[8][4], In 2003, detectives re-opened the case in the hope of finding DNA evidence on the gun, but were not successful as too many people had handled the weapon. [8] A description of a person of interest was circulated; he was described as approximately 30 years old, with "thick fluffy hair and wearing brown corduroy trousers and a light brown sports jacket. - Listen to The Unsolved Murder of Muriel Drinkwater by The True Crime Files instantly on your tablet, phone or browser - no downloads needed. Learn more about managing a memorial . Only by comparing D.N.A. "If information comes in from the public or other forces we act on it.". [15] There is evidence that Harries was employed by Drinkwater's father, John, at the time of her death. Mark Lewis by email of this fact but my email was ignored. A much loved, very kind and thoughtful person who did great things for people but never expected anything in return. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Police believed 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater might have been a victim of a known serial killer when she was raped and murdered in 1946. It was believed a similar weapon had been used in the murder of a cinema manager in Bristol. Muriels niece is in a dreadful state. On June 27, 1946, 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater made her way home from school in Penllergaer, Swansea (UK). I have informed South Wales Police regarding this information to save them a fortune on a wild goose chase trying to extract D.N.A. Read about our approach to external linking. However in 1965 he was registered as Harry Stevens in Putney AND at the same time he rented a property in Aldensley Road Hammersmith and was also registered but using the name Harry Jones. The electoral register having been suspended because of the war means details are hazy about where he ended up - although he did eventually resurface in South London under the name Harry Stevens, leading some to believe he was also Jack The Stripper - the serial killer who battered and strangled a number of women across the capital during the 1960s. Find records of Muriel Drinkwater . And please do not forget tosubscribe to the podcast and leave us a review. South Wales Police said: "All historic murder cases, often referred to in the media as cold cases, are allocated to the Specialist Crime Review Unit and remain under active consideration and will be subject of re-investigation as and when new information is received or when there are advances in forensic science. The police have a Y-STR profile from Muriels coat. With the help from a niece of Muriel Drinkwater I pursued my research which led to South Wales Police taking a D.N.A. [8] Scientists successfully retrieved a DNA profile from this stain. Something went wrong, please try again later. She had been raped, bludgeoned about the head and shot twice in the chest. 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Video, 00:00:42, Dog found alive after 23 days under rubble, Watch Kate beat William in spin class endurance race. The authorities went as far as to suggest that someone in the Penllergaer region knows about the murder weapon but is protecting the owner by withholding information. Have a great week! I am in regular contact with a niece of Muriel Drinkwater who has told me that members of her family gave South Wales Police samples of their D.N.A.. Murder. Video, 00:01:00, View from the cockpit of a Ukraine combat helicopter. Muriels niece Margaret is desperate to get the books back. The case became known as the Little Red Riding Hood murder. If you have any new information I would be extremely interested to hear it! Brutally beaten, raped and shot twice, the discovery of Swansea schoolgirl Muriel Drinkwater 's body in 1946 horrified an entire community. I was able to edit the comment for you before it went live. Thank you so much for this detailed update. Up Next. Video, 00:00:41Watch Kate beat William in spin class endurance race, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. On the afternoon of Muriels murder, thirteen-year-old Hoyles purchased eggs from Muriels mother at their family farm. I am not a DNA scientist so sadly I cannot answer this question for you. I could never hurt anyone or anything, but in a small, close-knit community, people talk and I knew that in the eyes of some people I was the murderer. I was made aware the following day that my request would NOT be granted. It blighted my life. For Hoyles, and no doubt numerous other people in Penllergaer,every dollar spent bringing Muriels killer one step closer to justice has been a dollar well spent. It is now more than 70 years since the 12-year-old schoolgirl was brutally raped, battered around the head . She was buried at St David's Church in Penllergaer. She was hoping in her lifetime to find out who killed her aunt. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. If true, it could have placed him in the area at the time of Muriel's murder. true crime. There is no doubt about that.". Happier times: Alex Murdaugh, Maggie and their sons are the picture-perfect family in never-before-seen photos taken on a hunting trip just a few years before brutal slayings, 'Why isn't he being prosecuted?' I contacted Detective Superintendent Martyn Lloyd-Evans (now retired) of South Wales Police by phone and had a friendly conversation with him about Victor Penalunas suspicions. And four months after Jones left the army Muriel was raped and shot dead as she walked home from a school bus in Penllergaer, Swansea. 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On 29 August 2021, I sent the following email to Freedom Of Information at South Wales Police. My enquiries are now complete and have led me to believe that Harold Jones would have presented a danger to young girls throughout his life All relevant information has now been presented to South Wales Police, Major Crime Review Unit,who are currently in the process of making further inquiries into the murder of Muriel Drinkwater. Advertisement. Thanks again and take care. [10], Police visited every house within 150 square miles and interviewed 20,000 men in Swansea and in neighbouring Aberdare and Carmarthenshire. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. Hi Neil. Mr Hall, who was intrigued by the unsolved crime, says friends of Muriel remember her as the ``perfect pupil''. It was believed the victim's clothes had been lost. 