Crime writer seeks answers over great aunt's sealed papers murder

Martha Giles, a mother of five children, worked as a nurse on a psychiatric ward at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital. On 12 February 1959, the 45-year-old was found murdered in the grounds of the hospital. One person was charged but later acquitted due to circumstantial evidence. Nearly seven decades later, her family still do not know what happened to her and why. Papers relating to the case have been sealed and cannot be opened until 2055. "She was found brutally wounded. She had been stabbed and her clothes had been put back together again," her great niece, crime writer Pauline Rowson, told the BBC. "So the killer had opened her clothes, stabbed her, and put her clothes back together again. And her body had been moved, she wasn't killed where she was found. "There's just so many questions about this case. I've looked into it and I got so far then unfortunately hit a brick wall and couldn't get any further." Her family's search for justice has been hampered by the fact the case papers were sealed for 75 years and more recently were sealed for a further 20 years. Rowson said she was told they had been sealed to protect those involved in the case from unnecessary distress. "I sa

Mar 10, 2026 → Mar 10, 2026