Geraldine Patricia Douglas

Geraldine Patricia Douglas was found dead on the side of the road in Lippitt Hill in Essex.

She died from an abortion and her inquest returned a verdict of manslaughter against some person or persons unknown.

She was Jamaican and had six children. She had lived in Upton Park Road, Forest Gate, London. Her body was identified by her husband who was a carpenter that had lived in Brough Street, Vauxhall, London who said that he last saw her three months earlier. They had been living apart at the time.

She had left her home on the Tuesday afternoon 20 December 1960 leaving two of her children behind. Her other four children had been with foster parents.

Her body was found in undergrowth on the verge of a lover's lane in the country in Lippitt Hill, Waltham Abbey on 21 December 1960. It was thought that she had died elsewhere and then been dumped there from a car.

The place where she was found was not far from Epping Forest.

The post mortem revealed that her death was due to an air embolism following abortion. It was first thought that she had been strangled but the pathologist later ruled that out.