Sally Ann McGrath
Encyclopedia
Sally Ann McGrath, aged 22, who lived with her parents in Towler Street, Peterborough
, England, was last seen in Cathedral Square, Peterborough at 2.45pm on 11 July 1979, after telling friends at The Bull Hotel she was heading to the unemployment office on Church Street.
and Ailsworth
about 3 miles north-west of Peterborough city centre. A post-mortem found her body had been there for between three and six months and she had suffered two head fractures and a broken nose. A police search of the are found no new clues.
, Hampshire
, was also been charged with three counts of rape, a sexual assault and an indecent assault in 1979. He appeared before Peterborough Magistrates' Court on 10 October 2011. The arrest follows a cold case review into the death of Miss McGrath and seven other linked sex offences, codenamed Operation Highfields, which started in 2009.
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, England, was last seen in Cathedral Square, Peterborough at 2.45pm on 11 July 1979, after telling friends at The Bull Hotel she was heading to the unemployment office on Church Street.
1970s investigation
Her disappearance sparked a huge investigation into the 1980s with over 3,000 people interviewed during the investigation by a murder squad based at Peterborough’s Thorpe Wood police station, who took 10,000 statements. No arrests were made at the time. On 1 March 1980, her badly decomposed body was found by gamekeeper Keith Dickenson while hunting rabbits. The corpse was partly hidden in dense woodland known as Wild Boar Spinney near CastorCastor, Cambridgeshire
Castor is a village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough unitary authority, about west of the city centre. The parish is part of the former Soke of Peterborough, which was considered part of Northamptonshire but was more recently part of Cambridgeshire.-History:Castor's toponym is derived...
and Ailsworth
Ailsworth
Ailsworth or Ailesworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough unitary authority, about west of the city centre. The parish is part of the former Soke of Peterborough, which was considered part of Northamptonshire but was more recently part of Cambridgeshire.The village's...
about 3 miles north-west of Peterborough city centre. A post-mortem found her body had been there for between three and six months and she had suffered two head fractures and a broken nose. A police search of the are found no new clues.
2011 developments
On 9 October 2011, 59-year-old Paul Taylor was charged with murdering her. Taylor, of Valentine Close, FarehamFareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, was also been charged with three counts of rape, a sexual assault and an indecent assault in 1979. He appeared before Peterborough Magistrates' Court on 10 October 2011. The arrest follows a cold case review into the death of Miss McGrath and seven other linked sex offences, codenamed Operation Highfields, which started in 2009.