Reporting the brutal murder of Karen Reed, gunned down on the doorstop of her home in Woking 30 years ago in which the intended target was her sister Alison Ponting, was a rare story of such magnitude for a local newspaper to cover.
Last week’s Peeps told how the News & Mail reported events leading up to the murder on April 30, 1994. That Alison’s Ponting’s husband Gagic Ter-Ogrannsyan was serving a life sentence in the UK for the killing of the Outsiev brothers of the semi-automatous Russian enclave of Chechnya.
That on April 21, 1994, the News & Mail reported police officers had found a hand-gun abandoned in a car after a chase in Woking.
And that Alison Ponting and her mother Iris were suing the police for compensation as personal photos the police had confiscated from them in 1993 had subsequently been released to the press “to ensure sensational coverage” of the murder trial of Alison’s husband.
The News & Mail’s report of the murder was in its edition of May 5, 1994, under the headline “Doorstep assassin in fatal blunder”.
Reporter Ken McCormack wrote: “A hitman dodged police security measures to gun down a woman at the door of her home in Woking on Saturday evening in what police are calling a ‘cold-blooded, callous and professional’ killing. Det Supt John Stewardson said Karen Reed was shot several times in the torso.”
The reporter also spoke to neighbours on the Barnsbury estate. Jerry Buckley said: “After the first shot there was a long scream, then the rest of the shots came. It was all over in 30 seconds. The gunman fled down a pathway and jumped into a car, which had its engine running.”
Alison Ponting, who was at work at the time of the shooting, issued a statement on the Monday after the Saturday evening shooting saying she was “shocked and distraught at the death of my sister, Karen, who was murdered so horrifically simply because of her relation to me”.
In its edition of May 12, 1994, the News & Mail published an artist’s impression of the man the police were hunting for Karen’s murder.
The police also gave details of a number of leads in its investigation as well as details about the finds found in the abandoned car the previous month. On examination, the bullets were found to have been hollowed out and filled with mercury to increase their explosive power. However, the bullets recovered from the scene of Karen Reed’s murder were not mercury-filled.
Her funeral was held at St Mary’s Church in Horsell on May 16, 1994, amid extremely tight armed security. The police turned away causal visitors, with dogs checking footpaths and undergrowth behind the church.
News & Mail photographer Bill Beminster was given exclusive access to take photographs from a distance.
In its edition of May 19, 1994, the newspaper reported the service began as the clock struck one and around the churchyard were police officers in blue American-style Surrey Police jackets, and one of them appeared to be holding a gun in a case.
The service finished shortly before 1.30pm and the procession of 75 mourners and police slowly made their way to the far corner of the churchyard for the burial, led by the vicar of St Mary’s, the Rev John Fowles.
It added that the family of Karen Reed had been given police protection and “Miss Ponting may now be given a new identity”.
The News & Mail reported in its edition of June 6, 1994, that following an appeal on ITV’s Crime Monthly programme detectives had received a “reasonable response”.
In April 2021 Operation Lilac was launched and there was a fresh nationwide appeal on TV’s Crimewatch Live. In its edition of April 8, 2021, the News & Mail reported this and noted that Gagic Ter-Ogrannsyan had served his prison sentence without being harmed and was deported upon his release.