| Administrative History | The Bubble Car murders, also known as the Carbon Copy murders, were committed in Chesterfield by Michael Copeland between 1960 and 1961, The first victim, William Arthur Elliott, aged 60, was found on 12 June 1960 near Baslow. His car, found in Chesterfield, was an 'Isetta', also known as a 'bubble car', which let to the crime being known as the Bubble Car Murder. The second victim, George Gerald Stobbs, aged 48, was found on 29 March 1961, close to the site where William Elliott's body was discovered. The similarity of the murders led the press to dub it the Carbon Copy Murder. The deaths were then linked with that of teenager Gunter Hlmbrecht in Verden, Germany, on 13 November 1960, where a Chesterfield man, Michael Copeland, was serving in the British Army. In 1963, Copeland approached the police and confessed; he was convicted in 1965.
William Elliott and George Stobbs were both gay. Their sexuality formed part of the investigation, and as a result, the police created a register of known gay men in the area. |