Anne Marie Foy

Anne Marie Foy was found dead in Crown Street, Liverpool on the afternoon of Thursday 15 September 2005.

She had been a sex-worker and had been living in the Kensington area.

She had been beaten and strangled.

A taxi driver was later tried for her murder in 2012 but acquitted.

Her partially-clothed body was found in undergrowth, also described as a wooded area, in Crown Street by the junction with West Derby Street near a Liverpool University car park, which was described as being in the centre of Liverpool's red-light district, the day after her murder. A large tree branch was found near her body with her blood on it.

She was said to have had more than 60 injuries to her body, which was described as having been 'brutalised'. She had had 21 injuries to her head alone. The pathologist that carried out her post mortem said that he thought that after being attacked that she had been dragged to the place where her body was later found.

It was noted that when she was found she had had a discarded condom between her legs, but that it was thought that it had been placed there in an attempt to cast blame on someone else.

She was last seen at her home at around 4am on 15 September 2005. Her body was found later that afternoon. It was thought that she had been murdered around 5.30am.

The pathologist noted that not all of the injuries to her body were fresh, including the needle marks from her heroin use or a leg ulcer, and added that not all of the injuries would have been caused by separate blows. He said that he thought that there had been at least seven different strikes to her head, or probably more.

He added that she had another injury to her shoulder that was probably caused by a stamp from a shod foot.

He said that she also had an unusual injury to her neck which he said was probably caused by a forceful blow like a karate chop, a forearm lock, a kick or a stamp, or a weapon, noting that something had been pushed against her neck and held there.

He added that he found no defensive wounds on her body, saying, 'All I can infer is that Anne Foy did not put up a struggle against a weapon. That suggests either a weapon was not used or she was not able to because she was already unconscious for whatever reason'.

Anne Foy was said to have been a heroin addict and to have been working the streets for over 20 years to feed her addiction.

She was also noted as having gained a reputation for sometimes trying to steal from her customers and it was suggested that she might have been killed by someone that she had tried to rob. It was heard that in September 2005, Anne Foy had told friends that she had stolen about £300 from one customer, a taxi-driver, and that the taxi-driver had assaulted her and threatened her in revenge.

A number of people were connected to her murder, but no one was convicted.

In September 2006 a 44-year-old man confessed to the police to her murder, saying that they had had a fight over money and later heard that she was dead. However, the man was described as having been mentally ill and to have had a history of making false confessions and after the police looked into his claims and he was analysed by a forensic psychiatrist his claim was deemed to have been a hoax.

He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court in 2007 where he was cleared after it was shown that he had been in a London hostel at the time of the murder. It was additionally heard that he had previously confessed to other crimes including arson and the murder of five prostitutes in London.

In April 2008 a 38-year-old man from Netherton was arrested, but no charges were made.

In 2010 a CCTV image of a man that the police were keen to trace as he might have witnessed something, was released. The man had been walking from the direction of Brownlow Hill at about 4.51am on 15 September 2005. It was noted that at about the same time a another figure appeared from the direction of the car park that led to the place where Anne Foy was found dead. It was reported that the second man was then seen in the CCTV footage to cross the road and pass the first man, who then turned to look back at him a couple of times before walking out of sight.

The man was described as:

• Wearing dark clothing with a white horizontal stripe across.
• Carrying a white parcel.

The police said, 'This is new footage that we have uncovered and we are keen to speak to this gentleman as we believe he may have seen something which could prove vital to our investigation. It is five years since Anne Marie Foy was murdered and her family are struggling to come to terms with her death. The man in this CCTV footage could possibly help us with information which could help us to find the offender and give closure to the family'.

Other CCTV evidence found earlier in the investigation showed two men walking in the area, one of them dressed like a security guard.

In 2012 a 65-year-old taxi-driver was arrested in Plymouth. He was tried for her murder but acquitted. It was said that the case hinged on DNA evidence.

The taxi-driver, a Hackney cab driver, was arrested after DNA found under Anne Foy's fingernails was found to belong to him. It was connected to him in relation to DNA found on a cigarette butt found at his mother's house in 1998 following a burglary there. The court heard that the DNA found beneath Anne Foy's fingernails match that found on the cigarette butt, after which a full DNA profile was taken from the taxi-driver.  Other DNA belonging to the taxi-driver was found on Anne Foy's cardigan and on a bandage around her leg.

The prosecution stated that it was more than a thousand billion times more likely to have been the taxi-driver's DNA than anyone else’s.

However, at the trial, the DNA evidence was described as having been unsafe and to having not been carried out to the high standards of the forensic regulator.

It was also said that he had had a skin condition that meant that his skin flaked more than other, resulting in his DNA being more readily transferred. It was also suggested that his DNA might have been transferred on money that he had handled that had later been handed over to Anne Foy.

When the taxi-driver was arrested, he had said, 'I just want to reiterate that what's gone on is wrong, and I will say to the day I die that I did not do this. I'm flabbergasted by it all'.

Further evidence at the trial showed a distinctive and striped taxi that the taxi-driver was known to have been driving at the time in CCTV near to the murder scene around the time of the crime.

It was further noted that the taxi-driver had admitted to using sex workers, stating that he had used prostitutes three times since the end of his marriage in 2001.

He said that during the time that he had been driving cabs that he had got to know the faces of many of the prostitutes in the red-light-district, but denied that he had ever had contact with Anne Foy.

At the trial the taxi-driver was noted for having suffered from chronic bronchitis, as well as Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which it was said meant that he would have been physically incapable of struggling with a woman and then dragging her off. He was also said to have needed the help of an inhaler to breathe and a stick to walk.

Anne Foy had had four children and had been a grandmother.