Ryland Headley (Avon and Somerset Police/PA). (Image: PA Media)
Ryland Headley, 92, has been told he will die in prison after he was jailed at Bristol Crown Court for life with a minimum term of 20 years for the rape and murder of Louisa Dunne in 1967, in what is believed to be Britain’s oldest solved cold case. He was found guilty of both charges by a jury at Bristol Crown Court on Monday afternoon, in what is thought to be the UK’s longest-running cold case to be solved.
Headley was 34 when he forced open a window at the home of Louisa Dunne, 75, in the Easton area of Bristol in June 1967 before attacking her. Mrs Dunne, a mother of two, was found dead by neighbours in the front room of her terraced home in Britannia Road on the morning of June 28. A pathologist concluded that Mrs Dunne died from asphyxia due to strangulation and pressure on her mouth, probably from a hand being held over it.
Louisa Dunne (Avon and Somerset Police/PA). (Image: PA Media)
Bristol Constabulary, as the force was then known, launched a huge investigation, took the palm prints of 19,000 men and boys in an attempt to find a match to one left on an upstairs window.
However, the case remained unsolved for more than 50 years until Avon and Somerset Police detectives sent items from the original investigation for the first time for DNA testing.
Semen recovered from a blue skirt worn by Mrs Dunne matched Headley’s DNA to a ratio that meant it was a billion times more likely to be from him than anybody else.
When his left palm print was finally taken, in November last year, it matched the print left at the scene.
Mary Dainton, Louise Dunne’s granddaughter, speaks outside the court on Mondauy (Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
Since Mrs Dunne’s murder, Headley had moved his family to Ipswich, where he was jailed for raping two elderly women after forcing open windows at their homes in October 1977.
Headley, of Clarence Road, Ipswich, denied Mrs Dunne’s rape and murder but was found guilty by a jury after nine hours and 53 minutes of deliberations.
Passing sentence on Tuesday, Mr Justice Sweeting said Mrs Dunne’s home had been a place of social and political activity while she was married to Edwin Parker, a leading light in the Labour movement at the time.
After his death, Mrs Dunne married John Dunne – a widow from Ireland who worked as a night watchman in Bristol. He died about six years before her murder.
Avon and Somerset DI Dave Marchant pictured outside Bristol Crown Court on Monday (Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
The judge told Headley that he had planned to rape Mrs Dunne and brutally attacked her after breaking into his home in a crime that remained unsolved for decades.
He commended detectives from Avon and Somerset Police’s cold case team who began investigating the case in 2023 and sent items for forensic analysis last year.
The judge continued: “The nature of these offences demonstrates a complete disregard for human life and dignity.
“Mrs Dunne was vulnerable, she was a small elderly woman living alone. You treated her as a means to an end.
“The violation of her home, her body and ultimately her life was a pitiless and cruel act by a depraved man.
“You violated the sanctity and safety of Mrs Dunne’s home where she had every right to feel secure.
“She must have experienced considerable pain and fear before her death.”
The judge referenced Headley’s previous convictions for rape, which relate to incidents in which he broke into the homes of elderly widows in October 1977 and raped them.
He said this showed a “chilling pattern of behaviour” by Headley, who served around two years in prison for those crimes.
The judge added: “You appear to show no remorse or shame.”
Speaking about Mrs Dunne’s family, he said: “The fact that the crime was unsolved and you remained at large for so long compounded their suffering.”
After sentencing Headley to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years, the judge told him: “You will never be released, you will die in prison.”
