Life imprisonment and for a minimum of 30 years after murder of Carole Harrison

The body of a woman, later identified as Carole Harrison, was found. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as smoke inhalation and a head injury. Carole, a mother of five and a former nurse, had lived in Teddington for 46 years, the last 18 of which were on her own since the death of her husband. A murder investigation was launched after enquiries by LFB concluded that the fire had been started deliberately. Detectives established that Carole had been seen in the company of a man of scruffy appearance on the day of her murder and shortly before the house was discovered ablaze. The man was subsequently identified as William Kydd. Kydd was arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday, 25 August 2018 and denied having had any involvement, answering ‘no comment’ to all questions put to him. He was released on bail. Detectives continued to work on the investigation and began piecing together evidence of his presence at the scene. A pathology report in November 2018 stated that Carole had been alive during the fire and had been assaulted shortly before it. It was established that the fires had been started in four separate areas of the house and that internal doors had been closed; Carole would not have been able to close the doors owing to the arthritis she suffered. Kydd was further seen on CCTV leaving Carole’s house minutes before the fire was first reported. Forensic evidence found that Kydd had access to the address on the day in question and that, as a smoker, he had access to some form of ignition in order to smoke his cigarettes. Mobile phone evidence showed that despite having been in near daily phone contact with Carole prior to her death, he made no attempt to call her after her murder and re-located to another area of London. Kydd was re-arrested on Wednesday, 28 November 2018 and was charged with murder on Thursday, 29 November and remanded in custody.