Katherine Lillian Armstrong

Katherine Armstrong was found murdered in her home, Doncaster House, on Goldspink Lane, Sandyford, Newcastle.

She had been stabbed to death and  strangled with one of her nylon stockings. She was found dead in the hallway of her home on 1 November 1963.

Her murder was known as the Halloween murder case.

She had been a retired schoolteacher and a spinster and had lived in what was described as a gloomy ten room house in Goldspink Lane.

She was last seen by two children who saw her looking out of her window at around 6.30pm on Thursday, 31 October 1963.

She had been due to attend a choir meeting at 7.30pm, but failed to show up. She had been a member of the choir of the Central Methodist Church in Northumberland Road for the previous 40 years. The church officer said:

She was described by neighbours as 'the perfect lady'. As well as being a member of the choir, Katherine Armstrong had been a member of the church fellowship and had been on several committees.

The police discovered her body after they were called to the house by her cousin who had become worried when she saw that her curtains were still drawn in the middle of the morning. She was found lying in the passage at the front of the house near a flight of stairs.

The police said that they thought that she had been murdered between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on 31 October 1963.

Katherine Armstrong's cousin said:

The police said that they were trying to fill in the details of the last 16 hours of her life and wanted to know her movements between 6.30pm on the Thursday and 10.50am on the Friday, the day she was found dead.

When she was found she had been wearing a dress and slippers.

Her post mortem found that she had been stabbed about the head and face 28 times. Wounds on her hands also showed that she had put up a struggle. The murder weapon was described as having been sharp.

The police said:

Her cousin said:

Katherine Armstrong was said to have retired eight years earlier and to have lived entirely on her pensions.

Her cousin said that she was convinced that Katherine Armstrong had been murdered by teenagers. Her cousin, who had lived 400 yards away in Doncaster Road, said that she thought some teenagers had been out on a prank and that Katherine Armstrong had surprised them and they had killed her.

She said that she had repeatedly warned Katherine Armstrong about living alone. She said:

The police said that they were checking on a theory that teenagers in Halloween masks might have been responsible after having been surprised by Katherine Armstrong.

On 4 November 1963, the police said that they were transferring their murder inquiry headquarters from the Newcastle CID department to a hall in the Sandyford area. A detective said:

The police said that they were asking three questions:

1. How did the killer enter the house?
2. Where is the murder weapon.
3. What was the motive for the crime.

A detective from Scotland Yard said that they were working on two possibilities, that Katherine Armstrong had known her killer and that she had invited him into her home. They said that they thought that the murderer had entered the house at the front and then escaped through the back.

A search of the house failed to reveal any signs of a forcible entry.

In a search for the murder weapon, gardens, drains, pipes and litter bins in the area were searched.

Two tramps in the area were questioned by the police, but cleared. It was noted that the area that Katherine Armstrong had lived in had been a well-known haunt for tramps. It was noted that Goldspink Lane itself dropped down to a narrow, dark road that ran along the Ouse Burn and that tramps had often made their temporary home out of a disused chapel at the foot of the burn road, and that many tramps called at a nearby convent each morning where they were given free tea and food.

It was initially thought that there might have been a connection between her murder and that of Amy Browell in 1959, but the police later said that they had ruled out any connection.

The police also ruled out the idea that she had been killed by a maniac, saying:

The local publican had been a 32-year-old man who was attacked without any apparent reason by a man at midnight in Summerhill Street, Elswick. The police said that they had been afraid that he might strike again.

The police appealed for three youths that had been seen in the area to come forward, but the call was unanswered. The youths, believed to be in their teens, were said to have been seen running from a house in Portland Road, which was a quarter of a mile from Goldspink Lane, on the afternoon of the murder. They had knocked at the door of the house and asked about bus services in the area.

On 1 November 1963, a man rang Newcastle ambulance control in St Mary's Place and told an operator:

And then rang off. The police said that they tried to trace the call, but were unsuccessful.

The police murder squad consisted of 60 officers who were engaged in what was described as a massive dragnet in the city area. A detective said that they were working on the theory that someone, somewhere along the line, might have information that could help them.

The police in particular appealed for anyone that had visited the tea room in Goldspink Lane to come forward

The police said that they were also considering the possibility that Katherine Armstrong had been murdered by a man with a long criminal record of terrorism against elderly women and said that they were looking into the files of men that had been released from prison after having served terms for violence against women. They said that one man in particular that they had looked at had many convictions, some of them being for crimes of violence, robbery with violence, rape and attempted rape. They said that the man had formerly lived in South Shields and later in Newcastle, and that he used to establish himself in boarding houses or lodging houses or lodgings run by elderly women. It was noted that the police had also been interested in his whereabouts when Amy Browell was murdered in 1959.

At her inquest it was heard that over thirty weapons, ranging from scissors to broken chisel points and hammers had been checked by the police, however, it was stated that their tests had all proved negative. Many of the weapons had been found by detectives in dustbins in the area around the house.

In April 1964 it was reported that a 58-year-old college tutor that had lived in Ilfracombe Avenue in Newcastle, had been attacked in her bath at her home by a man that had got in through an unbolted back door. She said that he had attacked her with a knife and tried to push her head under the water, but that he had run away after she had managed to get hold of the knife, an old African knife that she had kept as an ornament, cutting her hand as she did so. During the investigation the police said that they were considering the possibility that the attack might have been linked to the murder of Katherine Armstrong.