THE story of a brutal murder, which rocked Bromsgrove more than 60 years ago and remains unsolved to this day, is to be featured in a TV programme set to be screened next spring, writes Pete Lammas.

A producer for the BBC's Inside Out programme was in Bromsgrove last week checking details, accompanied by an American author Elizabeth Ruffin, who believes she is a relative of the victim. Elizabeth, who lives in Kidderminster and is married to an Englishman, stumbled across an account of the murder of Miss Florrie Porter in October 1944 in a book some years ago.

Her interest was immediately aroused and she began to amass a huge amount of information relating to the case. She hopes eventually to set up a trust fund to erect a headstone on Miss Porter's unmarked grave in Bromsgrove cemetery. She has also visited America to try and track down the killer. Her intention is to write a book based on the crime and an appeal to Bromsgrove people for information, which appeared in the Advertiser/Messenger in 2002, proved very successful.

The feature sparked enormous interest and was spotted by the BBC who considered the story worthy of broadcasting. Filming should begin later this autumn.

At the time, news of the discovery of the partly-clothed body of 33-year-old Miss Porter, who was lying in a pool of blood beneath a veranda at Lickey End School, spread like wildfire through Bromsgrove. She had been stabbed seven times.

The grim discovery was made by local schoolboys Albert Egan and Louis Price.

Florrie was single and worked as a clerk at the Austin works, Longbridge. She lived with her family in Littleheath Lane, Lickey End - just a stone's throw from where her body was found.

Police inquires revealed she had last been seen the previous night in the company of an American army officer in the George Hotel in Bromsgrove's town centre. It is said he came from the US army hospital in All Saints' Road.

However, exhaustive inquires by police failed to find her killer or any trace of her companion that fateful night.

The murder has become part of Bromsgrove folklore.

At the time we published the story, we were told by an authoritative contemporary source that police knew the murderer's identity, but that he was 'spirited away' back to the States that same night. Elizabeth is still anxious for information and can be contacted on 01562 862897.