UK- Louisa Dunne, 75, SA & strangled, @ home, Bristol, 28 June, 1967, Suspect, 92, arrested 2024, * oldest cold case murder arrest in British history*

[dotr]

Could man behind UK's oldest cold case murder have more victims?

Ryland Headley was convicted of killing Louisa Dunne almost six decades after the crime took place.

www.bbc.com

''The victims of his burglaries were always the same - elderly or middle aged women living alone.

But with a national police computer and DNA profiling still decades away, Headley's crimes were not linked to Mrs Dunne's death.

The "eerily similar" nature of the crimes, however, would later provide police with powerful ammunition when building a case against Headley after modern forensics provided a crucial breakthrough.''

 

[Dotta]

Could man behind UK's oldest cold case murder have more victims?

Ryland Headley was convicted of killing Louisa Dunne almost six decades after the crime took place.

www.bbc.com

''The victims of his burglaries were always the same - elderly or middle aged women living alone.

But with a national police computer and DNA profiling still decades away, Headley's crimes were not linked to Mrs Dunne's death.

The "eerily similar" nature of the crimes, however, would later provide police with powerful ammunition when building a case against Headley after modern forensics provided a crucial breakthrough.''

Afraid of his wife.
But bold when attacked lonely, elderly and frail women.
A guy in his prime then.

Absolute coward and disgusting creature.

What a shame!!!

How do his children, grandchildren feel now?
They are victims too
Imagine living with a monster without realizing it.

JMO

 

[dotr]

i think police should look at headley for rape and murder of an elderly lady in somereset in the 80s-winifred locke? just seen her on a link to a podcast

Thanks for the suggestion, started a thread..

D

UK Thread 'UK- Winifred Locke, 80, lived w. Parkinson's Disease, SA & asphyxiated, @ home, Baymead Meadow, N. Petherton, 31 October, 1983.'

Jul 1, 2025

Sep, 2019

The murder case that hasn't been solved in 36 years

An 80-year-old woman was killed and - shockingly - sexually assaulted

www.somersetlive.co.uk

''The death of Winifred Locke, an 80-year-old woman living in Baymead Meadow, North Petherton, has not yet been solved - despite taking place in October 1983.
The case has seen over 1,500 interviews take place but there has not yet been a resolution''.

''On October 21, 1983, Eva Locke visited her mother-in-law, Winifred, as she often did, to help her out.
Winifred, an 80-year-old widow had lived in Cannington for much of her life, but had moved to North Petherton 18 months previously...

• dotr

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[Yellowbelly]

i think police should look at headley for rape and murder of an elderly lady in somereset in the 80s-winifred locke? just seen her on a link to a podcast

Do we know when he moved to Ipswich? He might not still have been living in SW England at the time of the murder.

Clearly though, knowing what we now know about him, he's clearly a serial offender who is probably responsible for unsolved attacks going back all the way to the 1950s. How likely is it that he suddenly became a rapist at the age of 45.

 

[tes1984]

Do we know when he moved to Ipswich? He might not still have been living in SW England at the time of the murder.

Clearly though, knowing what we now know about him, he's clearly a serial offender who is probably responsible for unsolved attacks going back all the way to the 1950s. How likely is it that he suddenly became a rapist at the age of 45.

He seems to have left Bristol some time between 1967 and 1977. Who knows if he lived elsewhere inbetween Bristol and Ipswich...

His known Bristol address was 50 miles from where Winifred Locke was murdered. I suspect he was still in prison in 1983, but might be wrong.

Unfortunately the 1970s police and psychologists don't seem to have considered that 45 is very late to start such deviant behaviour.

 

[Tortoise]

He comes up as living in Hanover Road, Willesden, Brent, London, in the 1970 and 1971 electoral registers, on Ancestry.com

 

[Yellowbelly]

He comes up as living in Hanover Road, Willesden, Brent, London, in the 1970 and 1971 electoral registers, on Ancestry.com

Unsolved rapes and murders in North and West London in the early 1970s, then.

 

[Yellowbelly]

Unsolved rapes and murders in North and West London in the early 1970s, then.

Amala Whelan. It looks rather like his modus operandi, and her flat was only a 10 minute drive away from where he was living in Willesden.

