Amy Browell

Amy Browell was battered to death in front of the counter of her lock-up shop in Churchill Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the night of Thursday 26 February 1959.

It was thought that she had been murdered sometime between 3pm and 4pm.

The murder weapon was not found but the police said that they thought that it was blunt, but with a cutting edge.

Her shop was on a derelict slum-clearance site in the street near Marlborough Crescent bus station and only 300 yards from Newcastle Central railway station. She used to travel to work each day by taxi and go home by taxi and had lived in Ladykirk Road in the West End. The police later said that they were surprised by the large number of people that used her shop and said that the takings were much greater than would appear.

She had run a general dealer's shop and had traded under the name of Barrett.

The police were called after the taxi driver called to take her home and found the door to her shop locked. Her evening taxi would call for her each evening at 6pm. It was said that her shop was in a rather tough area of the city.

It was noted that her shop was in an area that was fast deteriorating and that in the past 20 to 30 years there had been six murders.

The police said that they thought that robbery was the motive and that they were dealing with capital murder as money had been stolen from the shop. They said that there was a small amount of money left in the shop but said that there should have been more.

The police appealed for anyone that had been in the shop on 26 February 1959 to come forward.

The day after her murder the Newcastle police called in Scotland Yard. The chief constable of Newcastle said, 'This is rather a tricky murder and I am calling in the Yard not in the spirit of reflection upon the men on my own staff, who are first-class, but just as a precaution that we do not overlook anything'.

The police said that they took thousands of statements. During house to house inquiries the police said that they were asking householders such questions as:

• Have you any boarders and if so where were they last Thursday?
• Did they return home?
• Did anybody leave last Thursday?

The police said that they were trying to trace a man that was seen to enter the shop at about 3.30pm but not seen to leave. His description was given as:

• Aged 19 to 21.
• 5ft 8in to 5ft 10in tall.
• Slim build and upright carriage.
• Short and very dark hair which was straight and had been blowing in the wind.
• Pale complexion.
• Wearing a double-breasted navy blue or dark blue jacket and trousers and Wellington boots/rubber knee boots.
• Probably having blood stained clothing.

He was seen by the wife of the licencee of the Coach and Wagons public house at about 3.10pm when she looked out of her window but she didn't see him come out. She noted that she was not too nervous about having given the description of the man to the police, but said that she was worried for her 25-year-old daughter, who said, 'I'm a little afraid, but not very much'.

It was heard that the licensee's wife had been friends with Amy Browell for many years and that it was her habit to go backwards and forwards to the shop. It was also heard that Amy Browell bought her stocks day by day and that the licensee's wife would often lend her money to do so and that on the day of the murder she had lent her £3. The licensee's wife said, 'One can reasonably assume that there was not much money in the till. The reason for the crime I believe was robbery and the amount of money was small'.

She noted that there had been a number of people working on the bombed site and that among other people there were people of the hawker type who would gather scrap.

The police said, 'One of these young men did fit the description given by the licensees wife and was put in an dentification parade. He was picked out by the licensees wife, but not without considerable hesitation, and later she could not take the oath. Every avenue was explored again and I must say the young man is almost wholly eliminated for more enquiries. There was sufficient matter to put him under suspicion, but it would be entirely wrong to charge him'.

It was said that one theory was that the murderer had got away from the city by train or bus.

The police also questioned workmen at a building site opposite Amy Browell's shop about a long-haired man with an Irish accent and a limp who one of the workmen said tried to sell a duffel coat to his workmates. The man was described as:

• Wearing a duffel coat and grey trousers tucked into Wellington boots that were turned over at the top.
• Pock-marked face.
• Long black hair.
• Looked as though he was down and out.
• Irish accent with a trace of Geordie as though he was trying to speak Geordie.
• About 5ft 8in tall.

The workman said that he saw the man again about two days later, around Saturday 21 February 1959 walking from the direction of the shop towards the Coach and Horses public house saying that he seemed undecided and that he then walked up and down Blenheim Street about four times.

The police also appealed for any lorry driver that had travelled out of Newcastle that might have picked up anyone matching that description from the Marlborough Crescent area of Newcastle.

The police said that they didn't think that Amy Browell put up much of a fight as there were few signs that a struggle had taken place.

It was reported that the police initially set up a 'murder room' in the Watch Committee quarters at Newcastle Police headquarters which was manned 24 hours a day and which received reports by radio and telephone with all information being collated and filed there. It was said that all the information gathered was being fitted together like a jigsaw. It was reported that the police were hoping that one of the missing pieces would drop into place and give them the vital line of enquiry or clue that would lead them to the murderer.

