Blood and Fire: The Murders of Peter Tosh and John Lennon

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Two musicians; two murders, separated by hundreds of miles. On the face of it, ex-Beatle John Lennon and Reggae star Peter Tosh were gunned down in very different circumstances. Lennon was shot by an obsessed fan; Tosh a victim of 1980s Jamaican gun culture. On closer examination, however, their deaths have more in common than first meets the eye, not least because they were both peace-loving men who wanted mankind to live in harmony. Jacques Morrell and Simon Ford unpack the archives and their vinyl collections in this investigation.

Featuring the voices of C.C. Anderson, Tim Bryn Smith and Denroy Shakespeare.

The Six O’clock Knock is a Psycho Killer production.

Transcript
[Music] This podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Hello and welcome to the Six O’clock Knock the true crime podcast that takes a fresh look at murder I’m Simon Ford a journalist and broadcaster with 20 odd years in the business and I’m Jacques Morrell 30 years of British police officer and detective I spent many an hour on the press benches of various courts reporting on the kind of crimes that Jacques spent his career detecting now the English legal system has influenced many others around the world our system of common law or case law originated in the practices of the courts of the English kings following the Norman conquest in 1066 and to be clear Scotland wasn't conquered by the Normans which is why the Scottish legal system is different from the one in England and wales absolutely and comparisons as the saying goes are odious now the British empire imposed that English legal system on its far-flung colonies many of which retained the common law system today these systems give great weight to judicial precedent today of course there's no British empire but one third of the world's population lives in common law jurisdictions including Jamaica and that other former colony the united states of America [Music] Jamaica declared its independence from Britain in 1962 but remained a member of the commonwealth and it's to Jamaica that we are heading today then we'll look at a second case also from over the Atlantic both cases are very different but both involve the murder of prominent musical artists and both involve firearms our main focus is that of the murder of Winston Hubert McIntosh better known as Peter Tosh Jamaican reggae artist [Music] Peter Tosh was the baritone who left Bob Marley and the Wailers went solo and worked with the Rolling Stones among others the one who learned how to ride a unicycle and rode onto the stage on it that's him his other claim to fame he was shot and killed in 1987. We’ll compare his murder to the fatal shooting of John Winston Lennon British musician founder member of the Beatles shot and killed seven years earlier in 1980. I suppose everyone remembers where they were when a celebrity gets murdered I’ll be honest though Peter Tosh was less well known in our household but John Lennon now his murder took place on the evening of Monday the 8th of December 1980 in New York five hours behind London time so I woke up to the news on Tuesday the ninth now my dad had bought a colour tv in time for Christmas and John Lennon’s murder was one of the first stories I saw in colour on the tv news John Lennon is dead shot several times by a young American as he was going into his home in New York the former Beatle who was 40 was returning home from a recording studio with his wife Yoko Ono when he was murdered it took a few days for the enormity of what had happened to sink in the significance of the talent that had been lost but there was a school assembly I remember where John Lennon’s music was played in tribute and even some of the teachers were moved to tears it was one of those moments that made me want to record significant events and I guess set me on the path to becoming a journalist now I know very little about Peter Tosh but you're a fan aren't you Jacques tell me something about the man and his music well from what I know his childhood was one of survival he was abandoned by his parents and moved around between relatives now this was rural Jamaica and when his aunt died he moved to trench town in Kingston aged about 15. his introduction to music was amazing though he used to sit and watch a man playing guitar in the street now this man only played the one tune but Tosh was mesmerized after seeing him many times Tosh picked up the guitar and played the song back to the man the man asked him who taught him to play guitar and Tosh replied you have he'd learned by watching Tosh then learned some singing skills from a guy who gave free music lessons to young people and it was there he met Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer who were doing the same thing and as they say the rest is history that's fascinating and do you recall where you were when the news of these deaths was reported yes and no I was working full-time in 1987 and while I have some Peter Tosh records at home I don't remember where I was when news of his death broke I guess as a young cop working shifts I was just too busy to follow the news I can remember clearly when the news of Lennon’s death happened the difference is that I was 17 years old in 1980 and there's something about teenage memories that seem stronger isn't there that's very true yeah I’d agree with that my memory of the first colour tv and the teachers in tears that kind of thing it's just frozen there somehow that moment crystallized and when I think about it it's as though I’m back in my tiny box of a bedroom it's just big enough for a single bed wardrobe a chair and a bedside cabinet I had a radio alarm clock I can picture it now it had an illuminated red digital display classic seventies I was listening to the morning show on radio one the DJ I think was Mike Reed and I could hear something different in his voice he was emotional and struggling for words I knew then how much of a big deal it was as the whole show was a news item with a few John Lennon songs for those people who do not know and it may have just joined us John Lennon died earlier today as the result of what seems to be one of those idiotic and pointless attacks by someone who probably didn't even know him he was shot dead in New York about four o'clock GMT yes I remember now we had the BBC news on in the kitchen and John Lennon was shot four times in the back his killer Mark David Chapman waited for the police to arrive and immediately admitted what he'd done well Peter Tosh was killed on the 11th of September 1987. he was shot during a robbery at his home in Kingston Jamaica his killers though didn't hang around for the police to arrive they were arrested later one man was convicted of the crime Dennis Lobben although he still maintains his innocence now these murders were seven years apart and happened in very different circumstances the only connection being both were musicians and both were shot in cold blood and both men shared the same full name of Winston don't forget yes that's an interesting coincidence isn't it I wonder if it's significant the motive for their killings is very different while their respective killers are still in jail what would have happened to them if their victims had not been famous artists almost certainly released I guess what we also want to do is to expand on the detail and then consider whether there's a similarity in the mindset of the killers the killers of both Peter Tosh and John Lennon I guess it's hard for us in the UK to appreciate the place that guns have in society in both the USA and Jamaica but the fact remains that nearly 40 years after the murders of John Lennon and Peter Tosh firearms are disproportionately used in killings in both countries the united states relationship with guns and gun control is well documented and according to a survey in 2017 Jamaica is one of the most armed countries per head of population in the world it seems so alien to us in the UK we have some of the strictest firearms controls in the world although to an extent some of that gun culture has spread over here Jamaican law allows firearm ownership

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