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Thread: Mystery killing of young mum In Knotty Ash In 1961

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    Otterspool Onomatopoeia Max's Avatar
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    Default Mystery killing of young mum In Knotty Ash In 1961

    Mystery killing of young mum

    Apr 11 2008 by Ben Rossington, Liverpool Echo

    WAS it a cult killing? Was it a bogus doctor? What about a young man in a leather jacket?

    No-one knows for sure who murdered young mum-of-two Maureen Dutton.

    She was a woman with two children, a normal family, loving husband and nice home in a quiet part of Liverpool.

    Yet Maureen Dutton was brutally stabbed to death in her own front room.

    Her toddler son David and baby boy Andrew were the only witnesses to the horrific crime

    There were no particularly incriminating clues surrounding the Knotty Ash murder, which gave police little to go on.

    It also explains the multitude of theories.

    On one foggy December day in 1961, 27-year-old Mrs Dutton was at the family?s Thingwall Lane home with her two children.

    She had hoped to take two-year-old David to see the Christmas crib at Childwall Parish Church. But the freezing fog that had lingered over the city for days moved in quickly, virtually trapping people indoors.

    The last conversation she is known to have had was with her mother-in-law Elsie, who phoned shortly after 1pm to say she could not come and babysit her 22-day-old grandson Andrew because of the fog.

    When Brian Dutton, a research chemist for ICI in Widnes, returned home at 6.10 that night he was puzzled to see the house in darkness.

    Entering slowly, he began to grow worried when he saw the family?s lunch lying half-eaten in the morning room.



    And when he pushed open the door to the living room he made the most grisly of discoveries.

    There in the middle of the room was his wife ? dead after suffering multiple stab wounds.

    His son David was sitting in a daze staring at his prone mother having apparently witnessed the killing. His brother Andrew lay in a basket just yards away.

    Police scoured the area but found no murder weapon and neighbours could not pinpoint anyone seen acting suspiciously.

    The seemingly motiveless killing then began to spawn numerous theories, none of which could be discounted entirely.

    All police knew was that nothing had been stolen.And it appears Mrs Dutton opened the door to her killer as there were no signs of a struggle or forced entry at the house.

    The newspapers quickly splashed news of the ?Knotty Ash Murder? all over the city and Old Swan Police Station became the centre of operations.

    Mrs Dutton was stabbed 14 times by someone she had apparently allowed into the house.

    Possible leads ? including a seemingly crazy woman on a bus muttering how she had done something terrible and needed to escape the city ? came and went, but nothing that could be classed as hard evidence materialised.

    Then police were told by a woman who, like Maureen Dutton, had recently given birth that she was called on by a bogus doctor who examined her.

    When the woman?s husband made enquiries about the mystery doctor he was told there was no doctor operating in the area at the time and he called the police.

    The focus of the investigation swung towards tracking the fraudster but, in the background, one constant kept cropping up.

    Neighbours began to talk of a good-looking young stranger in a leather jacket seen nearby.

    By January 17, police had amassed 20,000 statements and put together an identikit of what they believed the man could look like. It was carried on the ECHO?s front page the next day ? the first colour identikit to be published in a newspaper.

    More than 60 people responded within the first 24 hours.

    And while many were mistaken about the identity of the mystery man as names were quickly discounted police began to build a picture about the suspect.

    But he was never found.

    One of the most bizarre theories detectives considered, for a short while, was that Mrs Dutton was killed by a Polynesian cult as a sacrifice to their God Tiki.

    In a twist, a 24-year-old male nurse living in Upper Parliament Street was arrested and charged with theft of drugs and equipment from three Liverpool hospitals in 1962.

    He was also said to have masqueraded as a doctor and had a reversed swastika tattoo on his arm ? the identification mark of a Tiki-worshipper.

    Police thought it was the break through they had been waiting for.

    But soon he, too, was eliminated from inquiries and detectives were back to square one ? exactly the same place as they remain today.
    http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...0252-20749684/

    Was briefly reading about this In research writers 800 years of Haunted Liverpool book and thought It was pretty Interesting when It got to the Polynesian part.

    Asked my mum about It and she remembers the murder but never heard nothing about the Tiki thing, mostly she just remembers how foggy It was back then.

    Gonna get me a library card eventually and go the library to check the old echo stuff out.
    Gididi Gididi Goo.

