Woman's murder among new map of 'cold cases'

ESTHER SOPER KILLED IN 1976, BUT CASE WAS NEVER SOLVED

- By CARL EVE

Det supt John Smith, right, and Det Chief Ins Christopher Boarland at a press conference over the murder of Esther Soper

(PAUL SLATER)

THE horrific murder of a Plymouth widow who was bludgeoned with a cider bottle and strangled with her own stockings is among 1,000 cold cases that have been highlighted in a new crime map.

Every case has been the subject of a major police investigation, with some dating back to the prewar era and others occurring in the last decade.

This exclusive list was compiled from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to every police force in the country, supported by research through a wide variety of local newspaper archives.

Cases include many seemingly random attacks, usually on women, carried out by strangers with no apparent motive.

They include the murder of Esther Soper in 1976. After the death of her husband, the former dockyard worker moved to Mutley Plain and became a member of the Plymouth Brethren, a nonconformist Christian movement.

Esther’s body was found on New Year’s Day, 1976 in the hallway of her house. She had been bludgeoned with a cider bottle and strangled to death with her own stockings.

The killer had then wrapped her body in a curtain.

While most of the country was waking up after overindulging the night before, the 51-year-old grandmother was the least likely of anyone in Mutley to have been suffering anything like a hangover. She lived alone and followed an austere, pious lifestyle.

The idea that she would have entertained an evening of debauchery, drinking alcohol and enjoying a lascivious night of passion with a gentleman friend at her small terraced home would have been completely implausible, preposterous even.