Janet Murgatroyd was a vivacious twenty-year-old who attended school at the University of Central Lancashire and worked part-time for the Lancashire Police.
On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, Janet spent the day shopping with her friend Fiona Watson in Preston, and then the pair of them made the rounds of some local pubs during the evening. The young women were in extremely high spirits, excited about an upcoming backpacking trip around Europe. As the night went on, Janet called her mother to tell her she might be later coming home than she had planned.
Witnesses spotted her leaving the Adelphi pub with an unidentified man at around twelve-thirty a.m. and a short time after that, others claimed they saw her sleeping in the Fishergate area near Preston Railway Station.
A taxi driver subsequently told police that he had seen a blonde woman fitting Janet’s description at a little past one in the morning; she was running across Penwortham Bridge, apparently being pursued by a man. The bridge was only a mile and a half from Janet’s house.
About twenty minutes later, two brothers walking across the bridge reported hearing what they thought was a woman’s muffled wail. When they peered down into the darkness to where they thought the sound was coming from, they noticed a man who seemed to be crouching over someone on the banks of the River Dribble. Though they couldn’t get a good look at the individual’s face, they stated that he was wearing a baggy, light-colored shirt.
The following afternoon, Janet’s nude, lifeless body was recovered from the river. She had been severely beaten, kicked, and stomped on, and copious scratches on her flesh indicated she had been dragged through the undergrowth. She had most likely been raped as well. A post-mortem determined she had died from head injuries and drowning, and further suggested she’d been alive for a significant period of time after being dumped in the water.
Janet’s clothing and jewelry were later discovered in the bushes near where the witnesses had heard her screaming the night before. DNA evidence was extracted from hairs found on her blouse and socks.
In 2002, a twenty-two-year-old man was convicted of manslaughter in connection with the crime. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal in 2004, and no further arrests have been made in the case.
The savage murder of Janet Murgatroyd remains unsolved, nearly thirty years later.
Crime Immemorial 