It was December 15th 2016, when police were called to the Cheshunt railway station in Hertfordshire,
England after reports came in that a man had thrown himself in front of an oncoming train.
There they found 64-year-old Theodore Johnson on the tracks. The Jamaican-born man of Dartmouth
Park Hill, London survived the ordeal but had lost his right arm and his left hand.
It wasn’t until police entered Johnson’s home later that day that they realised the
horrible event that preceded his suicide attempt. An event that would remind them
of his criminal past, a past life which had also been plagued with mental illness.
Following his admittance to hospital, police went to Johnson’s home in Dartmouth Park Hill.
But little could prepare them for what they would find there. The lifeless body of Theodore
Johnson’s former partner Angela Best was lying on the floor in the living room.
The 51-year-old grandmother and mother of four had extensive wounds to her head,
and a silver claw hammer lay close to her body. A dressing gown belt had been tied twice around her
neck and there were blood stains on the wall above her head. Further examination of the scene found
a smashed lamp next to the doorway and a mobile phone lay in pieces on the floor and on a table.
The pathology report stated that the cause of death was strangulation and
extensive head trauma caused by at least six blows from the claw hammer.
Theodore Johnson was arrested on January 19th 2017 whilst being treated at the Royal London Hospital.
It was following his eventual trial in January of 2018 that the extent of Johnson’s past crimes,
which by now had been forgotten by many, came back to public attention.
Back in 1981, 27-year-old Theodore Johnson was living with his then wife Yvonne and their two
young sons in Wolverhampton. The couple had met in Jamaica,
and Yvonne had moved to England, soon to be followed by Theodore in 1980.
During an argument between the pair on May 18th 1981,
Yvonne was hit with over the head with an ashtray and a vase, and then pushed from the
balcony of their 9th floor home in the Cobden Lane neighbourhood. She died from her injuries.
It was reported that Yvonne Johnson wouldn’t let her husband go to church
because she didn’t think he was dressed well enough. During the argument that followed,
it was said that Yvonne threatened to kill him,
hit him with a book and then an ashtray, which he then turned on her after wrestling it away.
Johnson admitted to police in 1981 that he had pushed his wife to the edge of their balcony
at Franchise House in Blakenhall, until she slipped and clung to the edge. He then stood and
watched her until she dropped. Following this, he changed his clothes and met his son after school.
Mr. Johnson was tried at Stafford Crown Court on and sentenced to three years in prison on November
4th 1981 following a three-day trial. He had initially faced a murder charge, but was handed
the lesser charge of manslaughter after claiming extensive provocation during his marriage.
Indeed, the way in which the incident was reported in 1981, painted a grim picture
of his life as a battered husband. The court heard from Johnson that he had been bullied
into doing house chores and cooking. The Express and Star even reported that the 8 stone Johnson
had complained about the bullying he had suffered at the hands of his 12 stone wife.
Apparently all this was all taken very seriously in 1981 when Judge Talbot told Johnson before sentencing:
By 1986 Johnson’s somewhat lenient sentence had been served and was two years behind him.
This is when he moved to from Wolverhampton to Finsbury Park in London with his new partner,
a care home worker named Yvonne Bennett. The couple stayed together for the next six years,
and in that time, they had a daughter. Then, in 1992, Ms. Bennett began an affair with a fellow
care worker at the old peoples' home she worked at in Stoke Newington. She claimed that Johnson’s
violent and controlling nature had led her to be unfaithful. After an argument one evening, she
ended the relationship and Johnson left their home at Fallowfield, Six Acres Estate in Finsbury Park.
On September 20th 1992, he returned and begged for her to take him back. When she
refused and rejected a box of chocolates he had bought, he strangled 25-year-old
Yvonne Bennett with a belt while their baby daughter slept in the next room.
Following the death of his second victim, Johnson attempted suicide by hanging himself from a tree,
but the rope he used snapped. He then admitted himself to hospital and it was decided by doctors
that he was suffering with deep depression and had a severe personality disorder. He was then
sentenced to an indefinite hospital order under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act.
