Florence Broadhurst (Unsolved Murder)

Florence Broadhurst was a flamboyant artist and designer. On the afternoon of October 15th 1977 the 78 year old was working in the office of her luxury wallpaper factory situated in Paddington, Sydney, NSW. Florence was left alone on the premises at 4pm. The following morning, after a report that the door to the premises had been open all night, Florence’s battered body was found posed in a degrading position in a small bathroom on the first floor. There was no sign of a struggle and two clean cups stood on the kitchen table. It appeared that Florence was entertaining  a guest shortly before she was attacked. For years the case went cold but in the early 1990s one of Australia’s worst serial killers became linked with the unsolved murd

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Transcript

Florence Broadhurst

78 year old Florence Broadhurst showed no signs of slowing down in her older years. Although she was well past the age of retirement, the firebrand business woman continued to put in long hours at the luxury wallpaper company that she owned in Sydney, Australia. The company operated out of a two storey factory which comprised a design studio, showroom and office on Royalston Street, Paddington, an upmarket area near the heart of the city. The interior was decorated as a high end design studio might have been expected to look in the mid to late 1970s. Lime green and chartreuse sofas were dotted around the large space, together with fuschia velvet chairs. Shelves with over 6000 wallpaper samples in the brightest of hues lined the walls and were available for customers to browse at their leisure.

On the afternoon of Saturday 15th October 1977, Florence, who was famed for her attention to detail, was dutifully working hard in her office on the first floor of the building. In a piece for their weekend supplement on June 5th 1999 The Sydney Morning Herald states that downstairs her chief printer, David, and another employee, named John, were completing a shift in the design studio. (I'm omitting their surnames to protect the privacy of those individuals). At some point in the afternoon both men talked with their boss and collected their wages. 9 News reported in 2021 that Florence was last seen by the men at 3.40pm. A 2020 9 Crime Australian Crime Stories documentary by investigative journalist Adam Shand “Who Killed Florence Broadhurst?" claims that the workers then left the building at 4pm. Before leaving Florence instructed the pair not to lock the front door. This was something she always insisted upon, in case clients or friends called around to visit her. As was standard practice the back door was locked. A neighbour later said they noticed at around 7pm that the blinds of the studio windows had been drawn.

Early the following morning a concerned neighbour called the police to report that the door to the wallpaper factory had been open all night. This was not usual, so he thought someone should come over to check on the woman owner of the premises, Florence Broadhurst. The caller also mentioned that the upstairs lights had been left on. The police officer who took the call was 19 year old Tony Russell. He was newly qualified and it was his very first day on the job. Officer Russell, accompanied by the sergeant on duty, set off in a squad car to undertake a welfare check at the wallpaper factory. 

Officer Russell and the sergeant arrived at the scene and met the gentleman who had made the call outside the factory. The two police officers proceeded to go inside. When they entered the factory they found the downstairs of the premises in near darkness. The space was jam-packed with shelf upon shelf of wallpaper samples and in the centre of the room were large tables on which rolls of wallpaper were laid out. 

The sergeant headed upstairs to search the office while officer Russell continued a sweep of the ground floor. Officer Russell saw nothing amiss, there were no obvious signs of a struggle or of anything suspicious having taken place. He walked through a door at the back of the design studio and found himself in a smaller room. There he noticed a plastic bin or bucket with a piece of timber standing inside it. Both the wood and bin were covered in a red substance that Officer Russell presumed was paint used in the crafting of wallpaper. Seeing nothing unusual in the room he headed upstairs to join the sergeant. 

On the first floor (which would be the second floor in America) the office and the neighbouring kitchen annex appeared undisturbed. Both men noted that Florence Broadhurst’s handbag was on her desk. Officer Russell also noticed that there was a patch of carpet in the annex that was slightly damp. This spot was close to a door that led to a bathroom, really little more than a cubicle with a toilet in it.

Both officers agreed it didn't appear there had been a break in and there was no sign of Florence Broadhurst so they decided to leave. Before they did, officer Russell thought it a good opportunity to use the bathroom prior to  their drive back to the station. He pushed the handle of the bathroom door and it felt stiff. He gave the door a nudge but immediately found that there was something heavy preventing the door opening inwards. He gave it more of a shove and forced his way inside.

