Murder of Rosie Palmer - Shaun "Tony" Armstrong

Shaun "Tony" Armstrong

Shaun Armstrong (born 30 June 1962, Easington, County Durham) moved in to a council-owned flat on Frederic Street in August 1993. He was unemployed, with a dependency on alcohol and prescription drugs, and had a long history of criminal activity. He had been investigated in relation to sex offences against children, although never charged. He was also diagnosed with a personality disorder and a psychopathic personality. He had obtained the flat after his psychiatric consultant wrote a supporting letter to the Housing Department stating that he was "vulnerable". On the estate he was called "Tony the Pervert" and was generally considered "a loner, disliked or distrusted by all those who knew him".

On 30 June 1994, Armstrong, who had been drunk "for two days solid, partying for birthday, at different people's houses and pubs and clubs," arrived home by taxi at 15:30, about the same time that the ice cream van pulled in to Henrietta Street. The rear of Armstrong's flat backed on to the cul-de-sac where Palmer purchased her ice cream. Post mortem examination determined that she was dead by 16:30, although pathologists were unable to give a specific cause of death due to the condition of her body. Det. Supt. Smith told a news conference: "She had been severely sexually assaulted. That is a possible cause of death – the actual injury itself."

At around 16:30 Armstrong called in at a local shop where he said he was going to "help look for the little girl who had vanished" although at this time he was the only person who knew she was missing. The shopkeeper noticed blood on Armstrong's hand, who said he had been bitten by his dog, despite the absence of any wound. Armstrong then took his dog and a bottle of cider to the nearby beach and began running in and out of the sea for two hours until neighbours reported him to the police who arrived and told him to go home.