Clara Kirton

Clara Kirton was found dead with her throat cut in her flat at Victoria Buildings in Great Suffolk Street on Sunday, 17 November 1985.

She had been beaten and gouged with a beer bottle and kicked and stamped on the head and neck.

She was found dead by her 42-year-old son at about 8am in a pool of blood in the front room of her ground floor flat in Victoria Buildings, Southwark where she had lived alone for the previous 15 years. She was pronounced dead at 10am.

Her post-mortem examination found she died from inhalation of blood and crush injuries to her face and neck.

Her son had lived about 100 yards away. He discovered her body when he called to deliver her newspaper. She had last been seen alive the previous day at 10am by her son and daughter when they took her a chicken casserole for lunch.

It was thought that she had been attacked sometime between 4pm and 6pm on the Saturday and the police appealed for any witnesses who might have seen a heavily bloodstained killer in the area between 8pm on the Saturday and 1am on the Sunday to come forward.

A detective said that one side of Clara Kirton's face was almost gouged out by the bottle which had broken in the attack. The bottle had been a John Courage Strong Bitter bottle which was only available to buy at public houses and it was believed that her killer had brought it to the flat with him. The detective added:

During the investigation the police interviewed regulars at a number of South London pubs in an effort to trace her killer.

Clara Kirton had been visited every day by a district nurse following a bowel operation. She had also been a diabetic and suffered from the early stages of dementia.

She was known to leave her windows unlocked and her door open.

The detective said that her cupboards and drawers had been pulled open but that the only thing thought to have been stolen was her red purse containing a small amount of cash. The detective said:

It was noted that Clara Kirton only left her flat about twice a week to visit a local community centre.

It was later stated that she had had £700 in the flat but that her killer had not found it.

In an appeal over 30 years later, a detective said:

However, by then it was noted that the police had none of the original exhibits to examine.

It was noted that at the time of her murder Hull City football club had played Charlton at a football ground near to where Clara Kirton had lived and the police appealed for anyone in Hull that had travelled to the away match that could recall anything to come forward.

She had had four children and 26 grandchildren.