Age: 74
Sex: female
Date: 21 Jul 2000
Place: Millfield, Creekmoor, Poole, Dorset
Beatrice Wilson was stabbed to death in her sheltered accommodation in Millfield.
She had been stabbed ten times as she lay in bed in her brain, chest and throat. She was found dead the next day by relatives.
A youth was tried for her murder but acquitted.
It was thought that her killer had been burgling her flat and that she had woken up and that he had cut her throat.
The youth that was tried for her murder said that he had spent the evening out looking for a bike to steal and had then gone home. He was said to have confessed to her murder to school friends and the court heard that fibres were found on Beatrice Wilson's curtains that matched the material of the youth's tracksuit bottoms.
It was said that the youth had got blood on his shirt during the attack and had gone to a lake to wash it but had then returned to Beatrice Wilson's home to get his knife which he had left stuck in her body. He was said to have thrown the broken knife blade down a drain and then hidden the knife handle and his blood-soaked shirt in a green metal box on some wasteland behind the Macro store off Cabot Lane which was about half a mile from Beatrice Wilson's home.
It was heard that when he had confessed he had sworn his friend to secrecy and said that he had been out looking for something to steal and had walked passed Beatrice Wilson's house and saw that she was asleep and climbed in and searched her flat during which he got a knife from the kitchen. It was heard that he had then said that as he was getting back out of the window, Beatrice Wilson had seen him and so he stabbed her. The court heard that after the confession the youth had given his friend £10 and then bought himself an Airfix model.
The police said that the youth had been seen running up and down the road outside Beatrice Wilson's home at about 11.30pm by a neighbour. They also said that the knife handle and bloody shirt were found several months later in November 2000 by a dog walker and that after the friend went to the police to tell them about the youth's confession, they found the knife blade down the drain and were able to match the broken blade with the handle.
The shirt was described as a distinctive Ben Sherman shirt and was found along with a Berghaus jacket.
It was said that the killer had abandoned a musical jewellery box during the burglary.
The police also released an appeal, before the youth had been arrested, stating that the killer would have been someone that had been wearing the shirt and jacket but then might have been noticed to have suddenly stopped wearing them.
The youth admitted in court that he had admitted to the murder to friends but said that he had done so after he had been arrested and had been being teased by his classmates.
The youth was tried in May 2002 but acquitted.
Beatrice Wilson was a retired dinner lady.