Scream heard on night woman raped and murdered almost 60 years ago jury told

A woman was heard screaming on the night a 75-year-old woman was raped and murdered in her home almost 60 years ago, a jury has heard.

Mother-of-two Louisa Dunne was found dead in her home in Easton, Bristol, by neighbours on the morning of 28 June 1967.

Police launched an investigation and took palm prints from thousands of local boys and men, but could not identify Ms Dunne’s killer.

Avon and Somerset Police reopened the cold case in 2023 and arrested Ryland Headley, from Ipswich, after new tests on semen found on Ms Dunne’s skirt gave a match that was “a billion times more likely” to be Mr Headley’s DNA than anyone else.

Headley denies the charges of rape and murder.

On Thursday, the jury at Bristol Crown Court heard statements from eight men and four women that were taken by police at the time of Ms Dunne’s death.

Violet Fortune, who lived close to Ms Dunne’s two-bedroom terraced house, said her family had gone to bed on the evening of 27 June when she was “awoken suddenly by what sounded like a scream”.

“It wasn’t a long, piercing scream, but a crying out. It sounded muffled. I got out of bed and went to the window. I could see up and down the road by the light of the moon but there was no one in sight,” she said.

She returned to bed, but around two minutes later “heard someone cry out” and “could distinguish it was the voice of a woman. It lasted for about two to three seconds.”

‘It was a frightening scream’

Harold Hodson, 64, told officers he had gone to bed but was woken up by his dog and “heard a loud scream”.

“It was a frightening scream. It was obviously an adult woman. It sounded as if someone was being attacked,” he said.

“There was a sound I can only describe as moans or being muffled. There were three or four of these moans.”

Neighbour found Ms Dunne lying dead

On the morning of 28 June Ms Dunne’s sash window was open, which was unusual as she was known to shut her windows overnight, and she was not seen by neighbours.

A neighbour climbed through the window and found Ms Dunne dead in the front room, which she used as a bedroom.

Ambulance attendant Alfred Maslin was called to the property and “saw the body of an old woman, lying on a pile of clothes” in the front room.

“I did notice her knickers were around her ankles. I could see she was dead,” he said.

He spotted that a sash window at the back of the house appeared to have been recently damaged, with the pivot catch broken away.

Hand ‘forcibly held’ over her mouth

Ms Dunne was found “on her back between a piano and the foot of the single bed”, Sergeant Frederick Durbin of Bristol Constabulary said.

“It didn’t appear as if anything in the room had been disturbed, nor were there any signs of a violent struggle,” he recorded.

Pathologist Albert Hunt noted “extensive abrasions” to Ms Dunne’s lips, indicating something hard was pressed against her mouth.

“The most likely explanation is that a hand has been forcibly held over her mouth,” Dr Hunt said.

“The straight mark across the back of her neck has probably been caused by the scarf being tightened violently at the front.”

He recorded Ms Dunne’s cause of death as asphyxia due to strangulation and pressure on the mouth.

Headley’s palm prints allegedly matched print found at scene

Headley was arrested at his home in November last year and his palm prints were taken, which allegedly matched the print found at the scene.

The jury has been told Headley previously admitted to raping two widows aged 84 and 79 within weeks in Suffolk in October 1977.

The trial continues.