Yvonne Coley

Yvonne Coley was found strangled and dumped half-naked under a hedge on a municipal golf course in Cocks Moors Wood off Warstock Lane in Kings Heath on the morning of 25 May 1985.

She had been strangled with her own bra and her body partially covered by her dark blue duffle coat.

She had been a prostitute had worked in the Balsall Heath area and had and two young daughters.

She had left her home in Bordesley Green at about 11pm on the night of 24 May 1984 to work in the red light district along Ladypool Road in Balsall Heath.

It was noted that about the same time two other prostitutes had met a drunk Asian man in a blue van from whom they stole his money and ran off. However, it was noted that the van was seen several more times that night cruising about the red light district, as well as being parked up near the golf course where Yvonne Coley was found dead the following morning and the police said they were trying to trace it.

Meanwhile, on her way to the main red light district, Yvonne Coley stopped of at a dumpling shop to buy some patties, and the shop keeper noticed that when she paid him that she only appeared to have small change on her. However, it was noted that when her body was found the following morning, she had quite a bit of money, indicating that she had been with a number of clients before being murdered.

She was seen further on crossing Brighton Road along Ladypool Road by a club owner. Her usual beat was said to have been a little further along at the corner of Sandford Road and when she arrived it was about 11.45pm. She met a person that she knew who agreed to wait with her until she got her first customer which was moments later, still around 11.45pm. However, the amount of money she had on her suggested that she did have other customers in the next half-hour.

It was noted that if she did, that she might have gone to a well-known car park behind Ladypool Road where prostitutes went with their customers in their cars to have sex.

However, it was noted that at some point she ended up in Warstock Lane at about 12.20am, by the Cocks Moors Wood golf course, about three miles away.

At about 12.20am a couple that had been walking home noticed a similar blue van that had been described by the other prostitutes. It was parked in the entrance to the golf course.

At about 8.30am the following morning, Yvonne Coley's body was found by a man out for a walk in a hedgerow. She had been strangled with her bra.

The police said that the blue van was crucial as they had had three sightings of it that night:

1. 11.30pm in Birchwood Crescent.
2. 11.40pm in the area of Church Road.
3. 12.20am in Warstock Lane.

However, it was noted that there were thousands of blue vans. The police described it as a dark blue van in the 15, 17 or 22 hundred weight class, with no windows in the side and fitted with, they believed, Lee Conquest and Avon Supervan tyres. The police noted that of the thousands of vans they had checked, they had only found three with those type of tyres.

The description of the driver of the van that the prostitutes in Birchwood Crescent saw was described as:

• Asian origin.
• 40 years old.
• 4ft 9in to 6ft tall.
• Mexican moustache.
• Short black hair.

A photofit of him was also released.

However, it was also noted that there was an unconfirmed sighting of Yvonne Coley in a blue Mercedes car at about 1am in Brighton Road.

The police also appealed for a quarrelling courting couple that had been in Warstock Lane to come forward. They were believed to have arrived in separate cars, a red Ford Fiesta and a Ford Cortina estate, and to have parked in Warstock Lane near the drive-in to the golf course, about midnight. The police said that they had been seen quarrelling in the Cortina and thought that they might have seen something.

The police said that they were also interested in tracing two men aged between 17 and 20 and a woman aged about 20 to 23, that had been seen walking along Warstock Lane towards Haunch Lane shortly after midnight.

The police added that they were interested in tracing anyone that had seen Yvonne Coley around Church Road, Chestnut Road and Stoner Road around Moseley to come forward.

The police added that they were also looking into connections with other murders in the area and referred to the murder of Valerie Brown, another prostitute, however, her murder was later solved in 1987.

It was reported that in November 1984, another prostitute was attacked by a man in a blue van. The prostitute said that they had gone to an alleyway in Queenswood Road with the man but that he had become angry and had started to punch and kick her and then strangle her with a bra, but she managed to kick open the back doors of the van and jump to safety.

She had also known Yvonne Coley. When she gave a description of the man that attacked her she said:

• Slim.
• 5ft 8in tall.
• Late 20s.
• Collar length naturally wavy hair.
• Wearing jeans, a purple jumper with horizontal stripe pattern and hob nail boots.

The police said that they were interested in tracing the man because the type of vehicle he had been  driving was similar to the one associated with Yvonne Coley's murder. However, they said: