Annie Walsh

Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Today we're going to be exploring the mysterious and tragic case of the murder of Annie Walsh in Hume in Manchester in nineteen seventy seven. Her murder was violent and seemingly without motive, and the events which followed it, including the investigation, have been mad with issues. An arrest and conviction was made, but this would not turn out

to be the breakthrough that anyone was expecting. This episode contains descriptions that some listeners may find distressing, including two brief references to miscarriage, so listener discretion is advised. Hume Crescents was a social housing development built in nineteen seventy two

in the district of Hume, just south of Manchester City Center. The development was borne out of the need for better quality housing in the area and a move away from the rows of terrace houses which were becoming unfit for their purpose. When the development plan was being drawn up, a bold decision was made Hume Crescents were not going to go down the high rise residential route as so many other cities had done. The idea was to build a society in the

sky. There were going to be four U shaped blocks of flats, all seven stories high, each story containing flats with between one to five bedrooms. There would also be shops, parks, and even churches on each story so that residents could live away from the hustle and bustle of the city life below.

The walkways were also wide enough so that residents could still get their milk from the milk floats going by. This concept was completed and residents began filtering into the Crescents, which had all been named after other distinguished architects, Robert Adam, John Nash, William Kent, and Charles Barry. The Hume Crescents became the largest public housing development in Europe, with three thousand, two hundred

and eighty four homes and the capacity to house thirteen thousand residents. In theory, the Crescents solved many of the problems that overcrowded Hume were struggling with. However, new issues quickly became apparent after residents moved and settled in. One of the first things that became apparent was that the Crescents were not suitable for

children, despite being marketed as good for families. The buildings were made out of thick concrete, including the balconies, and the design of these meant that children were able to climb onto the thick ledges and were vulnerable to falling off. This did happen to a five year old child in nineteen seventy four, and it was at this point that it was clear that families with small children could not be housed there. A petition signed by six hundred and forty three

families was presented a Manchester City Council agreed to rehouse them. As a result, the Crescents would now only house adults. This would turn out to be one of many issues with the buildings. The houses were subject to pest infestation, cockroaches and rats were rife, and the residents couldn't afford to heat their homes due to the then still experimental underfloor heating that had been installed. The nineteen seventy three oil crisis meant that people could not afford the prices to heat

the homes, and damp began to creep into the residences. Due to the size of the estate. Many issues arose, like the inability to get emergency service help or police support to the upper levels, and a long term problem that was faced was the sheer amount of asbestos which had been used during the construction. This would cause many issues throughout the years that the Crescents existed. Residents began to give the Crescents the nickname of the bull Ring, and this

negative connotation was a common opinion of people who lived there. Only a few years after the Crescents had been built, many people were not enjoying living there, and by the early nineteen eighties, Manchester City Council were no longer charging the residents rent to live there. Many flats were vacant and many people were using the flats for other activities, including club nights, which were ran by

factory Records before their fame. The Crescents were eventually demolished in nineteen ninety three and all of the residents had been rehoused. In nineteen seventy seven, fifty six year old Annie Walsh was living at six hundred and fifty two Charles Barry Crescent. Annie was working in a local factory and lived alone at her flat in the Crescents. Unfortunately, there is very little known about Annie as a person. However, it was known that while she didn't have any children of

her own, she did have three siblings and nephews and nieces. It seemed that Annie kept herself to herself, and while living in the Crescents wasn't the most ideal of situations for anyone, she seemed to make it work. The thirty first of January nineteen seventy seven was a very cold, freezing day, and on that morning, an electricity worker was at the Crescents reading meters.

When he arrived at six hundred and fifty two Charles Barry Crescent, he was able to gain entry to the flat and it was at this point that he realized that something awful had happened in there. When he got into the living room, there was an awful scene. Blood was splattered around the room, all over the furniture, the walls, and some was even on the ceiling.

