Gertrude Canning murder in 1942 'solved' in nephew's new book

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

The murder has gone unsolved ever since and is one of Scotland's oldest cold cases, but her nephew Liam believes he has found the answers to what happened and has detailed them in his new book.
Gertrude was born in Donegal, Republic of Ireland and like many people from that area, she moved to England for work. When war broke out, she joined the Women's Royal Naval Service – known as the Wrens.
She was dispatched to serve on a training base in Inveraray and that is where her life came to a tragic end. The murder weapon, a standard British Army .38 revolver, was only issued to non-commissioned officers and officers holding the rank of second lieutenant or higher.
The death was so difficult that it was never spoken about in Liam's family. He was born 15 years after his aunt's death but it was decades later before he discovered his family history, and he then set out to find out exactly what happened.
Liam Canning has released a book about his aunt's murder (Image: Liam Canning)
It resulted in him writing this book, Gertrude Canning: A Wren for 99 days, and telling her story as well as raising questions over the handling of the case in the 1940s – and whether the Scottish legal system let her and his family down when it came to getting the answers that were wanted.
'I wanted to find out what happened to my aunt', Liam said. 'We only knew briefly about her being murdered, we were never told anything about it as children or as young people growing up. It was never talked about within the family circles.
'It was never discussed and it was only about 20 years ago my son was presented with an old tattered paper telling her story and when he brought it to me, I was automatically compelled to look into this and I did and that was the start and now we're here today with a book published and telling the whole story from inside out.
'Carrying out the research for my book to unravel exactly what happened to my Aunt Gertrude and to uncover the circumstances associated with her murder and the police investigations that followed has been a journey of discovery not only for myself, but also for the wider Canning Family network.
'For me, writing this book, whilst at times has been challenging, but it has also been a labour of love and I am delighted that I have completed it.
'This book is more than just an investigation, it is a tribute to my aunt and will ensure that her memory will not be forgotten despite the decades that have past.
'Gertrude may have been forgotten by the justice system but she will not be forgotten by her family.
'I would also like to put on record that myself and the other Canning Family members will be forever eternally grateful to the Royal British Legion at Inveraray and the wider Inveraray Community for their help and support down the years since I first visited Inveraray back in 2010.'
He knows it is unlikely that the case will ever be closed with the person responsible now likely to be dead given the length of time it has been since the murder, and the fact they would already have been in their 20s when the crime took place in 1942.
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But he does raise questions over whether the need for corroboration in Scots Law, as well as the secrecy around the army base in Inveraray played a part in the case going cold.
He continued: 'Everyone will have their own opinion but there were errors of judgement in the original investigation back in the 40s.
'In Scotland you have the corroboration rule and in Northern Ireland, England or Wales it isn't a requirement but in Scotland you need two independent references and it was one of the reasons why nobody was ever charged.
'They had evidence but it was never corroborated. All of this is written in the book in a very detailed and structured fashion.
'We were immune from it for so long but it was only when we went to Scotland after our freedom of information request was rejected because it wasn't viewed as being in the public interest that they agreed to let us read the files in the Pitt Street headquarters. It gave us a clear indication what happened to her, which we didn't know about before.
'It showed us witness statements and reports and my book is based on what we read that day.
'It also gave us an insight into the young lady she grew up into, joining the navy. It's split into three parts of her early years and going to England before being posted to Scotland as a wren and the second part digs into the police investigation and asks the question of did they get it right and it also asks whether the Scottish legal system failed Gertrude.
'We had to have some kind of happy ending I suppose, and we ended up doing the commemoration service in Inveraray, where she was murdered, in 2012. We run with that every year in a small scale to remember her. That set me on the road to writing the book.'
Liam is keen for people to come to their own conclusions upon reading the book, which was officially launched in Inveraray on Thursday night.
He added: 'I'm a retired social worker so I felt well-equipped to write the book. I can be clinical and objective. The book isn't subjective at all.
'She was a young girl from Donegal who went seeking employment and entertainment. She ended up in Birmingham with her father's blessing and when she was in England she worked in a hotel and from there when the war broke out her and her friends joined the women's navy or women's air force.
'She became a Wren and was posted to Scotland to Inveraray and that's where she met her demise sadly.
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'The book will act as a memoir to know what did happen. Not a lot of people knew about it, it was war time as well so there wasn't a lot of information as well because where she died was a secret army base so there is a lot of history around it.
'Gertrude worked at the headquarters, and she went to post a letter home to her father and five days later she was found dead. She had posted her letter and because it was a nice sunny day she had gone for stroll around the back of the woods which circumnavigated the army camps and she was attacked about five-minute walk away.
'If she had taken the short road she would have been home but because she went through the woods, she was attacked and shot, and her body was dumped.
'It could have been so much different. She was a young girl with a world at her feet.
'Anyone who reads the book will come to their own conclusion with the evidence presented. I think they'd come to the same conclusion as myself, I'm not telling people what conclusion to reach. There's no speculation, it's all facts and I'm putting the question out there of who was responsible for her death but my answer to that is totally unravelled in the book but I'm not going to tell people outright.'
The case does remain open despite the fact is unlikely to be officially solved due to the length of time it has been since the crime took place.
Detective Chief Inspector Brendan Docherty said: 'The murder of Gertrude Canning remains unresolved but, as with all such cases, it is subject to review.
'Should any new information be received, it will be thoroughly assessed to determine whether it could assist the inquiry. If so, it will be appropriately acted upon by dedicated officers.
"If you believe you have information relevant to Gertrude's murder, but have never spoken to police, then please contact police immediately via 101. Alternatively, you could contact Crimestoppers anonymously via 0800 555 111."
You can buy the book, and find out more about the story by visiting https://gertrudecanning.com/.