Ernest Charles Harding

Ernest Charles Harding  was convicted of the murder of Evelyn Patricia Higgins 10.

He sexually assaulted her, attempted to suffocate her and stabbed her in the throat. After he buried her 8 inches below the ground.

On 8 June 1955 Evelyn Higgins came out of Frederick Bird School and went to a hairdressers shop where she stayed until 5pm. After leving the hairdressers shop she was picked up by Ernest Harding in his car.

After Evelyn Higgins was found to be missing a search was made and two 14 year old girls reported that a man in a black car had tried to pick them up just a few moments before Evelyn Higgins last sighting. They described the car which had also been seen by a cyclists who expanded on the description saying that it was a Standard 9, two door saloon dated 1937 or 1938 and that the number plate was on the extreme oss side instead of the centre, it had been hand painted and had a Union Jack motif on the bonnet.