Sitting slumped in a chair was Annie Walsh. She had been bludgeoned around the head sixteen times and it was clear that whatever had happened to her had been a violent murder. Greater Manchester Police had a murder scene on their hands, and it had taken place in the largest housing estate in Europe, where thousands of people resided. This was immediately a huge concern, and trying to locate any information about who had been with Annie or had seen her before she

was murdered was pivotal. Due to the fact that Annie generally kept herself to herself, finding out her movements must have been difficult, particularly as Annie's body had lain there for two to three days before it was discovered. These quickly began gathering as much information as they could from her family members and other residents in the surrounding area of her home. Trevor, one of Annie's nephews, later recalled that he used to visit his aunt fortnightly in the time before she

was murdered. He stated, she lived on the sixth floor of the bull Ring and it was pretty awful back then, but the inside was always tidy. She was a spinster, she kept herself to herself and worked in a factory. This, however, was all that he knew, and when he found out that she had been murdered, he said that as he was only seventeen, he was kept away from most of the details. His mother, Kathleen, along with Annie's other siblings, Bob and Mabel, must have been

devastated that she'd been murdered in such a callous and demeaning way. There was also the question of who would have wanted to kill Annie, who appeared to be such an unassuming and innocent victim with no reason for someone to want to harm her. Greater Manchester Police knew that conducting an investigation in a housing estate as large as the Crescents was going to be difficult. The police set up an incident van at the Crescents and began doing inquiries with as many residents as

possible. Through these interviews, they were able to gain a lead about someone who Annie had been spotted with before her death. A witness had seen Annie one day with a man who appeared to be helping her take her shopping up

to her flat. It was unclear if this man had anything to do with Annie's murder, but it was one of the only leads that police had during this investigation, and so they decided to create a photo fit of the man and place it on the sides of the incident van so that other residents in the Crescents could see it. This man was described as being in his thirties and had a distinctive cleft lip, which police hope would be recognizable to someone.

This man was certainly a person of interest in an investigation where there was little concrete evidence, and witness sightings were the best thing that they could go on. Over the next few weeks and months, police continued to appeal for witnesses from the crescents and try to find out as much as they could. Police were concerned by the brutality and the frenzied nature of Annie's attack, and were worried that this person had some severe mental health issues which could lead them

to attack again. As a result of this concern, they made inquiries at mental health units in the area to check that no patience had escaped. During this time, police were under pressure to make an arrest and to find the person who had committed this murder, and four months after Annie's murder, news began to circulate that they had made an arrest. This arrest took place in the presence and on Charles Barry Crescent, the same location as Annie lived,

but a couple of floors lower down. The full circumstances of this arrest would become known. Later on, however, police announced that an arrest had been made of a man named Robert Brown. Robert was originally from Glasgow and had moved down to Manchester at the age of sixteen as he had a love of the footballer George Best and a passion for Manchester United. He wanted a fresh start for himself and during his teenage years he had gotten into trouble with the

law. He had accrued several convictions for shoplifting and other minor offenses. He didn't want that to be his life, however, and he met his girlfriend Cathy, and the pair found out that they were expecting a baby. Robert and Cathy initially moved into John Nash Crescent. However, they moved to Charles Barry Crescent to live with friends when the woman they were living with at the

time moved back to Scotland. Robert and Cathy were a young couple but were trying to get by in life, like many of the residents of the crescents. The fact that in May of nineteen seventy seven that then nineteen year old Robert was arrested for Annie's murder wouldn't have caused too many ripples within the community.

Given that Annie was a quiet person and Robert had a criminal record, albeit a minor one, and he also lived close to Annie, Greater Manchester police were adamant that they had their man, and only a few months after his arrest, Robert Brown was taken to trial and convicted of the murder. This Greater Manchester police believed was case closed and a murder solved, and it

may well have been. But given that we hear on the unseen cover only unsolved cases, I'm sure you can tell this wasn't the end of the story. Robert Brown maintained his innocence during his arrest, during his trial and afterwards, he maintained that he didn't murder Annie, and actually that he had never met her nor seen her in his life. He had a story of his own to tell and it would completely upend both the investigation and his conviction.

During the trial, it was heard that Robert Brown had confessed to the murder of Annie Walsh and that this had largely been the basis of his conviction, along with some bloody jeans which police stated Robert had been wearing when he had murdered her. Robert was adamant that the genes weren't his and that he hadn't murdered Annie. He maintained at trial that police had beaten him, punched him in the abdomen, and stripped him naked. He also stated that while he

was naked, policeman whipped him with wet towels. He explained that the whole ordeal began when police arrested him at his home, where he was in bed when they arrived at seven am. He explained that he believed he was being taken to the police station for non payment of a fine that he had received for a burglary that he had committed, and didn't know that he was being

taken away for Annie's murder. His girlfriend, Cathy, who was pregnant at the time, was asked to stand inside a cupboard, and Robert was taken away in an ordinary looking car and not a police car. The whole scenario was a little strange, and it was only when Robert got to plat Lane police station that he realized that he, while he was being charged for non payment of a fine in relation to the burglary, had actually been arrested on

