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Woodward Hall Stabbing

Pictures > Barking > Barking A-D > Crime

Boy stabbed in Dance Hall Brawl

18-year old Alan Johnson, who was stabbed to death in a dance-hall brawl on Tuesday night, would have been alive today if he had not insisted on having one night out a week with "the boys". For twelve months he spent all his evenings with his girlfriend, 17-year old Connie Mountier. Then, three weeks ago, she agreed to let him have Tuesday nights off. So Alan began going to the regular Tuesday night Rock 'n Roll sessions at the Woodward Hall in Woodward-road, Barking. On his third visit, Alan - a boy who always kept out of trouble - somehow got involved in a fight between warring Teddy gangs. Stabbed three times in the chest and stomach, he fell dying to the strains of a rock number called Don't Be Cruel and the horrified screams of jive-crazy girls.

The photograph, taken on 26th February 1959, shows Woodward Hall where Alan was stabbed.

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