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Harold HILL

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Unknown motive
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: November 22, 1941
Date of birth: 1915
Victims profile: Kathleen Trendle, 6, and Doreen Joyce Hearne, 8
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife
Location: Buckinghamshire, Gran Bretaņa
Status: Executed by hanging at Oxford Castle on May 1, 1942
 
 
 
 
 
 

Harold Hill was convicted of the murder of Doreen Joyce Hearne aged 8 and Kathleen Trundell aged 6. He had not sexually assaulted them so there did not seem to be any motive. One possibility could be that he was in some way disturbed or that he lost his nerve but having already kidnapped the two girls could see no other way out. 

 
 

Hill, Harold

On 22 November 1941, the bodies of Kathleen Trendle and Doreen Joyce Hearne were found in Penn Wood, in Buckinghamshire. Kathleen Trendle was six years old and Doreen Hearne was eight. The two girls had been missing for three days. The post mortem examination showed the two girls had died from stab wounds. There were signs to suggest that they had both been rendered unconcious by partial strangulation before the stab wounds were inflicted.

The police searched the area and found tyre tracks of a lorry and a patch of oil nearby. They also found Doreen's gas-mask holder and a khaki handkerchief with the laundry mark - RA1019.

A 12-year-old boy said that he had seen the two girls asking the driver of an Army truck for a lift and even gave police the unit identification marks of the truck. Police quickly traced the markings to a unit in Yoxford, Suffolk, and were soon able to find the exact vehicle and sure enough it had a leaking back axle.

The tread on the tyres was matched against the casts taken at the scene and the tyre tracks matched the impressions exactly. The driver of the vehicle was twenty six year old Harold Hill in 341 Battery, 86th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, he had the laundry mark RA-1019 and when his fingerprints were taken they were found to match those on the discarded gas-mask container.

He was tried in March 1942 and pleaded insanity but this was not accepted. He was found guilty and executed at Oxford Castle on 1 May 1942. It was a strange case in that there did not seem to be an obvious motive. Often when children are murdered the reasons are sexual but the girls had not been molested in that way. Of course it is always possible that he was disturbed before he had chance to finish what he had started.

 
 

Harold Hill

On 22nd November 1941, the bodies of Kathleen Trendle and Doreen Hearne, aged six and eight respectively, were found in Rough Wood near Penn, in Buckinghamshire.

They had both been strangled into unconsciousness before being stabbed repeatedly. Doreen had six stab wounds to the body as well as three to the neck. Kathleen had almost a dozen stab wounds to the neck and both girls had died from loss of blood. The girls had been missing for three days.

Nearby were tyre tracks of a lorry and a large patch of oil, Doreen's gas-mask holder and a khaki handkerchief with the laundry mark 'RA1019'. A twelve-year-old boy said that he had seen the two girls asking the driver of an Army truck for a lift and even gave police the unit identification marks of the truck, a fifteen-hundredweight Fordson.

Police quickly traced the markings to a unit, 341 Battery, 86 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, in Yoxford, Suffolk, and they soon came across the vehicle, with a leaking back axle. The tyre tracks matched the impressions taken from the scene. The driver was 26-year-old Gunner Harold Hill, he had the laundry mark 'RA1019' and his fingerprints were found to match those on the discarded gas-mask container. When his kit was examined, his spare uniform was found to be wet, and despite its recent washing, it still had bloodstains.

Hill was tried in March 1942 and pleaded insanity. He was found guilty and executed at Oxford Castle on 1st May 1942.

Murder-UK.com

 
 


Harold Hill

 

The body of Doreen Joyce Hearne.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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