Pensioner battered to death in her ‘crime free’ village
Just days after robbers kill great-great-granny...
A FORMER church warden has been found bludgeoned to death at her country home.
The pensioner – named locally as Beryl Purdy, 86 – is believed to have been attacked in her farmhouse opposite the village church on Monday afternoon.
It is understood her assailant tried to break into a car outside and the sound alerted neighbours. Two men entered Mrs Purdy’s property in Broomfield, on Somerset’s Quantock Hills, where they found the grandmother- of-two lying on the floor.
A witness, who asked not to be named, said: ‘She had clearly been hit hard over the head. She was just slumped on the ground and not moving in a pool of blood. It was a shocking sight.’
A resident who lives half a mile from the crime scene said the last burglary he was aware of in the rural community – about five miles from Taunton – was two years ago.
Rev Dr Mary Styles, from St Mary and All Saints church – where Mrs Purdy served as warden for 20 years – said: ‘We are all quite sickened by what’s happened. We are trying to come together as a village as people work through their grief.’ One resident described Mrs Purdy, who was known as Bez, as ‘an absolute pillar of the community’.
Another said: ‘Bez was a stalwart of the local church where she had been a warden. It is terrifying to think something like this could happen in such a beautiful out-ofthe-way spot.
‘You couldn’t imagine somewhere further from crime-ridden city streets. It is so idyllic and peaceful. Or at least it was.
‘It will take us a long time to get over something like this.’ Mrs Purdy’s murder came on the day another pensioner died following a burglary at her home on the other side of the country.
Great-great-grandmother Joy Middleditch, 82, was robbed of her pension by masked intruders in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on Saturday. She died in hospital on Monday.
Mrs Purdy lived with husband Peter, 92, who ran a horse transport business. It is not known where Mr Purdy was at the time.
Mrs Purdy’s death is the second tragedy to strike her family – the couple’s daughter, Alison, a constable with Avon and Somerset Police, died in 2012 at the age of 46 following a riding accident. The couple also have a son, Nick, 55, who lives in North Yorkshire.
A message on flowers left at the scene yesterday said: ‘Bez – there are no words. Our thoughts are with you, Peter and your family.’ Mrs Purdy’s attacker left the scene on foot but a man was tracked by a police helicopter and a dog unit, and arrested three hours later in nearby woodland.
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said the man, who is in his 30s,was reported to them as a missing person from a mental health unit before Mrs Purdy was found dead.