Neil Rutherford

Lt Cmdr Neil Rutherford, DSC. Born 15 May 1922, died 24 September 1976. Cremated North Wales. He saw active service in the Second World War and in Korea. In 1958 he served with the Underwater Weapons Material Dept. He committed suicide in Penmaenmawr, Wales after murdering four people at a hotel.

Naval career

 * Midshipman 1 January 1940
 * Sub Lieutenant 1 November 1941
 * Lieutenant 1 June 1943
 * Lieutenant Commander 1 June 1951 (General List 1 January 1957) (retired 5 January 1959)
 * DSC 10 July 1945 6 war patrols (3 East Indies, 3 Southwest Pacific)
 * DSC 29 June 1951 Korea

Naval service

 * Education: RN College (01.1936-12.1939)
 * 1 January 1940 - January HMS Glasgow (cruiser)
 * January 1941 - May 1941 HMS Hero (destroyer)
 * May 1941 - July 1941 HMS Valiant (battleship)
 * July 1941? - September 1941? passage home SS Empress of Asia
 * September 1941 - March 1942 Sub-Lieutenant's courses
 * March 1942 - 05.1942 submarine training course
 * 20 May 1942 - February 1943 HMS Tuna which was involved in Operation Frankton
 * February 1943 - July 1943 HMS P 556 (submarine)
 * 5 July 1943 - January 1946 First Lieutenant HMS Spiteful patrolling the Pacific sinking Japanese shipping.
 * 8 February 1946 - August 1946 HMS Dolphin a shore-establishment depot for submarines. Part of Submarine Reserve Group K.
 * August 1946 - September 1946 HMS Stygian (submarine)
 * October 1946 - November 1946 HMS Ranee (Woolworth carrier)
 * January 1947 - January 1948 specialist Torpedo & Anti-Submarine (TAS) course HMS Vernon
 * January 1948 - September 1949 HMS Defiance a torpedo school.
 * September 1949 - November 1949 passage to Far East [SS Devonshire]
 * November 1949 - April 1952? HMS Black Swan (sloop) which was involved in the Yangtze Incident on 20 April 1949  (Korea; possibly POW))
 * 30 April 1952 - (May 1953) staff TAS, HMS Montclare a Submarine Depot Ship and based at Rothesay with the 3rd Submarine flotilla.
 * May 1953 - 5 July 1954 Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
 * 5 July 1954 - (January 1956) staff, Flag Officer Commanding Reserve Fleet HMS Cleopatra
 * (1958) Underwater Weapons Material Department (Bath), Admiralty HMS President

Family life
Commander Rutherford retired from the navy 5 January 1959. He was son of Neil Perry Rutherford and after his father's death, Neil took over the family firm as head of A. Rutherford and Co, until it was liquidated in the 1960s. By April 1975, he was working as a gardener/handyman at the Red Gables Hotel, Penmaenmawr, North Wales.

Married 7 August 1948 Joan Margery Colville-Hyde. Divorced 2 May 1972.

Death
Rutherford died at Red Gables Hotel, Penmaenmawr, Wales 24 September 1976. He was clutching a gun. Also killed by gunshot wounds were the hotel owner, Linda Simcox (52); ex merchant seaman Johnny Gore Green (55), an antique dealer from Bay City, Texas; Simcox's daughter, Lorna (24); and her husband, Alastair McIntyre (55). The hotel was ablaze when the police arrived.