Ruth Perrett

Ruth Perrett was found dead in her room at Herbert House, Salisbury, a halfway house for recovering mental patients on Saturday 20 December 1986.

She had been raped and strangled.

She had earlier been to a party in Herbert House and was last seen alive just before midnight on the Friday on her way back to her room.

Her body was unclothed although she was in her bed at the time under her sheets and bedclothing.

The party had been attended by 12 residents, 22 ex-residents and 5 members of staff. It was said that she had had a moderate amount to drink, something like a couple of glasses of lager.

She had been at Herbert House since September 1986 after 8 months of in-patient treatment and it was not thought that she had had a boyfriend.

It was thought that her killer was probably someone that had knowledge of the layout of Herbert House although it was added that the possibility that she had been murder by an outside intruder could not be ruled out.

There was no sign of a struggle in the room but the window was open.

She was a slim brunette with brown eyes and worked one day a week at an Oxfam shop in Salisbury.

Her murder was associated with that of Linda Cook who was murdered 13 days earlier on 7 December 1986 and whose murder is also unsolved.

It was also thought that it might have been connected with the murder of Beryl Deacon who was found dead in a locked public lavatory in Salisbury, but a lavatory attendant was later convicted for her murder.