Hilda Murrell
Encyclopedia
Hilda Murrell was a rose
grower, naturalist
, diarist and campaigner against nuclear energy
and weapons
. She was abducted in her own car and found murder
ed five miles from her home in Shropshire
, in a case which remains controversial.
, Shropshire
in the West Midlands of England, and lived there all her life. The elder of two daughters, she came from a family of nurserymen, seedsmen and florists going back to 1837. Her grandfather Edwin Murrell established and ran Portland Nurseries until his death in 1908.
A gifted pupil at Shrewsbury Girls' High School where she was head girl, Hilda won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge
(1924–27). She graduated with an MA in English and French literature, and Modern and Mediaeval Languages.
Having no brothers, in 1928 Hilda was persuaded by her father Owen to join what was by then a successful and well-known family rose nursery and seed shop business run by him and his elder brother Edwin Foley Murrell. She quickly developed outstanding horticultural and business skills, and took over as Director in 1937.
Her energy and organisational flair proved assets during World War II
in her voluntary work for the care and resettlement of Jewish refugee children in Shropshire foster homes
and schools, making lifelong friends of some of those she helped. Her fund-raising efforts included arranging recitals in Shrewsbury by such world-famous performers as the pianist Dame Myra Hess
and violinist Jelly d'Arányi
.
Under her management, Edwin Murrell Ltd enjoyed its final golden years from 1949-70. Hilda had become an internationally respected rose-grower and authority on rose species, old-fashioned varieties and miniature roses. The firm regularly won top awards at Chelsea
and Southport Flower Show
s as well as at the oldest annual flower show in the world in Shrewsbury
. She sold roses to the Queen Mother and the Churchills, and helped Vita Sackville-West
design her White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle
in Kent. Her annual rose catalogue was widely known and respected both for its information and elegant writing; and she also designed many gardens. In a final tribute, David C.H. Austin gained her approval to name a rose after her just three weeks before she was murdered.
Walking, especially in hill country, was one of Hilda's favourite leisure activities from an early age; and she had a passion for mountaineering
and even rock climbing
until arthritis
limited her in later life. With this she developed a deep concern to preserve the countryside and wildlife of the Welsh Marches
. She was a founder-member of the national Soil Association
promoting organic horticulture
, and of what is now the Shropshire Wildlife Trust
; and in the 1970s she worked unpaid with her customary energy for the Shropshire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England.
On her retirement in 1970, the rose business was sold and she had time and resources to devote to emerging environmental problems and threats to Shrewsbury 's rich architectural heritage. She also indulged her love affair with the Welsh Marches by building a Canadian cedarwood chalet high up on the Welsh side of Llanymynech Hill near Oswestry
with a stunning view up the Tanat Valley to the Berwyn Mountains
, where eventually her ashes were scattered.
She became an expert botanist, and extracts from her nature diaries were published in 1987 illustrated with her coloured photographs and brilliantly executed botanical drawings
. She was also deeply knowledgeable about megalithic monuments
and the history of the British landscape. Other enthusiasms included antiques, spinning and weaving, and birdwatching
; and she was a skilled cook and dressmaker, and a voracious reader.
Hilda's central concern in later life was for the growing pollution crisis in the environment. She brought together carefully researched knowledge, a deep love of the natural world, and an ability to anticipate threats to it. She was also an indefatigable and fearless campaigner to bring these issues to the attention of those who had the power and responsibility to effect solutions.
Having predicted the 1973 oil crisis
, Hilda became increasingly concerned by the hazards posed by nuclear energy
and weapons
. With characteristic thoroughness, she began to research this highly technical field. In 1978, she wrote a paper entitled "What Price Nuclear Power?" in which she deployed her financial flair to challenge the economics of the civil nuclear industry. After the 1979 US accident at Three Mile Island
, she turned her attention to safety aspects, and homed in on the problem of radioactive waste
, the disposal of which she concluded was the industry's Achilles' heel
. In 1982, the Department of the Environment published a white paper
(Cmnd 8607) on the British Government's policy on radioactive waste management. Hilda, now in her late 70s, wrote a critique of it, which she developed into her submission "An Ordinary Citizen's View of Radioactive Waste Management" to the first formal planning inquiry into a nuclear power plant in Britain, the Sizewell B Pressurised Water Reactor
in Suffolk
.
