Amy Soper

Amy Soper was found lying across her bed with a fractured skull.

At her inquest the coroner ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to show how her death occurred and an open verdict was returned.

She was found on the Friday evening, 1 February 1941, after neighbours became alarmed that they had not seen her and it was noticed that she had not taken her daily newspaper or her milk.

She was last seen on the Thursday, 31 January 1941, by a woman that had lived in Ivy Cottage in Chapel Road.

No one had been seen entering her house.

When the doctor arrived at about 8.45pm on the Friday, 1 February 1941, he said that he thought that she had been dead for about twelve hours. He said that she was lying across her bed with her head touching the floor. He said that her cause of death was a fracture to the base of her skull but said that he could not say how she came to fall.

He said that it was possible that she had had a fit but noted that the post-mortem would not have revealed that. He added that there was no sign of blood on her head or elsewhere, and that there was also no sign of heart failure. He added that there was a scrape on the top of her head that was consistent with her having come into contact with the wooden part of the window.