Killing of Helen Bailey

[2] Bailey's killer has not been identified, although several investigators believe the perpetrator to be a suspect who confessed in the late 1970s to having strangled then cut her throat, as well as divulging forensic details of the killing not revealed in the original 1976 inquest.

[4][nb 2] The post-mortem conducted by Home Office pathologist Frederick Griffiths on 11 August established that Bailey had received a single knife wound to the throat which, although described as shallow, had perforated her jugular vein.

In addition, police were unable to conclusively determine Bailey's movements in the hours immediately prior to her returning home in a markedly dirty state to take her afternoon bath, although they were able to establish a likely sighting of her walking alone through a pedestrian underpass beneath the M6 motorway at 7:10 p.m.[11][nb 3] The circumstances surrounding Bailey's death and the relatively minimum force necessary to inflict the wound to her throat meant investigators were unable to discount the possibility a child or children were responsible for her death.

[4] The initial inquest into Bailey's death was held on 10 March 1976; the jury at this inquest heard testimony from Frederick Griffiths that the sole wound discovered upon her was a markedly shallow knife wound to her neck which may have been caused either accidentally or as an unintended result of a childish prank, with the latter being his preferred explanation.

[7] Griffiths further elaborated at this hearing he had performed numerous autopsies upon victims of murder who had sustained serious injuries to the neck and that, in his opinion, the circumstances of Bailey's death lacked "the hallmarks" of a homicidal attack.

Resultingly, the jury returned an open verdict[12] and the case ultimately became cold, although members of Bailey's family remained convinced she had been murdered.

[7][13][14] Cary's revelations led Detective Chief Superintendent (DCI) Caroline Marsh to state investigators were "absolutely certain" Bailey was murdered rather than death by misadventure.

[12] At a May 2019 pre-inquest review in which evidence was first publicly divulged Bailey had been strangled before her throat had been cut, the Detective Chief Superintendent leading the cold case investigation revealed that prison inmate John Sir was considered the prime and sole suspect in her death.

[15] He had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991 for the attempted murder[18] of his own mother, whom he had severely injured with a hammer and who died of pneumonia nine months later.

Cary also testified Bailey was most likely lying on the ground and possibly unconscious at the time the fatal knife wound was inflicted to her neck.

We are actively pursuing this investigation [...] and are very much hopeful of bringing an offender to justice The original verdict into Bailey's death was overturned and replaced with one of unlawful killing in July 2019.

[15] Upon hearing the verdict of unlawful killing at this inquest, Hunt stated: "I will be writing to [the CPS] again with the outcome of this case and asking them to reconsider their decision.