The 17 year-old Sunday school teacher found beaten and abused in a picturesque lover's lane
On a cold, January evening in 1972, Elisabeth Foster set off to catch a bus to church. The quiet, cautious 17-year-old took the same journey every week, from her home in Bleasdale Avenue, Kirkham, to the Pentecostal Church on North Road, Preston.
But the following morning, a doctor was walking his dog in a quiet lane in Wrea Green when he made a grim discovery. Elisabeth's body lay, partially clothed and beaten in a ditch behind a hawthorn hedge. Importantly, a sample taken from Elisabeth's body was found to be the rare blood type B. Every man in Kirkham was asked to provide a blood sample, with 10,000 samples being taken. 35,000 people were interviewed, but after 11 weeks, detectives were no closer to catching the killer.
For months, the married father-of-two had carried on his daily business, believing he had got away with the killing. His wife admitted they had marital problems but knew nothing of her husband's dark secret until the police knocked on her front door.