A 91-year-old Ontario war veteran has confessed to the murder of a prostitute in London’s downtown Soho district almost 70 years ago, according to several British media reports.

Victoria Ward of the Telegraph wrote that this is “believed to be the longest gap between a crime and a confession in British criminal history.”

The Times reported: “It is believed to be the longest gap between a crime being committed and investigation into a suspect in British criminal history.”

The man, who was not named in any of the varied accounts, came forward to police in Ontario after he was diagnosed with liver cancer and wanted to clear his conscience, reports state.

The murder was one of several that led to rumours of a “Soho Jack” in London after the Second World War.

The story was first reported by London Sun crime editor Mike Sullivan and has since been picked up by numerous media outlets, including the Standard, the Telegraph, the Independent and the Times of London.

In numerous reports, the veteran is described as now living in a senior’s home in Ontario, after emigrating to Canada in the early 1950s. The victim is described as Margaret Cook, 26, originally from the textile producing centre of Bradford.

The stories say the Ontario man couldn’t remember her name, after shooting her dead on Nov. 10, 1946 in an alleyway outside the Blue Lagoon nightclub on Carnaby St., where the Beatles and Rolling Stones later played.

The dispute was said to be over money.

Sullivan reported that Scotland Yard detectives travelled to Ontario to interview the man and that he identified Cook from photographs.

British reports say the Crown prosecution office has applied for the man to be extradited.

A spokesperson from Canada’s Department of Justice in Ottawa said he could not confirm or deny whether a request has been made for the man’s extradition.

“The United Kingdom is an extradition partner under the Extradition Act,” Ian McLeod of the Department of Justice told the Star in an email. “Extradition requests are confidential state to state communications, so the Government of Canada cannot confirm or deny the existence of such a request.”

Britain had the death penalty at the time of the slaying, but it was abolished in 1965.

There was a spate of murders of prostitutes after the Second World War in Soho, then a seedy district where people in the sex trade worked.

The gunman was described at the time as 25 to 30 years old, about five-foot-eight, with a dark complexion and wearing a dark “pork-pie” style hat and a Burberry-style raincoat.

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Ward wrote in the Telegraph that the gunman was chased to nearby Oxford St., where he managed to elude his pursuers.

“She was standing in the street, and was seen to be in conversation with men,” the Sunday Post reported.

“They were quarrelling and the man was seen to pull her into a doorway of the Blue Lagoon Club, which was shut at the time,” the Press and Journal newspaper reported. “A shot was fired and she fell dead with a bullet through the heart.”

Newspaper stories from that day reported the murders of several prostitutes, and various conflicts as pimps vied for control.

Cook was married at the time of her death to a labourer, who was later charged with stealing food and clothing, news reports say.

Cook, whose maiden name was Margaret Willis, had served time in a juvenile jail or “borstal,” reports say.