Sister of lacking lady who vanished in 1959 is discovered useless at house
The sister of a girl who’s the topic of Scotland Yard’s oldest lacking particular person case has been discovered useless at house along with her husband.
The our bodies of Brenda Harris, 72, and her husband Derrick have been found by police who pressured their manner into their home on Friday.
The alarm was raised by a relative who turned involved after being unable to contact them.
Post-mortem examinations haven’t taken place but however police say they don’t seem to be treating the deaths as suspicious and haven’t launched a homicide investigation. A file has been handed to the coroner.
The deaths imply Mrs Harris by no means discovered what turned of her sister, Mary Flanagan, who disappeared aged 16 on New Year’s Eve in 1959. She was final seen as she left her house in West Ham, east London, to attend a celebration for employees on the Tate & Lyle sugar manufacturing facility the place she labored part-time.
Neighbours of the couple’s £300,000 semi-detached home within the Bretton district of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, informed the Mail the couple have been devoted to one another and both may need taken their very own life if their associate died. Mrs Harris had been affected by a long-term sickness.
Derrick and Brenda Harris, pictured within the Nineteen Seventies. They have been discovered useless at their house
Mary Flanagan, the sister of Brenda Harris, who disappeared in east London aged 16 in 1959
The house in Bretton close to Peterborough the place the couple have been discovered useless
One mentioned: ‘They have been completely pretty folks and really pleasant however they appeared to lock themselves away after Covid.
‘They would solely come out as soon as per week to do their purchasing and I might solely see them often. She was not very effectively and all the time sporting a face masks.
‘The police put some tape up exterior their home after they have been discovered and I believe some forensics folks may need come down however they did not keep for lengthy.
‘Whatever occurred, the police appeared glad that there was no foul play. I’m questioning whether or not certainly one of them died and the opposite took their very own life as a result of they could not bear to be aside.’
Another resident mentioned: ‘They have been a pleasant couple who all the time had time for a chat.
‘I final noticed them round six months in the past and I assumed they’d gone to reside with a relative or one thing. Then I noticed a lightweight on a couple of weeks in the past.’
Left and proper, Mr and Mrs Harris. They have been discovered useless at house. Police mentioned the deaths aren’t being handled as suspicious
Mrs Harris by no means discovered what turned of her sister, Mary Flanagan
One neighbour added: ‘I solely realised one thing was incorrect when certainly one of their nieces banged on my door and requested if we had seen them as a result of she couldn’t get a reply.
‘She then known as the police and officers broke in and located the our bodies. It’s very unhappy.’
Mrs Harris – who was eight on the time – had taken half in police appeals to search out her sister and often pleaded on Facebook for info.
Mary had been in a relationship with an Irishman known as Tom who was believed to be within the service provider navy, though she had a battle with him the evening earlier than she disappeared when she found he was dwelling along with his mom, not a landlady as he had claimed.
The Met reactivated the investigation into her disappearance in 2013 on what would have been Mary’s seventieth birthday.
She was described in police information as a ‘brilliant and pleasant lady from an Irish Catholic household’ who additionally labored part-time at an optician’s in Stratford.
Four years in the past, on the sixtieth anniversary of Mary’s final sighting, Mrs Harris revealed she was nonetheless desperately holding on to hope, saying: ‘Your head tells you one thing has occurred however my coronary heart says she is on the market someplace.
The signal for Ringwood the place Mr and Mrs Harris lived
‘We simply have to let her know it is okay, that we’re not going to have a go at her. We simply need to know she is alive and effectively, wholesome and glad. That will likely be sufficient.’
She added: ‘Time is operating out for all of us and I need to see her on this world and never the opposite.’
Describing their final moments collectively, she mentioned: ‘She wished us all a Happy New Year and kissed my mom, brother and I goodbye as a result of she knew we’d be in mattress when she acquired house later.
‘My mom and I watched her stroll to West Ham station and he or she circled and waved goodbye at us. That was the final time I noticed Mary.’
Mrs Harris had beforehand been married when she tied the knot with Derrick in 1977. They are believed to have had no youngsters and different family weren’t out there to remark.
Cambridgeshire Coroner’s Office mentioned autopsy examinations have been resulting from happen at present. A date is but to be set for the inquests.
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman mentioned: ‘We have been known as at 4.24pm on Friday with issues for the occupants of an handle in Bretton.
‘Police pressured entry to the property and located the 2 occupants deceased. The deaths aren’t being handled as suspicious and a file has been handed to the coroner.’
