Brothers found guilty of 1984 murder

Two brothers have been convicted of murder after detectives re-opened an investigation almost 40 years after the killing.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Michael Stewart, 57 (11.04.69) of Station Road, EN5 and Anthony Stewart, 60 (19.11.65) of Old Farm Road, N29 were found guilty of murdering Anthony Littler in East Finchley in 1984.

Anthony, aged 45, was found dead in an alleyway close to East Finchley tube station on 1 May 1984, with no-one ever being identified as responsible for his murder.

In 2022, homicide detectives reviewing the case concluded that a new investigation could help lead them to the killers.

Unlike with the majority of today’s cases, there was no forensic evidence, no CCTV or no phone data to help officers solve the crime.

Instead they had to turn to more old-fashioned policing methods, including trawling through thousands of historic paper documents to check every lead had been followed, and undertaking searches of police property stores to ensure that no exhibits remained.

Officers also attempted to identify any witness or police officer named in the 1984 investigation, but none were still alive. As a result, they spent hundreds of hours locating and speaking to neighbours, former partners, friends and employers of the main suspects.

After a number of years building the case, officers presented their findings to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2025, who agreed there was enough evidence to charge Michael and Anthony Stewart.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, who led the investigation, said: “Anthony’s life was suddenly cut short when he was killed in a brutal attack by two teenagers who we now know had a clear propensity for the most sickening kind of violence.

“They targeted Anthony because he was alone, defenceless and walking down a dark alley in which they knew no-one would see them carrying out their horrendous assault. They lay in wait for someone to cross their path and tragically for Anthony, he became their unsuspecting victim.

“We know Anthony’s murder has continued to cause his family pain all these years later, and we are pleased that they now know who was responsible for his death.

“We also want to pay tribute to those who came forward to provide information on the events of that night, as well as giving vital evidence in court. Without them, this verdict would not have been possible.

“The Met will always review any new evidence that is brought to us, no matter the length of time that has passed. We will use all of the resources available to seek out the truth and pursue new opportunities to get justice for all victims who have been unlawfully killed.”

The investigation

In 2022, detectives from the Met’s homicide team re-opened the files on Anthony’s murder, to assess if any viable lines of enquiry could be carried out.

They found that in 2013 Daniel Stewart – who was only 10 years old at the time of the attack – had come forward to police to say that in 1984 his older brother Michael had told him he had ‘robbed a bloke and he died’.

Anthony had confessed to the same thing eight or nine years later. Daniel, out of family loyalties, never disclosed to anyone what he had been told until decades later, when he made the decision to speak out.

Another person had also come forward in 2015, telling police that Michael had admitted the murder, bragging that he and his brother would frequently beat people up and that on one occasion a man had died.

On reading these accounts in 2022, detectives immediately began further enquiries to ascertain whether there was enough evidence to prove whether the brothers were involved in and responsible for Anthony’s death.

The team firstly built up a timeline of Anthony’s movements on the evening he was killed. Paper records from Transport for London were found in the original files, but it was unclear of their exact significance.

Officers worked with the TfL Museum who helped explain the documents which included handwritten records of exactly when tubes arrived and departed stations. This – along with accounts of staff at the station at the time – proved that Anthony had left East Finchley station at 00:20hrs.

A statement from a 999 operator who had taken a call from a public phone box close to the alley was also examined by detectives.

The caller asked for an ambulance and said there was a man hurt outside of East Finchley station, before quickly ringing off. The operator added that the person who made the call ‘sounded young’ and appeared to be ‘abnormally concerned over the matter’.

The call had been made at 00:22hrs – just two minutes after Anthony left the station. Detectives concluded that given this timeframe, only someone involved in the attack would have had time to run to the phone box and ring 999. Michael Stewart had in fact told a witness in 2015 that he had killed someone and ‘rung the old bill’ afterwards – the prosecution argued this proved he was the one who called 999 minutes after the murder.

This same witness later told police that on one occasion they were in the car with Michael Stewart, when he pointed across towards East Finchley station and said ‘that’s where we killed him’.

Detectives also uncovered other evidence which built up a strong picture of the teenagers’ violent lifestyle, proving they were more than capable of carrying out such a horrendous attack.

A number of witnesses, including from the brothers’ own family, gave statements which said that as young men, Anthony and Michael had a ‘hobby’ of attacking solitary men, often targeting those they thought may be homosexual because they knew where to find them alone and defenceless.

Detectives also reviewed documents showing the house-to-house enquiries that had been carried out by officers at the time.

They found that Anthony Stewart and his parents had both told police he was living at the family home and that he had been there on the night of the murder.

However, the new investigation took statements from other members of the family – as well as Anthony himself – who said he had never lived at that address, was living in a bedsit in Bounds Green at that point and that he only visited his mother on Sundays. Detectives believe he had given a false alibi and asked his parents to do the same, in order that police quickly rule him out of their enquiries.

During police interviews, both men repeatedly denied any involvement in Anthony’s death and chose not to give evidence at trial.

They will be sentenced at the same court in July.