The Bedgebury Forest Woman refers to an unknown female whose body was found in Bedgebury Forest, Kent, England, on 23 October 1979. Despite multiple investigations, an arrest and a trial, the woman has never been identified. [1]
The Bedgebury Forest Woman refers to an unknown female whose body was found in Bedgebury Forest, Kent, England, on 23 October 1979. Despite multiple investigations, an arrest and a trial, the woman has never been identified. [1]
The body was found by a woman riding on horseback through Bedgebury Forest on Tuesday, 23 October 1979. [2] The forest floor was dry as the weather had been dry and sunny for a few weeks. [3] The body had been battered, mutilated, murdered and dumped but little attempt had been made to conceal the body and it was apparent in the undergrowth from the rider's position. [4] [2] The victim had suffered massive head injuries from a beating. [4] A bloodstained wooden stake found near the victim's body was later concluded to have been the murder weapon. [5] No handbag or means of identification were found with the body. [2] Police believe that the victim had been killed up to five days prior to her discovery. [6]
The severity of the injuries to the woman's head and body prevented identification. [7] The woman was aged between 30 and 35, she was quite short at 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) and she had a thin build. [1] She had brown eyes and straight shoulder-length hair which she had kept in its natural, dark-brown colour [1]
The victim was wearing black shoes, a distinctive floral dress, a black polo neck jumper [1] and a yellow blouse. [8] The police stated that the black and white patterned dress was the clue that was most likely to lead to the discovery of her identity. [2] The dress was found to have been homemade from furniture fabric. [9] It had been altered on multiple occasions; once to the hem and another to the chest area. [9] The dress had been purchased at a charity, or second hand shop. [9] Police believed that the victim was very poor [9] and possibly from the north of England. [7]
The autopsy revealed that the victim had an ectopic pregnancy which had been present for 4–6 weeks and bleeding for 2–3 weeks. [10] The victim would have been in severe pain and may have visited a doctor suspecting appendicitis as the pain would have occurred on her right side. [10] Stretch marks on her stomach indicated that she had probably given birth to at least one child. [10]
The victim's molars were very worn down and she had wisdom teeth which indicated that she was at least 30 years old. [10] There was no evidence that the victim had ever visited a dentist in her life. [10] The victim had prominent, visibly decayed teeth. [11] No nicotine staining was found on the victim's hands, teeth or lungs. [10] Additionally, the victim's lungs did not exhibit the carbon deposits typical of a city-dweller, indicating that she probably lived in the countryside. [10] Police believe the woman was of no fixed address and was a regular hitchhiker along the M1 and M6 motorways and may have had a connection with the Vale of Evesham. [8] [11] There was a possibility that she may have been working as a prostitute, operating from Spitalfields in London. [8]
After the discovery the police searched the missing persons databases at New Scotland Yard and the UK Social Services. [2] Hospitals and doctors surgeries were also polled for persons who matched the description of the woman. [2] A large poster campaign was launched throughout the UK and Europe. [2] All of these investigative efforts failed to produce a match to the woman's identity. [2]
In December 1984, the victim was featured on an episode of the BBC TV programme Crimewatch . Police appealed for the persons that had made, or altered, the black and white dress to come forward. [9]
In October 1998, the case was reopened after an investigation by forensic scientists on archived evidence. [4] The victim's case was highlighted in the national media as one of a number of such cases that had been reopened due to a new DNA technique that enabled the generation of DNA profiles from much smaller samples than had been previously possible. [4] The size of these samples was described as being as small as a single blood cell, or a flake of skin. [4]
In January 1999, the first arrest in the case was made. [4] Harry J R Pennells (b. 1925), [12] then 73, of Ticehurst, East Sussex, was charged with the victim's murder. [1] Pennells, who was 54 at the time of the murder [6] was a retired lorry driver [1] and had worked for Henley's Transport who were based in Kent at the time of the murder. [5] Pennells had originally been questioned by police a few days after the discovery of the body. [7] He had been interviewed three times between 1979 and 1980 [6] and was one of a number of suspects. [5] He had not been charged following the initial investigation. [7] However, after specks of blood found in his lorry in 1979 were re-examined and linked to the victim police were able to make their arrest. [7] Pennells was subsequently bailed and a report was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. [4]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Crimewatch U.K - February 1999 (23.02.99). [13] Crimewatch U.K - February 1999 (23.02.99) |
On 22 February 1999, the victim's case was featured on Crimewatch for a second time. [11] It was revealed that after the original Crimewatch appeal in 1984, the person who made the black-and-white dress had made contact. The woman, who was from Stratford-upon-Avon, stated that she had given the dress to a charity shop in Evesham, Worcestershire after which police could not trace it. [11] It appeared to have been subsequently altered to shorten the length, remove the zip from the back and add a black lace ruff to the collar. An appeal was made for the person who made these alterations to come forward. [11]
| R vs. Pennells | |
|---|---|
| Court | Maidstone Crown Court |
| Decided | 5 June 2000 |
| Verdict | Not guilty |
The trial started on 4 May 2000 at Maidstone Crown Court. [7] Pennells was accused of picking up the victim at Spitalfields Market on 19 October 1979, [6] taking her in his lorry to a delivery in Keighley, West Yorkshire, then back to drop her off in South London on the morning of 20 October [6] and beating the victim to death with a wooden stake. [6] Pennells told the court that he had picked up a female hitchhiker. [7] He admitted that the hitchhiker may have been the victim, but claimed that he had dropped her off alive and was innocent of her murder. [6]
Witnesses called by the prosecution stated that they had seen a woman matching the victim's description in Bedgebury Forest on 21 October 1979, the day after some estimations placed the murder. [6] Two witnesses who were at the Keighley lorry depot stated that they saw, and spoke to, a young woman who was with Pennells. [5] Staff at the Henley Transport's Rochdale depot also stated that they saw Pennells with a woman with a similar appearance to an artist's impression made of the victim. [5]
Samples of blood and flakes of hair found in a sleeping bag on the passenger seat of the lorry matched the DNA profile of the victim. [7] Additionally, particles of foam from a mattress in the cab of the lorry were found on the victim's dress. [7] [5]
The trial lasted for four weeks, after which Pennells was found not guilty [1] in a unanimous decision made after the jury deliberated for 1 hour and 15 minutes. [6]
In October 2007, the charity Missing People appealed to the public for someone to come forward and identify the woman. [1]
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