Amala Ruth De Vere Whelan: New appeal over 1972 'ripper' murder

A new appeal is made for information about the 1972 murder of a woman whose living room wall had the word "ripper" sprayed on it.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[dotr]

2 July 2025 rbbm. lengthy article.

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2025-07-02/police-to-review-cold-cases-for-possible-links-to-convicted-murderer-92

''Suffolk cold cases
Among the unsolved cold cases Suffolk Police have listed on their website is that of Edna Mary Ann Harvey, 87, who was murdered in her home on Finchley Road, Ipswich, in August 1984.

She was found by neighbours who had entered the property after seeing smoke coming from her front door. Mrs Harvey had been physically assaulted before her bed was set on fire, said police.

Doris Shelley, 82, died after being attacked in her own home in Martlesham in February 1993 in what police suspect was a burglary gone wrong.

She received blows to the head and was found by a neighbour the following morning in a dazed and confused state. She later died.

Another high-profile cold case is the murder of mother-of-one Karen Hales in 1993.

The 21-year-old was killed in front of her baby daughter and then set alight in the kitchen of her home in Lavenham Road, Ipswich, in November 1993.''

 

[tes1984]

Amala Whelan. It looks rather like his modus operandi, and her flat was only a 10 minute drive away from where he was living in Willesden.

Amala Ruth De Vere Whelan: New appeal over 1972 'ripper' murder

A new appeal is made for information about the 1972 murder of a woman whose living room wall had the word "ripper" sprayed on it.

www.bbc.co.uk

In 2017 the police announced they had a DNA profile for the Amala Whelan murder, so it can't have been Headley.

 

[dotr]

Lengthy article

‘Graveyard spiral’: why Louisa Dunne cold case breakthrough may be a rare win

Experts warn sorry state of forensic policing may see fewer cold cases solved in future

www.theguardian.com

''Fewer cold cases such as the 1967 murder of the Bristol woman Louisa Dunne are likely to be solved because of police budget cuts, “haphazard” investigations and loss of scientific knowhow, experts have warned.

While praising Avon and Somerset police for catching 92-year-old Ryland Headley 58 years after he raped and murdered Dunne, specialists in scientific evidence, law and criminology expressed concern at challenges ranging from the storage of evidence to the skill of DNA analysts and the modest size of cold case teams.

Prof Angela Gallop, a forensic scientist nicknamed the Queen of crime-solving, said: “It’s great when they solve these crimes, it always means something to the families of the victims.

“But police budgets are so tight, they have enough problems funding current investigations, never mind these old ones. There are lots of cases waiting to be unlocked.”

''Women’s campaign groups are keen that Dunne, who was killed aged 75, is not forgotten and have called for the investigations into Headley to continue. The campaign group Women Against Rape said: “We’re glad the appalling crimes against Louisa Dunne are finally recognised.

“But how many other women has this man raped and murdered? Solving cold cases doesn’t atone for continuing refusal by the authorities to treat violence against women and girls as a serious crime.”

 

[tes1984]

Unsolved murder and rape cases are never closed, so IMO there aren't any excuses.

Find the extra cash to hire some more civilian detectives, and train up a new generation of forensic scientists.

It's embarrassing considering the UK had the first ever DNA conviction. Yet now the science is somehow beyond reach.

 

[tes1984]

Also wonder what he did to get arrested in 2012, when he was almost 80.

 

[dotr]

Also wonder what he did to get arrested in 2012, when he was almost 80.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/world/europe/cold-case-bristol-murder-louisa-dunne.html

''Mr. Headley’s DNA was “placed onto the system in 2012 following an unconnected and unrelated incident,” according to the police, who did not give further details.''

 

[tes1984]

Not sure if Headley was still in prison in 1983. He got a life sentence for rape in 1977 (reduced to 7 years in 1978).

I don't know if he qualified for parole some time around late 1982 (after serving two thirds of sentence) or if he served his full sentence until 1985.

Seems like he only served 'around two years' of his seven year sentence, and was released in 1980.

Shocking that they allowed a serial rapist to get parole after only serving one third of his sentence.

The original sentence was life, reduced on appeal to seven years, and he only actually spends 2 years 4 months behind bars.