Photo Left: Evening Post photo of the boy who discovered
By 10 o'clock Mr E B Parkes, Director of the Home Office forensic science laboratory in Bristol, arrived on the scene and spent about 45 minutes examining the body. Police photographers took all necessary pictures and tarpaulin sheeting was placed over the shelter. Still the crowd waited even though no further activity took place until Professor J M Webster, the Home Office pathologist arrived from Birmingham to make his initial examination. By this time the identity of the body was known. A local postman, Brian Stone, made the initial identification. He lived a couple of doors away from the shelter and went to investigate when Mrs Taylor rushed to the scene.
The dead woman was 23-year-old Peggy Lye who had lived a short way away in the same road as the lad who found her body. All the locals still referred to her by her maiden name of Marsh although she had been married over 2 years and had a young son, Michael. She and her husband, Ronald, a 28-year-old railway porter, lived with her parents in what must have been a fairly crowded household as her two sisters, Barbara (aged 18) and Christine (11) plus brother Peter (15) were also living there.
Later that day Peggy's mother gave an interview to the Bristol Evening Post in which she told the reporter that the last time she had seen her eldest daughter alive was at about 2 o'clock on the Saturday afternoon when she had announced she was off to post a letter and call in on her friend, Violet Poole, who lived in Haldon Close. Mrs Marsh thought that the two pals might decide, as they often did, to go to the cinema.
When it got very late the family agreed she must be spending the night at Violet's and decided to bolt the door 'because we heard someone hanging about at the back of the house'. Peggy's father, George, added: 'We didn't know anything had happened until my son George came running into the house this morning.'
Photo Above: The shelter where the body was found
George junior lived just round the corner from his parents in Dawlish Road, he and his wife sharing the house with his mother-in-law. He confirmed to the reporter what his father had said explaining: ' I came round here at 9.45 am to see whether the family knew anything. When I went out this morning a man came down the road and asked me whether I knew Peggy's body had been found in a disused air-raid shelter nearby. That was the first I had heard of it '.
Miss Melinda Herbert was also interviewed and is described as appearing to be 'the last to see Peggy alive', although one would imagine the person most likely to fit that description was the killer. Melinda Herbert was 22 years old and lived in Marksbury Road. She worked as a weigher at Edwards, Ringer and Bigg, tobacco manufacturers, in Redcliffe Street. She had known the murder victim for many years, testifying that 'She was a very friendly girl'. Melinda spoke of the circumstances of their meeting:
' I had just come from Hotwells on Saturday night after paying some darts money to a club and was waiting for a Bedminster bus on the Centre. The time was about 10.30. Peggy spotted me in the queue and called out 'Hello, Lin'. She was smoking a cigarette and was alone. I stayed in the queue for a time but, as the bus did not come, I walked over to Prince Street. Peggy, in the meantime, had walked past the Hippodrome and up towards Colston Street '.
Reporters caught up with Violet Poole on the Monday. This was the Violet that the Marshes had believed had offered Peggy a bed for the night. She said 'I've known Peggy for 15 years. She was a good friend of mine and always had a cheery word for everyone, especially children'. She had encountered Peggy at about 1.15 on the fateful Saturday on her way back from the shops. She continued:
' I asked her if she could lend me a cigarette and she gave me two. She told me she was going to meet a man on the Centre between 2 o'clock and 2.15. She had two letters in her hand which she was going to post. She was going to catch a bus at St John 's Lane and seemed quite happy. She was wearing a coloured scarf around her head '.
The report ended with the bleak statement, 'Mrs Lye has one son, Michael, who will be two on Thursday'. So what, then, were the events leading up to this tragedy?
Peggy seems to have been impressed by his 'London' accent and the two of them wandered off into the night ending up in Victoria Park, Bedminster. He failed to turn up for work on the Friday and he and Peggy spent the morning roaming around the town centre. They encountered a friend of hers in Milk Street, a thoroughfare which connected Newfoundland Street with the Horsefair before the Broadmead shopping centre came into being. Peggy announced she was going to London with her new beau. It is reported that they were 'acting like a courting couple'. Stopping only to make a detour to the bakery to explain why he had not reported for work (he said he had been 'ill'), the pair then made their way to one of Peggy's favourite haunts, a Denmark Street cafe, probably The Holborn, where they were served by Daphne Alner, a pal of Peggy's.
