Today marks 39 years since an elderly woman from Ipswich was strangled in her own home by a mystery assailant, who then set fire to her bed.
Edna Harvey’s body was discovered in her ground floor flat in Finchley Road in the St Margaret’s area of Ipswich on August 28, 1984.
Mrs Harvey, who was born in 1897, was a widow who lived alone and led a relatively reclusive life due to her poor eyesight.
The alarm was raised by neighbours, who became concerned after smoke began pouring out from under Mrs Harvey’s front door in the early hours of the morning.
The neighbours entered the property, where they found 87-year-old Mrs Harvey lying on a burned mattress in her bedroom.
The neighbours did all they could to reach Mrs Harvey, but the smoke was so intense that they were unable to save her.
The police investigation found that Mrs Harvey had died from asphyxiation. It was their belief that the killer had not intended to murder Mrs Harvey when they entered the flat.
The police thought it more likely that the assailant had broken into the flat to steal from Mrs Harvey, and that she had disturbed the thief in the act. The property looked as though it had been searched, but it was unclear if anything had been stolen.
The police believed that the killer panicked when Mrs Harvey awoke, and killed her to cover up their crime.
The original murder investigation was led by Detective Superintendent John Harvey. Speaking at the time, he said: “If she had not disturbed him, I am quite sure she would have woken up in the morning to find she had been burgled.”
Nobody has ever been charged for Mrs Harvey’s murder, despite more than 2,500 interviews being carried out by 60 officers, and 150 statements being taken.
Mrs Harvey’s upstairs neighbour later took his own life, leaving a note behind declaring his innocence. However, there was never any evidence to suggest that he had anything to do with Mrs Harvey’s murder.
Two youths were in the area on the night of Mrs Harvey’s death, and were seen running along Cemetery Road towards the town centre. These youths were under suspicion of the police, but were never traced.
Another witness reported seeing three men lingering outside Mrs Harvey’s flat, but this lead also did not yield any results either.
Speaking to the Ipswich Star in 1998, Mrs Harvey’s son Bob Harvey said that he doubted his mother’s “brutal, cowardly” murder would ever be solved, due to the passage of time.
In 2014, the case was looked at again by the joint Norfolk and Suffolk major investigation team, who sought to use advances in technology to finally bring Mrs Harvey’s killer to justice. Again, no further evidence was found.
However, on the 35 anniversary of Mrs Harvey’s death in 2019, detectives vowed that they would never stop searching for the culprit.
A spokesperson from Suffolk Police said: "As with all unsolved major crimes, this case remains open and subject to periodic reviews.
"On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Edna’s death, officers from the Unsolved Case Team again reviewed the case and sought to use advances in technology to see if they could establish who murdered Edna, but unfortunately this did not yield any positive results.”
Anyone who believes they may have information which could assist with the investigation is asked to contact the Joint Norfolk and Suffolk Major Crime Review and Unsolved Case Team on 01953 423819 or email: unsolvedcasereviews@norfolk.pnn.police.uk
Alternatively, the independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their online form: www.crimestoppers-uk.org
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