Brenda Cross

Brenda Cross was beaten to death in the basement of an antiques shop, Anno Domini, in Pimlico Road, Chelsea.

The owner of the shop, a retired 68-year-old actor, was tried for her murder but acquitted. The judge directed the jury to acquit the shop owner after hearing the prosecution’s case, stating that the evidence showed that it was inherently improbable that the shop owner was the murderer.

Brenda Cross was beaten 30 to 40 times with antique fire irons in the basement of the shop, called Anno Domini, in Pimlico Road, Chelsea on 9 September 1991. The police said, 'Lady Brenda Cross put up a valiant and spirited fight against a vicious attack'.

She later died in Westminster Hospital from her injuries.

She had been dropped off at the shop by her husband at 10am and when he returned to collect her at 12.45pm he found her in a dying condition.

Brenda Cross, who was titled, Lady Brenda Cross, had been working at the shop part time for the previous ten years.

It was said that the shop owner had been in a bad mood on the day of the murder as Brenda Cross was planning to leave and he had not found a replacement and he had had to pay £40,000 in back rent and arrangements for a new lease on the premises were not going well.

The shop owner was noted for having appeared in the hospital soap opera Emergency Ward Ten.