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A 92-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years after being convicted of the rape and murder of a woman in Bristol 58 years ago.
The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Sweeting, told Ryland Headley that he would spend the rest of his life in prison for killing Louisa Dunne at her home in 1967.
It is thought to be the oldest cold case solved in modern English policing history and Headley is believed to be the oldest person in the UK to be convicted of murder.
After killing Dunne, who lived alone in the Easton area of Bristol, Headley left south-west England with his family and may have spent some time in London before moving to Ipswich in Suffolk.
In 1977, he raped two women, aged 79 and 84, in their homes in Ipswich. He was convicted and originally jailed for life, but at an appeal doctors told the court the rapes arose due to sexual frustration arising from his marriage to an “ambitious and demanding” wife. The sentence was reduced and he spent only about two years in jail.
Sweeting told Headley: “You will never be released – you will die in prison.” He said Dunne was a mother of two and a widow who lived alone in her own home. He said she was born in 1892 and was involved in the labour movement but by the time she died she lived a “simple life” on her pension, with her treasured possessions, her books and deeds to her house.
The judge said Headley was a cruel, depraved, pitiless man who met Dunne’s screams with force. He said she must have suffered considerable pain and fear and he showed “complete disregard” for her life and dignity.
Sweeting said Headley must have thought he had evaded detection and had shown no remorse or shame, but the “diligent” work of police, the Crown Prosecution Service and forensic scientists had led to him being caught.
The judge said the rape and killing had “intergenerational” impact, which was a “powerful aggravating factor”.
When deciding on the sentence, the judge had to take into account what term Headley may have faced if he had been caught in 1967.
Anna Vigars KC, prosecuting, said society was “radically” different now. She said the death sentence was still in place in the late 60s for certain very serious crimes and the home secretary rather than the trial judge set the minimum terms for sentences.
But she also said the starting point for a minimum term for the sort of murder with a sexual element that Headley had been found guilty of was about 20 years, rather than the 30 it would be today.
Vigars asked the judge to bear in mind the fear Dunne would have felt. Jeremy Benson KC, for Headley, said only that his client would be 93 in September and requested that the judge take into account his behaviour since he was released from prison for the two rapes in Ipswich in 1980.
In 2023, cold case detectives in Avon and Somerset police reviewed the unsolved murder of Dunne and sent the skirt she had been wearing and samples of hair for analysis.
A full DNA profile was obtained and a match with Headley found. His DNA was on the national database because he was arrested, but not charged, over an unrelated matter in 2012.
Dunne’s granddaughter, Mary Dainton, has spoken about how the family had given up hope of the killer ever being found and been resigned to living with the “emptiness and sadness” the crime had left them with.
She said: “When people found out about the murder, including friends, they withdrew – there is a stigma attached to rape and murder.
“Since Ryland Headley was charged, I’ve struggled emotionally in ways I did not anticipate, and it falls to me to speak for people who are no longer here. It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice is being done.”
In the witness box, Dainton said the crime had a “far-reaching effect” on the family and had “clouded” lives. She added: “I feel it falls to me to speak for the people who are no longer here. I don’t think my mother ever recovered from it.” She said her life had been turned upside down by Headley being caught.
The National Crime Agency is working with Avon and Somerset police to identify whether Headley has committed any other offences.
