[1] The child was removed to the grounds of the hospital, where she was raped, before suffering extensive blunt force trauma to her skull when her head was repeatedly swung into a sandstone wall.

She closed the door, then saw that June Anne's cot was empty, and that a trail of adult footprints — made by stockinged feet — were upon the highly waxed floor.

[11] Nurse Humphreys made a quick search of the ward, desperately attempting to find June Anne, before alerting other staff to the fact a child was missing.

[13] Her nightdress was torn and raised to waist level, exposing her buttocks and immediately apparent were extensive bloodstains upon her clothing, numerous skull fractures, bludgeoning about her face, and blood exuding from her nostrils.

Years of detective service had hardened me to many terrible things, but this tiny pathetic body, in its nightdress soaked in blood and mud, was something no man could see unmoved, and it haunts me to this day ...

As such, the area where June Anne's body was discovered was promptly cordoned off, the hospital became a crime scene, and the entire ward was secured and searched.

[10] A subsequent post mortem revealed that June Anne had died of shock due to both extensive internal injuries and multiple skull fractures.

[17][19][25] The task-force to carry out this endeavour was led by Inspector William Barton and comprised a team of 20 officers who, armed with details from the Electoral Register, set about the districts collecting fingerprints and comparing them against those upon the Winchester bottle.

As World War II had ended just three years previously and ex-servicemen who had left the vicinity, or had recently been discharged from military service, would not have their names upon the Electoral Register, police then concentrated on these individuals.

By way of checking the National Registration Number upon the most recently issued ration books[26] against individuals registered at the local Food Office, investigators identified over two hundred men whose fingerprints had not yet been obtained.

[20] One of the Blackburn addresses to be checked was that of Peter Griffiths, a 22-year-old ex-serviceman who lived at 31 Birley Street,[27] and who worked as a packer on the night shift at a local flour mill.

According to Griffiths, he had "hushed her" as he lifted her from the cot, before discreetly leaving the premises through a window to a small room at the end of Ward CH3 close to the lavatories.

[n 6] Griffiths refused to talk in much detail as to the atrocities he inflicted upon the child, beyond claiming that he had killed June Anne in a fit of rage when she had begun crying after he had carried her from the premises.

Nonetheless, in one section of his statement, Griffiths stated that as he had carried the child across the field to where he assaulted and murdered her, June Anne had trustingly placed her arms around his neck.

[32] He had slept until approximately 9 a.m.[30] Although Griffiths did not appear to show any remorse for his actions (which he blamed upon his state of intoxication) throughout the course of his confession, he did end his formal statement with a sentence indicating he wished to be hanged for his crime: "I'm sorry for both parents' sake and I hope I get what I deserve.

[27][34] Beyond providing investigators with a further set of his fingerprints and foot impressions for additional comparison with those upon the Winchester bottle and upon the floor of the ward of the Queen's Park Hospital, he would refuse to cooperate with all subsequent requests either to discuss aspects of his crime, or to provide blood or pubic hair samples for additional comparison with samples obtained at the crime scene prior to his upcoming trial; simply making statements to the effect of, "I don't wish to say anything" when these requests were made.

[35] Fibres from a pair of red and blue socks belonging to Griffiths were also discovered to be a perfect match for those retrieved from the footprints upon the waxed floor of Ward CH3.

Inspector Campbell also testified as to the stockinged feet impressions Griffiths had provided for investigators also being remarkably similar in characteristics with those found upon the ward from which June Anne had been abducted.

During the trial, Griffiths' defence counsel openly stated they were not fighting for his freedom, but for his life (murder being a capital offence in the United Kingdom at the time).

[19] During the trial, Griffiths described how he had entered the hospital while intoxicated, and had then picked up the Winchester sterile water bottle, which he stated to the Court he had intended to use as a weapon if he was challenged.

Although he confessed to having swung the child's head into the boundary wall approximately four times, Griffiths made no response when he was specifically asked about the sexual aspect of the assault.

In response to this verdict, Mr. Justice Oliver donned his formal black cap and made the following speech: Peter Griffiths, this jury has found you guilty of a crime of the most brutal ferocity.

[39] Just weeks prior to the execution of Peter Griffiths, all the fingerprint records obtained from individuals who had been in the vicinity of Blackburn between 14 and 15 May were publicly destroyed in a mass pulping exercise at a local papermill.