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

[dotr]

Murder of Muriel Drinkwater - Wikipedia
The unsolved murder of a 12-year-old brutally abused and killed
"It was like any other normal June afternoon in Swansea.

The year was 1946 and Muriel Drinkwater started walking home after a day at school.

The 12-year-old had taken the bus home, singing as she headed for remote Tyle Du farm where the parents, Percival and Margaret, lived."
"The events of that afternoon would lead to one of Wales' most horrific murders - one that remains unsolved to this day.

Little Muriel was raped in Penllergaer Woods, before being shot with a World War I-era Colt 45 weapon."
"One of her hands was raised and her eyes were still wide open.
She had been raped, beaten and shot twice in the chest."

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
Who killed 'Little Red Riding Hood'?

Harold Jones was given a gold pocket watch to celebrate his original acquittal for the murder of Freda Burnell
May 1 2019
"A schoolgirl's murder has gone unsolved since she was brutally killed more than 70 years ago. But a piece of forensic evidence - thought to be among the oldest such specimens in the world - may finally prove who killed her."

"The prime suspect is a convicted child killer who some suspect was also "Jack the Stripper", a man responsible for murdering a string of women in London during the 1960s."
Despite the effort and resources ploughed into finding the killer, the inquiry remained unsolved.

But a vital piece of forensic evidence may finally lead police to the identity of Muriel's killer.

A semen stain found on Muriel's coat is thought to be one of the oldest pieces of crime scene evidence in the world.

"It was discovered during a 2003 case review, and was used to rule out a boy seen passing Muriel minutes before she was attacked as a suspect.
It is understood South Wales Police are now looking into whether Harold Jones. who murdered two young girls in a town about 45 miles away, also killed Muriel.

Neil Milkins, a historian who has spent 12 years researching Muriel's murder, said: "Harold was a convicted double child murderer - suspected of being one of Britain's most notorious serial killers.

"His history is one of unspeakable violence and cruelty.

"He would have had no problem committing this murder."

Growing up in Abertillery in a poor family, Jones left school in his early teens and began work as a shop assistant.

But in February 1921, aged just 15, he lured eight-year-old Freda Burnell to a seed store behind the shop and killed her in a vicious attack."

 

[dotr]

Well this was fast! rbbm.
Who killed 'Little Red Riding Hood'?
Muriel Drinkwater murder: Harold Jones link ruled out
By Gwyneth Rees & Jordan Davies BBC News

• 47 minutes ago
• South Wales Police were looking into whether Harold Jones, who murdered two young girls in a town about 45 miles away, also killed Muriel.
  
  But after re-examining the forensic evidence and considering theories that Jones was responsible, they have confirmed he was not the killer.
  
  Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lewis, head of the South Wales Police's Specialist Crime Review Unit said: "The results of the forensic examination categorically confirm that Jones was not responsible for the murder of Muriel Drinkwater.
  
  "Due to advances in forensic technology, we have been able to look again at evidence from the murder in 1946 and I am now able to rule out Harold Jones completely as a suspect in this case.""

"As for the unsolved murder of Muriel, the re-opening of the cold case involved examining very old DNA was something that was highly unusual, according to one expert.

Speaking before the DNA results were known, Dr Jane Monckton Smith, a forensic criminologist who grew up near Muriel's home town, said: "Personally, I don't know anyone using a sample so old.

"It's amazing that we have come so far that we can extract a profile from it."

 

[kate2931]

Did anyone manage to watch the London Stripper documentary recently ? Dark son ?
Jones was the thing of nightmares, I was heartbroken for the girls.

My mum’s, parents were friends with Mary Fleming & her husband, mary was the sixth victim of the London Stripper. She left her husband and their young children without warning in Cumbria & moved to London as a lady of the night. Tragically one of her young sons (my mum thinks younger than 10) fell from great height through the roof of a laundry building & lost his life, we are unsure if Mary had already been murdered by this point but she did not return for the funeral. My grandad would take Mary’s husband out for a pint weekly in sympathy.

I always believed jones must have carried on his killings. Waiting in anticipation for the results, poor Muriel.

 

[kate2931]

BBC Two - Dark Son: The Hunt for a Serial Killer

 

[kate2931]

Who killed 'Little Red Riding Hood'?