There before him in the tiny cubicle lay the body of Florence Broadhurst. The legs were trailing on the floor with her feet nearest the door. The upper body was leaning on the toilet with the  head hanging facedown over into the bowl. Her right arm was up around her head and her bright red, henna dyed hair was wet. Officer Russell could hardly believe what he was seeing. He hurriedly left the small bathroom and shaken he went to find his sergeant. He told him  to go and confirm what he had seen and went outside to get some fresh air. The sergeant confirmed it, there could be no mistake.  It would be a scene that would forever disturb the memory of officer Tony Russell.

Hi it’s John here, just letting you know I’ll be taking a short break so there will be no new episode on Monday June 26th. The next new episode will be out on Monday July 10th. 

It’s been two years since I started the podcast and wanted to say a big thank you for listening. I also really appreciate the time taken to write reviews and tell others about the podcast. 

I’ve enjoyed conversing over socials and email about the cases I’ve covered and answering questions about Wales!

A big thank you to those who have become supporters of the podcast, as it makes such a difference to independent podcasters like myself.

When I’m on my break please continue to write reviews, and tell others about Persons Unknown. You can also contact me via social media to ask questions about any of the episodes or suggest cases for me to cover.

Just to say that in today’s episode there are some descriptions of violence carried out against older vulnerable people. I’ve tried to be respectful in my detailing of these crimes.

Since starting this podcast Florence Broadhurst is without doubt one of the most extraordinary people I have come across. The larger than life character packed several lives into her 78 years. A brief potted biography is needed in order to provide context to her murder and to begin trying to fathom who might be guilty of it.

Florence Maud Broadhurst was born in Mungy Station, Mount Perry, Queensland on July 28th 1899. Mount Perry is a remote, small rural town, 365 km northwest of Brisbane. Florence’s father was named William; at different stages of his life, he worked as a stockman, grazier and hotelier. Her mother’s name was Margaret, née Crawford. Florence had five siblings: four sisters and a brother. The Broadhurst family were not well off by any means and when Florence was growing up they struggled to eke out a living in what was a hard and unforgiving environment.

As a young child it was obvious to all that Florence  had a love for and gift of singing. She regularly took part in local Eisteddfods, competing against other boys and girls. Eisteddfods have their roots in Wales and are cultural celebrations of song, poetry and story. By age 16 she had developed a beautiful contralto voice and was performing professionally. She then joined a musical comedy group and by her early twenties began travelling throughout Southeast Asia and China performing under the stage name Miss Bobby Broadhurst. This was just one of several alter egos the flamboyant Florence would conjure up throughout her life.

In 1926 Florence established the Broadhurst Academy in Shanghai. Its clientele was the children of wealthy expats. At the finishing school, girls were tutored in violin, voice, dance and journalism. Florence herself taught the Banjolele. This endeavour didn't last very long and in 1927  while on a trip back to Queensland Florence was involved in a serious accident. She was badly injured and as a result lost her beautiful singing voice.

To help aid her recovery from the accident Florence decided to move to England. Soon after, in 1929, she married her first husband, a stockbroker named Percy Walter Gladstone Kann. During this time Florence again reinvented herself. She became a French designer calling herself Madame Pellier. She established a clothing shop in Mayfair, London, dressing the well to do of London society throughout the 1930’s and 40’s. 

By the late 1930s Florence’s first marriage had broken down and she then married a man thirteen years her junior. Leonard Lloyd Lewis was a diesel engineer whom Florence first started seeing while still married. Florence had one child by Leonard, a boy named Robert. Florence  developed a reputation for liking younger men and there were numerous rumours of affairs and flings until the day she died.

In 1949 Florence and her family moved back to Australia. She told all her new friends that she was English and boasted about connections with the British royal family. Most notably she claimed to be an acquaintance of the Queen Mother. All of this was a fabrication but it helped sow the seeds for her next reinvention. Florence began a new career as an artist. She was completely untrained but had a good eye. She painted  landscapes from northern and central Australia, and also did the occasional portrait. Her artistic style proved a hit and by the mid 1950's her work was being shown in exhibitions in major cities throughout Australia. During this time, Florence was a member of various art societies and galleries and spent a lot of time doing chartiable and fundraising work. 

