A 92-year-old man has been convicted of the murder and rape of Louisa Dunne, whose body was found at her home in Bristol 58 years ago.
Ryland Headley, of Clarence Road in Ipswich, denied the offences but was found guilty by a jury following a trial at Bristol Crown Court. The jury unanimously found him guilty of rape, and guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to two. He will be sentenced tomorrow, Tuesday 1 June.
Louisa, 75, also known as Louise, was found dead in her home in Britannia Road, Easton, by a neighbour on Wednesday 28 June 1967. The cause of her death was determined to be strangulation and asphyxiation. She had also been raped.
A re-review of the case began in 2023, with officers from our Major Crime Review Team (MCRT) later submitting items for forensic analysis, including clothing.
Louisa’s blue skirt which she was wearing at the time she was attacked, was among the items tested and an examination resulted in a full DNA profile being obtained from it.
This profile was compared to the national database and found to be a match with Ryland Headley, whose profile was placed onto the system in 2012 following an unconnected and unrelated incident. The court was told the DNA was a billion to one times more likely to be from Headley than anyone else.
Headley was arrested following a police operation on Tuesday 19 November 2024, and he was taken into custody in Ipswich and interviewed by our officers. He was later charged and remanded in custody to appear in court (footage from the interview below).
It was following this that a palmprint found on an upstairs bedroom window at Louisa’s home was also found to be a match to Headley, after a new set of prints were taken from him in custody. This palmprint had resulted in prints being taken from more than 19,000 men during the original murder investigation.
Headley was convicted of two counts of rape in the late 1970s, after he attacked elderly women in Ipswich by breaking into their homes overnight and threatening them with violence, before carrying out the rape offence. Both offences happened in October 1977. One of the victims was in her late seventies, and the other in her mid-eighties.
Headley admitted these offences, with a further 10 burglary offences committed in the 1970s being taken into consideration.
He was initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was reduced following an appeal to a seven-year jail term.
He was caught for these offences after he left fingerprints at one of the scenes, which led to him being identified following a mass house-to-house and fingerprinting operation carried out by Suffolk Police. Headley had his fingerprints taken as part of these enquiries on 3 December 1977 and was arrested in London nine days later.
Senior Investigating Officer Det Insp Dave Marchant said: “The brutal murder and rape of Louisa Dunne has been solved after almost six decades.
“Louisa was attacked in her own home, where she should have been safe. It left a community in shock and there are people living in Bristol today who will remember the impact this terrible crime had on the city.
“Headley, who has a shocking and abhorrent history of violent sexual attacks on elderly women, is now facing justice for the terror he inflicted on Louisa in 1967.
“Headley never featured in this original investigation as he lived outside the area where the house-to-house enquiries were carried out.
“Louisa’s family have had an extremely long wait for answers, but we hope this re-investigation and successful outcome will help them feel justice has finally been served, and will give them some form of peace and closure.”
He added: “The extensive and meticulous work carried out by officers with the Bristol Constabulary in the 1960s has paved the way for the enquiries we’ve carried out today. It was a comprehensive police investigation which saw prints taken from more than 19,000 men in a bid to find Louisa’s killer. This was in addition to 1,300 statements taken and more than 8,000 house-to-house records.
There was also expert help from outside Bristol, with officers from New Scotland Yard assisting with the mass printing exercise.
“As part of our re-investigation, all 20 boxes of original material were reviewed.
“Ryland Headley has left a legacy of misery and pain through his offending and likely thought he’d got away with Louisa’s murder until officers knocked on his door last November.
“Crimes of this magnitude should never go unpunished, and we remain relentless in ensuring we do all we can to advance other unsolved murder cases in the Avon and Somerset area.”
Timeline to justice
- 28 June 1967
Louisa Dunne is found murdered in a downstairs room of her home in Britannia Road, Easton
- 1967
A huge police investigation is carried out in Bristol, in which palmprints from 19,000 men are taken in a bid to identify the killer
- October 1977
Two women in Ipswich are raped in separate incidents after a man breaks into their home at night. Fingerprints are recovered from one of the scenes.
- 3 December 1977
Following a mass house-to-house and fingerprint testing operation in Ipswich, Ryland Headley’s fingerprints are taken. Two days later he was positively identified as the offender.
- 12 December 1977
Following information received, Headley was arrested by officers in Marshalsea Road, London
- May 1978
After pleading guilty, Headley is convicted of two rape offences and sentenced to life imprisonment. This sentence was later reduced to seven years on appeal
- 2012
Ryland Headley’s DNA is entered onto the national database following his arrest for an unrelated and unconnected incident
- 2023
Following a review of all unsolved murder investigations by our MCRT, the Louisa Dunne investigation is looked at in detail to identify any forensic opportunities
- May 2024
A skirt worn by Louisa at the time she was attacked is among items sent off for forensic testing
- Sept 2024
A full DNA profile is obtained from the skirt and matches with 92-year-old Ryland Headley
- 19 Nov 2024
Ryland Headley is arrested by MCRT officers at his home in Ipswich and taken into custody for questioning. Later the same day he is charged with the murder and rape of Louisa Dunne.
- 20 Nov 2024
Headley makes his first appearance via video link at Bristol Magistrates’ Court. The following day he appears at Bristol Crown Court, again via a video link and is remanded in custody pending his trial.
- June 2025
Following a trial at Bristol Crown Court, Headley is convicted of the murder and rape of Louisa Dunne.