Harold jones ruled out

 

[wtiger]

What happened to this link?

Detectives link Muriel Drinkwater and Sheila Martin murders

 

[avrolancaster566]

Did Neville Heath kill children? The forums seem to be the only thing going keeping these cases around on the net. Some time ago, I looked him up and funnily enough, he was killing around the same time Muriel was murdered and he started his killing spree I think. Also, he was a soldier so there is a slight chance he might have had the gun that was used to kill Muriel on top of the fact, in my mind, he had to have killed more than just 2 women and 29 isn't the youngest of ages to kill. What do you think?

 

[dotr]

Did Neville Heath kill children? The forums seem to be the only thing going keeping these cases around on the net. Some time ago, I looked him up and funnily enough, he was killing around the same time Muriel was murdered and he started his killing spree I think. Also, he was a soldier so there is a slight chance he might have had the gun that was used to kill Muriel on top of the fact, in my mind, he had to have killed more than just 2 women and 29 isn't the youngest of ages to kill. What do you think?

Welcome to Ws avrolancaster566, interesting suggestion!
Handsome charmer Neville Heath was twisted sadist hanged for murdering two women

 

[avrolancaster566]

No, not really. I just saw the case and seeing the links between Heath and the murder. I just jumped in out of character, that's all but it is possible. I think Neville Heath definitely killed a lot more people than he did, add in the fact that he started his killings just distantly after Muriel's murder, only problem is was that he killed women, not kids. I just think it is weird that all the facts lead up to him. They should do tests on Neville Heath because if he did happen to be in South Wales on that day, that would be the final piece of the puzzle, in my book. A medium isn't going to do much good. It is absurd that they are trying to do that, contacting the girl from the dead when the majority of her relatives are dead and it isn't going to do much good anyway besides that I think it's stupid they're trying to accomplish that with a case which is over 70 years old.

 

[dotr]

What happened to this link?

Detectives link Muriel Drinkwater and Sheila Martin murders

Rbbm.
Little Red Riding Hood Murder
"Muriel had been bludgeoned, raped, and shot twice in the chest.

The murder weapon was found in a nearby undergrowth — a WWI-era Colt .45. The weapon was most likely also used in WWII; perspex had been used to modernize the original wooden stocks next to the grip.

A similar weapon had been used in the murder of a cinema manager in Bristol. Numerous American servicemen were station in Penllegaer, Swansea, during the war and authorities theorized that one of them had sold the gun. As a result, it is believed that someone in the area has information that could lead to the weapon’s owner.

Authorities also tried to find another weapon that had been used to hit Muriel over the head but it was never found. The killer left behind cigarette stubs, sweet wrappers, and pieces of bread — it is likely they had been waiting a while for Muriel to walk by."

"In 2010, the South Wales Police announced that the files on Muriel’s murder were no longer accessible to the public, including through the Freedom of Information Act. They believe it will further their chances of resolving the case if the files are private.

Moreover, the files of 11-year-old Sheila Martin’s murder were also closed from public access. This was the first time that Muriel and Sheila’s murders were linked by the authorities, though it had been suggested by some people.

Sheila was raped and strangled to death with her hair band on July 7, 1946, about half a mile from her home. Her murder, merely ten days after Muriel’s and 200 miles away in Fawkham Green, has obvious similarities.

It is still unknown if the cases are actually connected."

 

[avrolancaster566]

Harold Jones is slightly possible. He was sick and he did serve in the army whether or not, discharged or otherwise, he could have still kept the gun and done it. Still, the fact that he's been thrown out of the window, my money is on Neville Heath.

 

[dotr]

Nov 4 2020
BBC One - Dark Land: Hunting the Killers, Series 1, Muriel Drinkwater, Could this book solve Muriel's murder?
''Could this book solve Muriel's murder?
In 1946, 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater was brutally murdered, but the killer may have taken something as a memento of his dark deed.''

