92-year-old man guilty of the rape and murder of widow, 75, in 1967

Justice at last as DNA helps catch 'animal'

- By Rod Minchin

A MAN of 92 was yesterday found guilty of the rape and murder of an elderly widow in what is thought to be the UK’s longest-running cold case to be solved.

Ryland Headley, then aged 34, broke into the home of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne in Bristol in June 1967 before attacking her.

The mother of two's body was found by neighbours inside her terraced home in the Easton area of the city on the morning of June 28.

A woman was heard screaming hours before Louisa, who had been twice widowed and lived alone, was discovered dead.

The victim, who was using the front room as a bedroom, was found lying on a pile of clothes and police found no evidence of any violent struggle in the house.

The case remained unsolved for more than 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 had moved to Suffolk, and had served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

Headley, of Ipswich, denied the rape and murder of Louisa but he did not give evidence.