1888.
***
Returning to the present, it is worth noting that Marla Hayes was in no way similar in looks or background to Polly Nichols. She was twenty four years old, not forty-three, and she came from a reasonably well-to do family in Hastings. Her father was a doctor, her mother a librarian and money had never been a source of trouble for the Hayes family. The one thing the two women shared, despite the passage of time between their time on Earth, was the fact that both worked as prostitutes. Marla had fallen in with a bad crowd after leaving school and attending her local college where she initially began a course in animal care and welfare, hoping to one day realise her ambition of working in the veterinary industry.
Soon, she had descended, as do so many others in modern society into the world of the drug addict. Her habit grew worse until she was caught stealing from a local shop in order to fuel her growing habit. A period of probation followed and her father did his best to wean his daughter from the drugs he was only too aware might bring about a sad and sorry death for her one day. Sadly, his efforts were in vain and Marla became more and more embroiled in the world of drugs and drug addicts. It soon became plain to the bright and pretty young girl that there was an easy way of funding her habit. She began to sell herself for sex at the age of nineteen, and a series of arrests for soliciting followed. Her parents were at a loss as to how to deal with their wayward daughter and it probably came as no surprise to them when, soon after Christmas following her twentieth birthday, Marla disappeared from their lives.
She simply left home one evening and never returned.
Mara's crumpled body was found by boat-builder Andrew Mitchell as he walked along Catherine Steer on his way to work at five thirty a.m on the morning of 31st August. It lay in a doorway about halfway along the street, and at first he'd thought the body to be a drunk, sleeping off a heavy night on the front step of her own, or someone else's home. The river of blood that had poured from the girl's gaping neck wounds as he drew closer soon dispelled any such thoughts, and Mitchell stepped back in horror as he realised the full horror of his discovery. Her black mini skirt had been pulled up around her waist and the man had no difficulty in seeing that a series of terrible mutilations had been carried out upon the poor girl. Pulling his mobile phone from his pocket Mitchell quickly summoned the emergency services and waited for the arrival of the police and ambulance teams.
The squad car that arrived on the scene within twenty minutes of the call contained two uniformed constables and, upon seeing the extent of the murdered girl's injuries and realising the similarities between this and the murder of Laura Kane, P.C. Donald Stone quickly placed a call in to headquarters. It wasn't long before the telephone in Mike Holland's bedroom woke him from a deep sleep and within half an hour of waking, the Detective Inspector was on the scene, quickly followed by his sergeant, Carl Wright.
As Wright so aptly understated as he and Holland looked down at the pitiful remains of the once beautiful young girl who lay cold and lifeless on the ground before them, "Bloody Hell, sir, this is getting serious."
Chapter 9
Catherine Street
Doctor Charles Murdoch, known to those who worked closely with him simply as 'Chas' surveyed the scene of death that greeted him upon his arrival at the Catherine Street murder scene. There was little doubt in anyone's minds that this was indeed the site of the actual murder. The amount of blood present at the scene was sufficient to testify that the girl had met her end right there, on the doorstep of a stranger's house sometime during the night. Chas Murdoch was forty two, and had been a medical examiner for over fifteen years. Tall, and slim, brown-eyed, with a shock of light brown hair that never seemed keen on responding to any sort
***
Returning to the present, it is worth noting that Marla Hayes was in no way similar in looks or background to Polly Nichols. She was twenty four years old, not forty-three, and she came from a reasonably well-to do family in Hastings. Her father was a doctor, her mother a librarian and money had never been a source of trouble for the Hayes family. The one thing the two women shared, despite the passage of time between their time on Earth, was the fact that both worked as prostitutes. Marla had fallen in with a bad crowd after leaving school and attending her local college where she initially began a course in animal care and welfare, hoping to one day realise her ambition of working in the veterinary industry.
Soon, she had descended, as do so many others in modern society into the world of the drug addict. Her habit grew worse until she was caught stealing from a local shop in order to fuel her growing habit. A period of probation followed and her father did his best to wean his daughter from the drugs he was only too aware might bring about a sad and sorry death for her one day. Sadly, his efforts were in vain and Marla became more and more embroiled in the world of drugs and drug addicts. It soon became plain to the bright and pretty young girl that there was an easy way of funding her habit. She began to sell herself for sex at the age of nineteen, and a series of arrests for soliciting followed. Her parents were at a loss as to how to deal with their wayward daughter and it probably came as no surprise to them when, soon after Christmas following her twentieth birthday, Marla disappeared from their lives.
She simply left home one evening and never returned.
Mara's crumpled body was found by boat-builder Andrew Mitchell as he walked along Catherine Steer on his way to work at five thirty a.m on the morning of 31st August. It lay in a doorway about halfway along the street, and at first he'd thought the body to be a drunk, sleeping off a heavy night on the front step of her own, or someone else's home. The river of blood that had poured from the girl's gaping neck wounds as he drew closer soon dispelled any such thoughts, and Mitchell stepped back in horror as he realised the full horror of his discovery. Her black mini skirt had been pulled up around her waist and the man had no difficulty in seeing that a series of terrible mutilations had been carried out upon the poor girl. Pulling his mobile phone from his pocket Mitchell quickly summoned the emergency services and waited for the arrival of the police and ambulance teams.
The squad car that arrived on the scene within twenty minutes of the call contained two uniformed constables and, upon seeing the extent of the murdered girl's injuries and realising the similarities between this and the murder of Laura Kane, P.C. Donald Stone quickly placed a call in to headquarters. It wasn't long before the telephone in Mike Holland's bedroom woke him from a deep sleep and within half an hour of waking, the Detective Inspector was on the scene, quickly followed by his sergeant, Carl Wright.
As Wright so aptly understated as he and Holland looked down at the pitiful remains of the once beautiful young girl who lay cold and lifeless on the ground before them, "Bloody Hell, sir, this is getting serious."
Chapter 9
Catherine Street
Doctor Charles Murdoch, known to those who worked closely with him simply as 'Chas' surveyed the scene of death that greeted him upon his arrival at the Catherine Street murder scene. There was little doubt in anyone's minds that this was indeed the site of the actual murder. The amount of blood present at the scene was sufficient to testify that the girl had met her end right there, on the doorstep of a stranger's house sometime during the night. Chas Murdoch was forty two, and had been a medical examiner for over fifteen years. Tall, and slim, brown-eyed, with a shock of light brown hair that never seemed keen on responding to any sort
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