Mirror Reporter Adam Aspinall covered the case of Ryan Headley from the moment of his arrest for the rape and murder of Louisa Dunne and watched justice finally delivered on a cold, unflinching killer
For a man facing the end of his life behind bars Ryland Headley showed no emotion.
In fact the 92-year-old, convicted of the rape and murder of gran Louisa Dunne in 1967, showed little emotion throughout his trial.
He did not even bother to explain himself in court and stayed silent throughout.
I watched on as he remained impassive and unresponsive in the dock as he watched on, looking frail at times, often tucked up in an oversized designer jumper.
This could have been anyone’s grandad, you wouldn’t think twice if you passed him in the street.
But behind the mask of age lay a deadly predator, one so dangerous a detective who helped lock him up for another vile crime in the 1970s has openly questioned whether he could have more victims.
Headley was a young, strong 35-year-old man when he snuck into Louisa’s home, in the summer of 1967.
The man in the dock today, an enfeebled shadow.
Mum-of-two Louisa, a fiesty and proud woman, sadly living alone after being twice widowed would have put up a fight but it would never have been enough.
Neighbours heard screaming but none could not be sure where it came from.
Police had 19,000 local men compare their palm prints to one found on the window frame of the back window but none matched.
And so Headley slipped away, moved to the other side of the country, and continued to attack defenceless old women.
In October 1977, just over 10 years after Mrs Dunne was killed, Headley broke into a different widow’s home at night.
This time the victim was an 84-year-old woman and the defendant got in through a rear ground floor window.
Later that same month, he also raped another woman, 79, after again breaking into her home through a window.
Luckily for the general public he was caught for those vile crimes but kept quiet about poor Louisa, something Headley seems particularly good at.
The case remained unsolved for more than 50 years.
In the meantime Headley was released from prison, lived his own life, while Louisa’s family crumbled under the strain.
Not her granddaughter though, Mary Dainton was in court and bravely gave a statement in front of Headley, showing him what true courage looks like.
Now nearly the same age as her gran when she was brutally killed by the monster sat just metres from her, Mary did not miss a beat as she bravely explained how Headley’s evasion from justice had a devastating effect on her family.
Headley just stared ahead blankly, head resting on his hand, almost bored you might think unless you knew the heinous reason he was sitting there in court.
When sentencing was passed down Mr Justice Sweeting did not sugar the pill telling him “You will never be released you will die in prison” but again Headley barely responded.
In the end the old killer had to be told it was time to leave by court staff and off he tottered, to die behind bars.