Anne Dunwell: Killer still a mystery more than six decades after 13-year-old South Yorkshire girl's murder
Anne Dunwell’s naked body was discovered by a lorry driver the morning after she disappeared
Another year has gone by with no new answers over the murder of a 13-year-old South Yorkshire girl - strangled with her own stockings 62 years ago.
Anne Dunwell, aged 13, was found at the bottom of a manure heap between the Rotherham hamlets of Carr and Slade Hooton on May 7, 1964.
Her naked body - which still had a stocking tied around her neck - was discovered by a passing lorry driver the morning after she had disappeared while headed to a bus stop after visiting an aunt in Bramley.
A post-mortem later revealed the 13-year-old had been strangled with her own stockings and viciously sexually assaulted.
A police appeal for information at the time revealed that a young woman matching Anne’s description was seen struggling with a man in a mini-van at around 11pm on the night she died.
Forensics showed the killer’s semen was found on the teen’s stockings however in 2022 a reopened investigation failed to identify the killer on the national database despite advancements in DNA.
Speaking last year, a South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said “hundreds” of officers had worked on the investigation in the years since Anne’s death.
However they added that despite various new lines of enquiry none had lead to the identification of Anne's killer.
The evening before Anne’s death in May 1964 she was supposed to stay at her aunt’s house in Bramley.
But the teen had decided to return to the home she shared with her grandparents in the nearby village of Whiston.
It is believed Anne was snatched while en-route to the bus stop.
Describing the moments when he found Anne’s body, lorry driver Thomas Wilson said he thought he was the subject of a “practical joke”.
He said: “I was driving down the lane when I saw what I thought was a tailor’s dummy with its feet in the hedge and back on the manure heap.
“I thought it was a practical joke and drove on. When I got to work, I told my brother-in-law what I had seen and to make sure we drove back.
“We went within two yards of the body, which had a stocking round its neck, and noticed that the legs were badly bruised. There were also bruises on the face. The arms seemed as if they had been placed behind the back.”
During the police murder probe which followed it was quickly established that Anne had never caught the bus.
Her family said that she would never have willingly climbed into a vehicle with a stranger, so it was assumed that she had been abducted from the roadside.
Although witness appeals did yield the account of the struggle in the van, several suspects and a photofit of the killer no arrests were ever made.
Speaking about the frequently reviewed case last year, a spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “Hundreds of dedicated officers have worked on the investigation in the years since Anne’s death, revisiting the case as developments in forensic technology have enabled new leads to be pursued.
“A large number of men have been traced and eliminated from the enquiry. The case has been reviewed on a number of occasions in the past and new lines of enquiry identified.
“Sadly, these did not lead to the identification of Anne's killer. South Yorkshire Police will investigate any new information that may come to light, though the Major Incident Review Team.”
Anyone with information should contact South Yorkshire Police on 101.