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| Muriel Drink-water murder: Harold Jones link ruled out |
Twelve-year-old Muriel Drinkwater
was singing as she walked along the mile-long path to her home after getting
off a school bus.
Her mother Margaret watched from
the house as the youngest of her four daughters went among the trees and
disappeared from sight.
It was the last time her mother
saw her alive.
The next day the child's body was
found. Muriel had been brutally raped, battered around the head, and shot twice,
with her killing dubbed the Little Red Riding Hood murder by the national
press.
Thousands of men were questioned
over the shocking death of Muriel, a schoolgirl at Penllergaer Grammar School
on the outskirts of Swansea.
Posters featuring the weapon used and a description of a man wanted for questioning were circulated widely but yielded no results.
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| Muriel Drink-water murder: Harold Jones link ruled out |
Despite the effort and resources plowed into finding the killer,
the inquiry remained unsolved.
It had been hoped a vital piece of forensic evidence might finally
lead police to the identity of Muriel's killer.
A man liquid stain found on her coat is thought to be one of the oldest
pieces of crime scene evidence in the world.
It was discovered during a 2003 case review and was used to rule out a boy who passed Muriel before she was attacked as a suspect.
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| Muriel Drink-water murder: Harold Jones link ruled out |
. South Wales Police were looking into
whether Harold Jones, who murdered two young girls in a town about 45 miles
away, also killed Muriel.
But after re-examining the forensic evidence and considering theories
that Jones was responsible, they have confirmed he was not the killer.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lewis, head of the South Wales Police's Specialist Crime Review Unit said: "The results of the forensic examination categorically confirm that Jones was not responsible for the murder of Muriel Drinkwater.
"Due to advances in forensic technology, we have been able to look again at evidence from the murder in 1946 and I am now able to rule out Harold Jones is completely a suspect in this case.
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| Muriel Drink-water murder: Harold Jones link ruled out |
"I have spoken to Muriel's family to bring them up to date with the
latest details of this investigation."
The news will be a blow to historian Neil Milkins, who has spent 12
years researching Muriel's murder and took his theory to the police.
Speaking before the results of the DNA sample were known, he said:
"Harold was a convicted double child murderer - suspected of being one of
Britain's most notorious serial killers.
"He would have had no problem committing this murder."
Growing up in Abertillery in a poor family, Jones left school in his
early teens and began work as a shop assistant.
But in February 1921, aged just 15, he lured eight-year-old Freda
Burnell to a seed store behind the shop and killed her in a vicious attack.
He hid her body and dumped it in an alley during the night.
As the last person to see her alive, Jones was arrested and put on trial at Monmouth Assizes.
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| Muriel Drink-water murder: Harold Jones link ruled out |
But local people believed he was "fitted up" by the London
detectives and campaigned for his release.
After being found not guilty and released, he was paraded through the
town shoulder high by his supporters and presented with a gold watch.
This time it was Freda's friend, 11-year-old Florence Little.
He lured her to his home, slit her throat, then hid her body in the
attic.
Upon the discovery of her remains, Jones admitted both murders and was
jailed for 20 years.
When he was released in 1941, he joined the army, serving in Libya
before his military service ended in February 1946.
Muriel was murdered four months after he left the forces, leading Mr. Milkins to suspect it may be him.
Mr. Milkins said: "Just before he was released from prison, he told
authorities he didn't want to lose the desire to kill and rape.
"So it seems to me, and also psychologists, he may have gone on to
kill many more times.
"He was a psychopath, so calm and cool.
"It seemed he could kill someone, walk away, and talk to people
with no nerves at all."
There is a school of thought that Jones was also Jack the Stripper, a notorious killer who strangled six women in London in the 1960s.
Jones lived in the area at the time of the killings, and in 2018 an investigation led by criminologist Prof David Wilson named him as the prime
suspect.
Jones later went on to have a daughter, who knew nothing of his crimes, and he led an "unassuming life" until his death from cancer in 1971.
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| Muriel Drink-water murder: Harold Jones link ruled out |
Speaking before the DNA results were known, Dr. Jane Monckton Smith, a
forensic criminologist who grew up near Muriel's hometown said:
"Personally, I don't know anyone using a sample so old.
"It's amazing that we have come so far that we can extract a
profile from it.
"From what I know, Harold Jones was a sexual gratification, and from my
limited knowledge, I think it's highly likely he is a good suspect in a number
of murders."
Muriel's niece, Margaret, is back at square one, still waiting
for an answer to who killed Muriel.
She said: "Muriel was my aunt, and my mum and she had a very happy
childhood on the farm.
"The murder of her little sister had a massive effect on my mother
and family.
"Ideally, I would like to put it to rest, because it's an open
case.
"We still need justice for Muriel."
BBC News
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