As the decade came to an end she went into business with her son, Robert, and the pair ran a motor sales company in Sydney. It was in an old shed in the yard next to the car lot that Florence started her next venture. She began designing handcrafted wallpaper. Her designs incorporated vivid colours with bold geometric patterns and images from nature such as flowers and peacocks. The business soon outgrew the shack in the car lot and moved to a nearby premises on Royalston Road in Paddington. By this time the company was exporting right across the world. In her private life things had also changed for Florence as her second husband, Leonard had moved to Queensland. Florence remained in Sydney to pursue her latest dream.

By the early 70’s Florence Broadhurst had an international reputation in wall paper design and manufacturing with over 800 patterns in 80 different colours. Florence, now well into her 70’s,  remained at the centre of her empire. Her attention to detail and enthusiasm for the business was unwavering. With her bright red hair , false eye lashes, that she dusted with wallpaper paint, and fashionable clothes she stood out among her contemporaries and was a well known figure among the movers and shakers of the New South Wales capital. 

Like many similarly outspoken and powerful personalities Florence’s life was not without controversy.  She was known as a formidable businesswoman who could be extremely cutting with her tongue should she so wish. There are numerous stories of employees being brought to tears after particularly vicious tongue lashings. In an interview in the 2020 9 Crime documentary, her own son Robert tells of the ferociousness of these outbursts. He adds that they were often administered in public.  

When Florence was alive and in the years since there have been rumours that she had a limited role in the actual design of the wallpaper. She has been accused of taking credit for the work of others. “Speedo'' designer, Pete Travis, said she took advantage of younger, less known designers in order to get ahead. He described her as an opportunist with the gift of the gab. 

It was well known that Florence had notoriously poor eyesight after experiencing the car accident in her late 20’s. This deteriorated further as she got older. In the early 1970’s she travelled to England to undertake experimental cell therapy in an effort to improve it. It has been pointed out that her defective eyesight meant she could not have been as involved as she claimed in the design element of the business. Other people, such as her biographer Helen O’Neill, disagree and say that Florence was firmly in control of the work the wallpaper company produced and was very much the central figure in the design process.

This is just the tip of the iceberg concerning the controversies that surround Florence Broadhurst. True crime journalist David Leser wrote in The Weekly in 2006 about rumours of dodgy business dealings and possible links to the criminal underworld. 

One thing upon which her friends and detractors both seem to agree is that Florence often lied. She was constantly making up things about herself. Her supporters argue that this simply created a myth and allure around Florence, while the opposition believe it points to a person who cannot be trusted. Whatever people thought of Florence, when it was discovered she had been murdered in such a shocking way it sent a wave of disbelief and abhorrence throughout the upper echelons of Sydney life.

The crime scene that officer Tony Russell and his sergeant had found was peculiar to say the least. There was no sign of a struggle anywhere in the building. No blood spatter was found on the walls or furnishings in the studio. Investigators came to the conclusion that Florence had been attacked in the bathroom. They believed she may have tried to hide there after realising she was in danger. 

Florence had been struck nine times on the face, head, throat and sternum by a blunt object. It is believed the murder weapon was the piece of timber found by officer Russell in a bin at the back of the studio. The red substance he assumed was red paint was in fact blood. It was also surmised that during the attack Florence had been thrown against the bathroom wall. The Sydney Morning Herald reported on February 4th 1978 that an  autopsy concluded that Florence had died from a fractured skull and brain damage.

The body had then been very deliberately posed around the toilet with the head and her cardigan put into the bowl. Florence’s cardigan had also been stuffed into the bowl. Her body was fully clothed in a blouse and slacks. There was no indication that a sexual assault had taken place. Florence’s hearing aids were found on the floor near the body. They had fallen out following the heavy blows inflicted to the side of her head. The toilet had obviously been flushed while the head was in the toilet as the water had overflowed the bowl and trickled Florence's body and onto the floor. This was the reason for the damp patch of carpet in the adjoining room. It was theorised that the murderer had exited via the back door. This had been left  locked but the killer found the key to let themselves out.  

