Monday March 6th, 2000

Chained body on beach was sex-change father

Fingerprints identify former friend of Thomas the Tank Engine author

By Maurice Mcleod

Police investigating a mysterious chained, naked body found on a Suffolk beach have identified it as that of Christine Chappel, who was formerly known as Bryan Hooley before undergoing a sex change operation in 1994.

Ms Chappel, 28, was from Roxwell, near Chelmsford.  As a man she was married with a child.  Police say that she was known to have lived and dressed as both a man and a woman.

She was last seen alive on February 22, by her ex-wife, Alison, at her home in Roxwell and police would like to speak to anyone who saw her after that date.

Ms Chappel once claimed to have co-written some of the latest books from the Thomas the Tank Engine series, but lost a court battle with Rev Christopher Awdry, the son of Thomas’ creator, the late Rev Wilbert Awdry.  Ms Chappel claimed in 1996 that she had had a two-year relationship with Christopher Awdry, who is 60, after meeting him at a model railway show in Chelmsford, Essex.

The alleged relationship ended when they disagreed over who had written the successful new Thomas books.

The new scripts were used for the television series narrated by Ringo Starr and saw the introduction of the first female engine as well as a helicopter character.  The Rev Awdry insisted at the time he had only been helping Chappel write a book based on Star Trek.

The court found in favour of the Rev Awdry and Ms Chappel was said to be very bitter about the decision.

She was thought to be living alone and unemployed when she died.

Ms Chappel’s body was identified from the police finger print data-base but it is not clear whether she had a police record.

Her body was found by a woman out walking her dog along the beach on Thursday.  It had been wrapped in a heavy gauge chain and three gym weights.  A Home Office pathologist said she had been alive when she went into the water but had died from drowning.

She had extensive bruising to her head and face but it is not known whether these were caused by an attacker or simply by the chains and weights banging against her in the water.

Police are continuing to treat the death as suspicious and are appealing to the public for information.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Braddy, of Suffolk police, said: “Confirming the identity of the body is a major step forward.  However, there are still many unresolved issues surrounding this incident and we are continuing to treat the death as suspicious.

“We would particularly like to hear from anyone who saw [her] on or after Tuesday February 22.”

Police are carrying out toxicology tests on Miss Chappel’s body to see if she was drugged before going into the sea.

Officers hunting the coastline for the woman’s clothing have found nothing so far.

Mr Braddy said an investigation into tidal conditions had revealed that the woman must have gone into the water in the Kessingland area if she had been in the sea for less than 48 hours.

“If she had been in the sea for any longer she could have gone into the water some distance away in either direction,” he added.

“We cannot rule out that she might have gone into the sea in outlying waters away from the coast, possibly from a boat or ship.”

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