Emily Frances Armstrong (c. 1880 – 14 April 1949) was a British victim of a murder that remains unsolved. She was 69, a widow and described as bespectacled, frail and friendly. She was also a devout Catholic and had been looking forward to the Easter services at St Joseph's Church in

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates mos ...

. On 14 April 1949, the dry-cleaning shop which Emily Armstrong owned, on

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west fr ...

High Street in London, failed to reopen after lunch and a queue began to build up outside. After a while, two women went round to the back of the shop to try to find out why it was closed and discovered her body. She had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument; police later determined she had been killed roughly an hour before her body was found at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. A

postmortem An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...

examination also showed that her skull had been shattered by at least 22 blows, later believed to have been inflicted with a

claw hammer A claw hammer is a hammer primarily used in carpentry for driving nails into or pulling them from wood. Historically, a claw hammer has been associated with woodworking, but is also used in general applications. It is not suitable for heavy ...

. Initially police thought Armstrong was the victim of a botched robbery. Her handbag was missing at the crime scene and the till was open and empty. The handbag was later found nearby with a bloody handkerchief bearing the laundry mark H-612, although no leads resulted from that piece of evidence. Police believed that Armstrong's killer had followed her back to her shop at about 2.10pm. While authorities pursued several theories, they failed to find a suspect. Witnesses reported having seen a "suspicious man" around 30 years old and between 5'5" and 5'6"; however, police were unable to identify the individual. A murderer who had recently escaped from

Broadmoor Hospital Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secur ...

was also considered before witnesses failed to identify him in a police line-up. Several Army deserters were questioned too, but all ended up being released. Police eventually concluded that Armstrong's murderer was either a tramp or "a man who had fled to Ireland".

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