Louise Loasby (née Ellson)

My friend and I were about fifteen at the time. We were in the co-op on the high street. We suddenly felt rather uncomfortable as there were about three youths acting rather strangely beside one of the displays. They were whispering and nudging each other. They stood out as we did not recognise them from the town (in those days everyone knew everyone else). I seem to remember they had afro hairstyles. 

 We didn't want to hang around and went on our usual wander. As we were walking up Station Road we were stopped by police who were surrounding one of the properties. Not sure if that was the moment we found out about the murder, but we eventually learned that a poor old lady had been murdered in her own home - by three youths. As I was only 15 at the time news reports etc didn't figure high on my agenda - however I have often wondered if there was a connection with our sighting at the co-op (should we have gone forward with our information?).