On the 17th of October 1995, Joy Hewer (52) was found dead in the bedroom of her 6th floor flat in St David's Court in Walthamstow. Firefighters had been called to the house due to a fire at approx 23:45. It's believed that the two fires (one in the bedroom and one in the lounger) had been started to destroy evidence.
Joy had suffered from multiple injuries including a number of stab wounds to her chest, and she had been sexually assaulted. On the day she was murdered, Joy had volunteered at the London Healing Mission in Notting Hill until 15:30. She was next seen stopping by a chemist at 17:50 before heading home to the Wood Street area.
A couple who lived directly underneath Joy described hearing "loud banging and scraping noises" coming from Joy’s flat between 22:30 and 23:00, but just as they decided to go upstairs and investigate further the noises stopped.
Less than an hour later, at 23:18 a member of the public rang the emergency services from a public phone box on a nearby road to report smoke coming from the home.
This caller has never been identified, despite police releasing the 999 call in an effort to find him as they believe he could hold vital clues to the murder.
The Met don't think that Joy would have let a stranger into her home, a theory that's backed up by the discovery of two used coffee cups in the house, as well as no signs of forced entry.