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Harriet Victoria Randall

Age: 66

Sex: female

Date: 22 Oct 1957

Place: Flat 13, Peabody Buildings, Rodney Road, Walworth

Harriet Victoria Randall was found dead in her flat with head injuries on Tuesday 22 October 1957.

It was thought that she might have been murdered on the Saturday.

The motive for her murder was not known. It was first thought that she might have been robbed but a small amount of money was found untouched in her flat. She was said to have kept all her money in her flat and to have usually kept a few shillings handy to lend to any hard-up neighbours without charge.  The police also found two empty cash boxes in the flat, one of which had been opened with a pair of scissors. However, they were found to have both been wiped clean of finger prints.

There was no sign of a struggle in her flat. She was found lying behind the door of her flat.

She was found dead by her niece and her husband after they called on her to inquire as to why she had not made her usual Sunday visit. Her niece had lived in Chasefield Road in Tooting. She had been let in to Harriet Randall's flat by the porter of the adjoining block of flats with his pass key after she was unable to get a reply to her knocking.

It was thought that Harriet Randall had been beaten to death some days earlier with a blunt instrument having possibly been first stunned with her umbrella which was found covered in blood and whose steel shaft was broken. She was found fully clothed as if to go out, wearing an overcoat and with her blue hat lying beside her. It was thought that she had been dressed to go to work and that her killer had attacked her at her door and had then shut the self-locking door when he left.

Harriet Randall had been a forewoman and packer at a factory in Bermondsey and had lived alone in Flat 13, Peabody Buildings, a one room flatlet on the third floor on Rodney Road in Walworth. She was described by neighbours as 'a big strapping woman' and a 'quiet lady'.

Following the discovery of her body the police searched bomb sites and open spaces in the area for the murder weapon.

Other residents in the buildings were interviewed by the police in the hope that some of them might recall having seen the murderer going to or leaving her flat. However, it was found that nobody had heard any unusual noises. It was reported that her neighbours had said that they were puzzled by the fact that Harriet Randall had not appeared to have put up a fight, saying, 'I should have thought she could have well taken care of herself. If she had fought for her life someone in these buildings would have heard'.

Another neighbour that said that she had known Harriet Randall as a good friend for the 15 years that she had lived there said, 'She would always help anyone in trouble I am told. If anybody needed a little money they had only to ask her and she would lend it out of the goodness of her heart. There was no question of interest on the money'.

Her inquest, which concluded on Monday 9 December 1957, returned a verdict of 'murder by a person or persons unknown'.

At the time her murder was considered similar to that of Elizabeth McGill who was murdered in the bedroom of her flat in Guinness Trust Buildings, Kennington Park Road, London on Monday 25 November 1957. The similarities reported where:

  1. Both battered to death.
  2. Both thought to have been struck down when they disturbed an intruder.
  3. In both cases the murder weapon was missing.
  4. In both cases it was thought that the murder weapon had been an iron bar.
  5. They were both also old women.

However, in the case of Elizabeth McGill, Thomas Cassidy was later convicted for her murder. Elizabeth McGill was the mother of the girl that Thomas Cassidy had been living with and they had all shared the same flat. When he was arrested, he said, 'I still cannot sort it out. I can't think of the reason why I killed her'.

Harriet Randall's murder, however, is still unsolved.


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

see find.galegroup.com

see National Archives - HO 332/16 - STA 502/3/33

see "News in Brief." Times [London, England] 10 Dec. 1957: 15. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 28 May 2016.

see "Police." Times [London, England] 24 Aug. 1869: 9. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 3 Mar. 2013.

see Coventry Evening Telegraph - Thursday 24 October 1957

see Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 26 November 1957

see Daily Mirror - Tuesday 26 November 1957

see Western Mail - Wednesday 23 October 1957

see Halifax Evening Courier - Tuesday 26 November 1957

see Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 10 December 1957

see Coventry Evening Telegraph - Wednesday 23 October 1957

see Liverpool Echo - Wednesday 23 October 1957

see Halifax Evening Courier - Monday 25 November 1957

see Birmingham Daily Post - Tuesday 26 November 1957

see Halifax Evening Courier - Wednesday 23 October 1957