Around $8000 in cash was believed to have been taken from Florence's handbag. It was estimated that $50,000 to $100,000 worth of jewellery had also been taken from Florence's person. Altogether seven rings were missing including a 3.4 carat diamond ring, a 2 carat emerald ring with eight pure white diamonds on a platinum shank and four eternity rings which each had platinum shanks surrounded by a circle of small diamonds. These rings had been taken from Florence's hand with such force that several fingers had been broken. With this in mind, robbery was an obvious motive for the police to explore. 

It was not the first time Florence had been attacked and robbed. Only months after the murder a 23 year old man with the initials G L appeared before a court charged with assaulting Florence and robbing her of $1300 in 1974. I can find no information that this man was considered a suspect in her murder. Still it is very odd. 

Robbery was genuinely considered a possibility for the murder but on closer inspection it seemed the matter was more complicated. Although property had been taken, the violence displayed in the murder suggested a personal angle that could not be ignored. The way Florence’s body had been posed in such a degrading manner indicated a degree of hatred and vindictiveness not associated with a robbery gone wrong.  What's more, in the studio kitchenette close to where the body was found, police found two clean tea cups set out on the table. It looked as though Florence  had been about to make refreshments for two people when the attack happened. This indicated that Florence may very well have known her attacker. 

Florence’s funeral was held at 1pm on Thursday October 20th 1977 in St Marks Church, Darling Point. Darling Point is a harbourside suburb in the east of Sydney. Florence had lived in an apartment in this area. With the theory that Florence was acquainted with her killer, police  watched the mourners at the funeral intently. They believed the perpetrator may well attend the service and were looking for any suspicious behaviour that might give them away.

People Florence had done business with, employees of the wallpaper company and even members of her family all came under suspicion in the early days of the investigation. 

There was speculation that Florence may have got caught up in a scam that was targeting wealthy well-to-do types across Sydney. The whispers were that Florence was about to spill the beans on some of the people that had targeted her and others in their dodgy dealings. According to a Sydney Herald article in 1999, Florence told interior designer Barry Little and his wife Jeanne Little that she was involved in a financial deal that was going pear-shaped. She was scared and planned on telling authorities about the misdeeds of those who had tried to con her. No evidence has ever been produced to prove this. Decades later, Florence’s son Robert Lloyd Lewis said that he doubts this as a plausible motive for the murder of his mother. He claims he was intimately aware of all her financial dealings and he would have known if anything like this was going on.

The 25 employees of the Florence Broadhurst wallpaper company also came under scrutiny. While most of what I have read says she was fair and loyal to staff, Florence had a reputation for being a tough boss with very high standards. As I have mentioned, Florence also had a habit of being economical with the truth. Florence's son Robert said in the aforementioned 9 Crime documentary that some of the staff were led to believe that they owned part of the company. This, he said, was not actually the case and could have led to resentment.

One would assume it would have been standard practice to speak to all the members of staff,  especially David and John who were the last people to see Florence alive. David was brought up in a Barnardo's children's home and it's said that as a young man Florence had taken him in under her wing. He had worked for the company since 1960. I believe the designer John had also been working for Florence  since the early days of the company. In the 9 Crime documentary, Florence’s son Robert suggests that the chief printer David was interviewed but police were satisfied with his statement. 

Right from the off, it was the family that the police focused on most intently. Specifically Florence's husband Leonard and her only child, Robert.  In truth Florence and Leonard had separated years before but it was thought that perhaps her known penchant for younger men was a possible motive. However it was Robert in particular that police honed in on.

It soon came to the attention of investigators that the day before the murder Florence and Robert had argued in front of employees at the studio. Robert told the investigative journalist Adam Shand for the 2020 9 crime documentary that the argument was over money that had been going missing from Florence's handbag over the last few months. 

Robert believed that one of the employees was stealing it and told his mother that she should store the money in a secure safe. Florence strongly disagreed and said she trusted her employees. The amount of money taken was $50-a few hundred dollars each time and amounted to a sizable sum over the course of several months. 

This argument was not a one-off. Robert and Florence had a complicated relationship. As a child Robert was packed off to boarding school at age just five and rarely saw his mother. Even in the holidays he was sent to stay with his grandfather in the country. It was only as an adult that Robert began to develop any kind of relationship with his mother. While he loved and respected her, Florence was not the easiest or the most typically maternal mother a person could have. Police eyed their strained relationship with suspicion, especially as Robert was the main beneficiary of Florence’s will.