Hilda's Times obituary, by Charles Sinker, ended: “Her close friends remember her as a fierce but fundamentally gentle warrior, a Bunyan-like soul on a lonely and constant quest for the real path of the spirit. She died in tragic circumstances, alone in the empty countryside. It is an almost intolerable irony that a life so dedicated to peaceful pursuits, and to the pursuit of peace, should have been terminated by an act of mindless violence.”
home was apparently burgled and a small amount of cash was taken. She was abducted in her own car, a white Renault 5
, which many witnesses reported seeing being driven erratically through the town and past the police station during the lunch hour. The vehicle was quickly reported abandoned in a country lane five miles outside Shrewsbury, but the West Mercia Police took another three days to find her mutilated body in a copse across a field from her car. She had been beaten and stabbed multiple times, but did not die from her injuries, instead succumbing to hypothermia
. Her autopsy was performed by Dr. Peter Acland who together with the detective leading the case, Detective Chief Superintendent David Cole, wrote about this and other cases in a "The Detective and the Doctor: A Murder Casebook".
Hilda was the aunt of Commander Robert Green, Royal Navy (Retired), a former naval intelligence officer who was wrongly said to have passed the order for the sinking of the Argentine
ship the Belgrano
by the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror
during the 1982 Falklands War
. Labour MP Tam Dalyell
, hounding Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
about the controversial sinking, added a second conspiracy theory
about Hilda's death when he announced in Parliament early on 20 December 1984 that British Intelligence had been involved. Until then only her anti-nuclear work had been suspected as a political motive.
She was cremated
and her ashes scattered at Maengwynedd, in Wales
. A commemorative stone was unveiled in Tanybryn, Llanrhaeadr in 2004 in a birch grove planted on the twentieth anniversary of her death.
In May 2005 George was found guilty of kidnapping
, sexually assaulting
, and murder
ing Murrell and he was sentenced to life imprisonment
with a recommended minimum term of 15 years that is likely to keep him in prison until at least 2018 and the age of 51. The Daily Telegraph quoted the investigating officer as saying "I told you so", but Tam Dalyell
as saying it stretched the imagination to breaking point to suppose that the body, dumped on a Wednesday, could have lain undiscovered until the following Saturday despite a search of the copse on the Thursday by a farmer and his dog: "The two would have had no problem finding a dead rabbit, let alone the body of Hilda Murrell". And Robert Green was quoted as saying "There are many unanswered questions. I believe that the conviction may be unsafe."
In June 2006 the Court of Appeal upheld the murder conviction, saying there was nothing unsafe about the verdict returned against George.
Green disagrees. "There is evidence that Andrew George was in Hilda's house; however, he could not drive and did not match the description of the driver of her car. Since the trial, which I sat through, I have found evidence that would have acquitted him, and that others were involved. Meanwhile, break-ins to my home in New Zealand and continuing interference with my phone and mail suggest that the British state security authorities fear what I might reveal about the case."
Her murder was the subject of a song, "The Rose Grower" by the English group Attacco Decente
. It can be found on their album The Baby Within Us Marches On
.
Grace, the 1988 novel by Maggie Gee
, implicates the British secret state in its fictional parallel to the murder of Hilda Murrell.
"Resist the Atomic Menace", from Oi Polloi
's debut EP is also about her death.
Green released a book "A Thorn in Their Side: The Hilda Murrell Murder" in October 2011 which he claims "provides enough new evidence, known to both prosecution and defence but not put to the jury or Appeal Court judges in 2006, to re-open the coroner's inquest into her death."
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
grower, naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, diarist and campaigner against nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
and weapons
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
. She was abducted in her own car and found murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed five miles from her home in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, in a case which remains controversial.
