The brutal murder of Louis Bega, 43, in his Salford home remains unsolved despite his last words ‘naming his killer’
Louis Bega’s killer has never been caught(Image: Manchester Evening News)
A shocking and brutal murder that took place in the victim’s own home remains unsolved over half a century later.
Born in India but of French descent, Louis Maurice Bega moved to the UK in 1946. He settled in Salford and found work in a mill. Two years later, he married and had two children with his wife before they separated in 1964.
On the afternoon of June 23, 1966, he was the victim of a frenzied attack in his terraced house in Canal Bank, Eccles. The 43-year-old was found dying on his living room floor after being stabbed 26 times.
Reports say Louis’ assailant was spotted by neighbours through the living room window, battering him with an electric iron. As his neighbours went to his front door, a tall, thin, fair-haired man came out of the house and said coldly: “He’s all yours now”.
Mr Bega’s killer went through the gate and walked off.
When he was found, blood-spattered and dying on his living room floor, he is said to have named his attacker as “the wife’s boyfriend”. An accusation he repeated to a detective as he was lifted into an ambulance.
But by the time they arrived at the hospital just minutes later, Louis Bega was dead.
A massive police manhunt consisting of over 60 officers was launched. Laundries and dry cleaners were checked for anyone who had brought in blood-stained clothing.
The Daily Mirror sports cartoonist, David Rowe, was also brought in to draw a picture of the suspected murderer taken from witness accounts. It wasn’t the first time the cartoonist’s talents were sought by police; he had helped police four months earlier in the investigation of the killing of a 12-year-old girl.
The artist’s sketch was shown across the TV channels that weekend in hopes that somebody would recognise the killer’s face.
Yet despite the widespread manhunt, media attention, and reported naming of the suspect from the victim’s own lips, the case remains unsolved.
The dying statement of Mr Bega proved to have been as much a puzzle as a solid confession regarding the killer’s identity.
Louis Maurice Bega was 43 when he was murdered in his Canal Bank home in Eccles on June 23, 1966
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News in 1972, Walter Wood, former deputy head of Lancashire CID, recalled: “When I arrived, I think they more or less assumed it was going to be cleared up. It was such a good sighting, but it went on for months and months.”
The new boyfriend of Mr Bega’s estranged wife, Norman Scott Wallace, was quickly traced to Shrewsbury, where he was working as a painter and stone-cleaner on the day of the murder.
It’s reported that he and Mrs Bega admitted they had a relationship. Still, he was soon eliminated from the investigation.
“His appearance was all wrong as far as the description of the killer given by witnesses was concerned. They saw him later at the inquest and had the chance to say if they felt it was him,” said the former detective.
But why did the dying man make such a positive identification? Former detective Woods said he believed Mr Bega had become so jealous that the expression “boyfriend” had become a figure of speech to him.
Yet detectives made further enquiries to ensure that Mr Bega didn’t mean a different former “boyfriend.”
“We checked every ex-boyfriend, anybody who had even danced with her and all the men at the place where she worded,” said Mr Wood.
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So who was the killer?
Former deputy of Lancashire CID, Walter Wood, believes Mr Bega had confronted a burglar. As a capstan operator at a mill, Mr Bega worked nights and would normally have been in bed during the afternoon.
The house appeared to have been broken into, and there had been reports of another housebreaking and theft only a short distance away.
There were two further surprises for detectives in this unusual case. The relative quietness of the actual murder, despite a fairly lengthy fight, and the apparent cool-headedness of the killer, who left the scene.
One neighbour, Mrs Daisy Lyno, went to Mr Bega’s home after hearing “crashings and bangings” and saw the murderer holding the iron.
“Part of the banging could have been the breaking-in,” said Wood, “Because the back door was forced open by bodily pressure. The rest of the noise was the struggle, in which some furniture was knocked over.”
Former detective Wood added: “There were no cries for help. It was very strange, that. I suppose Mr Bega thought he could handle it himself. He was a strong man, well built, and had looked after himself.
“The place was an awful mess and it was quite obvious there had been a terrific fight. There was so much blood about that obviously the assailant must have had blood on his clothing.”
Mrs Lyno went for help and returned with two other neighbours, Mr and Mrs Ridgeway. As they got back to the house, the killer stepped out.
“There wasn’t a mark on him and he didn’t look at all worried. He certainly wasn’t acting like a burglar,” she told detectives.
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The missing knife
Police divers searched the nearby canal for the iron—the only item missing from the house—but they were also looking for something else.
Mr Bega, who was wearing pyjama trousers and a vest, wasn’t killed by the blows of the iron but by 26 stab wounds, yet a knife was never found.
Mr Wood believes the killer must have had the calmness of mind to put the weapon in his pocket before leaving the scene of the crime.
“At the same time, I don’t think he was a man who had gone there to do a murder. And I still believe it will be cleared up one of these days,” said Mr Wood.
In 1996, Louis Bega’s brother, Michel, made an appeal and offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killer.
He said: “I read recently of the case in which police charged someone with a murder committed 29 years ago. I thought there might be hope yet.”
Yet despite 12,000 house-to-house enquiries, 504 possible suspects traced and eliminated and nearly 400 sets of fingerprints taken, nobody has ever been arrested for Mr Bega’s murder.
We asked Greater Manchester Police if there had been any further updates on the murder of Louis Bega.
A spokesperson for the force said: “No murder investigation is closed and we will review any case appropriately when we receive new information. Anyone who feels they have information can contact GMP directly or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously.”