Investigators spent some time looking into Robert but he had an alibi. That Saturday afternoon he had been playing golf with three friends and had been at the clubhouse until at least 6pm. Police were able to speak to the secretary of the golf club who confirmed this. You may well be  thinking - what about the time after this -  as Florence’s body wasn’t discovered until early the next day.  From what I have read I have inferred that Robert's time after 6pm could also be accounted for. Also I believe based on the autopsy that investigators theorised that Florence had been killed shortly after she was last seen at 4pm. 

A reward was issued by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the person responsible for Florence’s murder. This did not lead to a breakthrough in the case. 

I was surprised how little was written in the media about the case over the next two decades. Despite her semi-celebrity status the unsolved murder of Florence Broadhurst was largely forgotten. 

In 1999 the Sydney Herald published an article about the case in their weekend supplement. Over the next few years there followed an upsurge in interest in Florence's case. A documentary film written by Katherine Thompson and directed by Gillian Armstrong called Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst was released in 2006. Florence's son, Robert, agreed to be part of the project and to be interviewed on camera with assurance that his mother’s death would be handled sensitively. 

The documentary did not exclusively focus on the murder but looked at Florence's entire life. However it did provide some interesting pieces of information concerning the unsolved case. It claimed that Florence may have sensed something was afoot in the lead up to the murder, as she had told a female employee not to come to work that day. It was also said that Florence had displayed an uncharacteristic nervousness over the preceding month.  Friends and employees interviewed for the documentary seem to suggest this consternation may have been tied to financial worry over a business deal. This harks back to the rumours I mentioned earlier about Florence having been caught up in a scam. But there could be another explanation. 

Perhaps this anxiety could be partly attributed to a trip Florence had taken to the Philippines with a group including her friend Diana Richardson earlier in 1977. Altogether twelve people travelled with Florence including a Sydney-based psychic named Diana Shaw. During their stay the party visited a local fortune teller who gave the unsettling prediction that Florence would be dead within four months. This in due course proved accurate. 

The day after the murder Diana Shaw telephoned Diana Richardson and told her that she had communed with Florence’s spirit during the night. She recounted Florence saying that a man had come into her business premises through the back door and then entered the room Florence was in through a louvre door. Apparently despite never having visited the building, Shaw's description of its layout was very accurate. Florence asked Shaw to inform her friend Richardson that she had felt no pain during the attack, as the first blow had knocked her unconscious and the second had killed her. Florence told Shaw she was unable to get through to Richardson herself because her friend was too thick!

After the completion of filming for the documentary, one of the producers met a psychic from  Melbourne on another project. During the course of their conversation the producer showed the woman a picture of Florence Broadhurst. The producer was so intrigued by what the psychic then said that she quickly contacted a colleague and arranged for the psychic to be flown to Sydney in order to meet Robert Lewis. 

Three weeks before they were due to meet it is said, in David Leser’s excellent 2006 article for The Weekly, that Robert spent an entire night in bed talking with the spirit of his deceased mother. This was something he had done before but not for a decade and a half. He felt his mother telling him not to worry and that the truth of what happened to her would come out eventually.

Robert met with the psychic in January 2006. She proceeded to tell him that two people had been involved in the murder of his mother. A woman and a man. Their plan had been to dispose of the body elsewhere but something had forced them to  change their minds. She went on to say that the man had since died but the woman was still alive at that point in time. The woman killer was still obsessed with Florence and kept a large scrapbook full of stories about Florence's life and  murder. The psychic assured Robert that there were people out there who knew who this woman was. Finding this woman and the scrap book would be the key to solving the case. 

The idea that Florence is trying to help solve her own murder from beyond the grave has been put forward by others. A variety dancer named Sherdene Rose bought Florence’s old apartment in Darling Point shortly after the murder. She believed Florence was trying to communicate with her and wanted to pass on information from the other side.