Again, Peggy boasted that she was going to London, 'Aren't I?' she smiled at Percy. She told Daphne she had left her husband and was expecting Percy's baby. She was wearing a ring she had persuaded Percy to give her. If Percy swallowed the story of the pregnancy he must indeed have been of a 'dull mentality' but then, he must have been a bit dated by the whole scenario. In 36 hours Peggy had virtually taken over his life. Percy enjoyed a brief respite during the afternoon when he returned to his lodgings for a wash and brush up and Peggy went to her home for a few hours. It is interesting to speculate what explanation she gave for her absence the night before.
It seems when Percy went back to his digs he was accosted by his landlady who demanded the rent he owed. He was clearly not in a position to pay her and was told to 'sling his hook'. He returned to the Centre at 6 o'clock to meet Peggy who was accompanied by another friend, Violet Steadman who lived in Hotwells Road. The three of them went to the pictures where Percy sat with his arm round Peggy. As they left the cinema Violet heard him say he would buy her a wedding ring. Peggy and Violet then went off home leaving poor Percy to sleep on a bench in the Haymarket which, in those days, was a paved, tree-lined park. No sooner was he settled than he saw a policeman approaching so decided to move on.
At 6.30 the following morning he clocked on at work. It being Saturday his shift ended at noon and he hung about until two when he met up with Peggy and Violet once more. Peggy was wearing a mustard three-quarter length coat over a blue skirt. She was bare-legged and wore brown suede lace-up high heeled shoes and a vermillion scarf with white spots. Percy's financial situation had not improved and Peggy was nagging him to pawn his watch. Eventually, at about 5 o'clock, Violet took herself off leaving the young lovers to wander round aimlessly . They finally ended up on Brandon Hill at about 8 o'clock. By this time it had started to rain and Percy must have been feeling the worse for wear He had slept scarcely at all for the past two nights and had not eaten all day.
By 10 o'clock all he wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. During their walk Peggy returned to the subject of him buying her a wedding ring. Perhaps not in the most harmonious mood they made their way back to Denmark Street.
In September 1951 Gaunt's House was under construction. There was a night watchman's hut on the site and Percy, alone at this point, approached him, asking if he could sleep in the hut. The reason for this request is unclear, being that Peggy and Violet had procured him some new lodgings at 12A St James Parade that very day. Perhaps he could not take up residence until he found a deposit. It must have been at this juncture that Peggy and Melinda were having their chat by the bus stop. When she walked off Peggy must have been meeting up with Percy again to see how he had fared with the watchman.
When she was told he had drawn a blank Peggy said she knew of a cellar in Old Market where they could doss down for the night. She seemed determined to spend the night with him but he said if the police found him it would look bad if he was with a woman. He told her he was really tired and just wanted to lie down and sleep. Peggy was very persistent though and soon Percy found himself trailing across the Centre in her wake, through Prince Street to Cumberland Road and over the footbridge which spans the river. Peggy was trying to persuade Percy to accompany her to her home but Percy, wisely, was reluctant to involve himself in any sort of domestic dispute with her husband. As they made their way along Dean Lane Percy became aware of someone walking behind them.
The man, who was staggering and appeared to be under the influence of drink, overtook them and caught Peggy by the arm, trying to persuade her to go with him. He lurched unsteadily and nearly pulled Peggy over with him. Percy tried to detach himself at this point but Peggy was clutching his arm tightly. An argument ensued. As they made their way towards Sheene Road their dispute attracted attention and bystanders recalled the younger man hanging back and the drunken older man falling down in the road.
Percy's tale of Peggy's reluctance to go with the drunk was denied by other observers who said it looked as though she was pulling him along in the direction of the Malago tip, site of the disused shelter. The older man, described as being between 50 and 60, rather short, not well-built and wearing a fawn raincoat and a cap, was eventually tracked down by the police at his place of work on 18 October. He had been seen with the couple by a number of witnesses on the night in question. He was, in fact, a 52-year-old labourer from Cavan Walk by the name of Edward Tyrell. He was reluctant to come forward, apparently because he was a married man and had been drinking in a number of different pubs that night, so perhaps he was more scared of his wife than of being indicted in a murder enquiry.