It was said that the fact that Amy Browell died without a struggle and in front of her counter and not behind it was capable of several interpretations. One interpretation being that Amy Browell knew her attacker and that she had come out from her counter to fetch something for him, trustingly, when she was suddenly struck, but that it could also indicate that after being threatened or having money demanded from her and that she was bravely on her way from behind the counter to raise an alarm when the 'customer' hit her.

The police said that it was possible for people in the street to look into the shop and see if anyone was there and that Amy Browell rarely went round to the customer's side of the counter, but could wave to anyone passing.

The police extended their search to areas where older customers of Amy Browell had moved to following the demolition of much of Churchill Street, including people in North Kenton as well as flats in Scotswood Road with it being noted that many of Amy Browell's older customers still returned to use her shop, sometimes visiting her shop several times a week. It was also noted that many of the residents that had moved out were also coming back at night to visit the public houses in the area.

It was suggested that the murderer might have been in the meat packing or handling trade and that the murder weapon might have been a meat chopper, although it was said that not a lot of stress was being laid on that possibility with it being noted that there were other places nearer the meat handling centres on Scotswood Road that were more convenient than Churchill Street. It was also thought that a meat chopper was too obvious a weapon for anyone to have carried to or from the shop and not something that a meat handler would normally take away from his business premises.

It was also considered that the murder weapon might have been a piece of scrap lead or a section of a builders angle iron. It was also noted that the police had found an old rusty poker on the site surrounding the shop.

It had also been suggested that the murder weapon had been a trowel but tests later ruled that out.

It was shown that Amy Browell's head wound had included curved as well as straight wounds as well as a small one for which no explanation could be found.

It was noted that since the houses in the area had been demolished that there had been 'pickings' of odds and ends of metal and wood.

The police were seen to arrest a man near Amy Browell's shop on Friday 27 February 1959. It was reported that they had seen a man walking along near the shop with a bag and that they had gone up to him, one on either side and asked him what he had had in his bag. It was believed that it contained stolen copper and he was arrested and taken away. It was further reported that when the man was arrested that one of the workmen on the nearby site said, 'I ran across and shouted 'Have you got him?', I meant the murderer, but they said he wasn't'.

Her inquest, which concluded on Saturday 4 April 1959, returned a verdict of 'Murder by person or persons unknown'.

The police said at the inquest that many of the leads that they followed turned out to be red herrings.

On Wednesday 22 April 1959 the police questioned a South Shields man about his movements on the afternoon of the murder and sent samples of his clothing off for examination to the Home Office Forensic science laboratories at Gosforth. However, nothing more is known about that.

They also said that some of the times that they were told that the shop was open were being treated with considerable reserve stating that they had reason to believe that the material time was about 2.45pm and 3pm.

It was stated that from the evidence given by several witnesses that it was possible that the shop door was closed and secured at 3pm but it was also stated that it was open at 3.35pm and that other customers found if closed and secured again at 3.30pm, which it was said raised the question of whether Amy Browell had left the shop temporarily between 3pm and 3.30pm and made a visit somewhere.

The police noted that one man had told them that he thought that he had heard moans coming from the shop and that he had put his ear to the window but had heard nothing.

The police noted that there was a floating population in the area and that it was not always easy to find people they wanted to interview. They said that the killer had had the luck of a million to one chance in so far escaping detection.

The police noted that there was evidence that the murderer was extremely cool after the murder as he paused to wipe his hands in the shop, to shut the door and to make sure that it was locked behind him.

The police said that it was not unlikely that he was still in the Newcastle or Tyneside area.

It was also suggested that the murderer was not part of the main Tyneside criminal element as the £1,000 reward that was offered brought in no leads, it being said that criminals that covered up for each other usually condoned murder and that if there had been a suspect amongst them that it was thought likely that after the reward was offered that there would have been a 'whisper'.

The £1,000 reward was publicised with two colour posters that were put up in police stations, cafes, public houses and meeting places with a concentration of posters in the North Kenton estate where many of the displaced residents from Churchill Road had been rehoused.

The police said that Amy Browell's shop had once flourished, but that following the demolition work in the surrounding area that when she died she was in considerable debt.

It was heard that whilst being greatly respected, she had no real friends and lived an insular life although as far as was known she had had no enemies.