This week in history – 60, 40 and 20 years ago.

Romford Recorder: Romford and Hornchurch Recorder, October 17 1975Romford and Hornchurch Recorder, October 17 1975 (Image: Archant)

Sixty years ago

A pregnant woman expecting her fourth child was sent to prison for four months with her husband after both admitted neglecting their three-year-old son. The 23-year-old woman and her husband, 26, of Morris Road, Harold Hill, were condemned by the chairman of Romford Court, A. C. Salinger, who said it was “one of the worst” cases he had heard for a long time.

An Insp Pitt, from the NSPCC, told the court he visited the couple’s home after receiving complaints from neighbours.

Prosecutor C. J. Rawlings said: “The boy was very subdued. He was in a nervous state and there was a look of bewilderment on his face as if he wondered what was going to happen.”

Romford Recorder: Romford Recorder, October 20, 1995Romford Recorder, October 20, 1995 (Image: Archant)

Insp Pitt said there was hardly a part of the child’s body which was not bruised and he was shaking, unable to walk without holding on to something.

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Police made an appeal for witnesses to come forward after a man died, and his wife suffered serious injuries, in a mystery crash.

Herbert Morrell, 47, of Lewis Road, Hornchurch, and his wife Helen were discovered lying with severe head injuries beside their motor scooter on the road between Potter Street and Epping.

The Recorder reported that the scooter was only slightly damaged and it was thought the couple may have fallen off or been hit by a car which failed to stop.

Mrs Morrell was seriously ill in St Margaret’s Hospital, Epping.

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Forty years ago

Police dogs and a helicopter were scouring Rainham Marshes in the search for a 12-year-old girl who had been missing for three weeks.

Fears for Folasade Sadukki had worsened after officers found a blouse and a pair of shoes in scrubland off Upper Rainham Road, Hornchurch.

A spokesman said: “Though we think the missing girl may well be staying with friends somewhere, we cannot rule out the possibility that something serious has happened to her.”

Folasade, of Bennetts Castle Lane, Dagenham, vanished on her way to school.

Her mother Rashida, 39, told police the items of clothing were not her daughter’s, but her fears for her had increased.

She said Folasade had been depressed and playing truant.

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A restaurant manager spoke of his lucky escape from a bomb attack.

Roberto Caprari said bomb disposal experts defused the device just 60 seconds before it would have gone off outside Lockets, Westminster.

The 20lb bomb had been planted on a windowsill outside the restaurant.

Mr Caprari, of Compton Avenue, Gidea Park, said: “Frederick Warren, a night porter, spotted the bomb in a bag outside the restaurant.

“He came in and raised the alarm. We had to clear the restaurant of more than 40 diners.

“We’ve had bomb hoaxes before and I’ve always known we could be a target as we are so near Westminster and popular with MPs.”

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A 53-year-old man repairing his Jaguar was engulfed in flames when the vehicle exploded.

George Short, whose birthday was the next day, had been lying under the £1,000 XJ6 model when the fire erupted.

He managed to crawl out with flames all over his hands and chest and firefighters put out the blaze before it spread.

John, of Carter Drive, Collier Row, said: “I am very lucky to be alive. My car just blew up.”

His wife added: “It was terrible. It frightens me to think about the fire.”

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Twenty years ago

An 11-year-old was targeted in an attempted abduction.

The schoolboy was walking down Dagnam Park Drive, Harold Hill, when two men in a Ford car offered him a lift to “save him some time”.

The child, who spoke to the men briefly, knocked on the door of a nearby home and asked to come in to call his parents.

The men then drove off.

The Recorder reported the incident came just a fortnight after a man tried to lure a 10-year-old girl away as she left her school in nearby Straight Road.

Police were not linking the two incidents.

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A mother was warning cat owners to keep an eye on their pets after hers was found dead in the garden when she returned from a weekend away.

Maggie Taylor, of Keats Avenue, Harold Hill, said George had been frothing at the mouth.

“My neighbour had only recently just had the same thing happen to her cat,” she said. “We came to the conclusion that somebody must be putting poison into rubbish bags.

“My two little girls found George. They have been heartbroken ever since.

“I had to keep my seven-year-old off school the next day.

“People might think that it is only a cat, but it is someone’s pet – part of a family.

“I would like the person who did it to sit with my daughter and see how distressed she has been.”