92-Year-Old Denies 1967 Bristol Murder, Trial Reveals Screams

Nearly 60 years after the rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne in her Bristol home, a jury at Bristol Crown Court has heard testimony from neighbors who reported hearing a woman scream and cry out on the night of June 27, 1967. Louisa Dunne, a mother-of-two and twice widowed, was found dead in her front room on June 28, 1967, and the original investigation, which included palm prints from thousands of local men, failed to identify her killer. The cold case was reopened in 2023 when new DNA testing on semen found on Dunne's skirt produced a billion-to-one match to 92-year-old Ryland Headley from Ipswich, who denies the charges of rape and murder. Statements from neighbors, including Violet Fortune and Harold Hodson, described muffled screams and cries of a woman during the night, while other witnesses recounted unusual disturbances such as a child waking up screaming and a damaged sash window. The prosecution has presented these historical statements alongside forensic evidence, and additional testimony has come from first responders and a retired GP who attended the scene. The trial continues as the court weighs the decades-old testimonies and the newly matched DNA evidence against Headley’s denial.