charges of murder. He said that he was questioned about his whereabouts on the day that Annie had been killed, and Robert wasn't completely sure about where he was. He later stated that police he told him if he couldn't account for where he was, then he could be convicted for the murder. Robert didn't know how to answer and couldn't remember what he was doing that day. There was nothing odd about that day, and so trying to account for it four

months later proved difficult. Robert later stated in the Manchester Evening News, they told me if I didn't know where I was, I could be convicted of murder. But I didn't know where I was. Four months had gone by and I didn't keep a diary. I'd been laid off the Christmas before, so I wasn't in work. This inability to explain where he was indicated to police that Robert did have something to do with the murder, and they continued

to put more and more pressure on him to confess to it. Robert explained that the interview turned more into an interrogation and then descended into violence. He said that he was taken into a women's locker room at the police station and they began to assault him, with one police as a playing good cop and another officer playing bad cop. Robert stated he went from an interview to interrogation tactics. They started punching me in the abdomen, took my clothes and began

whipping me with wet towels like children in the playground to humiliate me. I was a vulnerable boy. He explained that this questioning went on like this for two days, as police continually pushing him for more answers, which Robert said he didn't have as he didn't commit the murder. Robert stated that this all culminated in officers asking him to sign a blank piece of paper, which he learned later. The officers then wrote a confession which Robert had allegedly made,

which he strongly denied. Robert maintained from his arrest that he always stated his innocence and he couldn't see how officers could explain the fact that he was guilty to the jury. He laid said that when the jury at the trial found him guilty using the evidence presented, he was astonished. He stated, I couldn't take it seriously. I was an uneducated boy. I didn't think they could possibly find me guilty when I hadn't done anything. It was their word

against mine. The judge at the trial said to the jury, you can either believe the high ranking and experienced police officers, or you can believe the defendant. The victim's family was screaming at me as I was led away. I was screaming back that I was innocent. It was a horrible experience. I can't really put it into words. It's surreal, like an outer body

experience, talking to people who don't believe a word you say. Robert knew that he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice and couldn't understand how he had been convicted for something that he hadn't done. He began his sentence for Annie's murder knowing that he had nothing to do with it. This must have been an extremely harrowing experience. It was particularly hard given that he had just been getting his life together at the time that he was arrested, and

that his girlfriend, Kathy was pregnant at the time. Sadly, Kathy miscarried their baby before the trial began, and Robert was devastated by the whole series of events. In the years that followed, Robert continued to maintain his innocence, and he explained that he began to educate himself in prison. He stated, I educated myself. I wanted to get a better insight into myself and my experience. I read books about people in the same position as me too.

I knew I had to campaign for myself. The only person who was going to get me out was me. Robert had a tough time in prison and would later state that he was angry about what had happened to him and that being inside made him a violent person. It reported that he would smash up his cell and wasn't a model prisoner. He was moved more than seventy times during his time in prison. Speaking about this, he said, prison turned me into a violent character. You have to become hardened. You have

to become violent because otherwise people take liberties prisoners and prison staff. I was unpredictable and violent towards prison staff. I wouldn't do anything I was told. I was an obstructive little bastard. They wanted my respect, but that has to be earned. They tried to break me, bend me, but they couldn't do it. You can't break someone who's innocent. It gives you a reservoir of strength that you don't know you have until something like this happens.

Robert was in a tough spot as he never admitted to being part of the murder, as he was innocent, and so he was seen as though he was just being obstructive and just didn't want to admit what he had done. This is the catch twenty two which innocent prisoners are in in many miscarriage of justice cases, and by not admitting it, it means they are less likely to get parole and the chance to ever get out of prison, as they

had not been deemed as rehabilitated. Robert did have the chance to ask for parole after around ten to fifteen years, but he refused to apply for it as it meant that he had to admit what he had done, and of course Robert wouldn't do that. He stated, there were only two ways I was coming out of that prison, dead or innocent. He did eventually apply for it, however, when he learned that his mother, Margaret, had

been diagnosed with cancer. However, this was turned down. Robert had been unable to be with both his father and sister, and they had died while he was in prison. His girlfriend, Cathy's life had also clearly been effected in the next few decades, as she passed away from alcohol poisoning in nineteen ninety two. The sadness and tragedy surrounding Robert's situation cannot be overlooked, and

