Elizabeth Ann Flack

Elizabeth Ann Flack was found dead on the floor of her council flat on 11 July 1958. She had been battered to death with an axe.

She was a collecting agent for credit firms and would put the money she collected into different coloured purses. She was thought to have been robbed of about £80.

A 20-year-old man was tried for her murder but acquitted at the Lincolnshire Assizes on 1 November 1958.

When the judge summed up at the trial he had said, 'There is no dispute that the killing of this unfortunate woman was capital murder by somebody'. However, he noted that there was only circumstantial evidence against the man.

It was said that she had been struck about 15 blows. Her body was found by her 67-year-old husband at about 12.30pm. It was said that there was no sign of a struggle in the flat or any signs of disorder.

Elizabeth Flack was last seen alive at the flats by a neighbour at about 10.30am earlier on the morning of 11 July 1958.

The police said that from their enquiries made with neighbours in the other flats in the building that no one seemed to have heard anything.

However, on 17 July 1958 the police said that they were looking for a man that was seen to leave her flat. He was described as:

• About 35-years-old.
• 5' 7'' or 8'' tall.
• Thin build.
• Thin face.
• Drawn features.
• Clean shaven.
• With dark hair brushed flat and shining with brilliantine.
• Wearing a fawn gabardine raincoat with belt unfastened, dark trousers and an open necked shirt.
• Carrying a small brown attache case.

The police said that the man was seen to leave the main doorway of the flats and go towards a bus stop but to then change his mind and walk hurriedly away.

When she was found only one of the coloured purses could be found. The police noted in particular that missing from her handbag was a notecase, purse and a blue cloth money bag with tape threaded through the top.

She had had about 200 credit club customers on her books and the police said that they were hoping to interview all of them as well as trying to trace and interview past customers. The police said, 'She had been running these credit club collections in the town for several years. It may take us a week to complete the inquiries in this direction'. Her customers belonged to two mail order stores and a friendly society.

When the 20-year-old man was arrested he was said to have been wearing a black shirt embroidered with the words 'rock 'n roll'. He had lived in Jackson Road, Scunthorpe.

It was said that the black overcoat left on an allotment had belonged to the man and that among three letters in a pocket was a reminder from a firm about instalments on a ring that the man , it was said, had obtained for his girlfriend. On 28 July 1958 the police found coloured purses and a hatchet on which there was human blood and human hair.

The man was alleged to have said, 'I looked in and saw Mrs Flack lying on the floor. She had a coat over her. What I saw caused me to panic and I rushed away'.

It was said that the man, who was unemployed, had had no money and that his father had threatened to turn him out of the house but that on 11 July 1958 that he was seen with money and also paid an instalment on a bicycle.

The police said that Elizabeth Flack's dog was not a friendly dog and said that if anyone came near Elizabeth Flack that it would have gone for them. However, it was reported both that Elizabeth Flack's terrier dog had been missing after her murder and that it was found playing around outside when her husband got home just before he found Elizabeth Flack lying dead on the living room floor.