UNSOLVED MURDERS
It is a sad fact of life that some murders go unsolved and that sometimes killers get away. However, nowadays new scientific techniques such as genetic finger printing offer a way of tracing the killers.
Such techniques can also be applied to some cases from the archives, and so we look at three cases dating back to the Sixties and Seventies that the police feel are ripe for reinvestigation.
We have isolated three cases; one in Nottingham, one in Leicestershire and one in Derbyshire, that we are eager to find new information on.
Each case made national headlines at the time. But despite all the publicity the killers are still at large. The police files are still open though and with the right leads the police are confident the cases can be cracked.
1963 - The murder of George Wilson, Nottingham
Police examine the muder scene
George Wilson was killed outside his pub in Nottingham
The Fox & Grapes was and still is known locally as the "Pretty windows pub". This is where landlord George Wilson was stabbed to death in 1963.
George was attacked when he was unlocking the door to his pub. He was stabbed 13 times.
The seemingly motiveless murder sparked, what was then, Nottingham's biggest murder investigation.
For three months 140 officers worked an 18 hour day, more than 60,000 people were interviewed and in effect every dustbin was emptied in Nottingham within two days of the killing in the search for the murder weapon.
Scotland Yard were brought in to help the Nottinghamshire Police conduct the murder investigation. It was the last time Scotland Yard helped in a murder enquiry with no London connections.
Dozens of knives were recovered by officers or handed in by members of the public. Finally on the ninth day of the inquiry came the breakthrough the police were waiting for.
Two boys playing in a ditch along the Nottingham to Radcliffe-on-Trent road found the knife in its sheaf. At the time the clues offered up from the knife didn't lead to the killer.
But things have moved on, nowadays the police could probably extract enough evidence on the knife to track down the killer. They might still be able to - the knife is waiting to be examined using the latest crime-busting techniques.
1969 - The murder of Annie Walker, Leicestershire
Aniie Walker's house in Heather, North West Leicestershire
Annie Walker was found battered to death in her own house
In April 1969 the police were called to a house at Heather in North West Leicestershire.
An elderly woman was found battered to death in her front room.
Annie Walker lived alone. She was known as a creature of habit.
She had recently gone to her bank in Coalville and withdrawn £1,000 from her bank account. The money had disappeared by the time Annie's body was discovered. The£1,000 that was taken would be worth 10 times that amount today.
It is suspected that Annie was followed out of the bank where she withdrew the money and to her home, where the murderer struck.
The next day a neighbour spotted Mrs Walker's curtains were shut, smoke was seen in an upstairs window, and the police were alerted.
They found Mrs. Walker lying on the living room floor, still in her night-clothes. She had been battered to death around the head with a blunt edged weapon - the weapon has never been found.
By re-examining evidence gathered at the scene, police have now been able to extract DNA samples to positively identify the murderer. All they need now is to find a match for the killer's DNA.
1970 - The murder of Barbara Mayo, Derbyshire
Barbara Mayo
Barbara Mayo's body was found close to the M1
In October 1970 Barbara Mayo set off from her London home to hitchhike north.
Six days later the 24 year old's body was found in a wood by the north bound carriageway in view of Hardwick Hall. The teacher been raped and then strangled.
Police closed the M1 and interviewed 50,000 drivers in the hope that someone would recollect seeing something that might help the investigation.
Then after reports that a woman like Barbara was seen getting into a Morris Traveller, 80,000 of the cars were traced and their owners questioned.
They also put on a reconstruction retracing Barbara's last known steps.
Twenty years later, in 1990, detectives were able to confirm that Barbara's killer was the same man who raped and strangled 18-year-old Jackie Ansell-Lamb near the M6 in Cheshire in March 1970.
Police have the DNA of the killer. In 1997 they examined the DNA of 250 men to eliminate them from their enquiries. They traced suspects who were living as far away as New Zealand and Canada, but none of the DNA samples matched that of the killer.
The police are looking again at the exhibits to test for DNA.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidl ... ders.shtml
