THE heartbreaking moment Vic Davies heard his mother had been murdered is seared into his memory.
www.echo-news.co.uk
21st March 2017 rbbm,
''Ivy had been battered to death at her home in Holland Road,
Westcliff. T
he house was ransacked and a ligature left around her neck, although it was not the cause of death.
The murder weapon, a metal pry bar, was found near her body. No-one has ever been charged with her murder.''
"two men were initially questioned on suspicion of carrying out the 1975 murder of Ivy Davies shortly after her death, but they were never charged.
They remained the prime suspects for more than 30 years until the case took an unexpected turn in 2006 when detectives arrested a third man, aged 68 from
Basildon, on suspicion of murder.
He too was later released without charge.
All three men are believed to still be alive and now truck driver Vic wants the case to feature on the BBC’s Crimewatch in a last-ditch bid to nail the killer.''
Chillingly, Vic came face-to-face with one of the original suspects in the years after Ivy’s death.
“I had one of those freeze-frame moments,” he said. “He looked me in the eye and I just thought: ‘I know it’s you’.”
''In desperation, Vic visited a medium in 1996, who told him Ivy could describe her killer. The medium said she would pass the details onto police and not Vic, for ethical reasons, but the lead was not followed up.
The
Echo told last week told how police are now probing claims Ivy met an escaped mental patient from Runwell Hospital, who was posing as a doctor, in the weeks before her murder.
Vic believes the steel pry bar used to batter Ivy is still the biggest clue to the identity of his mother’s killer.
It was obtained through the Snap-On tools company - which at that time had delivered just 2,000 of the tools to customers in the UK.
Another clue could lie in traces of semen found on a carpet in Ivy’s living room. Incredibly, when her personal belongings were divided among friends and family, her neighbours claimed her carpet.
It sat rolled up in their loft until 2005 when it was passed to cold case cops. The DNA sample turned up no matches, suggesting the killer might not have committed another crime.''
When Ivy Davies was battered to death in her Westcliff home on February 4, 1975, the story attracted huge media attention, but despite the resulting publicity her killer was never caught.
The 48-year-old owned the Orange Tree cafe in Palmeira Parade, Westcliff, and Southend’s Evening Echo dubbed her the “gentle lady of the Orange Tree”.
Ivy’s injuries were so severe that police initially thought they were dealing with a “mad axeman” and told reporters they had “no idea” why she had been murdered.
Residents of Holland Road told how they heard “piercing screams” when Ivy’s body was discovered by a horrified neighbour.
The neighbour, Stella Zammitt, described the scene and said Ivy had a cut on her forehead that looked like a knife wound.
She said she found Ivy in the living room, wearing her nightdress.
People who worked near the Orange Tree cafe said Ivy was “popular” and “well-liked”, although one said she was a “lonely figure”.
Another said: “She was one of the most generous, warm-hearted and helpful people you could ever meet.”
Ivy had owned the Orange Tree for about eight years and had previously worked there for five years, getting to know her customers well.
She had even spoken to the
Echo six months previously, telling the newspaper her business was “marvellous”.
She said: “It’s all I work for. It’s a great pleasure here, and especially when people say they have enjoyed their meal.”
One regular said: “She was one of the nicest people you could meet and the news has really shattered us.”
2017
COLD case detectives are set to examine new evidence that could solve the 42-year-old murder of a café owner, the Echo can reveal.
www.echo-news.co.uk
''Officers are now set to investigate claims Ivy met an escapee from Runwell Mental Hospital who visited her Orange Tree café, under the Westcliff arches, shortly before her brutal murder.
He is said to have posed as a charming doctor escorting a group of patients- who also turned out to have absconded from the facility.
Ivy’s son, Victor Davies, 60, said the episode was allegedly covered up by the authorities, but it has come to light after one of Ivy’s former employees came forward.
He said: “This woman was only a girl then and worked in my mother’s café. She says she made a statement in 1975 but the cold case detectives have no record of it.
“This ‘doctor’ made out that they were on a day trip and my mother got talking to this man. She arranged to meet him later that day in Southend.
“I know he later turned up at my mother’s house but he turned out to be one of the patients. I do remember this happening and we all made fun of her for being so gullible.”
Mr Davies said he does not know exactly when the incident took place, but it was just weeks before his mother’s murder- raising the possibility the man may still have been free when it took place.''
