Late on the evening of February 12th 1945, 55 year old Mary "Helen" Hoyles finished her shift at the American Red Cross Club on High Street in the centre of Southampton, and began the short walk home. Helen's journey should have taken just a quarter of an hour but she did not make it safely home.

Early the following morning Helen's half-naked body was found in a cul-de-sac near her lodgings on New Road. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. A clue was found at the scene which made police think the case would be solved within a week, though this confidence proved misplaced.

Over the next couple of years several suspects cropped up in the investigation and the "clue" took detectives to mainland Europe in their search for the killer. In truth the culprit may have been closer to home.

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