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inuncdiatc hcadlincs. we arc led to bclicvc that thc box-filcs con-ccming thc casc. slacked on thc shchcs at Thamcs Valley Police IIQ. arc definitely not accumulating layer upon layer of undisturbed dusi. Aftcr uli it is only just ovcr a ycar sincc thc body of Mrs. Ham.son was disoovcrcd m thc living room of her Cirade-ll-listcd (icorgian house. set in four acres of wooded ground in the Cotswold vi!lage of Lower Swinstcad. The home. "The Windhovers." was sold for £350.000 tairly soon aftcr thc murder. and thc fatnily havc long sincc left the quiei lcafy villagc all cxccpt Yvonne. of conrse. who is buncd in thc smali, ncatly mown churchyard of St. Mary's. whcrc. in the fonu ofa Christian cross, a Iow. wooden stake is thc only memoriał to thc body reposing bcncath it:

R.I.P.

WONNE HAS I SON 1947-1997

Pcrhaps. when thc ground is sufficicntly scttlcd. thc murdered wornan will havc somc worthicr monument. But for thc presenł thc grase shows little ifany sign of tender loving care. and flowers no longcr adom this semi-ncglccted spot.

Yvonne Hamsun, a fully flualificd nursc. had a*sumcd work in ()\ford aftcr her two children had left home, and on thc cvening of her murder had retumed to an empty house. her husband Frank, as normally during thc weck, spending his timc in his London apart-ment. "The \Vindhovcrs" had becn broken into a fcw ycant carlicr. when TV sets. vidco-cquipmcnt. rad i os. a Computer, and sundry clcc-trical items had bccn stolcn. As a rcsult. thc Hamsons had installcd a fairiy sophisticated burglar alarm, with "panic-bunons” in the main bedroom and beside thc main cntrancc door: had cnlisted in the local Ncighbourhood Watch group: and had aupured a Rottwciler puppy. christcncd Rodney. who had subsequcntly displayed a hcalthicr tastc