it must have felt like his life couldn't change. There was some movement in Robert's case, though, as he had the help of Robert Lazar's team of solicitors, who were based in Moss Side in Manchester. Robert Lazar's solicitors had been around since nineteen seventy eight and were known for their involvement in both high profile and unusual cases. They had been working on Robert's case and a new

piece of evidence had come to light. A report had been uncovered which was written by Superintendent Peter Topping in nineteen seventy nine, just a year after Robert's conviction. Superintendent Topping had detailed a culture of corruption, specifically at plat Lane Police Station, the same one in which Robert had been taken. The details contained in this report had led to the prosecution of Jack Butler, one of

the investigators on Robert's case, and two other officers. This report was known to Greater Manchester Police and to the Home Office, but he has never been disclosed to Robert's legal team, meaning that this was new information to them. This was crucial given that Robert had alleged abuse and assault, as well as improper practices from the same police force and the same police station. And there was more information that emerged. Robert's legal team found that there had been a

match from fibers that had been recovered from Annie's coat to another person. This person had been a suspect at the time of the investigation, and the fibers recovered matched one from a jumper that had been seized from him as a result of inquiries. Not only that, but this alternate suspect had also been picked out of an identity parade by a witness who saw him with Annie not long

before the murder. This evidence was not disclosed to the defense team at trial and would have provided the jury with a possible alternate suspect to consider instead of just Robert. More forensic evidence was also found. The bloody genes, which it had been alleged belonged to Robert, contained neither Robert or Annie's blood, and it was discovered that the blood belonged to a woman who had had a miscarriage, as well as a now lack of forensic evidence pointing in the direction

of Robert. His confession was also being scrutinized more closely. Two forensic linguistics experts had taken a look at it and decided that it could not have been dictated to police as they had previously alleged, meaning that Roberts claimed that he hadn't confessed to anything gained more weight. Robert later stated, they had no evidence to connect me to Annie Walsh, no physical or forensic evidence. I didn't know her, I was never in her home. There were no witnesses

to link me to it. As much as they tried to fabricate it after my arrest, but they got away with it in nineteen seventy seven. I was just there, an honorable boy who didn't know what day it was. Over twenty years after Robert's conviction, the newly formed Criminal Cases Review Commission RCCRC, which had formed in nineteen ninety seven, began to investigate Robert's case and

found many of these things that had been uncovered very troubling. In two thousand and two, an appeal hearing was scheduled to discuss many of the aspects of Robert's case and the new evidence that had been found. This appeal hearing took just thirteen minutes. The Crown stated that they didn't want to contest the case, and Laard Justice Rose found that the conviction was unsafe and that Roberts should

be released. He had been imprisoned for over twenty five years, and despite this result, Robert felt that the wording of unsafe did not do justice to the decades of his life he had spent in prison for something he hadn't done. He told the m e n I'm still not happy with that. It's not good enough. They make it sound like they just don't have enough evidence to convict you. There's no innocent verdict in the criminal justice system, just

guilty or not guilty. This was, of course, what Robert had wanted for many years, and he was able to be with his mother before she passed away, which must have been some comfort. Robert, however, had been forever altered by the experience and felt a lot of resentment towards the police and the people had been responsible for him being convicted in the first place.

He explained that when he left prison, he was basically left to deal with life by himself with little support, despite being out of touch with the outside world for a quarter of a century. He was given forty five pounds and a train ticket and told to go on his way. This, he feels isn't good enough and trying to adjust to life again was extremely difficult for Robert.

He explained that he received two hundred and fifty thousand pounds in compensation for his wrongful conviction, but due to the trauma that he had experienced and his lack of both education and life experience before his conviction, he had no concept of the idea of money. He also stated that the prison service asked for a hundred thousand pounds of that back for his living expenses in the years that he was in prison. It was never about money. I haven't got any

money now. I'm skin on benefits. I didn't have any real concept of money. It was just paper. I wasted the two hundred and fifty thousand pounds on drink, drugs, women, and holidays. I couldn't even tell you I enjoyed spending it. I didn't want the money. It was blood money. I had to number pain and the nightmares, and I went through every night with drugs. Robert explains that he is severely damaged by his experience, saying, I live every day of my life with this. It doesn't

go away. I never got my life back, never found peace of mind. I don't flagellate myself with self pity. There are probably people worse off than me. I just want my name cleared. They should have the decency, the humanity, the morality to hold their hands up. I was fitted up. I want a proclamation of innocence. Robert has stated that he's never been given an apology from Greater Manchester Police for what happened to him, and said he's not even sure if he would want one now after all this time.

