Ancestry search revealed horrific family secret of my aunt's murder

EIGHTY years had passed when Anna Allan found out her aunt had been murdered when she was just six years old.

- HEATHER MAIN

Curious about gaps in her family tree, Anna had joined the genealogy website Ancestry.​com and learned of the killing of Pat Cupit, stabbed as she walked to school.

Anna, whose mum is Pat's younger sister, wept at the news. She said: "It was massively upsetting, to think that happened to any little girl, let alone someone in my own family."

After googling her aunt, she came across research by historian Darren Norton and discovered that he had written a book about her aunt's case.

He too shed tears when he first saw Pat's photograph.

Anna, 56, an accountant, said: "I cried when Darren told me what happened. I found him after googling my aunt.

"I only started looking into my family tree because I didn't know much about my mum's side. My parents split when I was four and I'd had limited contact with my mum.

"Once she had told me that she had an older sister who died before my mum was born, but I didn't know anything else. Days after joining Ancestry, another relative contacted me and was able to tell me Pat's name - and the name of the man who killed her.

"I started googling her and came across Darren's research I was shocked he'd spent years painstakingly researching this story that I had no idea about. I couldn't believe it.

"Pat's parents sent her away from London during the war to keep her safe - instead, they unknowingly sent her to her grave.

"I'm so grateful that somebody cared enough about little Pat to find out what happened to her - now I'm determined to make sure she is not forgotten."

Little Pat, as Patricia was known, was stabbed at random by a man who left her body under a tree. He had been conscripted into the army despite having mental illness problems and a history of violence against women.

Darren, of Brandon, Suffolk, became determined to piece together Pat's story after reading about her murder in an old copy of the Mirror.