Brutal Coventry murder has gone unsolved for 65 years

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Brutal Coventry murder has gone unsolved for 65 years

Postby dutchman » Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:24 pm

No arrests ever made despite 25,000 people being quizzed and theories including a mafia hit

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It's the case that has had police in Coventry stumped for 65 years.

To this day the grisly murder of Coventry mum Penelope Mogano remains one of the city’s most baffling murder mysteries.

The story of the killing of the popular and attractive woman dates back to January 1954.

Mrs Mogano, a mother-of-two known in dancing circles in the city, was at her home in Holland Street, Radford, when the killer knocked on her door.

Whether he, or she, was known to the 44-year-old or whether the caller was a bogus meter man who had been preying on women in the area has never been clear.

What is known is that when her husband, Carlo Mogano, returned home at 4.30pm he found his wife’s badly beaten body slumped in an easy chair.

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Police said that “extraordinary force” had been used to murder Mrs Mogano and mutilate her body.

A blood-stained carving knife was found beside her but the murder weapon – thought to be a hammer – was never found.

An investigation was launched by Coventry Police, who called in detectives from Scotland Yard.

Fingerprint experts were even asked to assist police, but the evidence provided would only help police if they managed to identify a suspect – something they struggled to do.

A team of 50 police officers relentlessly pursued every lead, grilled a staggering 25,000 people.

But it wasn’t to be. Mrs Mogano’s killer was never apprehended.

To this day Coventry residents who remember the horrific murder, or heard relatives speaking about it, have their own theories about who killed her.

Some suggest that she was killed as part of a mafia hit while others believe the killer was well-known to Mrs Mogano.

Police explored a number of other theories.

Firstly they launched a search for a con artist who had tricked his way into Mrs Mogano’s neighbour’s home.

The black haired man, with a slight London accent and a dirty dark blue overcoat, made sexual advances towards the neighbour before leaving.

The same man visited five houses in the city in the space of a week, all under the pretence of inspecting electricity meters.

As well as the bogus meter man, police also said they were searching for a “mysterious prowler” who torched the pantry of a home in nearby Bassett Road a few days before the murder.

The owner of the property organised old-time dances and police were exploring the theory that the prowler – who was also the killer – was a “dance-hater” who disliked Mrs Mogano’s dance background.

The Moganos themselves were well-known in dance circles and police looked at this during their investigation.

One informant suggested that Mrs Mogano had been upset by a change of dance partners the previous summer.

Another witness said an attempt had been made to torch the Moganos’ car, suggesting that someone might have a vendetta against the family.

As the investigation continued police uncovered questions about Mrs Mogano.

They started to ask where she went in the afternoons in the weeks before her death.

Five days after she was murdered, the Telegraph reported those mystery trips – which may have been to the shops or to visit friends – were not always explained to her husband.

On the day of her murder a dress had been laid out on the bed ready for her to change into before leaving the house.

She had planned to meet friends at 3pm but by then she had been brutally murdered.

The mystery around where Mrs Mogano went in the afternoons continued when it was reported that she resigned from Radford Townswomen’s Guild four months before her death.

She told other guild members that she was tired in the afternoons and needed to rest.

Police always suggested that Mrs Mogano knew her killer, and welcomed him or her into her home before she was killed.

They handed out 1,500 questionnaires and spoke to thousands of people, but never charged anyone with murder.

Documents from the investigation are in the national archive, but won’t be available for another two decades.

Until then it looks unlikely that any further light will be cast on an investigation that has stumped investigators for more than half a century.

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dutchman
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Re: Brutal Coventry murder has gone unsolved for 65 years

Postby dutchman » Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:27 pm

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Re: Brutal Coventry murder has gone unsolved for 65 years

Postby Jock Strapp » Wed Jan 02, 2019 8:23 pm

Mr Mogarno worked at Daimler and it was suggested that he could have climbed the factory boundary fence during his lunch break. Plenty of time to do the deed, climb back over the fence and rejoin his workmates as if nothing had happened. Some of his workmates said that he was missing for a short while, others said that he never left the room. Whatever the truth was he was only questioned and never arrested.
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Re: Brutal Coventry murder has gone unsolved for 65 years

Postby dutchman » Wed Jan 02, 2019 8:50 pm

Jock Strapp wrote:Mr Mogarno worked at Daimler and it was suggested that he could have climbed the factory boundary fence during his lunch break. Plenty of time to do the deed, climb back over the fence and rejoin his workmates as if nothing had happened. Some of his workmates said that he was missing for a short while, others said that he never left the room. Whatever the truth was he was only questioned and never arrested.


Interesting Jock! :thumbsup:

His wife was clearly having an affair so he had at least one motive to murder her.
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Re: Brutal Coventry murder has gone unsolved for 65 years

Postby Melisandre » Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:26 pm

As kids we all use to play on Radford Common living close by and even to day my eldest sister now in her mid seventies says it was the husband that was suspected the rumour was he had sneeked out of work on his brake from the Jag & Damilar works Radford to kill her and if I recall right there was a discrepency on time being in work but it was never proved. I am surprised dna has nt solved this old crime like they do with old unsolved crimes in the USA.
Last edited by Melisandre on Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Brutal Coventry murder has gone unsolved for 65 years

Postby Melisandre » Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:35 pm

dutchman wrote:His wife was clearly having an affair so he had at least one motive to murder her.


My thoughts exactly Dutchman as affairs go on a lot among old time dancer's. Plus why was a dress layed out for her to change to go and meet friends when she left resigning from the towns womans guild stating she got tired in the afternoons. My thought he could could of murdered her after the son left the house 11 minutes after he had supposed to have left for work as it would take only about 10 minutes to walk to work at a quick pace.
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