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Kill Total: |
1 |
Kill place: |
Potters Bar |
|
Kill date: |
April 1955 |
Victim(s): |
Elizabeth Currell |
|
Date of Birth: |
|
Marital Status: |
Single |
|
AKA: |
|
Occupation: |
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At dawn on 29th April
1955 the body of Mrs Elizabeth Currell was found in
the rough near the 17th tee on Potters Bar Golf Course.
Mrs Currell's would walk
her dog on the course each evening and her husband had
reported her missing when the dog returned alone the
previous evening. A stocking had been tied around the dead
woman's throat and she had been killed by blows from a
heavy iron tee-marker that lay nearby. On the marker was a
bloody palm print.
When the palm print was not found in police records,
police decided to fingerprint local employees. Eventually
over 9,000 sets of prints were taken and, on 19 August
1955, a print was found that matched. It belonged to
17-year-old Michael Queripel, a clerk with Potters Bar
Urban District Council. Initially he told police that he
had only discovered the body but then admitted the
killing. He told police that he was out walking trying to
clear a headache, and had seen the woman and hit out at
her.
His trial for murder was at the Old Bailey on 12 October,
where he pleaded guilty. He was ordered to be detained
during Her Majesty's Pleasure.
