Background Page 2

Although Paula was very distressed and upset when she told Eddie about Glover, she did disclose some information regarding her affair with him. One of the things she told Eddie was that Glover was the reason why she wanted to move away from their previous house in Sherlock Lane. Glover, who also lived near Sherlock Lane, kept calling at the house and bothering Paula. Glover did not drive and was able to walk to the house from his own home. It would be too far for him to walk all the way to Grafton Drive.

Things began to fall into place and make sense to Eddie. He recalled an occasion when he was supposed to go into work, but on the last minute took the day off. After about half an hour, after Eddie would have normally left for work, Glover turned up at Eddies house. This was not long after Eddie and Paula were married. On that day Glover helped Eddie paint the back gate. Glover asked Eddie not to mention to his wife, Margaret, that he had spent the whole day at Eddies house. Margaret thought that Glover was in work all day. It also explained why Paula was adamant that Peter Glover was to be Best Man at her and Eddies wedding. Although it is usually the grooms choice to pick his best man, it was Paula's choice and Eddie was unable to talk her out of it or change her mind. Paula often got her own way and this occasion was no exception.

However, it was later to transpire through a D.N.A. test conducted by the police, that the father of the baby was not Peter Glover, but more likely to be Eddie. Of course at the time, there was no such DNA test available to Eddie or Paula to prove the paternity of the unborn child.

The following day, Wednesday the 3rd of June 1991, Eddie arrived home from work in the afternoon. He tried to talk to Paula about her disclosures the previous evening but before she would discuss anything further with Eddie she insisted on speaking to her sister, Susan Dubost. Paula stated that she would tell Eddie everything he wanted to know about her relationship with Peter Glover once she had spoken with Susan.

That evening Eddie took Paula to Susan Dubost's house. However, Susan had visitors and Paula was unable to speak to her sister privately and after about ten minutes Eddie and Paula left.

At about 4.40pm the following day, Thursday 4th of June 1991, Eddie arrived home from work and found a letter in the kitchen written by Paula. The letter was addressed to Eddie. Unable to fully comprehend the contents, he read the first few lines of this letter and thought that Paula had finally left him. In a state of despair, he jumped into his car and drove to his parents house thinking that his father, Norman, would know what to do and how to help him. The letter, it transpired, was in fact a suicide letter.

At about 4.50pm, in a state of distress and upset, he arrived at his parents house at Claughton Drive, Wallasey. His father was not at home and he was so upset that he was barely able to get his words out to explain to his mother, Jessie, what had happened. Jessie read the letter left by Paula, and tried to calm Eddie down and reassure him.

Jessie decided that the best thing to do was to wait for Eddies father to come home and they would help Eddie to look for Paula. Norman was due home at about 5.30pm. Any telephone numbers for Paula's friends were in any event at Grafton Drive. At this time, Jessie was in a very poor state of health. There was no telephone at Claughton Drive and Jessie cannot drive herself. She felt that it was better to wait for Norman to come home, then take Eddie back to Grafton Drive and telephone Paula's friends and relatives to ascertain her whereabouts. She tried to reassure Eddie by telling him that it was probably a cry for help from Paula, rather than a real intention to commit suicide.

Unfortunately, Norman was late arriving home and did not in fact arrive until about 6.10pm. He was shown the letter and the circumstances were explained to him. Eddie, Jessie and Norman left immediately and returned to Grafton Drive. They searched the rooms in the house but Paula was not there. Norman commenced to telephone all of Paula's family and friends in an attempt to locate her. Eddie showed Jessie the "Nigel Letter."

When it became apparent that Paula was not at any of the places that Eddie would have expected her to be, Norman rang his son-in-law, Paul Caddick. Paul was a policeman and would know what to do. He asked Paul to come to Grafton Drive as he had a problem and did not know how to deal with it. It was now 7pm.

Paul was a Police Sergeant at the local Police Station at Upton and was fortunately at home and off duty at the time. He arrived at Grafton Drive at about 7.10pm. He had been in the Police Force for 17 years. Paul was informed of the events and read the suicide letter. He advised that the police should be contacted and he rang Upton Police Station and spoke to his colleague, Constable Tosney. He asked Constable Tosney to call at Grafton Drive and to bring with him the Missing From Home Book. It was imperative that they found Paula as quickly as possible.

Eddie was by this time distraught and beside himself with worry. Norman decided that he should go to Paula's parents house and inform them that because they could not find Paula, the police were to become involved. While they were waiting for Constable Tosney to arrive Paul ascertained that the rooms in the house had been searched although the outbuildings and garage had not.

Soon after, Constable Tosney arrived and in order to save time, Paul searched the outbuildings and garage. He subsequently found Paula Gilfoyle hanging in the garage. Paula was hanging from a white cord from a roof beam. He saw that a set of small aluminium ladders were near to her. Without the need to go inside the garage Paul could see that she was obviously dead. In shock Paul shut the garage door. It was now 7.30pm.

Eddies mother told Eddie that Paula had died. Constable Tosney and Paul, who were outside on the driveway, could hear Eddie sobbing and wailing loudly from the direction of the living room.

Various police and associated agencies were summoned to the scene. These included, Constable Jones the Coroners Officer, the CID and Scenes of Crime Officer, the Police Surgeon and the local undertakers. Although Eddie showed the Nigel Letter to the police, for the time being he kept secret the disclosure by Paula that 'Nigel' was in fact Peter Glover. It was bad enough that Paula had committed suicide. He saw no need to cause further upset to everyone, particluarly Paulas parents, by revealing Paulas affair with Glover. The incident was declared by the police, as a straightforward suicide by hanging.