Rose Marie Allen

Rose Marie Allen was found stabbed to death outside her common-law husband's flat in Parkway, Liverpool on 27 July 1987.

Her 34-year-old common-law husband was tried for her murder but acquitted after the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence. He had been tried twice.

He had been acquitted at a magistrates hearing in October 1987 after the prosecution said that there was insufficient evidence to proceed, however, a month later, a prisoner at Risley Remand Centre said that her husband had described the murder to him as 'the perfect murder' and he was re-arrested and tried.

Rose Allen was found half-naked in a dark corridor outside their flat. They had been sharing a top floor flat in Parkway, Toxteth.

She had been stabbed in the neck and died after choking on her own blood. She had been found by her husband at 12.45pm on 27 July 1987 in the passageway leading to the rear entrance to their flat and it was claimed that he had murdered her the day before.

The court heard that she might have had sex before she was stabbed to death. A forensic scientist said that during the examination of Rose Allen's blood covered body that he found semen. however, the doctor said that it was not possible to tell exactly when Rose Allen had had sexual intercourse. She said that tests had failed to give any result and that there had been insufficient material to send away for the new DNA test.

She said that she had put together, in a jigsaw like fashion, pieces of a broken Pyrex casserole dish that were found at the murder scene and determined that the murder weapon had been a piece of the lid. The casserole dish was said to have belonged to her common-law husband.

The post mortem stated that Rose Allen had died within 5 to 10 minutes of being stabbed.

Rose Allen's common-law husband said that Rose Allen had started living with him in the early part of 1986 and that it had been a volatile relationship and that Rose Allen had left him eight or nine times but that on each occasion there had been reconciliations. It was noted that they had had numerous furious arguments and that Rose Allen had been frequently seen with bruises.

They had separated on Wednesday 22 July 1987 but Rose Allen had returned to their flat the following Saturday, 25 July 1987 and that there had been a further reconciliation and that Rose Allen had later that night gone out drinking. It was said that Rose Allen's brother had later found Rose Allen slumped in a shop doorway in Lodge Lane at about 11.15pm and taken her first to her sister's home in Ashbridge Street, but she was away on holiday, and then by taxi to their flat in Parkway.

Rose Allen's husband said that he last saw Rose Allen alive on the night of Saturday 25 July 1987 and the early hours of the Sunday morning. He found her body on the afternoon of Monday 27 July 1987 at which time he called 999.

At the trial the prosecution said that when her husband was questioned he had said that he could not recollect what had happened from the hours of Saturday night to Sunday morning. However, his defence denied that he had made any admissions, stating, 'I want it heard in open court now that my client has never made any admissions. He would not make any admissions over an allegation of this nature'.

Rose Allen's brother said that Rose Allen had become very depressed after her divorce 18 months earlier and had started to drink heavily. He said that until recently Rose Allen had been living with their mother in Toxteth but had recently started living with her common-law husband, saying, 'After patching up differences she went back to live with him in Park Way'.

Rose Allen's brother said that he had last seen Rose Allen on the Saturday night. He said that she had been sitting in a drunken state in a shop doorway in Lodge Lane, Liverpool clutching a bottle of tablets in her hand and that he had carried her to another sister's home in Ashbridge Street nearby, however, the sister was not home and a third of his sisters would not let Rose Allen in because of trouble the night before and so he got her a taxi and he and a neighbour took Rose Allen home.

He said that the neighbour found a key in Rose Allen's handbag but it didn't fit the front door of the semi-detached house in which Rose Allen and her common-law husband shared a flat. He said that Rose Allen was very abusive to him and didn't want him to stay was shouting, 'go away, I'll be alright', saying that her common-law husband would be in shortly and that as they could not rouse anyone in the flat they went off leaving Rose Allen sitting on her doorstep.

The prosecution claimed that her husband had actually been in the house at the time and that after her brother and the neighbour left that he had let Rose Allen in and had stabbed her to death with the piece of broken Pyrex casserole dish.

At the trial the prosecution noted that her brother had left Rose Allen sitting on the doorstep to the flat on the Saturday night and went on to say, 'By Sunday evening she had been stabbed to death in the passageway beneath the stairs and when at 12.45pm the next day her common-law husband pretended to discover her body, the prosecution say that he knew she was lying there dead, as he had killed her'.

The prosecution submitted that to hide the fact that he had murdered Rose Allen, her common-law husband had told his ex-wife on the Sunday that he was going to tell the DHSS that Rose Allen had made a false claim and that he had changed the front door lock, claiming that  it was to keep her away and that he had further told others, in tears, that he had not seen her for a few days.

The prosecution added that whilst Rose Allen's common-law husband had been in Risley on remand that he had told a fellow prisoner, 'It is the perfect murder, no witness, no forensics, no way they can get me'.