White Ribbon Day: 20 women whose murders remain unsolved - including Nicola Payne and Natalie Pearman
The 20 cases include those of Nicola Payne, Yvonne Fitt and Vicky Glass and remain tragically unsolved
From a woman whose body was found so badly beaten she has never been identified to the case of a young mum who vanished on her way home, their cases remain unsolved.
Spanning from 1970 to the early 2000s, the perpetrators of the murders have yet to be brought to justice despite extensive police investigations.
In some cases the bodies of the women were never found, but the circumstances of their disappearances have led to their cases being treated as murder.
Friday (25 November) marks the start of 16 days of activism aimed at ending violence against women, starting with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and White Ribbon Day.
We take a look at 20 female murder victims of all different ages and walks of life from across the UK whose cases have tragically remained unsolved.
1. Susan Long
More than 50 years since the murder of Susan Long has passed, with her killer still to be caught. Her body was found on 11 March 1970 by a milkman close to Aylsham Market Place on the Burgh Road, Aylsham. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. The 18-year-old was a clerk at Norwich Union in Norwich. She had a boyfriend who also lived in the city and would regularly travel by bus for work and to see him. On the evening of 10 March 1970 she went with her boyfriend to the Gala Dance Hall in Norwich. She left at about 10.25pm to catch the bus back to Aylsham. The bus arrived in Aylsham Market Place at 11.10pm. Other passengers confirmed that Susan had got off the bus. It is believed she was driven to where her body was found but it’s not known if she went voluntarily or was abducted. However, it is generally believed she would not accept a lift from strangers. Following forensic work, it was established the culprit was from a rare blood group. Car paint flakes found on Susan’s clothing also showed the paint had originally been pompadour blue and then been resprayed metallic maroon.
2. Michelle Bettles
Michelle Bettles was 22 years old when she was murdered. At the time she was a street prostitute and was last seen in the red light district of Norwich during the early hours of Thurs 28 and Fri 29 March 2002 Easter weekend. Unusually she had not kept a pre-arranged appointment with a regular client of hers. They had arranged to meet close to her home, but she never turned up. CCTV footage shows Michelle walking along St Benedict’s Street towards the city centre at 8.20 pm that night. It seems, she had never intended to keep the appointment with the regular client since she was heading in the opposite direction to their meeting. There was a series of sightings of Michelle in various locations in the red light district of Norwich by people that knew her, the last being at about midnight. On the morning of 31 March, Michelle’s body was found by a local resident in woodland by the side of a country track known as Rush Meadow Road in Scarning, near Dereham - around 20 miles from the Red Light District in Norwich. She had been strangled.
3. Donna Keogh
In May 1998 17-year-old Donna Keogh was reported missing from her home in Middlesborough. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance led Police to the conclusion she was murdered a short period of time after her last known sighting in mid-April that year. Her body has never been found. At the time of her disappearance Donna was living with her cousins in a block of flats in Middlesbrough town centre. She was known to keep in regular contact with her family and friends, but this stopped in mid-April 1998. A review of the case found that around the time of Donna’s disappearance, she was seen in the Hartington Road, Aske Road and Bow Street areas of Middlesbrough.
4. Vicky Glass
The body of 21-year-old Vicky Glass was found in a stream in the village of Danby on 3 November in 2000, around six weeks after she went missing. Vicky was last seen on Union Street in Middlesbrough, at around 4am on September 24, after she was dropped off by a taxi driver. Detectives said her life changed when she was 18 and she was exploited by others who led her into drugs and pressured her into sex work. Police say there is CCTV footage which shows that hours before her disappearance, Vicky was in the Cannon Park area of Middlesbrough with a friend. According to that friend, Vicky had been speaking to a lorry driver and he had handed her some money and she gave him some of her belongings before they agreed to meet later that day. During the investigation there have been arrests made - but they were all released with no further action taken.