A MAN accused of raping and murdering a pensioner was caught nearly 60 years later after a “billion to one” DNA breakthrough, a court heard.
Ryland Headley allegedly broke into the Bristol home of Louisa Dunne, 75, in June 1967 before attacking her.
She was discovered by neighbours on a pile of clothes with multiple bruising.
Headley, now aged 92, is now on trial 58 years later accused of rape and murder.
Bristol Crown Court heard police at the time of the horror had attempted to match thousands of potential suspects with a palm print left on Louisa’s window.
But the case went cold for decades until Headley’s DNA was found to be a match with semen found on the OAP’s blue skirt, it was said.
Jurors were also told Headley has two convictions for rape – including one from October 1977 when he broke into an 84-year-old’s home and attacked her.
Later that month, he raped a 79-year-old woman after also gaining entry to her home.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Anna Vigars KC said: “We are talking about the murder of an elderly and vulnerable lady in her own home.
“She was in no state to defend herself. Whether it happened 58 years ago or 58 days ago, the killing, the murder of any person, is, of course, a matter of concern to the rest of us.
“The fact that time has passed doesn’t make the killing of anyone, anyone of us any less significant.
“The police have never given up on the task of solving the case of Mrs Dunne’s murder.”
Twice-widowed Louisa was last seen by a friend on June 27, 1967, before heading home at around 7.30pm.
The court heard a number of local women became concerned when they realised they had not seen Louisa all morning.
Violet Allen and Hilda Stedman then went over and found the front door shut and the sash window near the front door open as far as possible.
Ms Vigars said: “”They looked through the window and called for her through the letter box but got no response.
“When she looked through the window, Violet Allen could see Mrs Dunne’s legs by the side of the table so, with the help of two other women, she climbed in through the window and went over to her.
“Violet Allen took hold of Mrs Dunne’s hand and immediately realised that she was dead because her hand was ice cold.”
A post mortem found Louisa had cuts and bruising on her mouth which indicated “something firm” had been pressed against her lips, it was said.
Swabs were taken from Louisa’s body, which tested positive for semen, but scientific examinations at that time were limited.
Jurors were told in 2003, the case was re-examined and police found the swabs matched Headley’s DNA in a “billion to one” breakthrough.
At the time of Louisa’s death, he had been living around a mile-and-a-half from the OAP’s home but fell outside the circle of houses were men were asked to provide handprint for the investigation.
The prosecution said three different finger print experts had since eventually come to the conclusion the “palm print on the window was caused by Mr Headley’s hand.”
Jurors were also told Headley carried out ten offences of burglary between 1973 and 1978 as well as the two rape convictions.
Ms Vigars said: “We say that these offences demonstrate to all of us that Mr Headley has a tendency to act in exactly the same way that we say that he did back in 1967, in other words, to break into people’s homes at night and, in some cases, to target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence.
“Behaviour that he had already used, we suggest, back in 1967 on Mrs Dunne, the difference being that in that case his violence killed her.
“Back then, of course, he cut rather a different figure from the one that he cuts today.
“The advantage of strength was all with him and these women, shocked to discover a stranger in their own homes, stood no chance to do anything other than plead unsuccessfully for him to stop.”
Headley, of Ipswich, Suffolk , denies rape and murder.
The trial continues.
Louisa was found dead by her neighbours[/caption]
A window at her home had been broken and Louisa was lying dead on a pile of clothes[/caption]
Louisa had been suffocated to death[/caption]
