NCA CASE 06-023692 / NORTH WALES POLICE
The partial remains of a woman were recovered some 15 miles off the coast of Llandudno on January 2nd 1980. Her body had been in the water around 12 months.
The woman was white, of medium build, and estimated to between 5'2" (160cm) and 5'5" (167cm) tall. She was believed to be between 40 and 50 years old. There was a surgical scar on the woman's abdomen; Home Office pathologist, Dr. Donald Wayte, told the inquest it was evidence of a caesarian birth.
The woman was found wearing red panties with blue and yellow spots of c. ½ inch and brown nylon tights. (In addition, the NCA database lists elasticated white panties and light coloured trousers.)
Priscilla Berry has been ruled out as a potential candidate.
The Liverpool Echo for Thursday 3rd January 1980 briefly mentioned the discovery: The bottom half of a woman's torso was caught by the trawler Prospect in Liverpool Bay. It was landed at Conwy Quay and taken to Bangor for examination by a pathologist.
The Reading Evening Post also covered the find on the 3rd:
Post-mortem on part of a body. A post-mortem was expected to be carried out on part of a woman's body found by a trawler in the Irish Sea. The remains were dredged up yesterday by the Conway-based Prospect in the Bay of Liverpool, 17 miles off the Great Orme, a peninsula at Llandudno, North Wales.
The North Wales Weekly News ran the discovery of the woman's remains on the front page for Thursday 10th January 1980:
POLICE HUNT FOR CLUES TO WOMAN - Body found in trawler net still a mystery
By Richard Simpson. A post mortem on the lower half of a woman's body, pulled up in fishing nets, has revealed that she was in her forties, and had been in the water for more than 12 months. Her bone structure was that of a woman of five foot four inches tall.
Police are combing through lists of missing persons, and they have been able to draw up a "short list" after evidence from the post mortem carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr. Donald Wayte.
Conwy trawlerman Tom Jones found the body when he and his two crew members dragged up nets while fishing 14 miles off Llandudno. His trawler, The Prospect, was at the beginning of a three-day fishing trip. "When we saw the body in the net we knew what it was," he said.
Mr. Jones of Glyn, Iolyn Park, bought the Prospect in November, and it had been his first fishing trip with the trawler. The boat had been dragging its nets for four hours in a deep fishing channel in the Irish Sea.
"We pulled in the nets and we saw the body. When we examined it on the deck of the ship, it was in a bad state. We could have picked up the body anywhere because we were trawling for four hours," he added. Mr. Jones, aged 29, and crewman Eamon Seeley, 24, put the torso into a fish box and radioed to the coastguard that they were returning to Conwy.
When they arrived at Conwy late on Wednesday last week, police were waiting on the quayside. The body was taken to the C and A Hospital, Bangor, where a post mortem was carried out the following day.
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The North Wales Weekly News followed up on Thursday 17th January with a short report:
Identity of torso still a mystery
There are still no clues as to the identity of the woman's torso which was pulled from the sea by the Conwy trawler, Prospect, two weeks ago. Police have circulated a description of the woman to all police forces in England and Wales, and have been sifting through Scotland Yard's missing persons file.
The post mortem report on the half of the woman' body picked up by the trawler nets 14 miles out in the Irish Sea, revealed that it was of a woman in her middle forties, and had been in the water for more than 12 months. Police say it will be extremely difficult to identify the torso because of its badly decomposed state.
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The Daily Post for Thursday 21st February 1980 reported on the opening of the inquest:
Body 'in sea for a year'
An unidentified woman, the lower part of whose torso was brought ashore by a Conwy trawler, could have been in the sea for a year, Home Office pathologist Dr Donald Wayte said when an inquest was opened and adjourned yesterday. Dr Wayte said there was evidence of her having given birth by Caesarian section. Brown nylon tighte and red spotted panties were still adhering to the torso.
The North Wales Weekly News of Thursday 21st February 1980 included more detail:
Mystery of torso unsolved
An inquest on the unidentified woman whose torso was found 16 miles north of the Great Orme on January 2 was opened and adjourned at Llandudno yesterday. The lower half of the body, found in a trawler net was that of a woman believed to be in her forties.
Pathologist Dr. Donald Wayte said she would have been about five feet four inches tall. A post mortem examination indicated that there was no evidence of any violence. Her body had been in the water for at least 12 months.
The deputy coroner for Eryri, Mr. Dewi Pritchard Jones, said he would now release the body to the public health authority for disposal, and he would adjourn the inquest pending further enquiries.
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The end of the inquest was covered by the Daily Post on Wednesday 26th March 1980:
On March 27th 1980 the Weekly News reported that the woman's identity was still unknown:
Torso in trawler net stays mystery
The identity of the headless torso, scooped up in a trawler net 16 miles off the Great Orme's Head on January 2, is likely to remain a mystery. The body could have come fron anywhere along this part of the coast, said fisherman Thomas Henry Jones, Hillcourt, lolyn Park, Conwy, at a Llandudno inquest on Tuesday. The torso was that of a woman, over 40 years of age, and had been in the water for at least 12 months, said Dr. Donald Wayte, pathologist.
Police Constable Andrew Davies said nationwide inquiries and a thorough examination of missing person files provided no clue. "The police have exhaus ted inquiries and there is no chance of getting any positive identification," he said.
Mr. Jones said he found the torso in his fishing net after being at sea for nearly 12 hours. It was about 7 p.m. on January 2, and it was only the third time for the 82 ft net to be hauled in that trip. The net had been dragging the bottom of the sea bed, about 30 fathoms deep. He agreed with the coroner, Mr. J. Pritchard Jones, that it had been "one chance in a million" for the torso to be caught in his net.
A number of vessels used that part of the sea, and the sea bed was dredged regularly. The tide flooded every 12 hours berween Liverpool and Lynas.
Dr. Wayte said the torso was clothed in the remains of red panties, blue and yellow spots patterned and tights. There were no identifying labels on the garments.
Part of the spine, the complete pelvis and part of the left thigh bone remained. An examination revealed that the woman would have been about 5ft. 4ins. tall, and there was evidence that at one time she may have had a caesarian operation. There were no marks of violence.
Recording an open verdict, the coroner said the police had obviously made all the inquiries possible, but it was impossible to gain any clue as to the women's identity because of the scanty information avallable. Inquiries could be re-opened in the event of any further information becoming avallable, he said.
In January 2015 her remains were exhumed and DNA samples taken. This ruled out an identification of Priscilla Berry, a 39 year old woman who went missing from Mochdre in 1978.
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