Asked to name the man who had attacked her, 85-year-old Margery Wren said, “I don’t want him to suffer. He must bear his sins. I don’t wish to make a statement.” Minutes later she died from her injuries.

She had been attacked in her shop in Church Road, Ramsgate on Saturday, September 20th, 1930, and was found by her next customer, a little girl who had come to buy some blancmange mix. Robbery was almost certainly the motive and it was clear from her injuries she had been repeatedly beaten, probably with a pair of tongs. An attempt had been made to strangle her.

She made a number of conflicting statements. First she claimed that a man attacked her, then that two people attacked her, then that she had simply fallen. She also described a red-faced man with a moustache.

Not surprisingly given her statements, there were six suspects. Three of them had perfect alibis, so the murderer had to come from the remaining three. He was never found.