This month, the Explore Your Archive campaign is highlighting #EYACrime by reporting two crimes detailed in the West Mercia Police case files, held by Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service (WAAS).
Content warning: This post contains references to murder and descriptions of a dead body, which some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.
Files, report books, property deeds, correspondence, minutes and case papers came to WAAS in 2016 including the case files of two unsolved World War Two murders. We planned two talks to bring these cases to public attention again. This time, however, we concentrated on the victims themselves rather than the notoriety of the crime.
A Jane Doe – Bella
In April 1943, the skeletal remains of an unidentified woman were discovered inside a hollow wych elm tree in Hagley Wood. On the body the police found a wedding ring, a pair of shoes and some rotted clothing, but nothing to help identify the woman.
The forensic investigator involved in the case reconstructed the remains. He believed it was the body of a woman aged about 35. She was five feet tall with mousy brown hair and irregular teeth in the lower jaw. He estimated that she had been dead between eighteen months and two years. There was a large press campaign to find her killer and the press nicknamed her ‘Bella’. However, more than eighty years later, both the woman’s identity and the circumstances of her death remain unknown. The mystery has sparked countless theories, from espionage to witchcraft, and continues to fascinate historians, criminologists, and the public alike.
Florrie Porter
The second of the cases is that of Florrie Porter. In 1944, Florrie’s body was discovered on the grounds of a school in Lickey End, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, having been brutally stabbed. Florrie had been a wages clerk at the Austin Car Works as well as a volunteer for St Johns Ambulance. She was well known and respected within the community.
She had left home to meet a man called Hal and witnesses had seen her in the bar of the George Hotel Bromsgrove with an American serviceman. The bar was full of customers, including many Americans who were billeted to the local hospital to recover from wounds received in the initial push of D Day. Despite these numerous witnesses, the man she was last seen with has never been identified. The police conducted a lengthy investigation aided by US military police. Their efforts were hampered by the fact that many servicemen, once they had recovered, were sent back to France to resume active service.
Highlighting the victim
We delivered these talks in partnership with The University of Worcester. The Policing Department who will reexamine the cases in terms of modern policing methods and Dr Charley Barnes from the English, Media & Culture Department, talked about these cases highlighting the victim rather than the perpetrator of these crimes. As Dr Barnes says, “We need to be less interested in the mind of the killer and more interested, more respectful, of the lives of their victims, and indeed, their victims’ families”.
These talks were thoughtful and sobering exploration of crime, memory, and the pressures of wartime society. Both talks, including one on Florrie Porter, have just passed but there will be another talk on 4th June, focussing on crime and punishment in 18th century. It will draw on Quarter Session, Consistory Court papers and Churchwardens Presentments. You can book your ticket here.
Further information
Written by Carol Wood at Worcestershire Archives and Archaeology Service
Edited by Isabel Lauterjung, Blog Coordinator with Explore Your Archive
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