It is a sad fact of life that some murders go unsolved and that sometimes killers get away. However, nowadays new scientific techniques such as genetic finger printing offer a way of tracing the killers.
Susan Donoghue 1976 Murder Unsolved
Bludgeoned to death in Stoke Bishop
BACK in 1976 middle-age held the promise of a new life for dark-haired, sweet-natured, Susan Donoghue. Her divorce from her husband Cornelius was behind her and she was due to marry the new man in her life, Dennis Foote. And although the nurse, described as ' very sweet and considerate', was 44 years old with an 18-year-old son, she and Dennis behaved just like any young courting couple. His brother Peter said: 'They used to go to the theatre and dances together. They were a very happy couple and thought the world of each other.'
Dennis was a carpenter at Brentry, the same psychiatric hospital where Susan had been a nurse since 1974. He planned to sell his house in Kingswood and buy a new home so that his fiancee could leave her basement flat in Downleaze, Stoke Bishop, and move in with him once they were married. But on August 5th 1976 fate intervened. The nurse, who was due on the hospital night shift, felt unwell and decided to call in sick. As she lay quietly in her bed that evening an intruder broke into her flat and viciously assaulted her by hitting her around the head with a truncheon. The first blow knocked her out - if it did not kill her - but the man then continued to hit her six or seven times by which time she was certainly dead.
He then sexually assaulted her and left the flat, leaving her distraught fiancee to discover her battered body sometime later. In the following 12 months, working from a murder incident room in Redland police station, the police took 4,000 statements, interviewed 7,000 people - including all the hospital staff - and spent 45,000 fruitless hours on the case. They spoke to people as far away as the Channel Islands, where Susan's son and ex-husband lived, as well as in Ireland, which is where her family came from.
They failed to find a link between two similar murders - in Bath and Torquay - but ruled out the Bath killer. And house-to-house searches, inquiries amongst neighbours and checks on any possible suspects passing through their hands, all drew blanks. The nurse had lost touch with her family and detectives found great difficulty in building up a picture of her private life. But the police did at least have three vital clues - the truncheon that the intruder used to batter her, the killer's gloves, which he had left behind in the flat, and a hallmarked silver bracelet found discarded in the garden of a house in Stoke Hill. This piece of jewellery, about three -quarters of an inch wide with a crisscross pattern, was found in a red imitation leather lined presentation box with black velvet inlay.
The truncheon was marked BD19 and detectives were convinced that it belonged to the old city docks police. Mrs Donoghue is also known to have owned a truncheon but police could never establish if this was the same one. The gloves, which were stained with his victim's blood, were of the string backed driver's variety. But, despite these clues, the whole affair remained a mystery.
Detectives could not establish exactly how the flat had been entered let alone come up with a motive They had few clues or tip-off's but a slim built man wearing a grey tweed jacket - seen pushing a bike in nearby Julian Road 20 minutes after Mrs Donoghue was last seen alive - failed to come forward. Neither did a young motor cyclist wearing a white helmet who was seen on a machine similar to a small Honda, or the 'mystery man in dark glasses' seen near St Bonaventure's Roman Catholic church in Bishopston at the time other funeral. Another 'mystery man' the police never caught up - possibly the same person - was seen on October 9 at Susan's graveside in St Mary's churchyard in Shirehampton, examining the inscriptions on the flowers and wreaths.
Det Supt John Robinson, who was leading the 20-strong murder investigation team at the time said: 'My favourite theory is perhaps we've got a petty housebreaker.' He suggested that he might have been tempted by an open window visible from the pavement. 'There is evidence that entry was effected through that window,' he told reporters, 'and there is evidence of ransacking in her bedroom. Anyone going through the bedroom door would think that he was in the lounge because from the doorway he would have seen a three-piece suite.
'He could not have been blamed for, thinking that the room was unoccupied. When if Mrs Donoghue woke up probably her first reaction was that it was her boyfriend. 'The intruder was a pretty cool customer because after he had hit her he sexually assaulted her'
Another lead the police could never follow up wasI to interview the clairvoyant who Mrs Donoghue was due to see a fortnight before she died. The nurse had cancelled the appointment -ringed in her diary - and detectives could never discover who the clairvoyant was.
The brutal death of quiet, unassuming, Susan Donoghue remains a mystery to this day.
STORY UPDATE 2006
Police investigating the murder of a Bristol nurse 27 years ago say advances in science have given them new clues to the killer's identity. Susan Donaghue, 44, was hit over the head six or seven times before being sexually assaulted by an attacker who had climbed into her basement flat in Downleaze, Stoke Bishop, as she slept. The brutal killing shocked the city, but despite an extensive investigation, the culprit was never caught.
Now a team of officers from Avon and Somerset Police have been called in to take a fresh look at the case - and they say they are hopeful of a breakthrough. DNA testing It is thought DNA testing - not available at the time of the murder - may be able to rule out a number of suspects from the original inquiry. Detective Inspector Phil Kennell said: 'Cases like this one never close, we are always looking to reinvestigate them.
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