Helen Bailey was an eight-year-old schoolgirl who was killed near her home in

Great Barr Great Barr is now a large and loosely defined area to the north-west of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Staffordshire, and the parts now in Birmingham were once known as Perry Barr, which is still the name of an adjacent Bir ...

, Birmingham, England, on 10 August 1975. Bailey, a pupil at Calshot Junior School, lived in nearby Booths Farm Road. The day after she was reported missing her body was found by her father, after ten hours of a police-coordinated search, in woodland on the site of the former, and eponymous, farm. Her throat had been cut. Because she was wearing blue at the time of her death, media dubbed her "Little Girl Blue".

Investigation and aftermath

A March 1976 inquest heard from an official

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in t ...

that she may have died as the result of an "accident or practical joke gone wrong" and the jury subsequently returned an

open verdict The open verdict is an option open to a coroner's jury at an inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict means the jury confirms the death is suspicious, but is unable to reach any other verdicts open to them. Mortality studies c ...

. In 2014, following a cold case review, new evidence came to light, that she had been strangled before her throat was cut. A new pathologist said her death was a "clear case of homicide". As a result,

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...

asked Louise Hunt, Birmingham and Solihull's senior coroner, to seek permission to overturn the original inquest verdict. In 2017, a renewed appeal for witnesses, and for the killer to come forward, was made on the BBC television programme ''

Crimewatch Roadshow ''Crimewatch Live'' (previously known as ''Crimewatch Roadshow Live'' or simply ''Crimewatch Roadshow'' and originally as ''Crimewatch Daily'') is a British television programme produced by BBC Studios Documentary Unit Cymru Wales, that recon ...

''. In December 2018 Lord Justice Hickinbottom, sitting with Mrs Justice Whipple, ordered that a new inquest be held. Hickinbottom noted that a confession had been made by a suspect in 1979, that matched the 2014 evidence, but at the time the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advi ...

(CPS) had decided not to prosecute him. At a pre-inquest review in May 2019, the Detective Chief Superintendent leading the cold-case investigation said that a serving prisoner, the only suspect arrested (but not charged) in the 1970s, and subsequently convicted of an unrelated offence, was the only suspect in the case. At an inquest on 5 July 2019, the original verdict was overturned and replaced with one of unlawful killing. The coroner, Louise Hunt, expressed an intention to ask the CPS to reconsider their decision not to prosecute the suspect.

Notes

References

{{Reflist 1970s missing person cases 1975 deaths Female murder victims Formerly missing people Great Barr History of Birmingham, West Midlands Missing person cases in England People from Birmingham, West Midlands Unsolved crimes in England Unsolved murders in England

Investigation and aftermath

See also

Notes

References