Life
Hilda Murrell was born on 3 February 1906 in ShrewsburyShrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
in the West Midlands of England, and lived there all her life. The elder of two daughters, she came from a family of nurserymen, seedsmen and florists going back to 1837. Her grandfather Edwin Murrell established and ran Portland Nurseries until his death in 1908.
A gifted pupil at Shrewsbury Girls' High School where she was head girl, Hilda won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick, and was the second Cambridge college to admit women after Girton College...
(1924–27). She graduated with an MA in English and French literature, and Modern and Mediaeval Languages.
Having no brothers, in 1928 Hilda was persuaded by her father Owen to join what was by then a successful and well-known family rose nursery and seed shop business run by him and his elder brother Edwin Foley Murrell. She quickly developed outstanding horticultural and business skills, and took over as Director in 1937.
Her energy and organisational flair proved assets during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in her voluntary work for the care and resettlement of Jewish refugee children in Shropshire foster homes
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
and schools, making lifelong friends of some of those she helped. Her fund-raising efforts included arranging recitals in Shrewsbury by such world-famous performers as the pianist Dame Myra Hess
Myra Hess
Dame Myra Hess DBE was a British pianist.She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal...
and violinist Jelly d'Arányi
Jelly d'Arányi
Jelly d'Aranyi, fully Jelly Aranyi de Hunyadvár was a Hungarian violinist who made her home in London.She born in Budapest, the grand-niece of Joseph Joachim, and sister of the violinist Adila Fachiri. She began her studies as a pianist, but switched to violin at the Music Academy in Budapest...
.
Under her management, Edwin Murrell Ltd enjoyed its final golden years from 1949-70. Hilda had become an internationally respected rose-grower and authority on rose species, old-fashioned varieties and miniature roses. The firm regularly won top awards at Chelsea
Chelsea Flower Show
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show, is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London...
and Southport Flower Show
Southport Flower Show
Southport Flower Show held at Victoria Park, Southport, Merseyside is the largest independent flower show in the UK. It was originally started in 1924 by the local council, but since 1986 it has been operated by Southport Flower Show company, which is a registered charity. It is held annually for...
s as well as at the oldest annual flower show in the world in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury Flower Show
The Shrewsbury Flower Show is an annual event held in mid-August over two days at The Quarry, the main park in the town of Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The show is organised by the Shropshire Horticultural Society and is one of the largest events of its type in the United...
. She sold roses to the Queen Mother and the Churchills, and helped Vita Sackville-West
Vita Sackville-West
The Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH , best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author, poet and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933...
design her White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
The garden at Sissinghurst Castle in the Weald of Kent, near Cranbrook, Goudhurst and Tenterden, is owned and maintained by the National Trust. It is among the most famous gardens in England.-History:...
in Kent. Her annual rose catalogue was widely known and respected both for its information and elegant writing; and she also designed many gardens. In a final tribute, David C.H. Austin gained her approval to name a rose after her just three weeks before she was murdered.
Walking, especially in hill country, was one of Hilda's favourite leisure activities from an early age; and she had a passion for mountaineering
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
and even rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
until arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
limited her in later life. With this she developed a deep concern to preserve the countryside and wildlife of the Welsh Marches
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
. She was a founder-member of the national Soil Association
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
promoting organic horticulture
Organic horticulture
Organic horticulture is the science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants by following the essential principles of organic agriculture in soil building and conservation, pest management, and heirloom variety preservation....
, and of what is now the Shropshire Wildlife Trust
Shropshire Wildlife Trust
The Shropshire Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the geographic county of Shropshire, England.-Nature reserves:The trust cares for, or is associated with, 42 nature reserves in the county:...
; and in the 1970s she worked unpaid with her customary energy for the Shropshire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England.
On her retirement in 1970, the rose business was sold and she had time and resources to devote to emerging environmental problems and threats to Shrewsbury 's rich architectural heritage. She also indulged her love affair with the Welsh Marches by building a Canadian cedarwood chalet high up on the Welsh side of Llanymynech Hill near Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
with a stunning view up the Tanat Valley to the Berwyn Mountains
Berwyn range
The Berwyn range is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland located in the north-east of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the north-east, Corwen in the north-west, Bala in the south-west, and Oswestry in the south-east.The Berwyn range also played its part in causing King Henry...
