Horror crimes of sweetshop ‘jigsaw’ killer who murdered victim over £6 before cops used vacuum to convict him
A SWEETSHOP 'jigsaw' killer who murdered his 59-year-old victim over £6 was convicted after police used a vacuum cleaner.
James Smith beat shopkeeper Sarah Cross to death with bottles of mineral water during an explosion of violence in her Manchester sweet shop.
After the 25-year-old finished battering Sarah to death he made off with £6 from the till.
However the killer's anonymous getaway was foiled when he left finger prints on a freshly painted door.
Cops, who already had his fingerprints on record, were able to link Smith to the scene of the crime.
Ms Cross's body was discovered by a little girl who wandered into the shop to buy sweets on a Friday afternoon in May 1962.
Read More true crime
Smith was known to the police and he was quickly picked up after his finger prints were identified.
He denied ever being in the shop but admitted walking past it on the day of the murder.
It triggered a monumental police investigation which saw officers meticulously reassemble the broken bottles found inside the shop.
But there were five pieces missing.
Most read in The Sun
Investigators later headed to Smith's Manchester home where they used a vacuum cleaner to hoover hunt shards of glass from the back of his sofa.
Other shards were found inside a jacket.
NO WITNESSES
Cops determined the five bits found at Smith's house were perfect matches for those missing at the scene.
And after analysing fingerprints left on the door frame - it was revealed his prints were already on file for a previous conviction.
The bits of glass and finger prints were enough for Detective Chief Superintendent Eric Cunningham and Detective Inspector Tommy Butcher to arrest Smith.
There were no witnesses in the case and the cocky killer boasted to detectives: "Bet you a fiver I don't hang."
However the weight of the forensic evidence against him compelled a jury to find him guilty after the briefest of deliberations.
'BET YOU A FIVER I DON'T HANG'
Smith's case became known as the Jigsaw Murder because the onus was on cops to reconstruct the bottles.
Harry Allen, once assistant to the notorious hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, hung Smith on the morning of November 28, 1962, at Strangeways prison.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
It was the first time police had used a hoover to gather up evidence.
The case now features in the crime room at the Greater Manchester Police museum.