The next reported sighting of Peggy Lye, by an Albert Winter of Marksbury Road, was at around midnight when she was, once again, in the sole company of 'the younger man'. Mr Winter said the man had looked 'dishevelled' and was 'not wearing a collar'. They were arm in arm and she was talking 'quickly' to him. He seemed not to be taking in all she said. He testified that the man was definitely not Tyrell.
Tyrell came to be regarded as an unreliable witness as he changed his story at least once and was suspected of discussing the case with various people. He had attended an identity parade where he failed to pick out the man he had described as wearing a suit 'which appeared to be dark tweed or navy blue'. Then, during his court testimony, suddenly the colour of the suit changed to brown. When Percy Sanders appeared in court he was described as wearing 'a brown suit over a white sailor vest'. During cross-examination Tyrell denied falling down drunk and being hauled to his feet by Peggy and also that he and the girl had been 'lobbing against each other'. He agreed that he did not tell the police that Mrs Lye had said to him 'This is my friend Mr Sanders', nor had he mentioned her grabbing him by the arm.
He said that after he left the couple, telling Sanders he could 'Do as he liked with her', he walked on up Marksbury Road, Dawlish Road and Lynton Road. He then paused at the foot of the steps that led from there to Novers Hill and on to Cavan Walk. He admitted that previously he had said he was in Glyn Vale when he turned back. The reason he gave for returning to the shelter was that he heard a scream which sounded like something 'Between a cat, a child and a woman'. He found Peggy's body lying in the doorway. He felt her arm and concluded she was dead. 'I had the shock of my life. I did nothing else and went straight home.' Did he pause to pick up her purse though? It was not found when her body was removed the following day although it did mysteriously reappear a few days later - in the shelter. He denied all knowledge.
On being questioned about his intentions towards Peggy he bristled with indignation saying 'No, I am a married man with four girls and a boy, and I am proud of them'. He also denied he went back because he wanted to see the woman again rather than because he heard a scream.
At length Percy Harold Sanders was cross-examined. He had made four statements after his arrest, all of them showing variations. He was facing Mr John Maude, KG, the prosecuting counsel and pleaded not guilty to murder. Percy described his initial meeting with Peggy and the development of their 'relationship' up to the argument in the shelter after which he walked off leaving her unconscious on the shelter floor. Asked why he had not mentioned this incident he replied 'I thought I might get arrested for knocking the girl out unconscious'. He had fully expected her to be waiting for him on the Centre on the Sunday afternoon instead of which he had been faced with Violet Steadman and a group of Peggy's friends telling him Peggy was dead and he should go to the police immediately which is what he had done.
The fact he had not asked Violet and her friends what had caused Peggy's death was called into question but Percy admitted that he did not want to know. He stuck to his story that they had entered the shelter together. He was cold, wet and bone-weary but she was in a livelier frame of mind. His sole desire to find somewhere to curl up and go to sleep seemed to incense her and she became argumentative and aggressive. She grabbed him and pulled him towards her, kneeing him in the 'lower stomach' which caused him to feel faint and giddy. He staggered and grabbed her by the scarf in an attempt to steady himself and they swayed from side to side he said. Medical opinion, though, presented by the prosecution indicated at least three blows to the face delivered by a fist.
Percy's version was that when she fell to the floor, banging her face as she did so he took the opportunity to make his escape. The journey back to the centre of town was a total blur and he recalled nothing until waking up on the Sunday morning in the watchman's shed on the Gaunt's House site.
In contrast to Mr Justice Gorman's 3-hour summing up of the case the jury took a mere 35 minutes to find Sanders not guilty of murder and they accompanied their manslaughter verdict, with a recommendation for mercy. He was sentenced to 5 years.
It is quite likely that Percy Sanders is alive today. He must sometimes remember Peggy whom he described as 'a rather dangerous woman' of whom he was 'in one sense' afraid and regret the September night in 1951 when he decided to go for a walk down Denmark Street.
