Forensics finally caught a killer 60 years on — and that should terrify criminals

3 July 2025, 17:51

By Andy Hughes, LBC Crime Correspondent

There’s a saying in the police that cold cases are never cold. And, as this week has proved, they certainly aren’t anymore.

The advancement in forensic and DNA science means that criminals can never really sleep easily at night.

I wonder if 92-year-old Ryland Headley, the subject of the UK’s longest ever running cold case, thought he had got away with it.

Or, as many criminals later admit, the thought of the police coming knocking kept him up at night.

The case is an extraordinary one. Nearly six decades ago, Headley raped and killed Louisa Dune at her home in Bristol.

He was finally brought to justice after forensic experts examined a skirt the victim was wearing at the time of the attack.

And that was that. Headley will now die in jail.

The thing criminals don’t realise about cold cases is how much it means to detectives.

I’ve had many a conversation with career investigators who tell me cracking an age-old cold case is the gold standard for a cop.

It means they’ve cracked something that so many have failed before.

And they’ll also tell you that there is no greater satisfaction than giving a victim’s family the news that after so long, they can finally have closure.

There are two factors that crack cold cases. Loyalty or technology.

Those are two things that always change.

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