A BRUTAL murder that shook a community 40 years ago, today still remains unsolved.

On Wednesday, November 9, 1966 the body of well-known and respected doctor Helen Davidson, was discovered in Hodgemoor Wood in Chalfont St Giles.

She had been hit across the face with a plank of wood and left for dead while out walking her dog.

She left her home at around 1.30pm the previous day and said goodbye to her husband, Herbert - this was to be the last time he would see her alive.

She made two home visits in her car, a Hillman saloon, and was seen buying a pint of milk at around 2.30pm. She was due home that evening to have dinner with friends, but when Herbert returned from his part-time job in the afternoon, her car and her wire haired terrier Fancy, were not there.

Hours later as darkness fell, he raised the alarm and began searching for his wife with neighbours. When there was still no sign of her, he called the police and a missing person report was officially filed.

Soldiers from the army barracks in Wilton Park, Beaconsfield were drafted in to assist the police.

It was a police cadet and a young soldier that eventually found her battered body in a small clearing in the woods on the Thursday evening. She was lying on her back, with one arm outstretched and blood spattered all over her beige raincoat.

Her attacker had beaten her across the eyes, fracturing her skull and killing her instantly. Further still it appeared the murderer had repeatedly jumped on her head, burying it several inches into the earth.

Detective Sergeant Tony Dale was one of the first local officers on the scene. He said: "When she'd been missing for 24 hours her car was spotted on the edge of Hodgemoor down on the road near the Magpie pub halfway between Beaconsfield and Amersham.

"At that time I'd been in the job ten years and quite used to seeing lots of bodies, there was a bit of shock in this one."

The Metropolitan Police was drafted in to begin a huge operation but by new year, interviews and the ongoing investigations had come up with no leads. The motive for the crime also alluded the police; had she stumbled across an illicit couple who did not want to be seen, was she secretly meeting someone?

Mr Dale, now 71, thinks it was a chance meeting with someone, as sexual assault and robbery were quickly ruled out.

He said: "If you haven't got a motive, it doesn't half make it difficult. It leaves it wide open. Basically I think she just met a nutter, almost a random thing."

The murder weapon also pointed towards a chance encounter. A bloody piece of wood was found close to her body. Tony added: "It was a piece of poplar. It was a lump of wood, obviously picked up there, but we think he stamped on her. A lot of force had pushed her head about four inches into the ground.

"This guy from the Met, he wrapped up the enquiry very quickly and then it was down to the detective inspector and myself. Then the detective inspector retired, and thereafter anything else came my way.

"Sometimes some-thing came in and we pricked our ears up but it all led to nothing. It was frustrating but even then you still think you're going to get somewhere.

"We really felt we should have solved it, but we couldn't. We really kind of felt we'd let the side down a bit, felt we'd let down the local community.

"It's still technically open, but there's nothing I think, even if somebody came up and wanted to admit to it, I bet they'd be hard pushed to make a case of it."

Hauntingly, when Dr Davidson was found, her little dog, Fancy had stayed by her side the whole night and had sat patiently between her legs to keep warm. When the police arrived she stayed nestled on Dr Davidson's skirt and watched as officers worked around the crime scene.

The discovery of Dr Davidson's body was particularly shocking for Tony, as days before she had been called to his house after his young son fell and cut his head.

He said: "She wasn't our doctor, she was a stand in. She came out on the Saturday, our middle son had fallen and hit his head. She was reassuring. Then she suddenly turned up on the Sunday to make sure he's alright.

"She went missing on the Wednesday and I was seeing her body on the Thursday - it was something of a shock.

"It was the big story around here because it seemed, in those days, murders didn't seem so prevalent.

"Occasionally when I have driven past my mind goes to it a little bit, but even Hodgemoor Wood has changed now."

* Bibliography: Deadly Deeds - Len Woodley; Perfect Murder - Bernard Taylor and Stephen Knight