Widow 'was being watched'

A 79-year-old woman stabbed to death by burglars in her home warned police days ago that she was being watched, claimed her sister today.

Joan Albert, 79, was a woman so concerned about security she never opened the door to strangers and put up a camera outside her Suffolk home weeks ago.

Almost every day local youths tormented her, calling her names, throwing rubbish through her letterbox and hurling glass bottles. Mrs Albert was found in her hallway, stabbed in the chest, stomach and thighs.

She dressed elegantly and wore diamond rings, which may have given thieves the impression she had money. As patrols were stepped up in the village of Capel St Mary, near Ipswich, her grieving sister described police efforts as "too little, too late."

Kathleen Cousins, 80, from Newton, near Sudbury, told the Evening Standard: "She told me a year ago that youths were pestering her and that it was getting worse in recent weeks and she had to tell police again.

"The hooligans unnerved her so much she couldn't sleep. They would ring her bell in the night, tip over her garden ornaments and play tricks on her. She was so petrified that two months ago she had a camera installed as she felt she was being watched. I begged her to move but it's where her husband, Cyril, died and she was attached to his memory.

"She may have dressed smartly and wore nice jewellery, but she was not rich. She was a good sister. If there were more police around she may be with us today."

Mrs Albert, a hairdresser who helped her husband run a dry cleaning firm in Sevenoaks, had finished wrapping her Christmas presents when intruders broke in through the rear kitchen window during the early hours of Sunday.

Dressed in her nightdress, her body was found by friends who had gone round the following morning when she failed to answer the telephone.

Police refused to say if anything was stolen. She was stabbed several times, but police say they are also examining a number of other potential murder weapons found at the £150,000 home.

Twenty officers are investigating and forensic experts this morning resumed their painstaking fingertip search.

Detectives are interviewing family and friends and are talking to local police.

Detective Superintendent Roy Lambert said: "This is a brutal attack on a frail, defenceless woman who appears to have disturbed burglars.

"It was horrific but exceptional, as this is a low crime area. Your home is your castle - it is sacrosanct. We urgently need people who may know anything to come forward."

Police are investigating the theory that the intruders came from East London.

The crime has shocked the quiet village. Neighbour Chris Wilkinson said: "Nothing ever happens here. I knew Joan was upset and was being harassed." Anyone with information should contact the murder incident room on 01473 613777.