‘Bully’s’ death pleases village

Press, 17 March 1982, Page 9

‘Bully’s’ death pleases village

NZPA London English villagers who danced with joy after a local bully was found shot dead learned yesterday that the police are sure he was not murdered. “we are satisfied there was only one person involved - himself." said a Kent police spokesman. Villagers had given the police very little help over the death of the 42-year-old bachelor, Brian “Bowie” Onions, who was said to be “a devil."

They even threw a party in the local pub to celebrate — and now that they are all in the clear, they plan another joyous celebration. “It's fair to say he was not the most popular person in the area,” said the police spokesman. “We had an open mind, but we were awaiting the results of forensic tests.” Confirmation that no-one else was involved came after a post-mortem examination yesterday. Mr Onions was found lying in a pool of blood on Saturday at the side of his council ’ house in Elvington near Dover.

He had been blasted in the legs by a shotgun, and left a trail of blood as he crawled to the front gate for help. But villagers were said to have walked past and ignored him.

Instead they crowded into the White Horse pub — and those that were left outside danced in the street.

One man was said to be laughing and singing: “The bastard’s dead, the bastard’s dead.”

According to one villager, Mrs Moira Harding, the celebrations will go with even more of a swing now that noone is under suspicion. “We were very happy that we had got rid of him — and now we know there is no-one involved, that’s another great relief,” she said.

“Everyone will stop looking at everyone else. Nobody had actually pointed fingers at who might have done it, but you knew what each other was thinking." Mrs Harding said it was hard for anyone who did not live in the villae to understand how they felt about Mr Onions.

“If it had been anyone else everybody would have fallen over themselves to be helpful straight away, but being Bowie we didn’t hear anything and we didn’t see anything,” she said. Villagers lived in terror of him, she alleged. He crept around the village with a shotgun, smashed windows, ransacked houses, and damaged cars.

He had threatened adults and bullied children, she said.

"He was more than a nuisance, it was beyond a joke,” said Mrs Harding. “You never knew when he was going to come and do you a mischief. He was a devil, and created havoc over the years.

“I had a litle Morris Minor car but he slashed the tyres arid set it alight. He was always creeping around at night, peering through my windows. I was so frightened I bought a dog,” said Mrs Harding.

When he was found dead, villagers at first assumed one of them had “done what we didn’t have the nerve to do all these years." ..

“They all got a bit excited with relief. We decided that if anyone was arrested we would get a fund going to pay for the best defence in the country.

“But when people had time to think about it they realised that no-one would have done him in in the daylight. “They could have done it late at night away from the village. There are plenty of places you could dump a body around here — and there are enough people who have planned to do it." But according to the dead man’s uncle Jack, who also lives in Elvington, he was often made a scapegoat and was bullied by a village gang- ' “He was no angel but he did not do half the things he was accused of,” said Mr Onions, who is 73. He lost confidence after ‘ becoming unemployed, and “was not quite 100 per cent," adaed Mr Onions.

Six years ago “Bowie" was acquitted of trying to kill a man with a shotgun. .At the time he said he wanted to leave Elvington because of a feud. j