A 92-year-old pensioner will likely die in prison after being convicted of the rape and murder of a 75-year-old widow who was killed 58 years ago.
In what is thought to be the UK’s longest-running cold case ever solved, Ryland Headley has now been found guilty of murdering and raping Louisa Dunne.
Ryland, then aged 34, forced entry into the mother-of-two’s home in Bristol in June 1967 before attacking her.
Her body was found by neighbours inside her terraced home in Britannia Road in the Easton area of the city on the morning of June 28.
A woman was heard screaming hours before Mrs Dunne, who had been twice widowed and lived alone, was discovered dead.
Mrs Dunne, who was using the front room as a bedroom, was found lying on a pile of old clothes and police found no evidence of any violent struggle in the house.
The case remained unsolved for over 50 years until Avon and Somerset detectives sent off items from the original investigation for DNA testing.
Those results provided a DNA match to Headley, who since the murder had moved to Suffolk, and had served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women.
Dramatic footage, shown to jurors, revealed the moment cops busted a the startled sex predator at his home before arresting him.
Ryland Headley, now 92, has been convicted of raping and murdering Louisa Dunne, 75, on the night of June 27 1967. She is seen in photograph taken around 1919.
Court sketch of 92-year-old Headley appearing via video link at Bristol Magistrates’ Court for an earlier hearing
Police bodyworn camera footage captured a startled Headley being detained last year on suspicion of killing of Louisa Dunne in what was Britain’s oldest cold case review
Headley, of Ipswich, had denied rape and murder but was found guilty of both charges by the jury at Bristol Crown Court.
The defendant, now aged 92, did not give evidence during the trial.
He is now facing a life sentence – but will more than likely die behind bars.
Detective Inspector Dave Marchant, of Avon and Somerset Police said Headley’s conviction showed no case was ‘too old or too cold’ to be investigated.
He said: ‘We’re unwavering in our determination to bring offenders to justice.
‘For me, there is no cold case which is too old, too cold for us to complete a further review and investigation on.
‘If there are lines of inquiry and evidence, we will pursue them relentlessly. We will do everything in our power to identify offenders to bring them to justice.
‘My message to them is watch your back, we’re coming after you.’
Forces across the country are now examining whether Headley could be linked to other unsolved crimes.
‘Ryland Headley has now been convicted of three rapes of elderly women within their own addresses, and in the case of Louisa Dunne, her murder as well,’ DI Marchant said.
A post mortem examination later found Mrs Dunne had suffered multiple bruising and an ‘extensive haemorrhage to the whites of both eyes’
‘In 1978, when he was sentenced, he admitted to a number of other burglary offences.
‘I think there’s every possibility that there are other offences out there – over the 60s, 70s, however long a time period – which Mr Headley could be culpable for.
‘We are working with colleagues across the country and other police forces and the National Crime Agency to try to understand and identify those potential further offences, and if possible, can we match them through any forensic techniques etc and if we are able, hopefully then get him before a court to face justice over those matters too.’
The court heard Mrs Dunne was a ‘local fixture’ who was always ‘standing on her doorstep, watching the world go by, always wearing her headscarf.’
Neighbours found her body when she failed to appear on her doorstep and they noticed a sash window was open.
Mrs Dunne had suffered multiple bruising and a major haemorrhage, consistent with having her mouth forcibly covered to stop her breathing.
At the time police tried to match thousands of potential suspects to a palm print left on a window.
Prosecutors say the case went cold for decades until a DNA breakthrough.
Sex predator Headley was identified after a cold case review last year matched his DNA with semen on Mrs Dunne’s skirt and pubic hair – while his palm was also a match for a print left on a window.
Pictured: The blue skirt Ms Dunne was wearing when she died
Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Ryland Headley (right) in the dock at Bristol Crown Court
Opening the case for the prosecution earlier this month Anna Vigars KC told the jury: ‘We are talking about the murder of an elderly and vulnerable lady in her own home.
‘She was in no state to defend herself. Whether it happened 58 years ago or 58 days ago, the murder of any person, is, of course, a matter of concern to any of the rest of us.
‘The fact that time has passed does not make the killing of anyone of us any less significant.
‘The police have never given up on solving the case of Mrs Dunne’s murder.’
During the trial, jurors heard the harrowing testimony of two widows raped by Headley in 1977.
Headley, then aged 45, had broken into the homes of women aged 84 and 79 at night and raped them having threatened them with violence if they did not comply.
Police mounted a massive fingerprinting exercise to try to find the attacker and Headley was arrested after a print found at the second scene matched his.
He later pleaded guilty at Ipswitch Crown Court in 1978 for the pair of sex attacks and was jailed for seven years.
Speaking about the testimony of the two victims, heard by the jurors sitting in Headley’s murder trial, DI Marchant said: ‘Hearing the voices of the victims of his 1977 offences, is just incredibly powerful and harrowing.
‘I think it gives us an insight into probably what happened within 58 Britannia Road to some degree.
‘Mr Headley has offered no evidence for explanation for what happened at that address that night so to hear those women, their accounts being read out in court, I think was very impactful, very impactful.
‘It just gave a sense of how depraved and predatory Mr Headley’s behaviour is.
‘He’s now three times convicted of rape, stranger rapes, breaking into elderly women’s addresses overnight and subjecting them to just most abhorrent, heinous attacks for his own pleasure.’
Trevor Mason, who was a Special Branch detective involved in the 1977 investigation into Headley’s double-rape described the monster as ‘worse than an animal’.
‘What those poor women suffered is just horrendous, absolutely horrendous,’ Mr Mason told Channel 4 News. ‘They were lucky, I suppose, that they weren’t killed, but they weren’t lucky at all, were they?
‘They were obviously frail, they didn’t stand a chance. Absolutely terrible.
‘That’s the man we were after, and thank goodness we found him.’
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