• 
  
  Could this book solve Muriel's murder?
• BBC One - Dark Land: Hunting the Killers, Series 1, Muriel Drinkwater
• 
  
  ''Watch now
  Muriel Drinkwater
  Dark Land: Hunting the Killers Series 1
  Episode 3 of 4
  The murder of Muriel Drinkwater remains one of the most infamous unsolved murders in Welsh criminal history. Muriel was a 12-year-old schoolgirl who, whilst walking home from school one day in 1946, was brutally assaulted in the woods near her home in Penllergaer, before being shot dead. Her body was discovered the following day, just a few hundred yards from where her parents had anxiously awaited her safe return from school. Over the decades, although the culprit has never been caught, several key discoveries have been made to advance the investigation. But due in part to the scientific limitations of the day, such discoveries failed to produce major breakthroughs. In this episode of Dark Land, the team applies modern day forensic techniques to the available facts. What they uncover edges Muriel’s killer closer to being identified and provides answers to at least some of the questions that her family have been asking since the day she died.''
  
  
  
  

 

[dotr]

Very lengthy article.
Nov 7 2020 rbbm.
New suspect identified in unsolved murder of 12-year-old girl
''She was beaten, raped and shot twice just yards from her family's isolated farmhouse in 1946.

Moments before being brutally attacked, 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater had waved to her mother, who stood at the kitchen window, as she made her way home from Gowerton High School along the long path that led to the family home.

But Muriel, who was known locally as 'The Little Nightingale' because of her beautiful singing voice, never made it home. She was pulled from that path into the woodland beside it, attacked and murdered amongst the undergrowth of Penllergaer Woods, near Swansea, just yards from safety. Her killer has never been caught and it remains among the most notorious unsolved murders in Welsh history''

''They pieced together evidence from the time, used new forensic breakthroughs and links to other cases in the area to identify who they think murdered Muriel in the most horrific way. But the mystery doesn't end there — and the team want to unlock the mystery behind a book belonging to Muriel that turned up in a charity shop decades after her death.''

 

[Rosegold68]

just watched the Iplayer programme. very interesting

 

[LadyL]

Very lengthy article.
Nov 7 2020 rbbm.
New suspect identified in unsolved murder of 12-year-old girl
''She was beaten, raped and shot twice just yards from her family's isolated farmhouse in 1946.

Moments before being brutally attacked, 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater had waved to her mother, who stood at the kitchen window, as she made her way home from Gowerton High School along the long path that led to the family home.

But Muriel, who was known locally as 'The Little Nightingale' because of her beautiful singing voice, never made it home. She was pulled from that path into the woodland beside it, attacked and murdered amongst the undergrowth of Penllergaer Woods, near Swansea, just yards from safety. Her killer has never been caught and it remains among the most notorious unsolved murders in Welsh history''

''They pieced together evidence from the time, used new forensic breakthroughs and links to other cases in the area to identify who they think murdered Muriel in the most horrific way. But the mystery doesn't end there — and the team want to unlock the mystery behind a book belonging to Muriel that turned up in a charity shop decades after her death.''

isn't the simplest explanation that her parents donated her personal possessions after her death?

 

[Littlegreenlady]

isn't the simplest explanation that her parents donated her personal possessions after her death?

My understanding was that the book had been donated in a different area to where the parents lived. But maybe I got that wrong.

I agree though, that the obvious explanation wasn't really discussed in more detail and it was instantly assumed it was a clue. I wonder if there is more to it, and they just didn't say on camera?

 

[Richard]

Muriel (centre) was attacked and murdered as she made her way home from school in 1946

 

[Richard]

Could this case be related?

Caroline Evans

1945 newspaper cutting about the Caroline Evans murder
Caroline Evans was found dead by a farmer in a copse at Coedpoeth, near Wrexham, on October 6, 1945.

Despite an intensive police investigation the killer of the 39-year-old teacher, has never been found.

The teacher, who lived with her husband Edward in Park Road, Coedpoeth, had left home to visit her mum at the City Arms in Minera at 10pm but never arrived.

Her body was discovered early next morning on a footpath near Coedpoeth cemetery by a farmer.

Scotland Yard detectives made regular trips to Wrexham to pursue lines of inquiry for years after, including claims by a soldier he had killed another woman. But the murder remains unsolved.

If anyone has information about any of these cases they should contact North Wales Police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

LINK:

The North Wales murder cases that have never been solved

 

[Richard]

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