A 92-year-old man on Monday was convicted of the rape and homicide of a girl in southwestern England in what’s regarded as the UK’s longest-running chilly case ever to be solved.
A jury at Bristol crown courtroom discovered Ryland Headley, then aged 34, responsible of attacking 75-year-old Louisa Dunne in June 1967.
“Louisa Dunne died in a horrifying assault carried out within the place the place she ought to have felt most secure — her own residence,” prosecutor Charlotte Ream stated. “For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the person we now know is accountable, prevented justice.”
Dunne was discovered useless in her house by a neighbor on June 28, 1967. The reason for her demise was discovered to be strangulation and asphyxiation. She had additionally been raped.
Investigators retained Dunne’s clothes, together with a blue skirt, and different samples from her physique for additional examination. Additionally they recovered a palm print from a window which Headley is believed to have used to achieve entry to her house.
In 2023, the case was reexamined and the skirt was despatched away for forensic testing in Might final 12 months. DNA recovered from the merchandise of clothes linked Headley to the homicide scene after his DNA was added to the nationwide database in 2012 for an unrelated incident.
Forensic scientists concluded that DNA from the skirt matched Headley’s and the palm print was additionally his. Headley was arrested at his house in Suffolk in November.
Headley was convicted of two counts of rape within the late Seventies, after he attacked girls, aged 79 and 84, in Ipswich. He pleaded responsible to the costs in 1978 and was jailed for seven years.
Testimonies of the 2 girls have been learn throughout Headley’s 2025 trial.
“Listening to the voices of the victims of his 1977 offenses is simply extremely highly effective and harrowing,” stated Detective Inspector Dave Marchant, senior investigating officer for the case. “I feel it offers us an perception into most likely what occurred inside 58 Britannia Highway (Dunne’s house) to a point.”
Dunne’s granddaughter Mary Dainton stated she was surprised when she heard that Headley had been arrested. “I accepted that some murders simply by no means get solved and a few individuals need to dwell with that vacancy and unhappiness,” she stated.
Marchant stated he’s working with the Nationwide Crime Company to find out whether or not Headley could also be liable for some other unsolved offenses over time. “Crimes of this magnitude ought to by no means go unpunished and we’ll stay relentless in guaranteeing we do every little thing we will to advance different unsolved homicide instances within the Avon and Somerset space,” he stated.
Headley can be sentenced on Tuesday.