2006 also saw the publishing of a new book, “Florence Broadhurst: Her secret and extraordinary lives” by Helen O’Neill and Hardie Grant. The book built on a theory first developed in the early 1990s that Florence may have been a victim of the serial killer John Wayne Glover. Glover was given the moniker the “Granny killer” and in November 1990 was found guilty of a series of murders of women aged between 60 and 92 in 1989 and 1990. The murders took place in the suburban region of North Shore, situated in Northern Sydney. Investigators suspected Glover of other unsolved murders dating from 1963 through to 1986, including the 1977 murder of Florence Broadhurst.

John Wayne Glover was born in Wolverhampton, England on November 26th 1932.  Glover had a difficult relationship with his mother which caused him a lot of stress and anguish. Though it has never been proven it is thought that as a young boy he discovered photos of his mother that were of a pornographic nature. He also is said to have borne resentment towards his mother for later leaving his father and remarrying.

It seems Glover’s hostility towards his mother  triggered a deep-seated hatred of older women. 

As a teenager he was a renowned liar and by the age of fifteen he began getting into trouble for  various misdemeanours and petty crimes. As a young man he joined the army but was kicked out after his previous convictions, which he had tried to hide, came to light.

In 1956, at age 24, Glover emigrated to Australia, first living in Melbourne before eventually settling in Sydney. In 1962 Glover was found guilty of numerous offences against several  women which included assault, indecent assault and one count of bodily harm. During these attacks he removed some of the women’s clothing and displayed quite shocking violent tendencies. However, he did not serve jail time as he was given a three year good behaviour bond instead. Basically this was a suspended sentence on the condition that he completed his probation tasks. 

In 1968 Glover got married, after which he was in constant conflict with his mother-in law Veronica or “Essie” Rolls.  The negative thoughts concerning older women were triggered anew by “Essie”. Despite these increasing feelings of anger it seemed Glover was able to suppress any desires to hurt others. Officially Glover did not start killing until he was 56, which is quite late in life for a serial killer.  He was married for twenty years and had two children before the killing started. Though as we shall see certain investigators think the murders started decades earlier.  In his day to day life Glover hid his darkside very well. He was known as a good guy. The kind of man you'd say hello to when passing him on the street. He worked as a pie sales rep and he was a regular volunteer at senior community groups.

In early 1989,as a precursor of what was to come, Glover attacked an 84 year old woman named Margaret Todhunter as she was walking down the street. He punched Margaret in the face and made off with over $200. He was not caught and police put this incident down to a random mugging. The catalyst for Glover’s reign of violence could well have been the death of his mother in October 1988. Then at the end of January 1989 his mother-in-law passed away. After which the murders started.

Glover's first known murder victim was 82 year old Gwendoline Mitchelhill. On March 1st 1989  he saw Gwendoline in the street and returned to his car to fetch a claw hammer. He then caught up with her and battered her to death in the street. Police believed this was an isolated incident and the result of a mugging gone wrong. Unfortunately there was no forensic evidence found at the crime scene. A neighbour believed it had been an accident and Gwendoline had fallen. Trying to be helpful they cleaned up the scene washing away any evidence.

Lady Winfreda Ashton, aged 82 widow of artist Sir William Ashton, was murdered in the most brutal fashion two months later on May 9th 1989. Winfreda fought back hard against Glover and nearly overpowered him. After finally subduing her by hitting her head against the concrete pavement Glover strangled Winfreda with her own stockings. He again stole cash but did not take an expensive ring. During this attack Glover purposely wore gloves to minimise the chance of leaving clues. It was following this murder that investigators began to join up the dots and realised they were faced with a serial killer preying on older women.

The following few months saw no new murders but Glover continued to offend in other ways. Between June and October 1989 he carried out a string of indecent assaults on older women in care homes across the region. He was even questioned by staff on one occasion but managed to get away and was not caught for these offences. Police did not initially connect this string of assaults with the murders. 

In October Glover attacked and attempted to murder an older woman named Doris Cox in the garden of a retirement village. She was found injured but alive. Due to the trauma of the assault she was unable to give a description of her attacker.

85 year old Margaret Pahud was Glover’s third known murder victim. On November 2nd 1989 he struck Margaret on the head from behind as she walked down a street. After Margaret was dead he rearranged her clothing and removed her shoes. He left them neatly alongside her body, together with her walking stick.

