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Doreen Morris

Age: 64

Sex: female

Date: 25 Mar 1994

Place: Penrhyn Uchaf, Mill Lane, Holyhead

Doreen Morris was killed in her home, Penrhyn Uchaf, which was then set on fire.

A man was charged with her murder about 14 months later and tried, but he was acquitted at Chester Crown Court in 1996.

Another man was arrested in relation to her murder in March 2004, but there were no convictions.

Doreen Morris had lived alone with her two Corgi dogs in Penrhyn Uchaf, Mill Lane on the outskirts of Holyhead. She was a widow.

She was last seen on 24 March 1994.

The fire at her bungalow, Penrhyn Uchaf, destroyed the building and its contents. The police said that they believed that the fire had been started deliberately in order to destroy any evidence of the murder.

A fireman that arrived at the scene said, 'I was the officer in charge of the first engine that arrived on the scene that morning. The property was alight and after a few hours of fighting the fire I came across a torso and what looked like skeletal remains to me'. The fire brigade took three hours in getting the fire under control.

Her dog was also found dead nearby.

The police said that they found a fork on the ground near to where Doreen Morris was found that had blood on it and said that they thought that it was the murder weapon noting that they found that Doreen Morris had been stabbed to death.

However, it was also heard that her inquest had returned the verdict that the cause of her death was not ascertained. A daughter of Doreen Morris later made an attempt in the High Court to have another inquest in to her mother's death in May 2010, but her bid was refused. The new coroner said that it was not necessary or desirable in the interests of justice to hold a fresh inquest 16 years after Doreen Morris died. The coroner said that even if a fresh inquest was convened, it was by no means certain that a verdict of an unlawful killing would follow, adding that there was a real risk that an open or narrative verdict would follow.

However, the police said that they were treating her death as murder. It was also noted that at the trial of the man in 1996 that both the crown and the defence had accepted the premise that Doreen Morris had been murdered.

Doreen Morris's post-mortem stated that she had died before the fire started.

The police also later determined that Doreen Morris's bungalow had been burgled beforehand and that they determined that items of her property had been stolen.

The police said that they thought that someone in the local community would have had information that could help them solve the case. They added that there was probably more than one person involved although added that the other people might not have been directly involved in the murder but had at least probably been involved with covering it up and protecting the murderer.

Doreen Morris had had three children.


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