Marie Ellen Bailes

Marie Ellen Bailes was found dead in a parcel in a lavatory in St Georges Road, Elephant and Castle.

She was covered in sand as though she had been buried. The parcel was seen to have been left by a nervous man in a cloth cap who had put it on the floor and run off. However, a doctor said that he did not think that the person that had left the parcel had been the murderer.

Her mother was able to identify the white linen that she had been rapped up in but not the blanket which was the only clue that the police had. It was described as being neatly folded and darned but worn, indicating that it had come from an orderly home where thrift was practiced and it was suggested that there was more than one person who knew how Maria Bailes had died.

She had left school the previous day from St. John's Roman Catholic School in Duncan Terrace, Islington, with a friend but after some distance they had separated after which she was never seen alive again.

She was said to have been outraged and her body mutilated.

It was thought that she had been killed at some house in Islington and then buried in the garden after which she was dug up and conveyed by tube to Elephant and Castle.

20,000 people attended her funeral with police called out to keep the crowd in order which stood 9-10 people deep along the procession route. People from all over London brought wreaths and her parents house which was described as humble was hardly big enough to accommodate them all.