There are 10 unsolved murders across Derbyshire across 60 years

There are 10 unsolved murders[1] that police still want to solve across Derbyshire[2], with new data showing the number of ongoing cases, with some spanning more than six decades. Our interactive map allows us to pinpoint each murder across the county, as well as locations across the UK. Every case has been the subject of a major police investigation and ranges from seemingly random attacks - usually on women - as well as violent robberies, gangland killings and contract murders.

The oldest unsolved case in Derbyshire is the murder of 15-year-old Mavis Hudson, who was found suffocated and partially naked in a derelict warehouse. She was found on December 27, 1966, in a building off Spa Lane in the centre of Chesterfield[3]. At the time, her murder attracted considerable media attention both locally and nationally, with officers from Derbyshire and South Yorkshire being assigned to the investigation.

Nationally, the oldest unsolved case is that of 46-year-old farmer, Jim Dawson, who was shot in the back of his shoulder in 1938. He had spent the evening drinking in his local pub in Bashall Eaves, near Clitheroe, and initially thought he had been hit by someone throwing stones, due to being dulled by the ale. Four days later, he took a turn for the worse and died in a nursing home in Blackburn, with the cause of death ascertained as gangrene and septicemia from an infected wound.

Criminologist Dr David Wilson - who has investigated many cold cases - said: "Nine in 10 murders are solved by police because usually the victim and the perpetrator know one other. "Husbands kill wives, parents kill their children, friends kill each other. There is the phenomenon of young men killing other young men, but, usually, they know each other.

There's usually a relationship between the murderer and victim. "Victims of unsolved murders are usually people who don't have well-established roots in the community, so no one will know when they have gone missing, no one will think it's suspicious."

The 10 unsolved murders across Derbyshire

Elaine Wakefield Elaine Wakefield - then 20 - was discovered near a racetrack in February 1982.

Her body was found only wearing a bra and it was found that she had died from neck injuries.

The gruesome discovery was made by race organisers at the High Edge Raceway, at Axe Edge, between Leek and Buxton, on February 27, 1982. The case was reopened in 2003, but police stopped the investigation after no significant new leads were uncovered, despite a team being appointed to work full-time on the inquiry.

Wendy Sewell Legal secretary Wendy Sewell, 32, was attacked in Bakewell Cemetery[4], in the Peak District, at lunchtime on September 12, 1973.

She had been beaten about the head with the handle of a pickaxe and sexually assaulted. Seventeen-year-old cemetery groundsman Stephen Downing was jailed for her murder but his conviction was overturned in 2002, after Downing had served 27 years in prison. Wendy Sewell, along with Barbara Mayo, are thought by some to have been murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.

Barbara Mayo

Back in 2017, Derbyshire police renewed their appeal for information in relation to the murder of 24-year-old Barbara Mayo in 1970. The body of Barbara Mayo was discovered by a member of the public in woodland in Ault Hucknall, near Glapwell, just a mile from Junction 29 of the M1. The student teacher, like Wendy Sewell, is thought to be a potential victim of the Yorkshire Ripper[5], who died in 2017.

Her murder sparked the biggest manhunt Britain had ever seen at that time. She had been raped, beaten and strangled. Police believe she was murdered while hitchhiking to Catterick in North Yorkshire to fetch her boyfriend's car.

Mavis Hudson Mavis Hudson, then aged 15, is the oldest unsolved murder in the list - and the youngest victim. She was found suffocated and partially naked in a derelict warehouse off Spa Lane, Chesterfield, on December 27, 1966.

She was found by two boys and the remains were quickly identified as those of Mavis Hudson. It was reported that her time of death was somewhere between 10pm on the December 26 and 2am on December 27. Michael Pritchard

Michael Pritchard, of Stoke-on-Trent, was killed by a thief who deliberately ran him over as Mr Pritchard attempted to stop him stealing his van in Kirk Langley. The 54-year-old tried to stop the man driving off and was dragged 50 feet along the road as the driver accelerated.

The married father-of-one suffered multiple injuries and died at the scene. More than 50 uniformed and detective officers were drafted into the investigation to carry out house to house inquiries following the incident, but the case was never solved.

Kenneth Broughton

Kenneth Broughton, then aged 24, was killed and his brother Neil suffered serious burns after petrol was poured into their Mackworth flat and set alight in December 2003.

In January 2004, police charged two teenage boys with murder, aged 16 and 17, but they were found not guilty at a trial later that year. The cries of the two brothers caught inside their blazing home following the arson attack could be heard by neighbours, a court heard. Ronald Hull

Retired shopkeeper, Ronald Hull, was found dead at his home in Ilkeston in 1996 after being suffocated. His son, Colin Hull, was cleared of his murder the following year after being charged by police. The charge had been reduced to manslaughter, but was discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service in June 1997.

Mr Hull pledged never to return to the terraced house on Hallam Fields Road, Ilkeston, where his father died. William Cox Mr Cox was found with severe head injuries in The Avenue, Derby, at 12.30am on July 13, 1996.

He died in hospital a few hours later. Police discovered that Mr Cox had been seen near Sergeant Peppers pub, in Burton Road, between 8.30pm and 9pm - 600 metres from where he was found four hours later. Mr Cox was about 5ft 10in tall and of slim build.

On the night he was attacked he was wearing a beige jacket, two shirts, a T-shirt, blue jeans and a bright blue hat. Detective Superintendent Malcolm Parkin described Mr Cox as a "a harmless man" and described the attack as "brutal and unprovoked". Brian Adams

Brian Adams was executed in cold-blood in Thorndike Avenue, Alvaston, on August 14, 1990. The 48-year-old father-of-three was shot twice outside his home by a balaclava-clad gunman at 11.30pm and an inquest into his death heard that his killing "bore all the hallmarks" of a professional hit.

Mr Adams, who ran a heavy plant windscreen replacement business, had just returned home on a new Kawasaki motorbike he had bought that day when he was murdered. He was on the driveway of his home when the killer emerged from the shadows and, using an Astra Cyclope or Vanguard-type shotgun, stuck the single barrel into the back of Mr Adams' helmet and fired twice.

One cartridge deflected into Mr Adams' head off his shoulder, and a second sank straight into his throat. Gurbax Kaur Sandhu Gurbax Kauer Sandhu - then 30 - was strangled to death at her home in Normanton on October 10, 1993.

There is limited information available regarding her death.

References

1. ^ murders (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
2. ^ Derbyshire (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
3. ^ Chesterfield (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
4. ^ Wendy Sewell, 32, was attacked in Bakewell Cemetery (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
5. ^ potential victim of the Yorkshire Ripper (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)