Marie Ellen Bailes.

Marie Ellen Bailes. B J Helston. Opening chapter -- at the moment.

Pretty little six-year-old Marie Ellen Bailes left her home on Friday 30th May 1908, and her parents never saw her alive again. She had her mother’s colouring, with fair hair, blue eyes, a pale skin but topped with rosy cheeks. She wore a black skullcap dressed with two silk-ribbon rosettes, black stockings; boots, slightly scuffed at the toes, a white pinafore, a blue-check dress, and a pure silver necklace with a medal of the Virgin Mary about her neck. Her father, Alfred, was ex-army. Unlike most men at his work, he didn’t spend his lunch hour at the pub. He went home and ate with his family. Not that he was a teetotaller. He liked a drink as much as the next man, but he felt he’d done that. He’d seen much and experienced more than most in his military career. He now took his pleasure in his family – one boy and one girl.