Abdur Rashid
The story I am covering today has been on my list of potential episodes for some time and it is unlikely I will find any further sources so I feel it is time to share it.
In 1979, 37 year old Abdur Rashid left his family home in Bangladesh and travelled to London to pursue opportunities to teach the Quran and provide for his family. His wife and four children stayed behind in Bangladesh. Abdur obtained a part time teaching position at East London Mosque situated in Mile End, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. He would regularly send money home to support his family.
Abdur worked at East London Mosque until 1983 after which he diversified his services by offering to teach the Quran in private homes. To supplement his income he also sold sarees and various trinkets to the women of the Bangladeshi community living in the Whitechapel area of east London. At this point Abdur was lodging with a family in Settles Street, Whitechapel.
Abdur was a well known figure amongst the Bangladeshi community and was referred to as “The Holy Man”. He had a good reputation which made what happened to Abdur equal parts puzzling and disturbing.
On the evening of Tuesday April 26th 1988 the now 46 year old Abdur was at the house he lived in on Settles Street. At 9pm Abdur asked one of the family members if he could make a phone call using the landline. (This was long before mobile phones were commonplace). Abdur dialled a number but found the line to be engaged. He replaced the handset and came back into the kitchen diner with the rest of the family. He then took out a blue notebook and began flipping its pages, seemingly looking for a telephone number. Minutes later Abdur used the phone again and this time his call went through and he spoke to someone. One of the family members overheard Abdur’s end of the conversation. Abdur said, “Alright brothers. I’ll come now”. A short time later, at 9.30pm, he left the house.
As part of Abdur’s normal routine he would always attend 10pm prayers at the mosque. No one saw him there that evening. This was very unusual. It is also important to note it was the month of Ramadan, the 9 month of the Islamic calendar where Muslims across the world fast, pray and gather in community..
At 11pm Abdur visited a friend in a flat on Romford Street. This was just a three minute walk from Settles Street. He didn't stay very long and the friend said during the fleeting visit Abdur seemed nervous. It does not appear that Abdur told the friend why he was agitated. The next sighting of Abdur happened at 11.30pm when a man called Abdul who knew Abdur saw him walking down the staircase of a different block of flats on Romford Street. This was Block 25.
The final sighting of Abdur that night is recorded as happening at around the same time (11.30pm). Abdur was standing on the pavement on Fordham Street outside a Cash and Carry. A Cash and Carry is a wholesale business generally not open to the public but to businesses and professional users.3.52 Again, The location on Fordham street was just a couple of minutes walk from Settles Street. They operate on a buy on the spot rather than credit system. A witness who knew Abdur asked him what he was doing there. Abdur explained that he was waiting for someone and that he had to do something. This was the last time Abdur was seen alive.
The following morning, Wednesday April 27th 1988, a group of primary school children were walking along a nature trail on the edge of Epping Forest, just north of London. Epping Forest is an almost 6000 acre area of ancient woodland which stretches across the border of Greater London into the county of Essex. The path the children were following ran alongside Fairmead Road and was about 12 miles, 19 km, from Abdur Rashid’s home in Whitechapel.
In the treeline and just metres from the road the children found a human body, which a short time later was identified as being Abdur Rashid. The body was found wrapped in a bed spread. This is a large, lightweight and decorative piece of fabric that normally sits on top of a duvet. A sash cord had been used to tie the bedspread around the body. A sash cord is a durable type of rope. The items had been set alight and had burn marks on them.
A post mortem determined that Abdur had been murdered with a sharp instrument, some reports mention a machete type weapon. The BBC Crimewatch television programme went further, saying the murder weapon could have been a traditional Asian kitchen knife called a Daa. The larger versions of these sharp cutting instruments have a wooden platform which the foot braces against while two hands are used to cut meat, fish or coconut. The blade itself is curved. I believe there are also hand held varieties.
Detectives from Edmonton Police station, North London, attempted to find a motive for the killing. The Harlow Star reported on May 12th 1988 that the month-long festival of Ramadan hampered inquiries. However, what seemed obvious is that whoever had picked Abdur up from outside the Cash and Carry on Fordham Street had been involved in the murder. The small blue book that Abdur had been seen flicking through shortly before making the phone call on the night he was killed was not found with his body and has never been located. It seems logical to presume that the killer's name and phone number is contained in its pages.
As mentioned Abdur had a good reputation amongst the Bangladeshi community and had no obvious enemies. Police did come across witness testimony that Abdur had been seen arguing with some men over some money he owed them, but it is not known whether this is connected with his death.
One possible theory was that the murder may be linked to Abdur’s business of selling sarees to local women. He would often go door to door selling directly to these women, sometimes when their husbands were not at home. Had Abdur annoyed a particularly jealous husband, resulting in his murder? No one could say for sure.
Police could not say for certain where Abdur was killed, but believed his body was driven north up the M11 towards Epping New Road in the early hours of Wednesday April 27th. At Robin Hood Roundabout the vehicle would have taken a left along Cross Roads towards High Beach before turning left onto Fairmead Road. The vehicle would have pulled in just a few hundred metres along the road. This was a popular spot for courting couples, and police appealed for people to come forward, as they were sure the flames from the killer's attempt to burn the body would have been visible for some distance. They also asked for petrol attendees to recall if anyone bought petrol in a can on the night of April 26th/27th.
The burning of the body itself was a significant act. In Islam cremation is not allowed and the burning of a body is seen as a sign of disrespect and dishonor. It is viewed as an unclean act and it is forbidden for anyone to engage in such a practice. Police suspected this fact was known by the killer.
A little over 5 months after the murder, at the beginning of October 1988, BBC’s Crimewatch covered the case and reconstructed Abdur’s last known movements. Detective Superintendent Geoff Parratt appealed for help from the public to solve the murder. Photographs of the bedspread were shown. It was cream in color with a green floral pattern and brown leaves. The maker of the bedspread was unknown. It was also revealed that the sash cord that bound his body may have come from a building site near Abdur’s home. The area was going through redevelopment and there were a lot of building sites.
An elder from the east London Bangladeshi community and Abdur’s 14 year old son made an appeal in Bengali for people to come forward to bring justice for Abdur's family.
Sadly since then there have been no major developments in the case that have been made public, and the killer or killers of Abdur Rashid have yet to be caught.
I like to try and ensure there is at least 25 -30 minutes of content for my episodes but I have realized sticking to this rule denies the airing of cases that most need exposure. Abdur Rashid's story is one such example as is that of Kevin Mison and Christina “Sister Jacinta” Bracken which I have also covered recently. It's the sad reality of many forgotten decades old cold cases that not a lot has been written about them.
If you have any information about the 1988 unsolved murder of Abdur Rashid you can contact the Met police on 101 or Crime stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
