Ann Heron was murdered on 3 August 1990 at her home in Darlington, County Durham (Picture: PA/Metro.co.uk/Adam Williamson)
The air was hot on August 3, 1990.
Britain was experiencing a heatwave like no other, with the heat causing wildfires and transport chaos up and down the country.
Ann Heron, originally from Glasgow, had taken advantage of the unseasonably warm summer at her home in the village of Middleton St George, County Durham. Wearing a bikini, the 44-year-old turned on her portable radio and stretched out on the grass. Her loyal dog, a collie called Heidi, lounged beside her.
Ann’s £300,000 home – the ‘conspicuous’ Aeolian House just off the A67 – was shared with her husband Peter Heron, who worked as a company director of a nearby haulage firm.
Ann, a part-time care worker, was said to have been fearful of being home alone. She missed her adult children Ralph, Ann Marie and Michael from her previous marriage to a Scottish policeman. All three lived and worked hundreds of miles away in the Central Belt of Scotland.
However, on August 3, 1990, with the sun shining down, Ann felt happy and relaxed in her Durham village. She was described as ‘cheery’ by a friend who called for a chat at 2.30pm. An hour later, a pal on a bus spotted Ann sunbathing in her home’s front garden. It was to be the last confirmed sighting of the mum-of-three alive.
Ann, a part-time care assistant, lived with her husband Peter, a company director of a haulage firm (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
When husband Peter, 55, arrived home from work at 6pm, he discovered the front door open and his wife’s body lying in a pool of blood in their living room. She had four stab wounds to the neck and her bikini bottoms had been removed, suggesting there had been a sexual attack. The radio was still playing and Heidi the dog remained outside.
‘It’s impossible to describe how I felt seeing her [Ann] there dead,’ Peter would later tell a press conference. ‘We were only married for four years and they were the best years of my life. She always greeted me when I got home from work. She was the most placid and loveable person you could meet. Why would anyone want to kill her?’
At the time of the crime, police said there were no signs of a struggle inside or outside Ann and Peter’s house. The mum-of-three knew her killer, they suggested. This theory was supported by the fact Heidi was not heard barking, nor did she seem distressed.
In the first year of the investigation, detectives took 4,040 statements and did 4,061 interviews. Yet despite the various puzzle pieces, no murder weapon was ever found, nor the killer ever identified. In 1995, five years after the murder, the Sunday People magazine described the senseless killing as ‘the ultimate motiveless crime.’
Keith Readman, the detective superintendent who led the inquiry for five years, later stated: ‘Ann had no enemies. She kept to herself …read more
Source:: Metro