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    Such an interesting, and incredibly sad story..plse let us know if you find out anything..I for one would be most interested

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    Chris48
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    It was also a Balmer failed investigation.

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    Senior Member edwardo's Avatar
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    My Brother worked for Hunters and had a little extra for mom for xmas and we were stoped by the police in knotty ash and had to open the back of the lorry for then to examin then sent on are way.it was a fright for us so we remember the Contiki murder.I seem to remember her stab wounds where in the shape of a swastiks.mabe wrong don't know.

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    Senior Member johnreppion's Avatar
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    Max,
    Nice to see that something you read in my book has sparked your interest.
    It's an odd case but, sadly, not one I know all that much about. One of my main sources for the piece in 800 Years was http://www.geocities.com/stevenhorto...ashmurder.html
    Comments? Questions? Subjects you'd like to see covered here?
    email me

    Visit my website:
    moorereppion.com

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    Re-member Ged's Avatar
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    And he is our very own SteH on Yo.
    www.inacityliving.piczo.com/

    Updated weekly with old and new pics.

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    Senior Member johnreppion's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ged View Post
    And he is our very own SteH on Yo.
    See, we're a well informed bunch here.
    Comments? Questions? Subjects you'd like to see covered here?
    email me

    Visit my website:
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    Quote Originally Posted by edwardo View Post
    My Brother worked for Hunters and had a little extra for mom for xmas and we were stoped by the police in knotty ash and had to open the back of the lorry for then to examin then sent on are way.it was a fright for us so we remember the Contiki murder.I seem to remember her stab wounds where in the shape of a swastiks.mabe wrong don't know.
    There was concern about the stab marks and the shape they formed as the Tiki Cult used a reverse swastika tatoo. Maureen Dutton was only 27 years old when she was stabbed in front of her children in her home. Prior to the attack, it was alleged that the Duttons had had visitors from the Tiki cult hence the investigation taking the path that it did. It remains unsolved.

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    Senior Member underworld's Avatar
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    And then a year later there was the Lesley Hobbs killing in Childwall Valley Road almost exactly a year later. This offender was caught though. Does anyone remember it?

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    Senior Member burkhilly's Avatar
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    I'd never heard of Lesley Hobbs, but had heard of Maureen Dutton. I've just googled and found out a little about her. God she was only 12yo. The file is closed (National Archives) for 85 years but it did name her killer, who had mental health problems by the sounds of it "diminished responsibility". He was also suspected of being the killer of Mrs Dutton, which I didn't know.

    Why are files closed for so long? It's nearly 50 years since the murders, I'd have thought around 30 years would be nearer the mark.

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    Senior Member lindylou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by underworld View Post
    And then a year later there was the Lesley Hobbs killing in Childwall Valley Road almost exactly a year later. This offender was caught though. Does anyone remember it?
    I remember everyone talking about it. I was only a kid at the time so I don't remember it in detail. I vaguely remember it being front page of the Echo and on the news.

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    Senior Member underworld's Avatar
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    1962 - She was 12 years old and was left babysitting by her parents one sunday night for a few hours and in charge of her 3 siblings. She was stabbed and battered to death with a standard ashtray in the lounge of the house whilst playing her pop records. The murder hunt involved over 500 detectives and for the first time, some from as far away as the West Midlands. The house in question was the last house on the left before dipping down under the railway bridge on CVR and has a long flat roof single storey extension at the side of it. The offenderwas a local lad who was convicted of Manslaughter. A very sad and seemingly almost forgotten case.

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    Re-member Ged's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by burkhilly View Post
    Why are files closed for so long? It's nearly 50 years since the murders, I'd have thought around 30 years would be nearer the mark.
    Seemingly to protect still living members of the victims family.
    www.inacityliving.piczo.com/

    Updated weekly with old and new pics.

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    Senior Member Bernie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by underworld View Post
    The house in question was the last house on the right before dipping down under the railway bridge on CVR and has a long flat roof single storey extension at the side of it.
    If you are heding downhill to the bridge it was the last on the left. I had been to Westons warehouse in St.Johns Huyton and was delivering a load to my shop. I was stopped and questioned by the police and it delayed me for ages.
    When the smoke has cleared and the bullets cease.another soldier rests in peace. The politicians who caused the fight, rest at home no danger in sight

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    Senior Member underworld's Avatar
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    Yes sorry, i meant left. I think it is number 51.

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