Police Investigation
The police investigation into the 11 June 1984 murder of Shelley Morgan remains active and the identity of the murderer is still unknown.
Shelley left her home at 67 Dunkerry Road, in the Bedminster area of Bristol with her two children – Liam and Charlotte, at approximately 08:30 on Monday 11 June 1984.
Shelley saw her children off to school prior to making her way to Leigh Woods near Ashton Court, where she had planned to spend the day sketching and taking photographs.
Concerns were raised for the welfare of Shelley when she failed to collect her children from school on the afternoon of Monday 11 June 1984 or return home. Shelley’s disappearance was reported to Avon and Somerset Police that evening, and at 19:30 she was officially registered as a missing person by the police.
On the day of her disappearance, Shelley was described as a white female with long light coloured hair wearing red framed glasses, carrying a carpet bag containing at least her Olympus OM20 camera, tripod and sketching material.
Despite ongoing police enquiries and media appeals including the erection of 200 posters between Bristol and North East Somerset seeking information about the whereabouts of Shelley, over the proceeding days, week and months nothing was heard from Shelley.
On Monday 24 September 1984 at 19:18, Avon and Somerset Police received a phone call from a male member of the public with a local Bristolian accent claiming to have important information, and stating the missing person enquiry would be a murder enquiry. The man claimed Shelley’s body was in watery grave.
Below is the recording of the actual telephone call made to the police by the member of public.
Although uncertain of the exact location, the man stated Shelley’s body was in a stretch of water in Hanham River located at the bottom of Conham Hill. A specialist underwater search team of 8 divers initiated an immediate search, however after 19 days they had found nothing and police declared the call a hoax.
Just two days after completion of the underwater search, on Sunday 14 October 1984, an unclothed badly decomposed body lying face down was discovered by children playing in a wooded copse at Watercatch Farm, off Long Lane in Backwell, approximately 8 miles west of Bristol, near Bristol Airport.
Dental records confirmed that the body was that of Shelley. A forensic post-mortem examination concluded that she had died as the result of 14 stab wounds to the back and there was evidence the attack had been sexually motivated.
As a result of the post-mortem, Avon and Somerset Police’s missing person enquiry became a murder investigation and a team of 80 detectives was assigned to the case.
Police determind that Shelley was more than likely murdered on the day she disappeared.
With the exception of a torn and twisted pair of tights around Shelley’s ankles and a pair of discarded sandals in nearby brambles, no other clothing nor any personal effects were found with her body, and despite an extensive police search of the surrounding fields, hedgerows and lanes, no further items belonging to Shelley were found.
Due to the rural location where the body was found, police said Shelley’s killer must have had access to a vehicle and knowledge of the local area.
The team of detectives began to attempt to piece together Shelley’s last known movements around her plans for Monday 11 June 1984, theorising her most likely route between her home in Dunkerry Road, Bedminster and Leigh Woods near Ashton Court.
Whilst Shelley’s exact movements on Monday 11 June 1984 were not known, an Avon and Somerset Police reconstruction for the BBC’s Crimewatch programme on Tuesday 6 November 1984 provided a timeline of witnessed events that took place on that morning in June.
On the morning of Monday 11 June 1984 Shelley is known to have left her home in Dunkerry Road with her children at 08:30.
A normal school day, Shelley made her way with her children to the junction of Brendon Road with Dunford Road and Cotswold Road, where she met and left her daughter Charlotte in the care of a known female adult. Shelley and her son Liam then continued along Brendon Road to St John’s Lane, where she saw Liam board his Buglers Company school bus at 08:35.
Where Shelley went immediately after she saw Liam’s school bus depart is not known, but between 10:00 and 11:00 Shelley attended the Royal Mail sorting office in Kent Street, Bedminster, to collect a registered letter that contained money that her husband Nigel sent every week whilst he was away working on their property in Wales.
Shelley’s movements on leaving the sorting office have never been fully established, but a witness claimed a woman with long fair hair and distinctive red glasses, which closely resembled Shelley’s description, boarded a number 121 bus in East Street, Bedminster at 10:10. The number 121 bus would have taken Shelley in the direction of Bristol Bus Station, arriving at the bus station before 11:00.
Following the November 1984 reconstruction, Avon and Somerset Police provided an update the following month when they appeared on the BBC Crimewatch programme that aired on Thursday 20 December 1984.
Up until the November 1984 reconstruction, Avon and Somerset Police had only been in a position to provide a witnessed timeline up to 11:00, however as a result of the reconstruction 120 people had contacted Avon and Somerset Police including a witness who could extend that timeline past 11:00.
The witness had identified themselves to the police to say that just before 11:00 on the morning of Monday 11 June 1984, they had seen Shelley board the number 354 bus at Bristol Bus Station. Destined for Nailsea, the number 354 bus travels in the direction of Backwell.
At 11:15 Shelley was seen to leave the number 354 bus at Long Ashton, and at the same time a van thought to have been a royal blue Ford Transit pulled up behind the bus.
The driver of the van, wearing a white t-shirt, beckoned Shelley to the window and she seemed to be giving him directions. It appeared that they may they have been travelling in the same direction and that the van driver may have offered Shelley a lift. Police appealed for the driver to identify themselves – they never did.
At a date post-December 1984, Avon and Somerset Police’s interest in the number 354 bus switched to the number 359 bus to Portishead. Based on a witness statement the police were now more confident that Shelley had actually boarded the number 359 at Bristol Bus Station on the morning of 11 June 1984.
Despite the media interest and police appeals there were few leads at the time.
Sighting’s of a woman sat inside a yellow lorry in Backwell Hill Road and another of a woman in a BMW car parked on the Portishead-to-Bristol road led to nothing, as did reports of someone matching Shelley’s description boarding a ferry in Weymouth, Dorset.
Over the decades Shelley’s family have been appraised of the ongoing investigation privately, whilst investigations by Avon and Somerset Police continued in the background away from the media and public.
On Tuesday 11 June 2019, the 35th anniversary of Shelley’s disappearance, Avon and Somerset Police released new information relating to the investigation – images of two tear-off postcards from a Bristol hospice charity calendar.
The scene on each postcard was of interest to the investigation as one was of an area where Shelley was expected to visit on the day she disappeared, and the other of the village where her remains were discovered on Sunday 14 October 1984. More details surrounding the postcards can be found on the Items of Interest page.
Also on the 35th anniversary, a Victim Impact Statement written on behalf of Shelley by her sister Holle Brian was released through Avon and Somerset Police.
The content of the Victim Impact Statement included details not previously released by the police to the public. For the first time the polices’ theorising of Shelley’s full movements on Monday 11 June 1984 were outlined.
On Tuesday 11th June 2024, the 40th anniversary of Shelley’s disappearance, Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that they were able to rule out any significance of the two tear-off postcards to the investigation.
The police also confirmed that Shelley headed to Leigh Woods on the morning of 11th June 1984, but could not categorically say for certain she made it there, and that they had unconfirmed sightings of her on a bus travelling towards the area and near Ashton Court.
Furthermore, the police confirmed Shelley was wearing a scarlet-coloured top, a white skirt and maroon-coloured tights on the day.
Despite exhaustive enquiries and re-examination of the investigation over the decades since Shelley’s murder, her killer has never been identified, and the whereabouts of her Olympus OM20 camera serial number 1032853 remains unknown, despite the police consistently appealing over the years for information about this specific item.
Avon and Somerset Police have also maintained the belief that Shelley’s killer must have had access to a vehicle, and may have had links through work or other associations to Backwell and possibly the Leigh Woods or Clifton areas of Bristol.