One of the most notorious murders in Malta’s criminal history took place 30 years ago today, at one of the island’s most peaceful spots.

Champion bowler Sylvia King, 36, died when her car was set on fire in scenic Kunċizzjoni, having earlier been kidnapped from Marsascala.

Her killer, Joseph Harrington, was convicted in a trial by jury in 2000 and jailed for life.  

An accomplice, Tommy Baldacchino, was convicted in a separate trial in 1997 after having given the police a detailed account of the murder and how he said he had wanted to stop Harrington but feared he too would be killed.  

Sylvia King was a champion bowler.

A small monument, overlooking Mġarr, Ġnejna Bay and Gozo in the distance, marks the spot of the tragedy which shocked Malta on April 3, 1993.  

King was involved in an organisation that supported people in need and had become friends with Harrington’s wife, who was going through a separation and feared her husband. Investigators believed that Harrington wanted King to tell him where his wife was.

Harrington and Baldacchino had followed King as she left the Lemon and Lime Bar where she worked in Marsascala. They blocked her car on the Marsascala bypass near the Sant Antin waste recycling plant, pulled her out of the driving seat, bound and gagged her, bundled her in the back and drove off.

It was later established that they had planned to kill her and leave the body in a quarry at Għaxaq, but several children were in the area. They therefore went on to Kunċizzjoni, in the countryside behind Rabat.

King was struck on the head with a hard object but was still alive, on the back seat, when her car was set on fire.

A report of the grim discovery in Kunċizzjoni.

Forensics expert Anthony Abela Medici later described the case as “one of the worst cases Malta ever had.”  He was the one who pulled the remains of King’s charred body out of car.

“The car was still very hot when we arrived. It was totally burnt,” Abela Medici later recalled. A bra strap indicated that the victim was a woman. The first clue about the victim’s identity was a gold pendant in the shape of a bowling pin.

That year, Ms King had won the national bowling championships.

The nation was shocked as details of the murder emerged.

Forensic tests proved that King was still alive when the car was set on fire. Parts of the vehicle’s shattered window, which melted with the heat, were found underneath her head, suggesting she had moved after the fire started.

This was proven when soot was detected in her body.

Since, at the time, DNA testing was still in its infancy, her identity had to be established through dental records that had to be obtained from Northern Ireland where she had lived for some years.

Police investigations made quick progress and a bag containing two pistols and items belonging to King were found under a car near Zejtun two days after the murder.

Joseph Harrington died in 2014.

Evidence led the police to drug addict Tony Baldacchino, who was arrested and told investigators he was involved in the murder together with Harrington.

Harrington was arrested a few days later. Following his trial and imprisonment, he died in 2014.

Baldacchino was released from prison in 2002 and was found dead the following year in his flat in Buġibba. It was suspected he had died of a heroin overdose, according to published reports.