A TRUE-CRIME author who has been investigating the Island’s only unsolved murder case is appealing for further information after new leads emerged from his research.
Mark Bridgeman, who is writing a book on the killing of 20-year-old Finnish au pair and waitress Tuula Höök in the 1960s, is appealing for more information from the public about a nightclub and a car that are thought to be associated with her death.
Tuula was found face-down in a farmer’s field in St Clement on 30 December 1966, with her possessions scattered on the grass. She had been bludgeoned to death.
After contacting the JEP earlier this year to raise awareness of his project, which is being supported by Tuula’s family, Mr Bridgeman said he has since heard from witnesses with new information about a St Brelade nightclub where she was regularly spotted in the months before she died alongside an unknown gentleman.
“It turns out that Tuula regularly visited a nightclub called The Bay nightclub, which was in St Brelade’s Bay Hotel in the 1960s,” Mr Bridgeman said.
“It was thought to be Jersey’s most expensive and sophisticated nightclub at the time,” he added. “[Tuula] was seen there regularly, always on Saturday night with a slightly older and wealthier looking man.”
According to witness testimonies, the man drove a convertible sports car, wore expensive suits and always sat in the same “shadowy corner” with Tuula. They claim he was aged between 25 and 30 years old at the time.
“It was like he didn’t want to be seen with her,” Mr Bridgeman said.
The researcher would now like to hear from anyone who used to frequent or work at The Bay in the second half of 1966. He said he would be particularly interested in hearing from doormen.
The Perthshire-based author, who has penned 14 titles to date, said he would also like to speak to people who owned or knew someone anyone to a certain model of car a witness spotted near to where Tuula’s body was found.
“[The vehicle was] possibly a Vauxhall Cresta in a two-tone colour – maroon and grey, or perhaps maroon and white,” he said.
He added that it would have been dark and raining at the time the car was spotted by the St Clement field, so the witness could have seen something similar to a Cresta, such as a Vauxhall Victor or Ford Hillman.
“If anybody knew somebody who was driving or had access to this kind of car in the 60s, particularly somebody who may have wanted to sell it, or they suddenly stopped using it, or their behaviour changed, I’d be interested to hear from them,” he said.
Mr Bridgeman hopes the nightclub and the car will be the final puzzle pieces required to finish his book – which he’d like to see published in 2026 to mark the 60th anniversary of Tuula’s death, and the year that would have been her eightieth birthday.
“I may not be able to ever prove who did it, but one of the points of the book is that I’m hoping that there will be somebody out there who knows something,” he said.
Any new leads Mr Bridgeman finds will be shared with police, he said.
Anyone with information to share is invited to contact Mr Bridgeman via email on: mark@markbridgemanauthor.co.uk.
Festival of Words
The author will be appearing at Jersey Library on Thursday 25 September as part of a Jersey Festival of Words event in which he will discuss his investigation and upcoming book, ‘Jersey’s Only Unsolved Murder’.
