Threw stones at police station window to gain officers' attention

Anthony Kemp killed a man 37 years ago. Picture: Met Police

A 58-year-old homeless man who was living in the Chiswick area turned up at the local police station in the middle of the night to confess to murdering a man 37 years ago.

Anthony Kemp arrived at the station on Chiswick High Road at 4am on 28 July last year and, finding the front counter closed but seeing lights on in the building, threw stones at the windows to attract the attention of police officers inside.

When one of them came out to tell him to stop, Kemp told him that he had killed a man after an argument in December 1983 adding, “You know what, I’m homeless, and I’m not going to sleep on the streets.”

The murdered man was 50-year-old head waiter Christopher Ainscough who had invited Kemp back to his home at some point between 3 and 5 December 1983.

The men had argued and Mr Ainscough was bludgeoned to death. His body was later discovered by police officers who went to check on him when he did not turn up to work at the Grieveson Grant and Co restaurant in the city.

The murder weapon is believed to have been a marble ashtray weighing 2.4kg which was found at the scene. Mr Ainscough died as a result of a fractured skull and a cerebral laceration.

The original murder investigation into Mr Ainscough’s death was closed in 1985 after no leads were found.

Kemp later retracted his late night confession in Chiswick but it was captured on a body worn camera used by the officer. DNA analysis taken after this confession meant that investigators were also able to link Kemp to the crime scene by way of a cigarette butt left at the scene. On Friday (24 September) he pleaded guilty to one count of murder at the Old Bailey. He will be sentenced on Wednesday, 13 October at the same court.

Angela Moriarty, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said, “This case remained unsolved for more than 35 years before Anthony Kemp turned up at a police station to confess to a murder. He later retracted the confession and went on to blame another man, who had been dead for some years, before finally admitting the murder.

“In his initial police interview Kemp described how he had met the victim, went back to his flat where they drank and that the victim had said something that angered him. He saw an ashtray on the table and beat the victim on the head with it. In fact, this was a brutal and sustained attack, fracturing the skull of Mr Ainscough.

“The prosecution case included body worn footage which captured Kemp confessing to the murder.

“Mr Ainscough was a single man who lived alone. He had moved to London from Ireland some 30 years before his death. Although we have never been able to trace any of his family, I hope this conviction provides some sense of closure to all those who knew Mr Ainscough.”

September 25, 2021