Helen Fleet

Helen Fleet was stabbed to death whilst out walking her dog.

She had been strangled, stabbed and severely beaten in North Worlebury Woods, Weston-super-Mare on the morning of Saturday 28 March 1987.

She had been stabbed at least ten times.

Her body was found after her two pet dogs led a friend to her location in a small copse in the wood.

No motive for the attack was known.

Helen Fleet had lived at 38 Osborne Road, Weston-super-Mare with her sister. She and her sister had bought the house four years earlier. Her home was about two miles from the wood.

She was last seen alive when she parked her blue Datsun car near to Worlebury Woods in Worlebury Hill Road whilst taking them there for a walk at about 10.50am on the morning of 28 March 1987.

Her body was found about two hours later at 12.40pm.

The police said that they thought that the key to unlocking the case lay in the local community.

Helen Fleet was originally from the north of England and had lived in Crewe until she was 18. She later joined the ATS and trained as a lorry driver after which she transferred to the Women's Royal Airforce.

She was noted for having fallen in love with a spitfire pilot who was later killed in action over Italy.

She married after the war, but the marriage was short lived and she married again. However, her husband died around 1967.

She then started work for an Oxfordshire engineering firm arranging trade exhibitions.

She had later lived in Wales before moving to Weston to live with her sister.

It was said that in retirement her greatest joy was her two small dogs.

On the morning of her murder Helen Fleet took her sister into town to buy a blouse and then stopped off at the bakers to buy some bread and donuts at about 10.30am. The woman in the bakery said that Helen Fleet seemed her normal cheery self.

At 10.50am she was seen parking in Worlebury Hill Road.

She was noted for having walked her dogs in Worlebury Woods twice a day, normally for over half-an-hour. However, she was said to have never ventured too far into the woods, although had already let her dogs run free.

However, it was noted that she suffered from emphysema, and so she got tired quickly. However, she was still able to walk her usual route each time of about a mile.

It was noted that on a typical March morning that almost everyone in the wood would have been riding horses or walking dogs.

However, at about 11.30am, two girls that had been out riding horses noticed a man wearing a sky jacket walking alone. He was seen near the water tower. He was described as:

• Between 5ft 6in and 5ft 8in tall.
• Wearing a red and grey ski jacket.

At about 12.20am, Helen Fleet would have been nearing the end of her walk, at which time, three separate witnesses heard a series of piercing screams. However, it was noted that although there had been a number of people in the wood at the time, no one went to investigate the screams or rang the police.

At about the same time between 11.45am and 12.15pm, a boy was seen to be running so fast out of the woods and into Prescott Close, that he nearly fell over. He was described as:

• Wearing a pale blue blouson jacket and grey running shoes.

About 20 minutes later, at 12.40am, a friend of Helen Fleet was starting her walk. As she let her dog off the lead, she saw Helen Fleet's two dogs running free, but without Helen Fleet.

At about that time, 50 yards away, a boy in an anorak was seen by a girl who was waiting for a bus to leave.

A few minutes later Helen Fleet's friend, who had followed her dogs, found Helen Fleet's body in the wood. The woman then managed to attract the attention of the bus driver that had been standing with his bus at the nearby bus stop where the girl had seen the boy in the anorak pass.

The bus driver then got out of the bus and went into the wood with Helen Fleet's friend to see Helen Fleet's body.

It was noted that a third person, was seen running out of the woods in the direction of Worlebury Hill Road, towards the golf club, at about 12.45pm. He was described as:

• Between 15 and 18 years old.
• 5ft 5in tall.
• Medium build.
• Short brown hair.
• Wearing a ski jacket with a red and blue trim and dark trousers.

During the investigation the police appealed for anyone that had been in the wood at the time to come forward, including the two youths seen running with either a sky jacket or anorak, noting that they estimated that there were about 70 people that had been in the wood at the time that hadn't come forward.

A search was made of the woods for a small bladed knife that was thought to have been used in the murder. The search for clues had been carried out with metal detectors and tracker dogs.

It was noted that no attempt had been made to conceal her body.

Nothing had been taken from her, or from her car, which had contained some money.

It was noted that Helen Fleet had been seen in the wood two days earlier with a youth, and the police appealed for that youth to come forward. She was seen with the youth by a van driver on Thursday 26 March 1987 at about 4.10pm just off a road by the woods when he stopped to ask her about a place of work.

The police later put a photofit together of the youth which they broadcasted in the hope that someone would recognise him. However, it wasn't known whether he had had anything to do with Helen Fleet's murder two days later. He was described as:

• About 17-years-old.
• Fair, collar length hair.
• Thin build.
• About 5ft 7in tall.
• Wearing a two-tone blue and grey ski anorak with fawn piping and grey trousers.

It was noted that there had been a similarity between that man and the man that had been seen running away from the woods by the two horse riders at about 11.30am on the day of the murder.

The police said, 'He was seen talking to her somewhere near the water tower'.

The police also appealed for a man that had said that he had been in the woods on the day of the killing to come forward.

The police noted that they thought that the nature of the attack would have suggested that the person might have later been acting in an irrational manner or acting strangely and asked for anyone in the area who had noticed anyone acting like that to come forward.

A reconstruction was carried out in April 1987 using a woman police officer dressed in similar clothes to Helen Fleet during which the police questioned people passing. It was said to have resulted in one woman calling Weston police station four times, saying that she knew the name of the murderer, although she was said to have rung off without leaving her details and the police appealed for her to call again, noting that she had given what they believed to have been vital information. The police later released a tape recording of the woman made during her last call, but added that they found themselves being forced to consider that her calls had been a hoax.

In the brief edited call, the woman said, 'The only reason I haven't told you before is because I wasn't sure it was him. I have been trying to get him to tell me if he done it or not. He said he done it, perhaps he fell apart'. It was noted that despite repeated attempts to get her to attend the police station that she never arrived. However, at a press conference on Wednesday 6 May 1987, the police said, 'She could be genuine and we are anxious that she comes forward or anyone else who knows her voice'.

It was reported on Friday 22 May 1987 that a man had called the police following a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction of the murder, and told them that they knew the name of the killer, but that they had then hung up before giving detectives any further clues.

It was noted that Helen Fleet's dogs were found a good home.