Featured Image Credit: Avon and Somerset Police
Topics: Crime, True Crime, UK News
Britt Jones
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
A 92-year-old man has finally been named as the assailant of a nearly 60-year-old cold case in the UK.
Dubbed as the 'longest cold case' to reach trial, Ryland Headley has been found guilty of raping and murdering a woman born 133 years ago.
He was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court for the rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne, in June 1967.
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The mother-of-two was found in her home more than 57 years ago by her neighbours after they noticed that she wasn’t standing on her doorstep like she usually did.
When they decided to investigate where the pensioner was, they were horrified to discover her dead inside her Bristol house.
At the time, police found traces of semen on intimate swabs taken, as well as on her skirt, and a palm print on one of the rear windows of her home.
However, this took place about 20 years before DNA testing was created.
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Detective Inspector Dave Marchant from Avon and Somerset Police told Sky News: "The original investigation was, by all accounts, massive.
"Over 19,000 palm print eliminations were taken from men and boys in the Bristol area and beyond. Over 8,000 house-to-house records were completed, and several thousand statements were taken."
Sadly, being unable to complete DNA testing and having no witness statements meant that Headley walked free for almost six decades.
Shockingly, Headley, who was in his 30s at the time, lived just outside of the ring of houses where the murder occurred.
After examining the body, it was found that hands had likely been pressed against Dunne's mouth as she suffered ‘extensive abrasions’ on her face.
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DNA technology was able to land Headley in prison eventually, as police matched his palm prints to those taken at the scene of the crime.
When the case was reviewed in 2024, with new DNA testing on the closely matched Headley, more than the billions of people tested against.
"I had to read that email several times to fully digest the content of it and believe what I was reading. Then it was, okay, game on, let's get this investigation going," DI Marchant said, before adding: "This investigation was a blend of new and old forensic techniques - DNA being the latest and greatest… but we were able to utilise that original investigative material."
Headley was arrested at his home in Ipswich in November 2024, and it was revealed at the trial that he had been in prison before for committing two other rapes around ten years after the murder of the mother.
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Both victims were elderly women in their homes.
Prosecutor Anna Vigars KC told the jury: "In other words, to break into people's homes at night and, in some cases, to target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence."
Following Headley's conviction, Dunne's granddaughter Mary Dainton said: "Louisa’s brutal death had a big impact on my mother and her wider family. I don’t think my mother ever recovered from it. The anxiety clouded the rest of her life.
"When people found out about the murder, including friends, they withdrew - there is a stigma attached to rape and murder in my experience, so I have rarely talked to anyone about this until now.
"Since Ryland Headley was charged, I’ve struggled emotionally in ways I did not anticipate and it falls to me to speak for people who are no longer here.
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"It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice is being done."
There have been many cold cases being solved, particularly in the US, giving families the ability to grieve thanks to advancement in DNA testing.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.