Lorna Hayles

Lorna Hayles
Real name: Lorna St. Theresa Hayles

Also known as: Lorna Black

Location: Brixton, London, England

Date: August 29, 1986

Bio
Occupation: Unemployed print worker/barmaid

Date of Birth: November 28, 1957

Height: 5’0”

Weight: Unrevealed

Martial status: Divorced with a 12-year-old son

Characteristics: Black female. Very petite.

Case
Details: Police were dispatched to a number 5 Tasman Road in Brixton on August 29, 1986 after residents had reported swarms of blowflies at the window. Inside lay the body of the flat’s tenant, 28-year-old Lorna Hayles. She had been dead for nearly a month, a carving knife lodged in her neck, and she appeared to have been sexually assaulted. Lorna was well-liked and outgoing and no one could think of any motive for her murder.

Authorities tried to piece together the events of Lorna’s life in the week leading up to her death. On Thursday, July 24, Lorna went to work as usual at Call Kwik Printers in London’s Chamomile Street. She was behaving normally and mentioned to a coworker that she was planning to host a fundraising barbecue for her local Labour Party. However, for reasons that remain unclear, she abruptly quit her job at the end of her shift. The next day, Lorna was seen tending bar at the Brixton Town Hall Social Club where she sometimes worked to make extra money.

On Saturday, July 26, she went to her old flat at Young’s Court in Battersea, to which she still maintained the keys and was subletting. Her tenant Albert says that Lorna planned to go out that night to a fashion party and came by to pick up her gold dress. Police were unable to determine whose party she attended that day. The following day just before her barbecue was to start, she asked a friend to give her a lift to Clapham Road so she could take the Stockwell tube to Putney; it is unknown if she ever actually went there or why. Her barbecue was nearly over by nine o’clock that same night when two couples, apparently known only by Lorna, showed up late.

Lorna was next seen hiring (renting) videos in Clapham Common on Wednesday, July 30. On July 31, she stopped at a launderette in Landor Road to invite two friends to a sales demonstration at her home that night. They declined, but asked Lorna save some of the product for them. No one else attended this demonstration either. On August 1, Lorna was seen alive for the last known time at the launderette when she happily told the same two friends that she was going to north London to interview for traveling nanny job. This was most peculiar as she knew that she had already been turned down for the job. She was believed to have been murdered later that same day.

Extra Notes: The case was first aired on November 13, 1986, the show’s twenty-fourth episode.

Result: Unresolved. A man was charged with her murder after his fingerprints were matched to those found in Lorna’s flat, but was soon released due to lack of evidence. It is unknown if any other arrests or convictions were made in this case.

Links:

Crimewatch UK November 1986 (case starts at 16:40)

Lorna St. Theresa Hayles