, where eventually her ashes were scattered.
She became an expert botanist, and extracts from her nature diaries were published in 1987 illustrated with her coloured photographs and brilliantly executed botanical drawings
Botanical illustration
Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, colour, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolour paintings. These are often printed with a botanical description in book, magazines, and other media...
. She was also deeply knowledgeable about megalithic monuments
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
and the history of the British landscape. Other enthusiasms included antiques, spinning and weaving, and birdwatching
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
; and she was a skilled cook and dressmaker, and a voracious reader.
Hilda's central concern in later life was for the growing pollution crisis in the environment. She brought together carefully researched knowledge, a deep love of the natural world, and an ability to anticipate threats to it. She was also an indefatigable and fearless campaigner to bring these issues to the attention of those who had the power and responsibility to effect solutions.
Having predicted the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, Hilda became increasingly concerned by the hazards posed by nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
and weapons
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
. With characteristic thoroughness, she began to research this highly technical field. In 1978, she wrote a paper entitled "What Price Nuclear Power?" in which she deployed her financial flair to challenge the economics of the civil nuclear industry. After the 1979 US accident at Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
, she turned her attention to safety aspects, and homed in on the problem of radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
, the disposal of which she concluded was the industry's Achilles' heel
Achilles' heel
An Achilles’ heel is a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common.- Origin :In Greek...
. In 1982, the Department of the Environment published a white paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
(Cmnd 8607) on the British Government's policy on radioactive waste management. Hilda, now in her late 70s, wrote a critique of it, which she developed into her submission "An Ordinary Citizen's View of Radioactive Waste Management" to the first formal planning inquiry into a nuclear power plant in Britain, the Sizewell B Pressurised Water Reactor
Sizewell nuclear power stations
Sizewell nuclear power stations are two nuclear power stations located near the small fishing village of Sizewell in Suffolk, England. Sizewell A, with two magnox reactors, is now in the process of being decommissioned, while Sizewell B has a single pressurised water reactor and is the UK's newest...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.
Hilda's Times obituary, by Charles Sinker, ended: “Her close friends remember her as a fierce but fundamentally gentle warrior, a Bunyan-like soul on a lonely and constant quest for the real path of the spirit. She died in tragic circumstances, alone in the empty countryside. It is an almost intolerable irony that a life so dedicated to peaceful pursuits, and to the pursuit of peace, should have been terminated by an act of mindless violence.”
Murder
Hilda Murrell was scheduled to present her paper "An Ordinary Citizen's View of Radioactive Waste Management" at the Sizewell B Inquiry, the first public planning inquiry into a new British nuclear power plant. On 21 March 1984, her ShrewsburyShrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
home was apparently burgled and a small amount of cash was taken. She was abducted in her own car, a white Renault 5
Renault 5
The Renault 5 was first unveiled on 10 December 1971, being launched at the beginning of 1972.The Renault 5 was styled by Michel Boué, who died before the car's release, the R5 featured a steeply sloping rear hatchback and front dashboard...
, which many witnesses reported seeing being driven erratically through the town and past the police station during the lunch hour. The vehicle was quickly reported abandoned in a country lane five miles outside Shrewsbury, but the West Mercia Police took another three days to find her mutilated body in a copse across a field from her car. She had been beaten and stabbed multiple times, but did not die from her injuries, instead succumbing to hypothermia
Hypothermia
Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...
. Her autopsy was performed by Dr. Peter Acland who together with the detective leading the case, Detective Chief Superintendent David Cole, wrote about this and other cases in a "The Detective and the Doctor: A Murder Casebook".
