WHO KILLED

meeting or appointment just before her death. It also seemed the killer was familiar with the layout of Florence’s studio. Despite Florence’s local fame and popularity, the investigation struggled to unearth any leads.

A three-page report was all that remained about Florence’s homicide and her death faded into the pages of Sydney’s bloodied crime history.

But as the years trawled by, one notorious Australian killer shot to the top of the suspect list. John Wayne Glover, an English immigrant known as the ‘Granny Killer’, was convicted of killing six elderly women in Sydney between 1989 and 1990. If Glover was operating in the 1970s, Florence would have fit his victim profile precisely.

Before his death by suicide in 2005, Glover denied responsibility for Florence’s death.

But Dennis O’toole, the retired detective chief inspector who was lead detective on Glover’s homicide spree, still believes Florence was the very first victim of the future ‘Granny Killer’.

“There is no doubt in my mind that John Wayne Glover was responsible for the murder of Florence Broadhurst,” he said. “[He had] an underlying hatred for elderly women.”

Florence’s son, Robert Lloyd-lewis, was also a prime suspect in his mother’s murder, and according to host Adam, their relationship was “difficult and tempestuous”.

On the day before she was brutally murdered, Florence and Robert had a loud argument in her Paddington warehouse within earshot of other employees about the fact staff had been stealing money from the company cash register.

But police would later investigate Robert and his alibi of playing golf with friends at the time of the murder checked out.

“I think [the police] were looking for a quick fix. I don’t think they did their job correctly and efficiently,” Robert told Adam.

As for his own theory, Robert maintains that one of Florence’s staff members killed his mother.

“They knew how to get out of the back of the factory and close it… and the fact she made

“HE HAD AN UNDERLYING HATRED FOR ELDERLY WOMEN...”

two cups of tea,” Robert said.

“The only cups of tea I had ever seen her make for staff was for her head printer at the time.”

While Florence may have met a brutal end, her designs and artistic eye lives on. Florence Broadhurst Fabrics remains a thriving textiles company and her work can be seen in homes and spaces around the world.