Glover’s offending now began to escalate, as just a day later he murdered Olive Cleveland. He approached the 81 year old when she was sitting on a bench outside a residential care home. His attempts at conversation made Olive uncomfortable and as she tried to leave Glover began beating her. He then strangled her with her own stockings. Yet again he rearranged the victim's clothing and made off with money. Her Glasses and shoes were left neatly by the body. For the second time the people first on the scene believed the victim had fallen and potential forensic evidence was washed away.

A few weeks later on November 23rd Glover spotted 92 year old Muriel Falconer in a street close to his home. He returned to his car to collect his claw hammer and a pair of gloves. Glover followed her home and was able to gain access to the propery.  He battered Muriel before strangling her with her own underwear. On this occasion some forensic evidence was found in the form of a bloody shoe print. What's more, a witness got a look at an overweight,  middle aged man with grey hair fleeing the scene. Police felt they were getting closer to catching “The Granny Killer” as he was being dubbed in the press. The reward for his capture was now standing at $200,000.

On January 11th 1990 Glover was working delivering pies to a hospital when he decided to enter a patient's room and inappropriately touched an older woman. The woman was able to call for help and described to staff who had assaulted her. They recognised Glover from her description as he regularly delivered to the hospital. Police quickly tracked Glover down but were uable to speak with him due to his mental state. 

Glover was requested to come to the polcie staion a day or so later. When he failed to show up officers called at his house. Glover’s  wife informed the officers that he was in hospital recovering from an attempted suicide. When officers went to the hospital, staff handed to them a note written by Glover. It said “No more Grannies…41. 12 Essie started it”. (If you remember, Essie was Glover's mother in law.)

The police officers who received this information did not connect this incident to the series of murders, and it was not passed to the taskforce working the case for a couple of weeks. When it finally came to the attention of investigators they knew straight away that this was the serial killer they were looking for. Frustratingly, they lacked any evidence to arrest him. 

Glover was put on round the clock surveillance but unfortunately that didn't stop him claiming his sixth and final victim. 60 year Joan Sinclair was known by Glover. Some say their relationship was platonic but Glover himself claimed he was having an affair with Joan. Unbelievably, police following Glover watched as the now 57 year old entered Joan’s house at 10am on March 19th 1990. However, they didn’t know who lived at the property. Before entering the house Glover had combed his hair, put on a tie and taken a brief case from his car. The officers presumed he was meeting his solicitor in realtion to the assult at the hospital.  By this time police had also ID him for the numerous assaults at the care homes over the summer of 1989. Although detectives had tried to tread lightly, Glover  was now aware that they were asking questions about him concering the murders.

By 1pm the officers staking out the house began to get worried as they had not seen Glover exit the property. At 5pm they got permission from their superiors allowing them to investigate further at 6pm. 

They knocked at the door under the pretence of asking about some barking dogs. Through a window they could see a claw hammer lying in a pool of blood on the floor. On entering the property they found Joan’s body. She had been beaten and strangled with her own stockings. The genital area had also been damaged. 

Glover was found lying in a filled bathtub in the upstairs bathroom. He had taken valium, drank a bottle of whiskey and also slashed his left wrist. He was, however, still alive and went on to make a full recovery.

Glover pleaded not guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility. At his trial a psychiatrist said Glover had experienced a childhood which harboured hostility and aggression towards his mother. Glover was impotent but it was said that after his mother died he developed a sexual interest in touching older women. He was found to have been sane when he committed the murders.

Glover did own up to the six murders after he was presented with the overwhelming evidence against him. He was given 6 terms of life imprisonment for the murders and was one of only a few prisoners in Australian history to have a ‘never to be released’ clause attached to his sentence.

On September 9th 2005 Glover hung himself from a shower rail in his cell at Lithgow Jail New South Wales. It was his third and final suicide attempt.

Detective Dennis O’Toole was one of the leading investigators on the “Granny Killer” case and was the person who arrested Glover. He has since retired but is absolutely convinced that John Wayne Glover killed Florence Broadhurst. He argues that so many things present at the crime scene point to Glover. The victim type, (wealthy, older woman), the posing of the body. The manner of death, (beating around the head). Money being taken from the handbag. Glover wore gloves and was careful not to leave traces of himself. No fingerprints were ever found at Florence’s crime. Most of Glover's known victims were killed in the afternoon at around 3pm. Florence was last seen at around 4pm and it is believed she was killed shortly after this. 

