How Ryland Headley was found guilty of 1967 rape and murder after six decades ...Middle East

Ryland Headley has been brought to justice almost six decades after he brutally attacked and killed an elderly woman in her home in 1967.

The 92-year-old was found guilty of the rape and murder of Louisa Dunne at Bristol Crown Court on Monday 30 June, after a review was launched by Avon and Somerset Police into her death.

It is thought to be the UK’s longest-running cold case ever to be solved.

Already a convicted rapist, Headley was charged in November 2024 after a DNA breakthrough.

Evidence from two women he had previously raped also helped convict him, after “chilling similarities” were noted between the 1970s cases and the murder of Louisa Dunne in Bristol ten years earlier.

Louisa Dunn lived alone at her home in Britannia Road in Easton, Bristol, after being twice widowed.

The mother of two was originally married to local Labour politician Edwin Parker.

And then following his death in 1945, she married nightwatchman John Dunne.

But by 1967, at the age of 75 she was alone once again.

A small, slight woman, she was well-known in her local neighbourhood and would often been seen chatting to neighbours on her doorstep.

Louisa Dunne, pictured in Clevedon in 1933 (Photo: Avon and Somerset Police/PA)

On the night of 27 June, 1967, Ryland Headley forced his way into Ms Dunne’s home, attacked and killed her.

Neighbours recalled hearing a woman scream during the night.

The next day another neighbour became aware something was wrong when the newspaper they left for her was not taken in.

Ms Dunne was found dead, lying on the floor of her front room, clothed but for her underwear.

She had bruising around her neck and it was apparent something had been held over her mouth.

A post-mortem revealed the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation and pressure on her mouth.

She had been raped.

How was Ryland Headley caught after almost six decades?

Ryland Headley evaded justice for 58 years but was finally caught when a review of Ms Dunne’s case was undertaken in 2023 by Avon and Somerset Police.

At the time of the crime, only a partial palm print on a window frame was left as a trace by the killer.

A manhunt was launched and the palm prints of 19,000 men were taken of men aged 15 to 60 within a 1.5-mile radius of Ms Dunne’s home over the course of the year.

But no match was found.

Former rail worker Headley was living 1.6 miles away, at the time, in Picton Street, Montpelier, and so evaded the police.

It was only with the “marrying of old school and new school policing techniques”, as described by Detective Inspector Dave Marchant, the senior investigating officer, that the case was finally solved.

Headley was convicted of two counts of rape in May 1978, after he attacked two elderly women in Ipswich, where he was then living.

He broke into their homes during the night in October 1977, threatened them with violence and then raped them.

One of the victims was aged 79, the other 84.

Headley was caught for these offences after he left fingerprints at one of the scenes.

His fingerprints were taken as part of the inquiries on 3 December, 1977 and he was arrested in London nine days later.

In court, he admitted to the rapes, with a further 10 burglary offences committed in the 1970s being taken into consideration.

He was initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was reduced following an appeal to a seven-year jail term.

Then in 2012, Headley’s DNA was entered onto the national database following his arrest for an unrelated and unconnected incident.

And it was this which would eventually lead detectives to his door.

During the case review, a part of the skirt worn by Ms Dunne at the time of the attack was sent for forensic testing in May 2024.

By September, traces of semen left on the fabric revealed a full DNA profile is which matched the one given by Headley.

After detectives managed to ascertain he was living in the Bristol area at the time of the attack on Ms Dunne, Headley was finally arrested in Ipswich in November 2024 and charged with her rape and murder.

A palm print taken at his arrest also revealed a match with the one found at Ms Dunne’s home in 1967.

Headley denied the murder and rape of Ms Dunne but following a trial at Bristol Crown Court the 92-year-old was found guilty.

Speaking outside the court, Marchant, the senior investigating officer, said: “The brutal murder and rape of Louisa Dunne has been solved after almost six decades.

“Louisa was attacked in her own home, where she should have been safe.

“It left a community in shock and there are people living in Bristol today who will remember the impact this terrible crime had on the city.

“Headley, who has a shocking and abhorrent history of violent sexual attacks on elderly women, is now facing justice for the terror he inflicted on Louisa in 1967.

“Headley never featured in this original investigation as he lived outside the area where the house-to-house enquiries were carried out.

“Louisa’s family have had an extremely long wait for answers, but we hope this reinvestigation and successful outcome will help them feel justice has finally been served, and will give them some form of peace and closure.”

The senior officer said the “extensive and meticulous work carried out by officers with the Bristol Constabulary in the 1960s has paved the way for the enquiries we’ve carried out today”.

Twenty boxes of original material and evidence were reviewed in the case.

He said: “Ryland Headley has left a legacy of misery and pain through his offending and likely thought he’d got away with Louisa’s murder until officers knocked on his door last November.

“Crimes of this magnitude should never go unpunished, and we remain relentless in ensuring we do all we can to advance other unsolved murder cases in the Avon and Somerset area.”

Headley will be sentenced on Tuesday 1 July.

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