He said, maybe it would mean everything, maybe it would mean nothing. I don't know how it would feel until it happened, but I don't think they're big enough to apologize after all this time. Robert has been extremely open about his struggles after being released from prison and about his opinions about the changes that need to happen to the justice system so that this doesn't happen again. He told the Clydebank Post, I'm angry and dislike the system for what

it's done to me and done to other working class people. I didn't want money. Money didn't give me justice. It doesn't give my mother her life back. There are a lot of issues left unresolved. The real killer of Annie Walsh has not been caught. I'm passionate about getting the system changed. I think it's too late for me getting help and assistance for the damage done to me. The public are quick to want to hang somebody without having any

real knowledge of the facts or evidence of the case. If there's no evidence to connect someone to the crime, then there's no case to answer. The word of one man or woman is not enough. I don't do this because I want self pity. I want changes to the criminal justice system that shows there's balance and equality for everybody. We need deep, radical change or you're

going to hear about cases like this for the next twenty five years. It concerns me people are still getting convicted on hearsay evidence, character assassinations, and more. You would think a criminal justice system would have to be evidence based. I was convicted on the words of the police, and juries believe police. Since I was released in two thousand and two, there has not been any improvement in the justice system. I think police should be held responsible for

their crimes. It's as if police are a law unto themselves. These comments will resonate with many people given the recent headlines about police forces and police officers in the UK, and while issues like this exist, there isn't as much focus on how wrongful convictions happen in this country. They do happen, and unfortunately mistakes are made during investigations, and these investigations have huge ramifications for not

only the person convicted, but on the victims family. We have to remember Annie Walsh in this whole story, as due to the actions of police officers in this case, she sometimes becomes almost like a footnote in her own case. Annie's family now do not know what happened to her, and they, like Robert, have suffered their own trauma of having all of these wounds reopened

once again. There is now no healing for them. Annie's sister Kathleen met with Robert after he was released and said she welcomed the news as it meant that they could finally find out, one way or another, who did it. This was a very forgiving and open way to look at the situation, and it's sad that all of Annie's siblings died without fully knowing what happened to their sister. Kathleen's son Trevor, was asked if he thought they would ever

find the culprit. Trevor said no, and that's what my mother thought too. After so much time passed by, the chances of finding someone a very slim. The likelihood of anyone even wanting to take up the case after this long is pretty slim. This is the sad fact in this case. The actions of the police and the way in which this case was conducted meant that the perpetrator was never found and now may never be given the amount of time

that has passed. They did have a plausible alternate suspect, and forensics and eyewitnesses seem to corroborate this. However, what has been done about this since, or if this suspect is even still alive is unknown. After Robert had been released, a senior West Yorkshire Police officer carried out an inquiry into the way Greater Manchester Police handled the investigation. Then asked GMP about this and whether

they wanted to apologize to Robert Brown. They stated Greater Manchester Police accepts the Court of Appeals judgment in the case of Robert Brown. Undetected murder cases are never solved and are periodically reviewed and reinvestigated when new information comes to lie it. There are so many things to learn from this case, and neither Annie nor Robert have got justice. And we have to remember this. Annie's murderer got away with it and Robert lost over twenty five years of his life and

suffers with the trauma every day. This case brings up many issues with our criminal justice system, and in particular highlights what happens to people when they get out of prison, regardless of their innocence or whether they have just served their time. Is the proper support in place for people who've spent a while in prison. Can they properly adapt to the outside world. Have they been in

any way rehabilitated while in prison. These are all questions which are brought up in this case, as well as whether the conduct of police is properly inspected and assessed. Robert Brown stated in a documentary for Real Crime that he was just anyone and suggests that he could have been anyone and it could have happened to anyone and I think this is the thing that I take away from it.

Wrongful convictions unfortunately did and still do happen, and while this is not something often talked about here in the UK, we must be aware of them and know our own rights. It saddens me to think that Annie and her family could have had justice in this case had it been handled differently, and the fact we still don't know who killed her is tragic. If you do know anything about Annie Walsh's murdering Hume in nineteen seventy seven, then please contact

police on one oh one. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to the exclusive to get extra bonus episodes every month. You can also get access to new episodes earlier and add free. You can use the link in the show notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer. You can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also

just share the episodes. You can subscribe on YouTube and follow us on social media. You can also now subscribe and listen to my new podcast, ten Minute True Crime, which tells infamous crimes in a short form, bite size ten minutes, but people on the go or who just like the facts find that wherever you listen, and in the show notes, as always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen