When neighbours noticed a broken window at the home in Skegby, Nottinghamshire, of 81-year-old Mary Ann Dodsley on DECEMBER 16th, 1954, they became alarmed and called the police.
A constable entered the house with one of the neighbours, and found Mrs. Dodsley lying dead on her bedroom floor, under a feather mattress. She had been strangled during an attempted rape.
When detectives examined the broken window they found the intruders palm-print. They took the palm-prints of 68 potential suspects, and the one that matched the print on the window belonged to James Robinson, a 27-year-old labourer at a nearby turkey farm.
A footprint found in the house also corresponded with the crepe-soled shoes Robinson admitted wearing on the day of the murder, which he denied. At his trial the palm-print convinced the jury of his guilt, and he was hanged at Lincoln Prison on May 25th, 1955.