A 19-year-old au pair from Holland, Mary Kriek’s sojourn in England lasted less than a month before her body was found in a ditch near Colchester. She disappeared on Sunday evening, January 5th, 1958, after getting off a bus only 100 yards away from the house where she was employed. Her body was found next day 10 miles away – she had been viciously beaten about the head.

At that time two other young women, both 17, were also missing and later found murdered. Isabelle Cook was a victim of Scottish serial killer Peter Manual, while the murder of Ann Noblett remains unsolved.