In the early 1990’s, following painstaking detective work, O’Toole discovered that Glover had met Florence Broadhurst on more than one occasion. The detective found that the pair had met at a wedding in 1972. The Sydney Morning Herald stated in 1999 that one of Florence's employees was married to a half brother of John Glover. At the wedding the pair had been seated next to one another and chatted together. 

Glover even visited Florence’s wallpaper studio to purchase a pair of curtains. The pair met again at a family christening where Glover was the Godfather. O’Toole says that in interviews  Glover initially denied these meetings, before eventually admitting that they had all taken place.

Author Helen O’Neill is a proponent of the theory that John Glover killed Florence. She believes they are the type of people who may have been drawn together. It's worth saying there is no evidence that Glover and Florence had any kind of romantic relationship.

During his time in prison Glover was regularly interviewed by Dennis O’Toole about other murders.  In September 2005, just days before he killed himself, Glover gave O’Toole a hand drawn sketch. The drawing displayed a wooded scene with a hotel in the Blue mountains. The Blue mountains are on the western outskirts of Sydney. Glover told O’Toole that there was something significant hidden in the picture. On close inspection O’Toole saw a number nine in the foliage of the trees. Just days later Glover died by suicide and O’Toole was never able to probe him for more information. 

O’Toole believes the number 9 refers to Glover’s total number of murder victims. This number implies Glover committed three murders that have not been officially attributed to him, and which when he was alive he always denied having any involvement with. According to O’TOole, these include two murders that took place an hour’s drive north of Sydney on the central coast. Joesphine Donald in Ettalong 1984, Wanda Amundsen Umina in 1986. The third murder is that of Florence Broadhurst in 1977. 

There is an alternative theory that the number nine refers to 9 additional murders, which would make 15 murders altogether. An additional four names have been put forward as potential Glover victims but I won't detail them here. No one has quite been able to come up with nine additional victims. 

There are others who dismiss the idea of Glover being responsible for Florence’s murder. Katherine Thompson, who wrote the 2005 documentary Unfolding Florence: The many lives of Florence Broadhurst, believes it is too simple an explanation to say it was Glover. She told journalist Alan Leser in 2006 that she had five different ideas about who the culprit was. She was hoping to get a confession during the making of the documentary but it wasn't to be.

Florence's son Robert Lewis also dismisses the notion that Glover was responsible for his mother’s murder. His theory is that the murder was someone with an intimate knowledge of the premises. They knew the front  door would be open and to leave via the locked back door, which means they were acquainted with the key was kept.

The two tea cups neatly laid out confirms in his mind it was someone she knew well. In the 2020 9 Crime documentary, though he mentions no names, Robert tells Adam Shand that he thinks the killer was likely one of the employees who worked at the wallpaper company. 

In the aftermath of Florence’s murder Sydney Homicide detective sergeant David Leach told the Sydney Morning Herald that based on present statistics there was a one in ten chance of the killer getting away with it. Sadly 45 years on the person responsible for Florence’s brutal murder remains unknown. In 2006 the Gillian Armstrong documentary suggested that the case was being reopened but Sydney police responded saying it had never been closed. 

In April 2021 it was announced in the media that NSW police were undertaking a review of the case. As far as I can tell no further information has been released.

There is a question mark over whether a trial could ever go ahead, even if an arrest was made. In her book in 2006, Helen O’Neill suggested that vital evidence had been misplaced by police. At the time New South Wales police refused to comment on the matter. Investigative journalist Adam Shand found out during the making of the 9 Crime documentary in 2020 that a lot of the police information on the case has gone missing, including the murder weapon and the crime scene photos. Regardless, Robert Lloyd Lewis is still hopeful that his mother’s killer will one day be identified.

Florence’s bold and colourful patterns fell out of fashion for many years but over the last decade her work has been reinterpreted by a new breed of Australian designers. The company Barcs Australia now owns the copyright to her work and a quick google will show you can purchase her designs on a variety of products. Some of Florence Broadhurst's work can also be found in the Powerhouse Museum and the State Library of New South Wales, ensuring that the firebrand Florence Broadhurst will never be forgotten.