Patricia Ann Simpson

Patricia Ann Simpson was found strangled in a disused iron ore mine near Cardiff.

She had been a prostitute and was described as a busy vice girl who plied her trade in the Cardiff Docklands.

She had been known as the 'Silver Queen', because her blonde hair would shimmer under the street lights.

It was reported in 2003 that a man in Israel had confessed to her murder, giving details that only the killer would have known and the police said that as far as they were concerned they were not looking for anyone else.

She was last seen talking to a man in a minicar in Bute Street, in the heart of Cardiff's dockland. The police said that they were anxious to trace a man that had been sitting in a dark green or dark blue mini-car in Bute Street near a cafe. Patricia Simpson had been seen standing alongside the car talking to the driver.

She had been fully dressed when found with her black chiffon scarf, which had been used to strangle her, found still wound round her neck. It was thought she had been there two or three days.

Her body was found by four Cardiff schoolboys that had been out on a pot holing expedition, looking for fossils. They had been part of a party of six boys. They had been exploring the mine workings with torches when they found her body about 300 feet down. After discovering the body, two of the boys were reported to have run nearly two miles to Taff's Well to give the alarm.

When the police arrived they sought the assistance of a local cave expert and his wife and had to walk through water and crawl for about half a mile to reach the shaft where her body was found. A Royal Air Force mountain rescue team that had been searching for her handbag and shoes in the caves found a woman's wristwatch.

The mine was described as having been about half a mile from the main Taff's Well-Cardiff Road, about six miles north of Cardiff in the valley of Taff, and surrounded by woods. It had been disused for the previous 30 years.

The police said that they were working on the theory that she had been murdered in Cardiff and then taken by car to Garth Wood, a popular spot with lovers, and dumped down the shaft. It was thought that she had been strangled in her killers car.

The mine was reached by what was known as a 'lovers lane' that led from the road to the entrance and the police said that they thought that only someone with a sound knowledge of the locality would have been able to find it due to its isolation in the centre of thick woodland.

At the time of her murder she had been sharing a flat with a friend at 6 South Luton Place, Adamsdown where she had been for the previous four weeks, living under the name of June White. A neighbour said:

Another occupant of the house, a 26-year-old dye caster who lived in an apartment with his wife and 12-month-old daughter said:

He noted that Patricia Simpson one time used the name June White and that she was never short of money and was always well dressed.

She was described as being blonde and whose hair had been pinkish until recently.

She was also said to have been friendly with a number of West Indians and to have had a West Indian boyfriend that had lived in Exeter and who she had been to see there the previous Thursday where he worked and to have later returned with to Cardiff.

She was originally from Rock Road in Latchford, Warrington but had left home some time before. She had been an adopted daughter and had attended Richard Fairclough Girls Secondary Modern School in Warrington. She had been in Cardiff for the previous two years.

In 2003 it was reported that a 73-year-old man serving 11 years for manslaughter in Israel had admitted to murdering her. It was reported that it was hoped that he would be extradited back to the UK later the same year following the end of his sentence, however, the police said that they thought that there was little chance of that happening because of his age and nothing more is known.

The case was re-opened in 1999 following a tip off. It was reported that the police flew out to Israel and interviewed the man for two days after which he confessed to strangling Patricia Simpson and gave evidence that only the murderer would have known.

The police said:

It was said that the man had been in his 30s at the time and after the murder had fled to Israel where he worked on a kibbutz where he met a local woman who he later married.

However, he later shot her with a machinegun, but the jury at a trial determined it had been an accident.

However, in the early 90s he killed a male associate and was sentenced to 11 years for manslaughter.

The police said: