"Richard Mackay .. doesn't sound like a local name?" I said shaking hands with the tall figure, who rose from behind the desk.

He laughed: "I see Aurel has not told you? My great-grandfather was a Scottish soldier who came back here after the war as a gardener for the cemeteries. I still have many relatives in Stranraer where he came from."

Aurel settled into one of the three chairs which surrounded a glass topped coffee table.

"Please, sit down. You are here as a researcher, so Aurel has told me on the 'phone," he said.

"Yes, I'm specifically interested in a murder which may have occurred between late May and early August 1917. The victim was a girl, perhaps a serving girl at Vincent's .. it may be she was more than a barmaid," I looked at him pointedly.

"Then where better to come for an answer than the police station," he smiled. "Though I am afraid we do not have the resources to re-investigate a crime which is almost 90 years old!

"You mention a time frame which is good. It fits in with a local story which I have heard from my grandfather. Of course it was passed to him by his father. You are a fortunate man, Mr. Blackadder, I've had an interest in this tale for some years so when Aurel called me, I searched out some notes for you. "

Mackay told me that there had not been one, but three unsolved murders of women in the Ypres area in and around this period. The first had been on May 16, 1917 and the victim was Amanda Viljoen, a 27-year-old seamstress who had worked at Vincents.

Apparently, she offered a few extras on the side.

"Her throat was cut. Very expertly. There was no sign of a struggle, no evidence of rape or indecent assault. She was found in a pool of blood in a little wood not far from the estaminet. It was assumed at the time that she had been killed by her lover .. perhaps he was angered to discover her part-time occupation?"

I nodded vaguely: "Please continue."

"Two weeks later, just after the battle at Messines, there was another murder. This time of a farm girl, near Poperinge. Same story with the throat cutting. You must remember that police work was not a priority at this time, there was a war on our doorstep. Men were dying all around us. It seems that this killing was put down to one of the deserters who tried to hide out behind the lines. No one was ever brought to justice in this case either.

"Finally, in September 1917 a member of one of the Voluntary Aid Detachments was killed. The method was exactly the same. No sexual motive .. just a swift and brutal killing."

And then the murders had stopped. My blood froze. The Mudshires had come to Ypres on April, 20th 1917, they left the sector on September 17 of the same year.

"And no-one linked these crimes together?" I asked. "There were no suspects, no arrests?"

Mackay frowned: "It was a time of war, Mr. Blackadder. Criminology is not the science it is today. There was no DNA fingerprinting, no special murder squads. They were just seen as victims of the war and evidence of how terrible human nature can be."