Alice Ann Widdowson

Alice Ann Widdowson was found dead in an empty garage in Constable Street on Sunday 1 March 1942.

A 19-year-old bricklayer that was suspected of her murder was found dead in a gas filled air raid shelter at his home in George's Road in Hull three days later.

However, his parents, grandmother and younger brother said that he had not been out of the house after coming home from work at 6.30pm on the day of the murder.

However, at the inquest, it was heard that the bricklayer had been seen in the vicinity of the garage before and after the murder.

The coroner said that evidence of the families statements would be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, adding that, 'To my mind they have committed perjury'.

An open verdict was returned.

Alice Widdowson died from severe head injuries and it was thought that she had been hit with a heavy instrument.

Her body was found at 10.35pm by a soldier that went into the garage and found Alice Widdowson lying there.

She had been seen at about 8.45pm in Eton Street after she left a shop where she had gone to buy some cigarettes after leaving her home at about 8.15pm on the errand and was last seen talking to a youth at about 9.30pm. It was said that when she had gone to the shop to buy cigarettes that she could not get any and that it was thought that she might have gone off to other shops in the vicinity on the same errand.

The garage where she was found was about 100 yards from her home in Constable Street. It was at the rear of a war-damaged property.

The police said that they didn't think that Alice Widdowson had gone to the garage alone and noted that although she was 14-years-old, she looked older.

She was described as being 5ft 1in to 5ft 2in tall, with a plump build and dark brown bobbed hair with two ringlets in front. She was said to have had good teeth and to have been dressed in a three-quarter length navy blue coat, a green cotton dress, black silk stockings, and suede shoes with crepe rubber soles.

The police said that they were interested in speaking to anyone that had seen her between 8.45pm and 10.15pm in Eton Street or the neighbourhood.

It was not thought that robbery was the motive as Alice Widdowson's pocket money was intact and it was noted that there had been no signs of a struggle.

Most of the buildings and side streets in Consable Street have since been demolished.