UK Muriel Drinkwater,12, “Little Red Riding Hood murder”, Wales, June 1946 *DNA*

[Warwick1991]

A picture of the gun police believe was used.

The pistol mentioned in various summaries of this case as the suspected murder weapon was a .45 ACP Model 1911A1.

This particular pistol was NOT from World War I as some accounts state. Although the original Browning design predated WW I, this later model (which came out in 1924) was used in World War II, which had just ended a year before Muriel's murder. The grips are clearly a home made replacement for the original ones. The large amount of rust on the pistol would indicate a period of storage in a damp place.

While this is a U.S. pistol (made either by Colt, Remington Rand, or Ithaca), thousands of these pistols were sold or given to the UK prior to and during World War II to arm their army.

For more information:

M1911 pistol - Wikipedia

Agree.. The 1911 that was recovered from the scene may not provide any meaningful clues, unless fingerprints could be lifted from it. The huge quantity manufactured makes it almost impossible to trace. Although the theory is presented that the pistol was acquired from a US soldier, it is more likely IMO that the pistol was scavenged from a battlefield and brought home by an individual who served in the armed forces of the UK. That would account for the corrosion on the pistol - it may have been on the ground for several months in a setting like the Ardennes, perhaps with human remains. US soldiers generally treasured the 1911, and would be unlikely to sell one.

A pistol in this condition would be returned to an armory if it was in US service. Since the crime occurred in 1946, the level of corrosion suggests that the pistol had severely deteriorated well before that time - during wartime. The primitive replacement grips also point to deterioration from a period of abandonment outdoors. The original wood grips would rot away, crack or warp if the pistol was outdoors and alternately covered with snow or saturated soil.

 

[Richard]

Agree.. The 1911 that was recovered from the scene may not provide any meaningful clues, unless fingerprints could be lifted from it. The huge quantity manufactured makes it almost impossible to trace. Although the theory is presented that the pistol was acquired from a US soldier, it is more likely IMO that the pistol was scavenged from a battlefield and brought home by an individual who served in the armed forces of the UK. That would account for the corrosion on the pistol - it may have been on the ground for several months in a setting like the Ardennes, perhaps with human remains. US soldiers generally treasured the 1911, and would be unlikely to sell one.

A pistol in this condition would be returned to an armory if it was in US service. Since the crime occurred in 1946, the level of corrosion suggests that the pistol had severely deteriorated well before that time - during wartime. The primitive replacement grips also point to deterioration from a period of abandonment outdoors. The original wood grips would rot away, crack or warp if the pistol was outdoors and alternately covered with snow or saturated soil.

Good points. This automatic pistol was probably made prior to World War II by Colt of Hartford, Connecticut. It probably had a blued finish to the metal parts and Walnut wood grips. The level of deterioration it suffered was likely as you point out due to being left outside in the elements.

The person who came into possession of it, did a lot of work on it to get the rust off and to replicate the grips. This would have been someone with significant training and experience in small arms handling. What is strange is that someone would murder a child by shooting her, and then leave this very unique pistol at the scene.

 

[dotr]

5 November 2008 rbbm.
Clare Gabriel
BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Mystery of 1946 murder in woods

The American army gun used in the murder was altered

''A few days late on 6 July, 1946 it emerged the murder weapon was a Colt 45 American army issue automatic pistol, first issued for World War I but probably also used in World War II, which significantly had the original wooden stocks next to the grip modernised with perspex.

A similar weapon, officers said, had been used in the murder of a cinema manager in Bristol and the bullets used in both crimes were being compared.''

''A description of a man - about 30 with "thick fluffy hair and wearing brown corduroy trousers and a light brown sports jacket - whom officers want to question was given.''

''In August, police appealed in the United States.

During the war, the Western Mail reported, many American servicemen were stationed at Penllergaer and it was thought one of them may have sold on the gun there.

"The opinion is strongly held that someone in the Penllergaer district knows about the weapon but is deliberately shielding the owner to withhold information," the newspaper said.''

Bristol's oldest unsolved murder: 72 years since cinema boss shot
2016
''The murder took place on May 29, 1946, but the packed 2,000 strong audience watching The Light That Failed , were oblivious to the crime, with the gun shot thought to have coincided with firing in the film masking the sound.

Mystery surrounded his death and still some believe The Odeon cinema in Union Street is still haunted by the 33-year-old murdered manager.

Rumours at the time put the killing down to Mr Parrington Jackson being assassinated by a jealous man who thought the manager had been flirting with his girlfriend. Others gossiped that it could have been the boyfriend of an usherette who had become pregnant by him.

But in 1989 a petty Welsh crook apparently confessed to the killing on his death bed.''

''The Fish's son, Jeff Fisher, told police that his father had confessed to the killing on his deathbed in 1989, and he believed that he may have murdered more than one person.''

 

[Richard]

I know that they probably want to do a thorough job of comparing those bullets, but isn't 74 years long enough to do that? Rather than speculate, why not do the ballistic comparisons of the bullets in both cases with the suspected weapon, and just come out with the answer?

 

[mrC]

funny nobody heard the gunshots

 

[dotr]

• List of unsolved murders in the United Kingdom (before 1970) - Wikipedia
• This page was last edited on 15 August 2023, at 06:00 (UTC).

• June 1946

  Muriel Drinkwater

  Penllergaer, near Swansea

  Muriel Drinkwater, a 12-year-old schoolgirl, was bludgeoned about the head, raped and shot in the woods at Penllergaer, a village a few miles from Swansea.[86] The case became known as the Little Red Riding Hood Murder. In 2020, the BBC One documentary Dark Land: Hunting the Killers suggested that Ronnie Harries could have been the murderer. Harries was hanged in 1954 for the double murder of John and Phoebe Harries.[87][71]

The tale of a murderer who beat his relatives to death

He was the last person to be sentenced to death in Wales' oldest town

www.walesonline.co.uk

Ronnie Harries, the last man to be sentenced to death in Carmarthen