He admitted to manslaughter again on March 5th 1993 after pleading guilty at the Old
Bailey on the grounds of diminished responsibility. But it only took two
years before Johnson was allowed out of the hospital on unescorted leave to
attend a City and Guilds course in furniture restoration two days a week. This is where he
met Angela Best who had recently moved to London from Manchester with her four
children. He applied for a full discharge in May of 1996, but it was not granted.
The now 42-year-old Johnson and 26-year-old Best began what would be a 20-year-long relationship.
In October of 1997, Johnson was granted discharge from the hospital on the condition he reside in
assisted living quarters, attended all meetings with social workers, and let them know of any
relationships he had with women, so that they could be informed of his past convictions.
Unsurprisingly, Johnson did not disclose his relationship with Angela Best, and startlingly,
she remained unaware of the events of his past life until three months before her death
when she found a letter containing details of the killing of one of his previous partners.
Following this discovery in September of 2016, Angela Best ended her relationship with Theodore
Johnson, and appeared to have moved on when she began seeing a man named Ronald Emmanuel.
Angela Best’s children all described Johnson as an abusive, controlling man, and told of how he
punched her one day when she discovered he’d been unfaithful. Angela's new love interest was a
godsend to the family, and her children exclaimed that she was the happiest they’d ever seen her.
This was unwelcome news to Johnson, though. He saw the happy couple walking along Tottenham
Court Road one day in November of 2016. He pulled up beside them and shouted;
“Is that the guy you’re running around with?”
In the weeks that followed, Johnson repeatedly turned up at Ms. Best’s house on Forster Road,
Tottenham in an attempt to win her back. It’s said he was also
neglected his own health in the hope he would gain her sympathy.
They remained in contact though, and on December 14th 2016,
Angela Best told her daughter that she would be accompanying Johnson to a passport
application appointment at the Jamaican Embassy in Kensington the following day.
The following day, Angela Best received a number of voicemail messages from Johnson
asking when she was going to arrive at his home. We now know that Angela Best used her
Oyster Card to catch two buses to Johnson’s home, and made a phone call to him at 9:04am.
It’s believed that she arrived at Johnson’s home in Dartmouth Park Hill at
around 9:20am. Her son Fabian Collins attempted to call her later that morning,
but got no response. At some point that morning Theodore Johnson killed his third
victim and former partner Angela Best.
Police found her body later that day when they
arrived at the premises in the hope of finding Johnson’s next of kin.
During the police investigation, Johnson’s car was seen on CCTV driving along the A10
road at 1:30pm towards Cheshunt station in Hertfordshire, where he planned to take his
own life. Two hours later his attempt failed, leaving him severely wounded. He was arrested
on Thursday, January 19th 2017 after weeks of intensive treatment at the London Royal Hospital.
Almost one year later, a wheelchair-bound Johnson sat in the dock at the Old Bailey
on Tuesday, January 2nd 2018, and admitted to killing Angela Best.
But for the third time in 35 years, he claimed it was manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
Judge Richard Marks, in light of this, was expecting a lengthy trial,
but Johnson soon after changed his plea to guilty for the murder charge.
On Friday, 5th January 2018, Theodore Johnson was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years.
Sentencing, Judge Marks said:
There have been calls to action to find out why Johnson was allowed back into society to kill
for a third time, and former health care assistant to Johnson, Sandra Davies said
he should never have been released, adding that she predicted that he would kill again.
Speaking in Johnson’s defence was Annette Henry. She mentioned that Johnson had
suffered at the hands of an abusive father in Jamaica, blaming these experiences for
his behaviour later in life. She also said:
But these words were immaterial to the prosecution, and of no comfort to the family of Angela Best,
nor - it can be fairly assumed - to the families of Yvonne Johnson or Yvonne Bennett.