William Leslie Berry

William Leslie Berry was knocked over by a car that didn't stop.

His body had been dragged along the road for about 200 yards.

It was thought that he had been knocked over by a dark saloon that drove off after hitting him.

He had lived at 83 Kenton Road and had gone out at about 10pm to post a letter.

The pathologist that carried out his post-mortem said that William Berry had sustained an extensive fracture of the pelvis, a fractured left arm, four fractured ribs on the left side, a laceration to his scalp and bruises on his arms and face, and said that his death was due to a fractured pelvis and multiple injuries.

However, the pathologist said that he didn't think that William Berry had been run over, but said that he thought that his injuries were consistent with him having been dragged along and bumped up and down.

Following his death the police made an appeal through the BBC for information about the car and were sent an anonymous letter with the registration number of a car that was said to have been in Kenton Road at the time. When the police went to see the owner of the car, who lived in Cranmer Avenue in London, he denied any knowledge of the accident. When the police examined his car they found that apart from having a broken number plate, there were no marks whatsoever on it and said that they felt sure that his car had not been involved.

A man from Manor Road in Harrow said that he had been approaching Kenton Road from Northwick Park Station shortly after midnight on 7 February 1946 when he saw what he thought might have been a sheet of paper or a sack in the street and then saw a car run over it with a thud. He said that the car then slowed down for a few yards and then continued on its journey.

The man said, 'I continued walking and it was not until I looked back and saw a hat in the road that I realised the object might have been an injured person. When I reached the scene a car had already stopped whilst another car had hurried off to fetch a policeman. I did not take the number of the car which ran over deceased, but I am sure it was a Vauxhall, because I noticed its unique chromium arrow-heads on the bonnet'.

His wife said that William Berry was perfectly fit and whilst she noted that he had had an attack of dizziness on the Sunday before he died, said that he was not subject to dizziness.

His wife said, 'He would not have to cross the road to a pillar box because there is one near the house. But I think my husband went out for a walk after posting the letter. He sometimes went for a walk round for a breath of fresh air after posting letters at night'.

William Berry was a doctor and had lived in Kenton Road. He was the eldest son of a former Director of Naval Construction and had qualified as a doctor at Caius College, Cambridge. He had served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy during the 1914-18 war and later opened a practice in Kenton and then later in 1925 joined the Harrow Hospital staff.

He was cremated at Golders Green on Wednesday 13 February 1946.