• A 92-year-old man, Ryland Headley, convicted for the 1967 murder of Louisa Dunne.
• This case is recognized as the longest-running cold case solved in the UK.
• DNA evidence linked Headley to the crime more than 58 years after it occurred.
• Headley has a history of sexual violence, with prior rape convictions from the 1970s.

A 92-year-old man, Ryland Headley, has been convicted of the rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne in what is considered the UK’s longest-running cold case. The conviction was announced by a jury at the Bristol Crown Court, finding Headley guilty of the crime committed in June 1967. Prosecutor Charlotte Ream described Dunne's death as occurring in “the place where she should have felt safest — her own home,” highlighting the tragic nature of the crime that had gone unsolved for nearly six decades, according to CBS News, Los Angeles Times, and South China Morning Post.

Dunne was discovered dead in her home on June 28, 1967, with the cause determined to be strangulation and asphyxiation, alongside evidence of rape. Investigators had preserved samples from her body and clothing, including a blue skirt, which proved crucial in reopening the case. In 2022, forensic advancements enabled authorities to obtain a DNA match linking Headley to Dunne's murder after his DNA was added to a national database due to a previous unrelated incident, as reported by CBS News and Los Angeles Times.

Headley's criminal history includes two convictions for rape in the late 1970s, wherein he targeted elderly women aged 79 and 84. He pleaded guilty to those charges in 1978 and received a seven-year sentence. During the trial, testimonies from the victims of his past offenses were presented, which proved to be poignant, as stated by Detective Inspector Dave Marchant, who remarked on the powerful nature of hearing the victims' voices during the proceedings, according to CBS News, Los Angeles Times, and South China Morning Post.

The arrest of Headley had a significant emotional impact, particularly on Dunne's granddaughter, Mary Dainton, who expressed her astonishment at the news. She had resigned herself to the thought that some murders remain unsolved, carrying a sense of emptiness and sadness. Marchant emphasized the commitment to pursue justice for other unresolved cases in the area, stating, "Crimes of this magnitude should never go unpunished," as noted by CBS News, Los Angeles Times, and South China Morning Post.

Headley is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, marking the end of a long journey for justice in Dunne's case.