Young Norton mum Betty Stott was killed after trying to take money from scarfaced Yorkshireman John Green in 1966
Murders of the Sixties: Betty Stott
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In the second of our Murders of the Sixties series, Crime Reporter Sophie Barley looks at the 1966 murder of Betty Stott by a man known as the 'scarface killer'
When young mum Betty Stott was found murdered in Norton a nationwide manhunt to kind a “scarfaced” killer was launched.
Mrs Stott’s body was found in a meter cupboard at her home in Alverston Road on January 27, 1966.
Police launched a murder investigation and a man with scars on both checks was being hunted.
He was 22-year-old John Green, from Yorkshire.
Following a 12-day manhunt, Green was arrested in London. He was charged with murder and went on trial.
Mrs Stott, a divorced mother of two young children, was found dead in a cupboard by her friend Nancy Wilson.
A post mortem examination found that she had been strangled.
Green had spent the previous night with Mrs Stott and it was believed that he killed her after finding her trying to take money from his pocket.
Green then set off to London. He was arrested in Highbury Hill on February 7 by Flying Squad detectives.
At first he gave a false name but when told he answered the description of the man wanted in connection with the death of Mrs Stott, he said: “Yes I know all about that. I done it.”
He was held by police in London while Stockton officers travelled down to the capital.
He then made a statement explaining what happened on the night Mrs Stott died.
He said he had been introduced to her by two friends. He said they told him that she would have sex with him if he gave her a “bob or two”.
In the statement he told police that while they were having sex, he saw Mrs Stott try to get some money out of his jacket pocket.
He said: “I grabbed her by either the arm or hand and I think I called her a few names.
“She then hit me in the face and then said something, that I had had what I wanted and I would have to pay for it.
“From then on I am not quite sure what happened. I know I got hold of her by the neck. I don’t know if it was the drink or what, but I blacked out.
“When I came round I was on the floor with my head under the table. I then saw the girl laid on the floor. I went over to her to see what had happened. I just could not believe she was dead.
“I then realised the trouble I was in.”
He said he hid her body in the cupboard so that her children wouldn’t see her in the morning. “I knew what a horrible shock that would have been”, he said.
Green was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The prosecutor in the trial described the killing as a “sordid murder”.
Nine years later police were hunting Green again after he failed to return to a pre-release hostel run by Wakefield Prison.
He had been on one of the prison’s rehabilitation schemes.
He was arrested and taken back to Wakefield Prison.
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