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Julie Finley

Age: 23

Sex: female

Date: 6 Aug 1994

Place: A570, Rainford Bypass, Skelmersdale, Lancashire

Julie Finley was found dead and naked in a field near the Rainford bypass on 6 August 1994.

She was last seen at about 11.05pm on Friday 5 August 1994, in Pembroke Place, at the rear of the Liverpool Royal University Teaching Hospital talking to a man by some railings.

Julie Finley was described as:

  • Slightly built.
  • Wearing a white blouse, black trousers and black boots.

She was found the following day at 1.15pm, naked in a field by a lover's lane off the A570 at Rainford near to the Wheatsheaf public house.

She was found by a 28-year-old computer engineer that had been cycling by on the Saturday 6 August 1994 just before a time trial along the Rainford bypass. He had been with other cyclists from the Liverpool Century Road Club based in Netherton who were all milling around the start point close to the Wheatsheaf pub. He said that he found her body when he went into the field to spend a penny. He said that she was lying face downwards naked with her head hidden under some bushes. He said, 'I ran back and got a friend to confirm what I had seen. We then called the police and made sure that no-one went near. I told the police where I'd been then waited for them to arrive. I carried on with the cycling but I think I was in a state of shock'.

On 12 August 1994 what was thought to have been Julie Finley's bra was found and it was sent away for forensic analysis. It was found at the corner of Low Hill and Prescot Street, which was noted as having been a popular haunt for vice girls. When the item was first spotted it was said to have been accompanied with what was thought to have been Julie Finley's white top and dark trousers or skirt, but when the police arrived all they found was her underwear. The police said that it was possible that someone passing the spot, which was a shortcut, might have seen them and taken them home because they had been good quality and they appealed for anyone that might have done that to come forward.

Julie Finley was not said to have been a prostitute herself, but was known to mix regularly with vice girls and to have been a known drug user, and it was heard that another prostitute had said that she had seen a man near to the place where Julie Finley was last seen, stating that she had turned the man down because she 'did not like the look of him', adding that she saw Julie Finley there at about 11.05pm.

The police carried out their investigation across the heart of the red-light district in Liverpool which included a probe into a series of attacks and robberies there. The area covered Catherine Street and Canning Street. The police said that they knew of at least four prostitutes that had been attacked in the previous couple of months.

The police said that they were also interested in tracing a white van that was seen that night parked near to where her body was discovered.

The police also carried out investigations into the movements of known sex offenders in the area.

In November 1994 a woman came forward to say that she saw Julie Finley at about 11.20pm on the Friday night, running across Pembroke Place, opposite the dental hospital, noting that she almost ran her over. She said that she was running across the street towards a man who was standing beside some railings. The man was described as:

  • 5ft 10in to 6ft tall.
  • 23-years-old.
  • Dark hair.
  • Wearing dark clothing that was quite smart.

The woman noted that there was a car parked nearby. She said that she was 99% sure that it was Julie Finley. She had come forward after seeing a poster detailing the murder put out by the Echo newspaper.

Two months after the murder a prostitute said that she had been attacked by a man with tattoos. She said, 'He told me he had been with two prostitutes a couple of months ago and killed one of them. That makes you think of Julie Finley. I really believed he was going to kill me. He grabbed me round the throat and said, 'I'm going to kill you. What's it like not to breathe?'.

The police said that they were treating the information very seriously and were investigating the woman's claims. They said that the man was about 30-years-old and that he had picked the woman up in Toxteth and driven her down to Riverside Drive at about 9.25pm on Thursday 29 September 1994. The man was said to have weighed around 15 stone and had a local accent and drove a cavalier car with a registration that began with M83. He had had a distinctive snake and dagger tattoo on his left forearm.

The woman said that she recalled at the time of the attack that she saw a man cycle past, stating that he was about 50-years-old, wearing glasses and had collar length hair.

About ten months after her murder, the police were contacted by a man that said that he had picked up a hitchhiker and said that whilst they were driving past the place where Julie Finley was found dead he became highly agitated. The man said that when he asked the hitchhiker why, the hitchhiker explained that at the time of the murder his motorbike had broken down and had stopped in a layby near to the scene and saw a white van. He said that he could hear bangs and screams coming from the van and said that when he went over to the van and opened the rear doors he saw a young naked woman who said to him 'Help me, help me, for god’s sake help me'. However, he said that a man then came over and told him that the woman was his girlfriend and told him to mind his own business and to get away, which the hitchhiker said he did. The information was broadcast on the television program Crime Watch UK on 2 November 1995 in which the police said  that they thought that the account was true as the story had included information that only they knew about. However, the hitchhiker never contacted the police himself. The police also added that the hitchhiker was either the last person to see Julie Finley alive and that he had seen her murderer, or that given the information that he knew, that he was in fact the murderer.

The hitchhiker was described as being in his mid-twenties, 5ft 8in tall, clean-cut with short blonde hair in a crew-cut. The police added that due to his accent, they thought that the hitchhiker had come from St Helens. He had said that he was going to see his grandfather in the Ainsdale area. The police said that it was essential that he come forward and produced a photo-fit of him.

Julie Finley had lived in a flat in Toxteth.

It was noted that at the time of Julie Finley's murder that five other women had been murdered in the West Midlands area since December 1993, three of them being prostitutes. They were:

  1. Dawn Shields, 20 May 1994.
  2. Julie Anne Clayton, 6 July 1994.
  3. Sharon Harper, 1 July 1994.
  4. Tracey Turner, 3 March 1994.
  5. Samo Paul, 3 December 1993.

It was further also noted that at the time of Julie Finley's murder that the Liverpool police were under pressure with a lot of other murders in the area, with the following murders all additionally taking place in a three week period:

  1. Leslie Woodward who was stabbed at a rave in Bootle.
  2. A grandmother and child who were strangled at a house in Birkenhead.
  3. Fred Gibson who died following a burglary.
  4. A woman whose throat was cut at a flat in Southport.
  5. A man who was found dead at a bedsit in Bootle.
  6. Barry Hayes who was battered to death in a pub car park.

*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.kirkbytimes.co.uk

see Liverpool Echo

see 4 Northern Ireland

see Independent

see BBC

see True Crime Library

see You Tube

see You Tube

see Liverpool Echo - Wednesday 23 November 1994

see Liverpool Echo - Thursday 20 October 1994

see Liverpool Echo - Monday 08 August 1994

see Liverpool Echo - Wednesday 05 October 1994

see Liverpool Echo - Friday 12 August 1994

see Liverpool Echo - Friday 09 December 1994

see Liverpool Echo - Monday 22 August 1994

see Liverpool Echo - Friday 18 November 1994