UK UK - Barbara Finn, 31, Hillfields, Coventry, October 1991

[Al Ka]

Barbara Finn

Prostitute Barbara Finn went missing from Coventry in 1991 after leaving her daughter with relatives and going to work in Hillfields. She and Marie Garrity are often linked to an unknown serial killer - dubbed the Midlands Ripper.

Coventry's missing people

 

[Al Ka]

March 2000 - Grim theory as killer gets life; 'City women may have been victims'.

POLICE believe the killer of two prostitutes could be responsible for attacks against women in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Former Stafford motor mechanic Alun Kyte was yesterday jailed for life for strangling the women and dumping their bodies a few miles north of Rugby. He is also currently serving a sentence for rape.

Detectives are convinced the 35-year-old drifter is a serial attacker who targeted women and have released his photograph and a tape of his voice to jog memories of victims or people with whom he may have had dealings.

Two Coventry women have disappeared in recent years while Kyte was on the prowl. Their whereabouts have never been discovered.

Barbara Finn was last seen in October 1991 after leaving her daughter with relatives to ply for trade on her Hillfields patch.

Mother-of-three Marie Garrity went missing from her home in Bretts Close, Hillfields in September 1995. She told a baby-sitter looking after her three children that she would return home shortly, possibly after visiting a client. A spokesman said the two were still being treated as missing persons, adding: "The files on both these cases remain open."

A judge at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday jailed Kyte for the murders of Samo Paull and Tracey Turner in 1993. He was caught when DNA tests linked him to Ms Turner.

Leicestershire assistant chief constable David Colman said: "Alun Kyte is an evil man who has travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain committing crimes.

"I do not believe that we have uncovered the full extent of his criminality and, in particular, there is every reason to believe he may have been responsible for other serious attacks on women."

Kyte began drifting around the country, stealing cars and staying in cheap hotels and lodging-houses, after falling out with his family in 1991.

Police want to hear from women who were attacked before to December 28 1997 and did not report it to police, any owners of lodging houses or hotels who recognise the man, and anyone who thinks they may have bought or sold a vehicle from him.

Grim theory as killer gets life; 'City women may have been victims'. - Free Online Library

 

[Al Ka]

June 7, 2002 - Murder hunt police dig garden in red light area

Police and forensic experts were digging up the garden of a house in the West Midlands last night in what was believed to be a search for human remains.

A spokesman said a major incident was under way in Hillfields, Coventry.

Two prostitutes disappeared in the area, which is known for vice and drugs, more than ten years ago.

Barbara Finn and Marie Garrity went missing during the 1990s and no trace of them has been found.

But a police spokesman last night would not speculate about the reason behind the search in the garden of a house in Winchester Street.

West Midlands Police officers along with forensic experts and Prof John Hunter, a forensic archaeologist from Birmingham University were at the address where a large tent had been erected in the garden.

Murder hunt police dig garden in red light area.(News) - The Birmingham Post (England) | HighBeam Research

 

[Al Ka]

September 25, 2002

Prostitute Barbara Finn was last seen in October 1991 after leaving her daughter with relatives to ply for trade in Hillfields.

Known on the streets as Kelly, she was aged 32 and a registered heroin addict.

Marie Garrity is one of several unsolved missing person cases in Coventry. She has disappeared in Hillfields in 1995.

And Coventry mother Nicola Payne was aged just 18 when she disappeared after taking a short cut across playing fields on her way home to Woodway Park, in December 1991.

Others who are still missing.(News) - Coventry Evening Telegraph (England) | HighBeam Research

 

[Al Ka]

Link to Marie Garrity thread - UK - UK - Marie Garrity, 30, Hillfields, Coventry, September 1995

 

[Al Ka]

June 8, 2002 - Police Unearth Remains of Man in Garden Search

Detectives investigating the discovery of a body in the back garden of a house yesterday revealed the remains were those of an adult male.

The body was discovered by police officers, acting on 'information received', during an excavation at the property in the Hillfields area of Coventry on Thursday.

Local residents had suggested the body could have been that of Barbara Finn or Marie Garrity, two prostitutes who went missing from the area during the early 1990s.

Both women had been working in the red light area before disappearing without trace.

Police yesterday said the remains found at the terraced house in Winchester Street were those of a man and Superintendent Paul Diehl, operations manager at Little Park Street Police Station in Coventry, said a murder investigation had been launched. …

Police Unearth Remains of Man in Garden Search - The Birmingham Post (England) | HighBeam Research

 

[Al Ka]

Just to add in 2002 when these remains were found Gary Tilston disappeared in Hillfields too. As per 2014 article he was still listed as missing though so murdered male remains were of someone else. Not much is known about his case.

The 30-year-old was last seen in a flat in Hillfields in 2002.

25 people vanished without trace in Coventry

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Barbara - it's now been 30 years.

 

[Romanystar]

Strange the police aren’t interested, they know more than they let on but it suits them.

 

[Romanystar]

Just to add in 2002 when these remains were found Gary Tilston disappeared in Hillfields too. As per 2014 article he was still listed as missing though so murdered male remains were of someone else. Not much is known about his case.

The 30-year-old was last seen in a flat in Hillfields in 2002.

25 people vanished without trace in Coventry

I was looking at this case but can’t find a thing Apart from snippets in a paper copied from elsewhere.