Sarah Bowdler

Sarah Bowdler was tied up and strangled in her home in Somers Road, Pleck, Walsall.

She was last seen alive at about 6pm on 16 September 1991 and two hours later, at about 8pm, she telephoned a friend from her house.

She was found dead the following day, 17 September 1991, bound, gagged and strangled in her bedroom. She had been strangled with a ligature.

The police said that they thought that Sarah Bowdler had probably welcomed the person that killed her into her home and probably knew them, adding that there was no evidence of a break-in at her semi-detached house.

The police said that there was no apparent motive and said that nothing had been stolen.

Sarah Bowdler worked as a volunteer at a Spastics Society Shop which she had thrown herself into since her husband died in 1986.

It was later reported in 1996 that the police were looking into connections that Kevan Borthwick might have killed her following his murder conviction in September 1996. Kevan Borthwick later appealed his murder conviction in 1998 and it was reduced to manslaughter. At the time of the appeal his mother hit out at the allegatiosn that he had murdered Sarah Bowdler or had been a gay serial killer, stating that there was no evidence for any of them. He had appealed his murder conviction on the grounds that he had been suffering from an abnormality at the time and had beleived that he had been the victim of a conspiracy involving the security services, and that he had not instructed his lawyers properly and that he should have pleaded guilty to manslaughter while of diminished responsibility and not not guilty to murder. His bother added that Kevan Borthwick was mentally very ill and that there was no positive evidence found linking him to the other killings. He noted that Kevan Borthwick had twice tried to admit to Sarah Bowdler's murder, but that on each occasion the police had released him as there was no evidence to back his claims.

Over the years, the police said they questioned 12 suspect relating to Sarah Bowdler's murder.