Age: 14
Sex: female
Date: 8 Dec 1984
Place: Bonnywell Road, Leigh
Lisa Hession was strangled near her home on 8 December 1984.
Her body was found strangled about 200 yards from her home in Bonnywell Road, Leigh.
She was found in a garage recess in the alleyway behind Rugby Road.
Her death was said to have been due to asphyxia. The police initially stated that there was no evidence of her having been sexually assaulted, but it was later disclosed that he had. A partial DNA profile was recovered from the scene.
The pathologist said that her cause of death was pressure to the neck that might have been caused by her T-shirt being tightened around her throat. It was thought that her killer had had their hand on her moth and he pulled her t-shirt wit the other hand.
The coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing at her inquest, but noted that her killer might not have intened to kill her.
Her skirt was found pulled up around her waist and her underwear was torn.
Her body was found by two men out walking their dog.
She had earlier beed to a party in Leigh Road, Leigh, with her boyfriend where she had sex with him, but returned home alone, leaving at about 10.05pm. She was found dead at about 11.55pm. She had agreed with her parents to be back home by 10.30pm.
Her route home took her through the town centre and along St Helens Road where she was last seen at 10.35pm after which she went into Buck Street, not far from her home.
After she failed to return hom her mother went out to look for her, passing the alleyway where she was found three times.
Lisa Hession had been about 5ft 4in tall with short dark hair and had been wearing a red party dress under a navy blue reefer-type jacket. THe jacket had had a small badge in the lapel that read 'Attack by rats GBH'.
It was noted that in the previous four months that there had been three other sex attacks on young women and it was thought that there might have been a connection. One of the attacks had been the night before Lisa Hession's murder when a man exposed himself to a girl by a canal and then said to her:
However, she managed to run off.
As a result of the previous attacks, the police built up a photofit of a 20-year-old suspect, described as a 'baby-faced' man.
The police stated that whilst it was a coincidence that the events had happened around the same time and that there were two seprate men involved in each attack, they noted that it was far more likely that they were the same person.
A police detective said:
THe police said that her kliller might have pursauded her to go into the alleyway with her or he might have forced her. They also said that there was as much as that she knew her killer, than she didn't know him. however, the police added that they thougt that it had been someone local and that their intentions had been purely sexual.
Two men were arrested at the time, but neither were charged. One of the men had since died.
witnesses also said that a man had been seen watching Lisa Hession on the Monday and Tuesday befiore the murder and that on the Wednesday he had followed her home.
It was also suggested that her killer might have been some that she knew and whom she had rejected before in some way.
Lisa Hession's mother died in 2016.