Hilda was the aunt of Commander Robert Green, Royal Navy (Retired), a former naval intelligence officer who was wrongly said to have passed the order for the sinking of the Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
ship the Belgrano
ARA General Belgrano
The ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Formerly the , she saw action in the Pacific theater of World War II before being sold to Argentina. After almost 31 years of service, she was sunk during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine ...
by the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror
HMS Conqueror (S48)
HMS Conqueror was a nuclear-powered fleet submarine that served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1990. She was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead...
during the 1982 Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
. Labour MP Tam Dalyell
Tam Dalyell
Sir Thomas Dalyell Loch, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell, is a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005, first for West Lothian and then for Linlithgow.-Early life:...
, hounding Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
about the controversial sinking, added a second conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
about Hilda's death when he announced in Parliament early on 20 December 1984 that British Intelligence had been involved. Until then only her anti-nuclear work had been suspected as a political motive.
She was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
and her ashes scattered at Maengwynedd, in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. A commemorative stone was unveiled in Tanybryn, Llanrhaeadr in 2004 in a birch grove planted on the twentieth anniversary of her death.
Trial of Andrew George
Local labourer Andrew George, who was 16 when Murrell was murdered, was arrested in June 2003 after a cold case review of the murder uncovered DNA and fingerprint evidence linking him with the crime.In May 2005 George was found guilty of kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, sexually assaulting
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
, and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ing Murrell and he was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
with a recommended minimum term of 15 years that is likely to keep him in prison until at least 2018 and the age of 51. The Daily Telegraph quoted the investigating officer as saying "I told you so", but Tam Dalyell
Tam Dalyell
Sir Thomas Dalyell Loch, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell, is a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005, first for West Lothian and then for Linlithgow.-Early life:...
as saying it stretched the imagination to breaking point to suppose that the body, dumped on a Wednesday, could have lain undiscovered until the following Saturday despite a search of the copse on the Thursday by a farmer and his dog: "The two would have had no problem finding a dead rabbit, let alone the body of Hilda Murrell". And Robert Green was quoted as saying "There are many unanswered questions. I believe that the conviction may be unsafe."
In June 2006 the Court of Appeal upheld the murder conviction, saying there was nothing unsafe about the verdict returned against George.
Green disagrees. "There is evidence that Andrew George was in Hilda's house; however, he could not drive and did not match the description of the driver of her car. Since the trial, which I sat through, I have found evidence that would have acquitted him, and that others were involved. Meanwhile, break-ins to my home in New Zealand and continuing interference with my phone and mail suggest that the British state security authorities fear what I might reveal about the case."
Her murder was the subject of a song, "The Rose Grower" by the English group Attacco Decente
Attacco Decente
Attacco Decente were a musical group from Brighton, England, active from 1984 to 1996.The band was notable for using unusual acoustic instruments such as hammered dulcimers, Appalachian dulcimers, and tongue drums alongside more conventional instruments such as acoustic guitar and acoustic bass...
. It can be found on their album The Baby Within Us Marches On
The Baby Within Us Marches On
The Baby Within Us Marches On is an album by Attacco Decente. It was the band's first album, released in 1988 on All Or Nothing Records.- Track listing :#"The Will Of One"#"Fear Of Freedom"#"Don't Join Their Army"#"The Bully"#"Natural Anger"...
.
Grace, the 1988 novel by Maggie Gee
Maggie Gee
Maggie Mary Gee is an English novelist. She was born in Poole, Dorset, then moved to the Midlands and later to Sussex. She was educated at state schools and at Oxford University . She later worked in publishing and then had a research post at Wolverhampton Polytechnic where she completed a...
, implicates the British secret state in its fictional parallel to the murder of Hilda Murrell.
"Resist the Atomic Menace", from Oi Polloi
Oi Polloi
Oi Polloi are an anarcho-punk band from Scotland that formed around 1981. Starting as an Oi! band, they are generally associated more with the anarcho-punk genre. More recently the band have become notable for their contributions to the Scottish Gaelic punk subgenre...
's debut EP is also about her death.
Green released a book "A Thorn in Their Side: The Hilda Murrell Murder" in October 2011 which he claims "provides enough new evidence, known to both prosecution and defence but not put to the jury or Appeal Court judges in 2006, to re-open the coroner's inquest into her death."