'Each case is reviewed periodically. People had forgotten it was there. On this podcast episode, we cover the unsolved cold case of Muriel Drinkwater. "We had access to the files and identified that a semen stain had been found on the coat. She was still wearing her school uniform. Follow. South Wales Police some years ago announced that a potential suspect Hubert Hoyles had been cleared of Muriels death through DNA profiling. Fifteen days later, Jones murdered 11-year-old neighbour Florence Little too, hiding her body in the attic of his parents' home. found on Muriels coat and D.N.A. The team tracked down Harries' cousin Lynn Hughes who described how the only child had been "spoilt" by his parents and was very "childish". But in 2003, when the case was reopened for review, forensics experts found a semen stain found on Muriel's coat. Photo added by Tracey. On June 27, 1946, 12-year-old Muriel made her way home from school in Penllergaer, Swansea (UK). However, what happened to Jones once he left Wandsworth jail in December 1941, aged 35, remains a mystery. Also that they likely watched Muriel and knew her route. I have spoken to former D.C.I Paul Bethel and given him this information. 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. Harries was hanged in 1954 for the double murder of John and Phoebe Harries. Hi Neil. Who killed 'Little Red Riding Hood'? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[3]='ADDRESS';ftypes[3]='address';fnames[4]='PHONE';ftypes[4]='phone';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); Liked it? Jones killed two young girls when he was just 15 and was jailed for 20 years. The comments below have not been moderated. Although the decision was made immediately it took nearly 7 weeks until 16 August 2021 to get a formal decision. Drinkwater, a 12-year-old schoolgirl, was raped and shot in the woods in Penllergaer, Swansea. Police believe 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater might have been a victim of a notorious serial killer when she was raped and murdered in 1946. In 1946, 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater was murdered in the woods of Swansea, Wales. ", "Groundbreaking DNA test rules out childkiller in unsolved murder", 74 years ago, Muriel Drinkwater was murdered. This was a big news story at the time. He is very clearly interested in the fact that she is young, that she is a schoolgirl, and also that she is very clever. The perpetrator left cigarette stubs, sweet wrappers, and pieces of bread at the scene of the crime, which the authorities have said indicates that he was waiting in the dense woods for his chance to strike. Yet, despite their exhaustive enquiries - not to mention the discovery of the gun used in Muriel's shooting - the culprit managed to evade justice. 'I have spoken to Muriel's family and bring them up to date with the latest details of this investigation. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lewis, head of the Specialist Crime Review Unit said: 'The results of the forensic examination categorically confirm that Jones was not responsible for the murder of Muriel Drinkwater. Another wait and see. Psychic Diane Lazarus. Why on earth would the police continue to stonewall after all these decades? He could possibly be a rival farmer and or business owner, we can tell the Drinkwaters run a business due to the fact that Hoyles bought eggs from Margaret Drinkwater, near to the death of Muriel Drinkwater. "South Wales Police has had considerable success with cold case reviews being one of the first forces in the country to set up a review team in 1999 to conduct cold case reviews. We are hoping to make a BBC documentary (follow on from Dark Son) to see if we can shed any new light on the case. Jones and his wife Muriel hid a lot of secrets from their daughter and one of these secrets may have been Jones wasnt her father. Just put my name in Facebook bar. Then for 3 years he was registered at Colinette Road Putney as Harry Stevens. Both girls were murdered in woods within a half mile of their homes. Who sodomises a 12 year old girl and batters her about the head, then shoots her twice in the chest? A different D.C.I. Filmed as part of documentary Dark Land: Hunting the Killers, that is being shown on BBC Wales, the name of murderer Ronnie Harries, the last man to have been hanged in Carmarthen, has been put forward by the team that is headed by the former chief constable of Dyfed Powys Police Jackie Roberts. I would like to request an internal review of (an adverse) decision made by South Wales Police regarding information I requested on 28-6-21. "Looking through the paper work, we could see the materials had left the crime scene, where it had gone, where it had been examined. Hi Neil. Dear Sir/Madam. The identity of the man who murdered a schoolgirl in 1946 remains a mystery after DNA left on her'little red riding hood' coat failed to link to a notorious child killer. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. It is now more than 70 years since the 12-year-old schoolgirl was brutally raped, battered around the head and shot twice while walking home. Please let us know how it goes. There was a camp a mile away in Grovesend. And if you want to write a guest post that covers the update for distribution on the website, let us know. Regards. It became known as the Little Red Riding Hood murder - but who killed Muriel Drinkwater? After discussing this development with Muriels niece, myself, Muriels niece and a number of of her nursing friends came to the same conclusion that if Jones daughter isnt his biological daughter then Jones could not completely rule out Jones as a suspect. Two months too young to face the gallows, he was sent to Usk Prison where he sensationally confessed to the first killing, blaming the voice of a 'demon' in his head. On 30 March 2010 the Times Online quoted an unnamed police source with South Wales Police as saying: We have a real problem with amateur sleuths in this area. A moment later, Muriels path wound into a thickly wooded area, and her mother returned to her chores in the kitchen. [3] In 2008, a DNA profile of the suspect was extracted from her clothes, possibly the oldest sample . See link to Jones and other murders. In a Welsh village during the summer of 1946, a 12-year-old girl is brutally murdered. Muriel Jean Drinkwater Birth unknown Death 1983 Burial. Muriel was seen at 2:30PM, singing as she exited the school bus. Video, 00:02:56Detectives to revisit unsolved murder, Tears of relief after man found in Amazon jungle. The crime scene is a short distance from the farmhouse. I guess a DNA test of Sheila Martin must have been taken to see if it was the same person. 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. He stated he had long been suspected by some locals of being the murderer and was happy to clear his name. 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