Georgina Davies

Georgina Davies was found dead in her home in Mildred Street, Higher Broughton on Wednesday 21 May 1986.

She had been strangled in her bedroom.

She was found lying fully clothed on her bed. Her two dogs had been shut in the kitchen.

A 59-year-old woman was arrested for her murder, but released by a court before her case came to trial. Following the woman's acquittal, the woman vowed never to return to Salford, saying:

Georgina Davies was popularly known as 'Florence Nightingale'. She was described as a wealthy widow and had been nursing all her life.

It was initially heard that a succession of callers had gone to her home since the Monday to call on her but got no response and that it wasn't until the Wednesday that she was discovered dead.

The police had said that they were trying to establish what had happened to her in what was described as a missing 48 hours. However, the Crimewatch television programme narrowed that gap down, it being said that other witnesses had seen her up until 6pm on the Tuesday.

It was noted that when visitors called, that Georgina Davies's two dogs, which would ordinarily bark, had been silent.

She was last reported as being seen by a 14-year-old boy who saw her walking her two dogs, Beauty and Toby, at 9am on the Wednesday along Cornwall Road. However, the police believed that the boy might have been mistaken.

It was known that Georgina Davies had had a hairdressing appointment at her home on the Monday, however, when the hairdresser called she got no reply. The hairdresser said that Georgina Davies hadn't informed her that she would be out, noting that ordinarily she would have.

On the Crime Watch appeal it was said that the last time Georgina Davies was seen alive was when she took her dogs out for a walk on Tuesday 20 May 1986 to the Old Salford Race course in the afternoon.

It was also heard that she had been seen at about 4.15pm walking home with her dogs that day by a young friend who had been out to the post office. She said that when she got the No 13 bus back she saw Georgina Davies across the road and went over to speak to her, noting that she seemed normal and quite happy. She said that they then walked together until she reached her house and that she presumed that Georgina Davies went on to her house.

Another witness, a near neighbour, said that she had been getting out of her car in the street at about 5.45pm to 6.00pm when she saw Georgina Davies pull up in her green Metro car. She said that she looked a bit angry when she got out and didn't think it appropriate to speak to her and that they both then went into their own respective houses.

Georgina Davies was known to drink at The Griffin public house nearby and to regularly meet up with friends there on Tuesday evenings.

Another man that knew Georgina Davies said that he had been walking his dogs on the Racecourse and that as he was going home he thought he would call on Georgina Davies and ask her if she wanted to go out for a drink. He said that it was about 9pm when he called and that he made quite a bit of noise knocking so that she would know that it was him, but although he waited for a while, he got no answer, and said that he just presumed that she was out at work and went home and got changed and after getting changed and feeding the dog went over to The Griffin for a drink. However, it was noted that in the few weeks before her murder that she hadn't been going to The Griffin as normal and it was thought possible that the black Ford Escort car that she had been meeting from time to time might be connected with that or that it might have been that she had other jobs that the police hadn't found out about yet.

It was further noted that although it was a Tuesday, Georgina Davies didn't join the others for a drink at The Griffin pub that night.

The police appealed for anyone that had seen Georgina Davies between 4.15pm and 6pm on the Tuesday, noting that she was known to get home about 4.15pm an then again seen returning in her car at 6pm, but it was not known where she had been between those times and they wanted to find out.

The police also appealed for anyone that had employed Georgina Davies over the recent months to come forward.

At midnight, a neighbour in Mildred Street said she noticed something unusual, that being that there was a light on in Georgina Davies's spare bedroom window.

The next afternoon when Georgina Davies was late for work, her employer rang her, but got no answer, and then drove to her home and found a broken window pane in Georgina Davies's front door. After that she called the police.

When the police arrived, they found Georgina Davies dead in her bedroom, having died from some form of pressure to her neck.

The police said that they were seeking two men that had been seen outside her house at about 7am on the Wednesday. They were described as:

Man A:

• Aged between 30 and 40.
• 6ft tall.
• Slimly built.
• Spotty face.
• Clean shaven.
• Darkish hair.
• Wearing blue boiler suit and blue denim cap.

Man B:

• Aged between 30 and 40.
• 5ft 6in tall.
• Slimly built.
• Wearing blue boiler suit and blue denim cap.

It was said that they had been standing outside her house and looking at it, but they were never traced.

It was later determined during the investigation that Georgina Davies had been regularly picked up at the same place every week for the previous 12 months, however, the police said that they didn't know whether Georgina Davies's had been doing voluntary care work or whether she was being picked up for other reasons such as going for a night out and the police appealed for the person that would pick her up to come forward.

The police said:

A close friend of Georgina Davies told the police that she was picked up every week between 6pm and 6.30pm, on either a Tuesday, Thursday or a Friday, the pickup point always being the same, the junction of Lower Broughton Road and Great Cheetham Street in Salford, just round the corner from where she lived. The butcher whose shop was on the corner there opposite The Griffin and who knew Georgina Davies said that she would be picked up by a person in a black A reg Ford Escort car. It wasn't thought that she was going to see a patient at the time as she was described as having been very well dressed when she went to meet the car.

It was also considered that she might have been killed by burglars. Although her house had not been ransacked, it was found that there was a broken pane of glass in her front door and that her back door was unlocked. The police said that they were working on the theory that she had arrived home and disturbed an intruder who might have panicked and fled after killing her.

It was noted that Georgina Davies had been very security conscious and had always believed that a burglar might single her out because it was known in the area that she had money. It was thought that she had been left a small fortune by her greengrocer husband when he died 15 years earlier. However, she was said not to have kept large sums in the house.

Her house was described as sumptuous, and was called The Cottage.

It was heard that after she retired as a nursing sister at Salford's Ladywell Hospital in 1976 that she became matron of Broughton House, the home for disabled ex-servicemen. After she left there in 1982 she carried on nursing by looking after the old and sick in the neighbourhood.

A man that was described as having been treated like a son by Georgina Davies and her husband, said:

A man that lived in nearby Oak Road who became Georgina Davies's closest friend after his parents died said:

She was said to have taken her dogs for walks once or twice every day.

Following the Crime Watch appeal on the television on 10 July 1986 the 59-year-old woman was arrested for her murder on 11 July 1986. However, it is not clear what the case against her was and she was acquitted for the case came to trial.

The Crimewatch episode revealed the following items were found to be missing from her home:

1. Set of house keys with a Yale and mortice key on it.
2. Brown leather handbag.
3. Blue cagoule with a white stripe down the side, which she had been wearing that day.
4. Green Wellington boots.

She was freed on bail on 26 July 1986 until 24 September 1986. She also appeared before Salford Magistrates on Wednesday 24 September 1986 when her bail was extended to 22 October 1986. She was cleared by 12 December 1986. During that time she had spent 17 days in Risley Remand Centre and later complained, saying:

It was noted that the woman, who had lived in Lower Broughton Road, Lower Broughton, had since moved to Bury. She noted that she had never been in trouble with the law before and that she was accused of murder.

When Georgina Davies's estate was settled, it was reported that the RSPCA received a large share of it, about £58,000 and that they were to name a new animal recovery room at their Salford headquarters in Eccles New Road after her in her honour.