Una Crown murder: how the trail of her killer went cold

A decade later, the riddle of who stabbed Una Crown at her home in Wisbech before setting her on fire remains unsolved.

The body of retired postmistress Mrs Crown, 86, was found by a family member on the morning of January 13, 2013.

She was lying face-downwards in the hallway of her neat bungalow, on Magazine Lane, in a pool of blood.

How clues to killing were destroyed

A police officer outside Una Crown's bungalow in Wisbech after a murder investigation was launched in January, 2013 (Image: Ian Burt)

Yet police at first believed her death was not suspicious.

Officers who attended the scene decided she had accidentally set herself alight while using her cooker and that gashes to her neck had been caused by a scarf she had been wearing as she fell.

Two days later, a post-mortem revealed she had been repeatedly stabbed in the neck and chest before being set on fire.

Hand injuries revealed she had struggled with her attacker.

A murder investigation was launched. But by then the floor had been mopped to clean up muddy footprints - some of which could have been left by the killer.

And potential forensic evidence at the scene had been contaminated by people going in and out of the property, touching light switches, door handles and other items.

Crimestoppers appeal brought 'interesting calls'

BBC's Crimewatch broadcast a reconstruction of Una Crown's murder (Image: BBC Crimewatch)

BBC1's Crimewatch aired a reconstruction of the killing in April, 2013.

It showed Mrs Crown sitting on her sofa and chatting to a friend before going to the door of her home.

Det Insp David Grierson said police were still looking for the long-bladed knife used to stab Mrs Crown, who he said was "very security conscious".

He told viewers that officers believed the knife did not come from her home.

He also disclosed £40 in cash and Mrs Crown's wedding ring were stolen.

A £10,000 reward was by then being offered by Crimestoppers for information that led police to Mrs Crown's killer.

Arrests made after fresh investigation 

A fresh investigation into Una Crown's murder was launched in June, 2014 (Image: Ian Burt)

After glaring failings in the original investigation came to light, a fresh inquiry was launched the following year, with high-profile appeals and a new team of detectives.

It threw up new information, which resulted in the arrests of two men, aged 33 and 40, within weeks.

Neither was ever charged, nor was a 44-year-old man arrested in January 2015 or a 58-year-old who was arrested a month after the murder.

The investigation was back in the doldrums. 

Police apologise for failings

Crimestoppers offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to Una Crown's killer (Image: Ian Burt)

At an inquest in 2015, which found Mrs Crown was unlawfully killed, coroner William Morris said: “The bungalow was not treated as a full crime scene immediately so that a proper forensic examination could be carried out.

"Instead her body was removed, police failed to preserve the scene, family were allowed access to the property to clear up, evidence was lost.”

In a report a month earlier,  the professional standards department of Cambridgeshire police said the two officers who failed to spot that Mrs Crown had been murdered were guilty of "flawed decision making".

Police in Magazine Lane, in Wisbech, after the investigation into Una Crown's murder was relaunched in 2014 (Image: Ian Burt)

It said both had "breached the standards of professional behaviour" and "greatly regretted" the distress caused to Mrs Crown's family by their failure to spot she had been murdered from the outset.

"They should have erred on the side of caution and either declared the death suspicious or sought further guidance," it concluded.

No case is ever closed

Una Crown with her late husband Jack (Image: Submitted)

Cambridgeshire police sent the following statement when asked for an update on the investigation into Una Crown's murder: 

"There are no updates on this case at the moment. It sits with our Investigation Review Team in the Major Crime Unit.

"The case was subject to an extensive review/re-investigation in 2020, but sadly that didn’t lead to any developments.

"If there is any new or emerging evidence or intelligence, we will respond accordingly.

"No undetected case is ever closed and the team will continue to regularly review it and pursue any lines of inquiry, which may come to light."

Anyone with information about Una Crown's murder should call Cambridgeshire police on 101.