on Thursday night.

MOTHER ‘WENT MISSING’
POLICE have confirmed that Nicola’s mother Christina Spencer went missing on Saturday night.
She slipped out of the house where she was staying with friends at about 11 pm and was found about an hour later in Tower Gardens, where she used to play with Nicola.
She was pushing a swing, wearing slippers and had an overcoat over her nightdress.
Her sister Mrs Viola Durant who is staying with Mrs Spencer, said that she went to the toilet and when they thought she had been a long time they went to investigate and found that she had gone.
A search was made in subzero temperatures to find her.

Poster campaign launched

SKEGNESS police yesterday launched an urgent appeal for a woman who attempted to contact them in connection with the death of schoolgirl Nicola Spencer.
And they stepped up their murder enquiry by distributing 2,000 posters around the town.
The woman rang them on Monday afternoon and asked to be put through to the incident room but unfortunately was cut off before she could speak.
Det Supt Tom Coates, in charge of the murder hunt, is appealing to the woman to telephone them again.
Meanwhile the posters were distributed by police on Wednesday to shops, pubs, clubs, rail and bus stations in an attempt to jog someone’s memory.
They appeal to anyone who was in the Grosvenor Road, Cavendish Road or Dorothy Avenue area on the night Nicola was murdered to come forward with any information however small.
A picture of the seven-year-old girl is also included.

Nicola was strangled in the top floor bedsit she shared with her mother in Grosvenor Road, while her mother, Mrs Christina Spencer, was out at a local pub with friends.
Since that night of Thursday, December 18 detectives have launched a full-scale enquiry with a special incident room set up in Skegness.
Det Supt Tom Coates, who is leading the enquiry, said it is progressing satisfactorily.
“So far we have talked to over 1,000 people which includes 20 or 30 men at Butlin’s. The response has been very good from local people,” he said.

Police seek youths in murder enquiry
DETECTIVES hunting the killer of schoolgirl Nicola Spencer are seeking two youths who travelled to Skegness on the night Nicola was strangled while alone in her Grosvenor Road home.
The youths, who arrived on a Brylaine coach from Boston Railway Station on the night of December 18, asked the coach driver for directions to Grosvenor Road.
Detectives are now anxious to talk to the youths who may have seen or heard something.
They are described as both being around 19 years old. The first was 5ft gin, had normal length dark hair and was wearing a black leather jacket with tassels and jeans. The second was around 5ft 6in in height, of medium build, and was dressed in a red anorak with white stripes on the sleeves.
Police were uncertain whether the youths were visitors to the town or locals, but their request for directions suggests that they were unfamiliar with the area.
As the enquiry area widened, the Skegness Siberian freeze disrupted the progress of the murder hunt by the team of 70 detectives.
A Press conference which Nicola’s mother, Christina Spencer was due to attend was cancelled twice because of the weather.
Det Supt Tom Coates who is leading the enquiry, said two other youths had come forward since an earlier appeal was made in a local newspaper. This had enabled them to be eliminated from further enquiries.
Information from the public had enabled the police to estimate that around 200 people had walked down Grosvenor Road on the night of the killing.
Most of these had been interviewed and eliminated from the enquiry.

Youth charged with murder

AN 18-year-old Skegness youth made a five-minute appearance in court yesterday charged with the murder of seven-year-old schoolgirl Nicola Spencer last December.
Antony Ralph Michael Shirley, of “Montray,” Lumley Avenue, Skegness, stood rigid in the dock while the clerk read out the charge.
Prosecuting, Mr Bob Jones, asked the chairman of the magistrates Mrs Patricia Caudwell for an adjournment until next Friday (February 6), and asked for a remand in custody.
Shirley’s solicitor Mr Ian Benton made no application for bail but said that the charge would be contested.
Shirley, wearing a smart grey jumper and trousers, was then led away. Reporting restrictions were not lifted.

Granted Bail

AN eighteen-year-old Skegness youth, charged with murdering seven-year-old schoolgirl Nicola Spencer last December, was granted conditional bail on Tuesday.

Antony Ralph Michael Shirley of Lumley Avenue, Skegness, appeared before a judge in chambers at Nottingham Crown Court.
His solicitor, Mr Ian Benton, made the application backed by a total surety of £10,000. Shirley was released provided he agreed to a curfew, and condition of residence. He had been held in custody since January. Mr Benton said this week that his client was likely to be committed a week on Monday to stand trial at Lincoln Crown Court, at a date to be fixed.
Nicola Spencer’s mother, Mrs Christina Spencer, has written to East Lindsey MP Sir Peter Tapsell in a bid to get the bail laws changed.
Mrs Spencer, now of Old Wainfleet Road, plans to organise a petition in Skegness and to get as many people as possible to write to Sir Peter condemning the current law which allows .people charged with murder to be released on bail.

Not Guilty Plea

EIGHTEEN-year-old Skegness man Antony Ralph Michael Shirley will plead not guilty to murdering seven-year-old schoolgirl Nicola Spencer.
Shirley, of Lumley Avenue, asked for reporting restrictions to be lifted so that he could make a press statement when he was committed for trial by local magistrates on Monday.
He is charged with murdering the youngster at her home in Grosvenor Road on December 18 last year.
Dressed in a blue anorak and smart trousers, Shirley, whose family were present in court, agreed to stand trial in Lincoln at a date to be fixed.
But his solicitor Mr Ian Benton told magistrates that his client requested that restrictions be lifted “in view of the considerable publicity the case has attracted.”
Tragedy
Shirley was arrested in January and remained in custody at Hull until three weeks ago, when he was granted bail by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court, backed by a total surety of £10,000.
Reading from a prepared statement, Mr Benton said his client “shared the deep sense of grief which had resulted from this appalling tragedy.
“He agreed to be committed for trial today pursuant to the provisions of section six of the Magistrates Court Act 1980, but in doing so he wishes to make itknown that he will be strenuously contesting the charge against him,” said Mr Benton.
Magistrates agreed to extend Shirley’s bail until the Crown Court hearing. Legal aid was also extended to cover the cost of the trial.

Though the news stories don’t mention the school which Nicola attended, a visitor to this website has informed us that it was in fact the Skegness Junior School, Cavendish Road, Skegness.

There my be some follow-up articles to this but as yet I have not found them.