Margaret Cook was a woman who was shot dead on 9 November 1946 outside the Blue Lagoon nightclub in Carnaby Street, London.[1] [2] In 2015 a man living in Canada confessed to the shooting which would make this the longest gap between a crime and a confession in British criminal history.[1] [2]
26-year-old Margaret Cook was originally from Bradford and a prostitute in London.[1] [2] She was shot in a narrow passage outside the club.[1] [2] Witnesses described a man aged about 25 to 30 in a pork-pie hat and Burberry coat, but lost sight of him.[1] Although a labourer from Lanarkshire was named as a suspect by police, nobody was ever charged with the crime.
In 2015 a 91-year-old man living in a care home confessed to killing a woman with a Russian-made World War II pistol to Canadian police.[1] [2] Scotland Yard detectives interviewed him and though he could not remember the name of the woman he picked out a photo of Margaret Cook.[1] [2] He wanted to clear his conscience after being diagnosed with cancer.[1] [2] British authorities are trying to extradite him but as of July 2015 the Canadian government has not replied.[1] [2]
It has been claimed that this is the longest time between a crime and a confession in British history.[1] [2]