West Yorkshire Police is launching a new appeal against crime from the 1980s

James Adams, known as ‘Jimmy’, was murdered in Bradford in 1981

West Yorkshire Police have launched a new appeal for information in relation to a murder which took place in 1981.

The victim – James Adams, who was known as ‘Jimmy’ – was stabbed several times in a set of public toilets at Carlisle Road and Bavaria Place on 26 May 1981 at around 12.45am.

Jimmy had been at the New Beehive Inn in Westgate before the attack took place and had left the area just after midnight.

As he made his way home, he was followed along Carlisle Road by a man who officers believe to be the suspect.

Following initial inquiries, witnesses along the road reported hearing screams coming from public toilets as they saw the suspect fleeing the scene.

Some brave witnesses were able to confront the suspect at Marlborough Garage but managed to escape after threatening the witnesses with a knife.

Jimmy was later taken to the hospital, where he was found to have 22 stab wounds. He later died of his injuries.

At the time, an artist’s impression was drawn up due to witness reports. The suspect was described as a white male between 25 and 35 years old and between 5’6″ and 5’8″.

He was also described as having a medium build with collar-length dirty blonde hair while wearing a pair of glasses. One witness also compared his appearance to that of John Denver.

Speaking about the new appeal, Detective Sergeant Richard Ord from West Yorkshire Police’s Major Investigations Team said they were looking into the case again.

“West Yorkshire Police never files or closes serious undetected crimes until they are solved,” he said. “We are re-examining this case and hope that a further appeal on the anniversary of the crime may jog people’s memories.

“We appreciate it was a long time ago, but any information, however small, could be the line of inquiry we need to identify this man. Our focus remains on James and his family and to seek justice for them, no matter how long ago.”

Anyone with any potential information that could help officers can contact the force by calling 101 and quoting incident reference 13100110891.

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