The Tong Park Industrial Estate sits on the far edge of Baildon. It’s a hub of industry; dustier than usual after weeks of dry-hot weather, with a smell that lingers in your nose and lungs long after you’ve left the area. Roughly a dozen businesses, including car garages, a timber merchant and even a padel centre, are set out in a higgledy-piggledy layout. The heart of the place is the Kiss My Butties burger van, where people catch-up, gossip, and trade information. Mick (“just Mick”, he says when I ask for a surname), who has lived in a caravan at the industrial estate for the past few months, sums up the general conversation as “sandwich man bullshit”.
This week, there’s a lot to digest. On Tuesday, Kevin Moore, who ran the First Choice Hire Group company running out of this estate, was found dead on the premises. At 7.14pm, West Yorkshire Police received a call reporting the death of the 59-year-old business owner.
This was the second call they’d received that evening. Just 19 minutes earlier, they were called to a property in New Stead Rise, in Keighley, about 20 minutes’ drive away from Tong Park. There, a woman, 52, had also been found dead.
A statement from police noted that “these people are known to each other” and that they were “not currently seeking anyone else in connection with their deaths.” “Enquiries remain ongoing into establishing what has happened”, added Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team.
Though police did not release her name, it has become clear and widely circulated online that this was Joanne Whitham. Whitham and Moore were both linked to the property. Whitham was a romantic and business partner to Moore, working at First Choice as Office & Account Manager. The business group includes marquee hire, event hire and temporary warehousing businesses.
The circumstances — two closely connected people dying seven miles apart, reported within 20 minutes of each other — are highly unusual. And because no-one has been arrested or charged in connection with the events, it’s created a vacuum of information. While many people knew the couple, most we spoke to didn’t know them well. There has not yet been any public confirmation of what has happened, which has inevitably left those who knew the couple trying to work it out for themselves.
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Those The Exchange spoke to at the industrial estate remember Moore as a “nice bloke” who didn’t interact a great deal with the others there. “I’d see him at the burger stall down here and say ‘hello’ every now and again,” recalls Darren Bond, owner of Just48s. Nikki from NikkiNakka Print is different — she said she has been friends with Kevin for 25 years, but unsurprisingly didn’t want to speak further at this point. She posted on her business Facebook page on Friday to say it was back open “after an incredibly sad and difficult couple of days”. “We’ve lost old friends in heartbreaking circumstances, so things may feel a little quieter around here for a while.”
Mick, who speaks frankly, says he saw Kevin on Tuesday. “He came down here with scratches on his face.” The next thing: “I saw police, it was a bit strange.”
One business owner told The Exchange on Thursday that they and their staff were the last to see Kevin when he came to his unit at the industrial park. He declared, “I know everything”, and offered to give the full story in exchange for payment (something we don’t provide). However, on Friday morning he had withdrawn this offer. What he did say briefly was: “He [Kevin] wasn’t thinking of killing his wife a week ago.”
Given the circumstances, and police statement that they aren’t looking for anyone else in this matter, many have similarly drawn the conclusion that this was a murder-suicide. We asked police if they were pursuing this line of enquiry, but they were unable to provide an update at this time.
New Stead Rise is a quaint suburban street that forms part of a larger cul-de-sac. Several residents The Exchange spoke to used the same word to describe it: quiet.
But the presence of police over several days outside Kevin and Joanne’s home has caused alarm. One young woman, who lives on the same street as “Kev and Jo” but wishes to remain anonymous, says they “kept to themselves”. “It’s weird. This is a very quiet road [...] so to see [police] vans all the time is really weird.”
An elderly man in his garden, nonchalantly picking and eating berries from his hedge, eventually turns to speak after several attempts at greeting him. “I’ve lived here nine-and-a-half years and I’ve spoken to Jo five or six times.” He uses exactly the same formulation to describe the couple: “They kept themselves to themselves”.
All the while, Crime Scene Investigation officers are flitting in and out of the house in question, before the van finally leaves. I speak to one more neighbour who has struggled with the attention the area has been getting. “I don't want to speak. I’ve been really upset. People have been coming round taking photos. The times they’ve been taking photos, when the body was removed…”
The full details of what happened on Tuesday will be unravelled in the fullness of time and through the courts. Right now, at Tong Park and on New Stead Rise, there is sorrow and confusion.
Anyone with information that could help the investigation should contact police on 101, or using the contact options on the West Yorkshire Police website. You should quote log number: 1539 of August 11.
Due to the nature of these events, we have turned comments off on this story.
