Sadistic killer Tony Jasinskyj makes fresh parole bid 23 years after DNA finally caught him for Marion Crofts murder – while chilling 1982 dog walkers slaying remains unsolved just a mile away
A sadistic child killer who raped and murdered a 14-year-old schoolgirl is making a fresh bid for freedom – despite never admitting his guilt and amid renewed calls to investigate whether he was responsible for a notorious double murder.
Tony Jasinskyj, 68, was jailed for life in May 2002 after groundbreaking DNA evidence linked him to the brutal killing of Marion Crofts, who was attacked as she cycled to band practice in Aldershot, Hampshire, in 1981.
MailOnline can reveal the former Army chef is now preparing for a new Parole Board hearing that could take place as early as this summer – sparking outrage from those who believe he may be responsible for more unsolved killings.
The case has chilling links to the unsolved murders of Ann Lee, 44, and Margaret Johnson, 65, who were stabbed to death while walking their dogs on Aldershot Common just a year after Marion’s killing – and barely a mile from where Jasinskyj struck.
THE HORRIFIC ATTACK
Marion was cycling to band practice before being attacked by Tony, a Lance Corporal in the British Army stationed at Browning Barracks in Aldershot at the time of the murder. The teenager’s clarinet case was later found floating in the nearby Basingstoke Canal.
Tony Jasinskyj was a lance corporal in the Army Catering Corps based in Aldershot and was living in army married quarters about a mile and a half away from the murder scene with his pregnant wife Lynn Gowans, whom he had married in 1976.
The schoolgirl had been subjected to a savage sexual assault before being beaten to death in what Judge Michael Brodrick told Jasinskyj that he had committed a “cruel and callous murder” that gave Marion’s family “21 years of suffering as they thought of the final, dreadful, brutal moments of her life.
DNA BREAKTHROUGH AFTER 21 YEARS
In an extraordinary display of forensic foresight, Following the murder DNA evidence was deliberately withheld in the expectation that testing techniques would advance in the future which would find a match.
The breakthrough came in dramatic fashion. On being arrested for assaulting his wife police took a routine DNA sample and fed details into a databank. When the results came back, they showed that the DNA match to Jasinskyj was one in a billion.
By the time of his arrest, Jasinskyj had left the Army and was working as a security guard in Leicester, living with his second wife Michelle – having divorced his first wife Lynn in 1984.
THE DOUBLE MURDER MYSTERY
What makes Jasinskyj’s potential release even more controversial are the unanswered questions surrounding the 1982 double murder on Aldershot Common.
On the afternoon of May 10th, 1982, forty-four-year-old mother of two Ann Lee walked out of her house in Highfield Gardens, Aldershot, Hampshire, England. She met up with her friend Margaret Johnson, 66, for their regular dog walk.
About halfway along their route, an unknown individual leaped out and attacked them, stabbing both women multiple times with a double-edged knife before fleeing the scene.
The similarities to Marion’s murder are striking:
- Both crimes occurred in Aldershot
- Both involved sudden, vicious attacks
- Both happened in daylight hours
- Neither involved robbery
Murders of Margaret Johnson and Ann Lee – unsolved 1982 murders nearby in Aldershot which have been linked to Crofts’ murder, according to official sources.
WRONGFUL CONVICTION CLEARED THE WAY
The double murder case took a bizarre twist when Peter Fell, a known fantasist, repeatedly confessed to the killings while drunk. Despite getting key details wrong, he was convicted in 1984 and served 17 years before being exonerated in 2001.
Fell was freed 1 December 2000 on bail by the Court of Appeal in London after prosecution lawyers admitted the conviction was unsafe.
With the real killer never found, questions have persisted about whether Jasinskyj – who was living and working in Aldershot at the time – could have been responsible.
NEVER ADMITTED GUILT
Despite the overwhelming DNA evidence against him, Jasinskyj has never admitted his guilt. In 2014, he launched a desperate appeal, claiming the DNA evidence was “flawed” because it suggested the killer had a chromosome disorder.
The Appeal Judge Lord Justice Phillips said the original verdict was “entirely safe” and dismissed Jasinskyj’s claim as “fanciful”, stating that his “fixation on an anomaly” could not outweigh the one in a billion probability that Jasinskyj had committed the rape and murder.
PAROLE FEARS
In April 2022 the parole board revealed that they would be considering his case for release and that he could be released within weeks. That bid was ultimately unsuccessful, but now the killer is making another attempt at freedom.
A source close to the case said: “It’s deeply troubling that this man could walk free when there are so many unanswered questions. The similarities between Marion’s murder and the double killing a year later are too significant to ignore.
The families of Ann Lee and Margaret Johnson have never received justice for their loved ones’ deaths. With Jasinskyj potentially facing release, many are calling for a comprehensive review of any possible links between the cases.
LASTING TRAUMA
Marion Crofts was the youngest of three daughters, and her murder devastated her family. The case gained national attention when it was featured on BBC’s Crimewatch in 2000, leading to the DNA breakthrough that finally brought her killer to justice.
But with two murders still unsolved and a convicted child killer who has never shown remorse potentially walking free, the community of Aldershot continues to live with unanswered questions about one of Britain’s most disturbing series of attacks.
Hampshire Police have been contacted for comment about whether they are reviewing any potential links between the cases ahead of Jasinskyj’s parole hearing.
