A new podcast, written and presented by BBC Hereford and Worcester's Nicola Goodwin, is currently trending online. "I've never trended in my life," says Nicola, as she reveals the inspiration behind The Body in the Tree, currently available on BBC Sounds.
"When I was a student, which is going back 30 years, I made a scrapbook of potential stories I'd like to cover. Thinking back, it was probably on the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the body that I became interested."
BBC Hereford & Worcester's Nicola Goodwin seeks to uncover the truth of a mysterious death
Also playing into Nicola's fascination with the nameless woman found in the hollow trunk of a tree in Hagley Woods, was the experience of her friend Nancy Billings.
"Nancy will be 100 on May 2, and during the war she worked at the Rotherwas Munitions factory where her best friend was Betty Campbell. The two of them survived the bombing at Rotherwas, but Nancy never saw Betty again. She spent decades trying to find her and would love to find her again."
What Nancy's story revealed was how common it was during the war for people to go missing, and though, there's no suggestion that the woman in the tree is Betty, it does explain perhaps why it has been so impossible to identify her.
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The story began in 1943 when four boys out hunting for birds' eggs found the remains in the hollow trunk of a tree in woodland in North Worcestershire and from then through to the 60s, Nicola has discovered, 'diligent, decent and caring' police work was carried out. "People tried their very best, didn't assume anything, and the work was all victim based. I was not expecting that."
There is no trace left of the hollow tree in which Bella was discovered in Hagley Woods
When it was mistakenly reported that the remains of the woman, who was less than 5' tall with brown hair, probably in her mid-30s and possibly a mother, were missing a hand, rumours of witchcraft and spying swirled, and the dead woman became known as Bella, but her identity has never been established – and her remains, last seen at a Birmingham police training centre, have gone missing.
Dr John Sandford
The podcast features contributions from forensic psychologist Dr John Stanford, who brought his 2023 eyes to the original case files and concluded that it was probably closer to home than people thought ... local historian Bill Laws and Nancy Billings.
"I am really optimistic that we will find her remains or what happened to them. That would be really important. No one will be charged now, but we could perhaps (with the advances in DNA) maybe find a relative and give her a name. Names are very important."
The eight episodes of The Body in the Tree are available to download on BBC Sounds now, and there will be a follow up in due course.
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