Elizabeth MacLindon

Elizabeth MacLindon was found dead in a locked back room on the ground floor of a house in Chester Square, Westminster.

She died from a gunshot wound to the neck which the police said they were satisfied was not self-inflicted. The police said that they thought that the gun had been a .32 Browning automatic pistol and they appealed for anyone that had found such a gun since Victory Day to take it to their nearest police station. It was also reported that a revolver was also found in the room.

A pathologist said that she had been shot at close range with a heavy-calibre bullet.

Her body was discovered at about 3.30pm after neighbours noticed milk had been left out and called the police who then forced an entry to the house and found her body.

It was believed that Elizabeth MacLindon was shot as she was about to telephone the police about a man who had visited her and that she had been shot in the head as she was looking up a phone number.

The police said that they thought that she knew her murderer well and had been talking to him when she was shot.

A neighbour said that Elizabeth MacLindon had been preparing the house at the time for occupation by the King of Greece. At the time the King had a suite in a West End Hotel.

Another neighbour said that Elizabeth MacLindon had come to London two months earlier from Brighton where she had been a housekeeper to a doctor. She was described as good-looking and always exceptionally well dressed.

She had previously lived in Scotland and was due to marry shortly after her murder to a Greek who had been a frequent visitor to the house since she had gone there, and the police said that they were interested in speaking to him.

She had been the sole occupant of the house at the time and had been living on the lower floor following repairs to bomb damage which were repaired shortly before she moved in.

The house had five floors and was said to have already been well furnished.

She had gone shopping on the Saturday and had later seen some of the victory celebrations.

She was last seen by her neighbours on the Saturday night after she returned home when she stopped to chat with another housekeeper in charge of a house a few doors away.

The house had been formerly occupied by a well-known financier who died in 1943.