Selma Schwartz

Selma Schwartz was found strangled in her basement flat on Moorhouse Road, Bayswater on Saturday 17 March 1956.

Her cause of death was given as asphyxia due to manual strangulation.

Her body was found by a neighbour, a Swiss woman that had lived next door to Thelma Schwarz on the Saturday evening on the floor of the front bed-sitting room in her flat. Her body was fully clothed but it was noted that they were disarranged.

She had also suffered from apparent head injuries.

It was said that in the right hand corner of the room there was a dressing table and that around that there were signs of a struggle having taken place.

Selma Schwartz had been seen two hours earlier doing some shopping in nearby Portobello market between 2pm and 4.30pm.

Her body was found at 5.25pm.

It was suggested that someone might have followed her home from the market and down the stone steps to her flat or that she might alternatively have surprised someone that was already there.

The police had arrived at the flat by 8.10pm at which time they took fingerprints from around the scene.

The pathologist that carried out the post mortem said that 'In my opinion this is a case of murder. I do not think that it was committed by more than one person'. He said that he was called to the flat at about 8.45pm on 17 March 1956 at that he then examined Selma Schwartz's body.  He said, 'I formed the opinion that she had been dead for only a few hours. I performed the post mortem at Paddington Mortuary and found that the body had three lacerated wounds on the scalp, bruising on the face, and small cuts and bruises on the front of the throat caused by fingernails. The injuries on her head were, in my opinion, caused by blows from a blunt instrument causing temporary unconsciousness'.

Selma Schwartz was from Austria and was believed to have come to the United Kingdom as a refugee. Her husband was thought to have left some time earlier to go to America.

Her neighbours said that Thelma Schwarz had lived in the flat for about six years and that she had known her since 1951. She said, 'I was about to leave when a young lodger of Mrs Schwartz came along. We went into the flat and found Mrs Schwartz lying dead on the floor'.

At the time of her inquest at St Pancras, the police said that they had interviewed approximately 12,000 people and taken more than 1,500 statements. At the inquest the police said that they were still very much proceeding and appealed for people to come forward. They said, 'She was well known in the neighbourhood, but the public, either through fear or because they don't want to be mixed up in anything, don't come forward and that means we have to find these people ourselves'.

Her inquest concluded on 31 May 1956, returning the verdict of murder by an unknown person.

Initial news reports referred to Selma Schwartz as Thelma Schwarz. She was also known as Old Granny Schwartz and was described as being every child's friend. She was described as a woman who never did anything more harmful that give sweets and biscuits to children. It was noted that when she had been out shopping shortly before she was murdered that she had bought sweets and that on her way home had given them to children that she had met.

During the police investigation an appeal was made for a man that had been seen on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1956, near the scene of the crime. He was described as being:

• White male.
• Aged about 30.
• Height: 5ft 9in or 10in tall.
• Build: Athletic.
• Hair: Dark, fairly long, brushed back and well-greased.
• Complexion: Grey, 'like that of a person who has been ill'.
• Regular features.
• Dressed in a grey two piece suit, a pullover with sleeves an the 'colour of old bricks', grey rubber boots 'short, not knee-length and not the shiny Wellington type', trousers worn over the top of his boots.

The police said that they thought that the man could help in their investigations.

There are six files on her case at the National Archives in Kew, London, reflecting the scale of the investigation but they are all closed and nothing more is known about her case.