Trevor Hardy's killing spree

Aged just 29, Trevor Hardy was jailed for attacking and wounding another man with a pickaxe to the head. After only serving 2 years out of a 5-year stint, he was released from Albany jail on the Isle of Wight on November 18th 1974. He vowed for revenge after he claimed that he was set up and that he would kill Stanley O'Brien (the man whom he had assaulted with a pickaxe) as well as Beverley Driver, an Ex-girlfriend of Hardy who had cut off contact with him at her parent's request which enraged him further. Upon his release, he had found out that O'Brien had died of natural causes which then, unfortunately, led to all of his frustration and caged up anger to be forced upon Beverley who at the time was still a teenager.

A month after his release from prison, still on parole, Trevor Hardy committed his first murder on new year's eve 1974. After mistaking Janet Stewart (a 15-year-old) for Beverley Driver, Hardy got out of his car and stabbed her twice, once in the throat and then slashing her neck. After realising his mistake, Hardy dragged her lifeless body to a hollow and covered her just enough to hide her body. He later returned to remove her head, hands and feet. Garrett and Nott, (2001) stated these acts could've been ‘some very strange form of gratification.' He returned multiple times in order to dispose of her body in numerous different locations. Her head had been discovered later in a lake nearby. Hardy had taken Stewart's ring, giving it to a later love interest as a gift. It took the police 21 months to find Stewart's remains after her first initial reports of being missing, almost two years prior as stated by (Steve Myall, 2018).

(Janet Stewart, Aged 15. (Image: Daily Mirror: Manchester)

The second victim of Hardy was Wanda Skala, she had been working in a pub at the time and was aged 18. She had just finished a shift at the Lightbowne hotel and was walking home when she was hit with a brick, strangled and robbed by Hardy. He had stripped her and mutilated her corpse and dumped it in a local building site, only leaving her body partially buried. It had been known that he kept her bloody clothing as well as her personal possessions in her bag. This information was found after Hardy bragged to his brother after the two had set Hardy up with an alibi. He had further made efforts to evade capture by filing down his teeth after he had bitten the body of Skala post-mortem. Police investigation stated:

 "The head injuries were consistent with having been caused by a large number of heavy blows possibly from a brick found at the scene. Part of the right nipple had been removed, possibly by biting and there was a lacerated wound and bruising near the upper part of the vulva which could have been caused by kicking or a blow from a blunt object. (Teare, 2008)".

(Wanda Skala, Aged 18. (Image: Daily Mirror: Manchester)

Hardy had later revealed in an interview that he had read a book in Queen's park library on Neville Heath, who had bitten two women's nipples off in the 40s and was subsequently hanged. Hardy had staged his murder as a sexual attack upon Skala. 

It was at this point that Hardy became a prime suspect for the murder. After raiding Hardy's flat the police were met with the alibi of his girlfriend, Sheilagh Farrow, who vouched for him after having washed the blood from her partner's clothes.  This led to a brick wall for the investigating police force, until an eventual breakthrough in 1975. Hardy's brother, Colin, had drunkenly admitted to police that Hardy had murdered Skala, leading to his eventual questioning on the murder. Having had a basic knowledge of forensics, Hardy got his girlfriend to smuggle in a nail file to his holding cell. While there, Hardy filed down his teeth, preventing him from being linked to the bite marks that were left in Wanda Skala. The lack of dental evidence, as well as his alibi, meant that Hardy walked free and was no longer a suspect in the Skala murder investigation.

Hardy's final murder was sadly on 17-year-old Sharon Mosoph on the 9th March 1976. Her small stature had given her the nickname 'titch' and she had just arrived that night in Manchester on the bus. She had recently received a promotion and was working for a kitchen firm in a mill not far from where her home was. After seeing Hardy attempting to break into her place of work, Mosoph had a brief verbal altercation with him. She was then attacked and dragged across the street and thrown into the canal, her left nipple removed by Hardy in the confrontation. Realising that he had left evidence upon her corpse, Hardy returned to the scene and mutilated her body further, attempting to remove any teeth marks that he had left after the attack. Her naked body was found the next day in the Rochdale canal.  As stated by Ralph Mosoph, (1976) the father of Mosoph "It happened in March, he was apprehended in April. He'd gone on the run and was living rough in Broadhurst park."

(Sharon Mosoph, Aged 17. (Image: Daily Mirror: Manchester)

(Sharon Mosoph's corpse was found close by to this site: Manchester Evening News Archive)

Trevor Hardy was apprehended in August 1976 for the murder of Sharon Mosoph and Wanda Skala. While detained, Hardy also admitted to the murder of Janet Stewart who was at the time listed as missing. During his trial, he fired his defence barrister and attempted to defend himself. This ultimately led to him pleading guilty to manslaughter, however, said plea was rejected and he was convicted of three counts of murder and sentenced to three life sentences. He died in September 2012 at Wakefield prison after a heart attack, aged 67.