In January 2002, police were called to the block of flats where Hardy lived by a neighbour complaining that someone had vandalised her front door and that she strongly suspected Hardy. When the police investigated Hardy's flat, they found a locked door and, despite his claims to the contrary, found that Hardy had a key to it. In the room the police found the naked dead body of a woman lying on a bed with cuts and bruises to her head. She was identified as Sally White, 38, a sex worker who had been living in London.