Exclusive:
Kelso Cochrane's killers were never brought to justice for the murder in London's Notting Hill. Now details of the 65-year-old case have been released in The National Archives
A prime suspect in the "first racist murder in Britain" told police before the attack that he was going to "kill the first" Black person he saw.
But the thug was never charged with the death of Kelso Cochrane, 32, and Scotland Yard claimed the stabbing was not racially motivated. No one has ever faced justice for the fatal stabbing of Kelso in 1959 by a gang of five or six white youths in Notting Hill, West London. The National Archives has now released the files on the 65-year-old case.
They reveal that the police had little doubt who committed the crime: naming Pat Digby and John ‘Shoggy’ Breagan. The racist thugs were both forced to admit being at the scene of the crime at the relevant time. Breagan, described in the files by the police as a “vicious character”, had been released from jail just ten days before Kelso’s murder for other attacks on Black men.
When he was arrested for the previous crimes, he used a racist term when speaking to two officers, saying: “If I do time for this, when I come out I’ll kill the first f****** s**** I see. I mean that too.” Kelso’s cousin, Millicent Christian, said: “It was a shock and I had mixed emotions seeing the files [which were only due to be opened in 2054].
"It’s as clear as daylight who was involved and they should have been charged with Kelso’s murder. To see what Breagan said earlier about wanting to kill a black person, making such a clear threat, was extremely shocking. They [Breagan and Digby] had the opportunity to live their lives for all the bad that they had done. Kelso didn’t have that chance. His daughters didn’t have the chance to know their father. Kelso came here to make a better life.
"He was ambitious, he wanted to achieve. He would have worked for the community. It’s very painful that he wasn’t able to do so. There was no effort by the police [after the initial investigation]. It was as if they thought no-one was ever going to bother with Kelso, that Kelso had no family who were going to want to know what happened to him. But the family has been searching for answers since 1959, and getting access to the files has been a long and difficult journey.”
Kelso, a carpenter from Antigua, was encircled, kicked and hit by the mob as he headed home. He died from a knife wound to the heart. Within three days of the murder, Digby and Breagan were held for questioning. The suspects gave contradictory accounts of their reasons for leaving a nearby party but were never charged.
When Breagan was interviewed decades later he said police put him and Digby in adjacent cells, allowing them to get their stories straight. They were released soon afterwards. Any possible forensic link to Kelso’s attackers was eliminated in May 1968, when the police destroyed Kelso’s clothes.
The files reveal they did it because they found: “it is now unlikely that any prosecution will be made in this case.” In 2003, Kelso’s brother Stanley Cochrane wrote to Scotland Yard who conducted a forensic review before concluding there was not enough evidence to convict any suspects. They have refused to open the files following repeated requests since 2005 saying to do so files might "jeopardise a prosecution".
A witness saw one of the attackers try to grab an iron railing to use as a weapon but no fingerprints were taken. Witnesses were shown photos of the suspects but there was no proper identification parade. Oswald Mosley's far-right party the Union Movement, which succeeded his British Union of Fascists, had a strong presence in the area.
In a 2011 book, investigative journalist Mark Olden wrote how Digby allegedly confessed he had killed Kelso. Digby died in 2007 and Breagan in 2019. Det Insp Amanda Greig said: "Our thoughts remain with Mr Cochrane’s family, we cannot imagine their pain as they continue to live with their loss. His murder remains unsolved but, as with all unsolved murders, this case is not closed and any evidence that comes to light will be assessed and investigated accordingly."
