Just as he was returning to his hotel late at night on Monday, MARCH 10th, 1947, a woman’s cry for help prompted George Mitchell, a Merthyr Tydfil surveyor and engineer visiting London on business, to turn round sharply. Along the street the woman, Mrs. Eveline Arthur, owner of a dress and model agency in Wilton Road, Victoria, London, was struggling with two or three robbers. Mr. Mitchell rushed to help, one of the men fired a gun, and the surveyor fell, seriously wounded.

The attackers, who were demanding the keys to Mrs. Arthur’s safe, fled empty-handed. Mr. Mitchell, 40, was taken to hospital where he died. The coroner’s inquest, three months later, heard that police had interviewed hundreds of men to no avail.