DESCRIBED fondly as ‘salt of the earth’, 42-year-old Veronica ‘Vera’ Anderson was a fun-loving, popular and family-orientated mum of two.
Her daughter, Lorraine, spoke of her as a ‘proper mum’ who made her and her younger brother, Neil feel loved and cherished.
And for all intents and purposes, Vera had a very ordinary life, both at home and at work.
She ran her own sandwich business delivering to businesses and offices, was a ‘bubbly kind of person’ who ‘everybody liked’, and was one of the few female regulars at the Roll Inn Truck Shop and Motel, in Widnes, Cheshire.
The one night Vera received an unknown phone call which prompted her to leave her then seven-year-old son in the care of a neighbour, saying she would be gone for ten minutes.
It was a decision which proved fatal because five hours later she was found dead, slumped over the steering wheel of her blue Ford Cortina car – having been strangled and with her throat cut.
The attack was neither sexual nor a robbery and police have since said the level and nature of the violence used had all the hallmarks of a hitman.
But who would want to place a hit on a middle-aged woman who didn’t use drugs, didn’t mix with the wrong crowd and wasn’t attached to the fringes of criminality?
It’s a question that – even now, 33 years later – the police still have no answer to.
Twice divorced Vera lived in Widnes and was mum to Lorraine, then 19, from her first marriage and seven-year-old, Neil, from a common law relationship with David Anderson, whose last name she took despite their eventual split.
She was also grandma to 18-month-old Danielle and a granddaughter who would be named Gemma, who Lorraine was pregnant with at the time of her mother’s death.
Speaking decades after her mother’s brutal murder, Lorraine said: “She was a really nice person. She got on with everybody. She would never hurt anybody.
“She only really started going out in later life when she was about 40. She wasn’t really a drinker; she would go out for social reasons.”
At the time of her murder, Vera had been seeing a trucker for about three years.
The man, who was eliminated from inquiries, had stayed overnight at her home on Friday, August 2, 1991, – the night before her death.
At 6am the next day, Vera had driven him to the Roll Inn where he had got into his cab and returned home.
Later that day, Vera was visited by Lorraine and baby Danielle and Lorraine recalled something different about her mum who seemed ‘very quiet’.
At 10.10pm that evening, Vera received a phone call that prompted her to get her young son out of bed and take him to her neighbour.
Police have never identified the caller.
Upon leaving her house, Vera didn’t take her purse and left the lights and the TV on, suggesting she intended to be out for only a short while.
At 11pm a car matching Vera’s was seen by a resident at the end of a service road in the middle of a former tannery works off Tannery Road in Warrington.
A couple returning from a social club saw it in the same place at 1:30am.
At 3am, a man who was chasing youths he suspected of trying to get into his car, came across Vera’s car, saw her body and alerted police.
A pathologist at the time said the severity of the wound to her neck meant she would have died almost instantly.
Police conducted an inch by inch search of the scene, but never recovered a weapon.
However, they did find a ‘Minette’ glove – used when handling hazardous materials in industry – stained with Vera’s blood in the area.
Detectives have been unable to connect anyone to the glove.
A length of cord was also found which likely belonged to the killer and was suggested to have been used to render Vera unconscious before her throat was cut.
Further details from the attack were revealed earlier this year.
Police recovered a cartridge from a blank firing handgun on the footwell of Vera’s car and officers believe a pistol may have been discharged to frighten her and stop her from fleeing the vehicle.
A discarded empty Embassy Regal cigarette box was also found in front of Vera’s car with her DNA on the wrapping inside; however, these were not Vera’s cigarette of choice.
She had bought a packet of Barclay cigarettes the day before from the local shop.
The killer also tore a large piece of Vera’s hair from her scalp either before, during or after the attack.
It may have been taken as proof that her life had been taken.
It has never been found.
Chief Inspector Adam Waller described the murder as ‘premeditated’ and said: “We believe the killer took with them a large chunk of Vera’s hair. A patch was pulled out on the left side.
“It would have been agony to inflict that kind of injury. That level of brutality is quite hard to understand.”
Vera also had injuries to her lower legs from kicking out at the foot pedals of the car as she struggled with her killer.
The key was in the ignition of her Cortina but the fob had been ripped off.
One key piece of evidence that has caused detectives to believe Vera was killed between 10:45pm and 11:15pm is the sighting of a brown hatchback type vehicle.
Former Detective Sergeant Gary Massey, now a civilian worker with the Cheshire force’s Major Incident Team, has worked on Vera’s case for ten years.
Speaking to BBC’s Crimewatch Live, he said: “At approximately 11:15pm on the night of Vera Anderson’s murder, a witness was travelling along Tannery Lane when a car emerged from the service road; the service road where Vera Anderson’s body was later found.
“The car is described as a brown hatchback type vehicle.”
The vehicle, which police suspect may have been driven by the killer, was of the style of a Talbot Horizon, Datsun Cherry, Vauxhall Astra or Mitsubishi but it, nor the driver, have ever been traced.
On the 30th anniversary of her mum’s death, in August 2021, Lorraine, now 51 and with four children, said she feels like the one living the life sentence as she continues to fight for justice.
She said: “I just don’t understand how anyone could do such a thing.
“It’s never going to be forgotten. Until the killer is caught, I don’t think I’m going to be able to rest.
“I feel like it’s me living the life sentence.”
Vera’s case ran cold for decades until two people were arrested on suspicion of her murder on March 23, 2022.
A 70-year-old man from Widnes and a 61-year-old woman from Warrington were brought into police custody but, after being questioned by detectives, were released and are no longer under investigation.
The smallest detail may help us in bringing justice for Vera and her family – someone must know what happened that day.”
DCI Waller
The case again went silent until February this year when detectives released a CCTV image of a man they wanted to speak to.
The image was captured at Tesco Extra on Winwick Road in Warrington on March 9, 2013. He was in the company of a younger woman, also pictured.
Of the CCTV, DCI Waller said at the time: “The smallest detail may help us in bringing justice for Vera and her family – someone must know what happened that day.”
However police later confirmed the people in the CCTV footage were also identified, and there have been no further developments in the case.
One element of the case which continues to confuse detectives is a motive.
DCI Waller said: “With Vera’s case it is baffling why she was targeted. People have queried, ‘is there something in Vera’s past we have not revealed?’
“There isn’t. We have been very upfront.”
DCI Waller said all of Vera’s ex-partners have been investigated and some revisited.
He said: “It is a massively extreme murder. If Vera had a chequered past, you would explore that as a motive but she didn’t – she is the most unlikely victim.”
But it is Lorraine and Neil, who went to live with his father after Vera’s death, that are hit the hardest.
Lorraine has since said: “I think of her every day. My brother has three children so in all my mum never saw six of her seven grandchildren.
“It would be fantastic if the police could get someone for the murder. It would be a form of relief to think they have got what they deserved.”
A spokesperson for Cheshire police said:
“With regards the two people arrested in 2022, they have both been released and are no longer under investigation, the people in the CCTV footage were also identified.
“There have been no further developments in the case.
“Someone out there must know something about what happened that day. Even the smallest amount of information can be crucial.”
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Cheshire Police on 101 or anonymously, via Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111.”
