Florrie Porter

Florrie Porter was found stabbed to death in a pool of blood at Lickey End School in Bromsgrove.

She had lived at 9 Little Heath Lane in Lickey End with her mother and worked at the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge as a time office clerk.

Lickey End School was about a quarter of a mile from her home. She was discovered at about 8am on the Friday 27 October 1944 by a ten year old schoolboy who saw her body lying under the veranda at the rear of the school.

She had been stabbed seven times in the neck and chest with the wounds penetrating her heart and lungs. The stab wounds themselves were said to have been caused with great force with three of them penetrating the bone of her chest. It was noted that there had been no spurting from her stab wounds and thought that her murderer would probably have not had any blood on their clothing when they left the scene.

When her body was examined by a pathologist it was found that she had also been punched in the face by someone wearing a ring.

She was also found to have had blood beneath her fingernails and marks from road dirt on the inside of her left leg.

It was also reported that Florrie Porter had tried to scream, but that the murderer had held their hand over her mouth.

Her skirt had been pulled up around her waist, but her underwear was still in place and there were no signs that she had been sexually assaulted.

Her sister said that Florrie Porter had told her that she had had an appointment with a man named 'Hal' on the night she went missing.

She was seen by a barmaid at the George Hotel in Bromsgrove who said that she saw her there on the night that she went missing with an American officer. The sighting of her with the American officer was also verified by another woman who lived in Bromsgrove who had also been in the pub. She was said to have left the pub around 9.50pm.

Florrie Porter was last seen by a neighbour with an American officer at Lickey End at about 10.20pm.

The American officer, thought to have been either a first or second lieutenant was described as being aged between 24 and 30, about 5ft 8in tall, well built and with a bull neck. He was also described as having low brow and dark hair, cut in a 'combat crop', that was growing out and long enough to be brushed back off his forehead.

The police said that that they made exhaustive enquiries throughout the country to locate the American officer but were unable to trace him.

It was reported that there were two main suspects, but that they had both had cast iron alibis.

It was later suggested in 2006 that the identity of her murderer was deliberatly covered up. It was said that the speculation was that the US Army knew full well who the officer was and that he had been quickly identified and transferred out of the area.

It was also reported that a television program was later made about the case around 1996 in which the son of the barmaid had said that his mother had identified the American officer in an identity parade but had been too afraid to pick him out after her family was threatened.

Florrie Porter was 5ft 10in tall, which was said to have been tall for a woman in the 1940's.