Janet Murgatroyd: Who was the 20-year-old Penwortham student brutally murdered in 1996?
A fresh appeal has gone out for information on the murder of Janet Murgatroyd 30 years ago.
It’s 30 years since the tragic death of Penwortham law student Janet Murgatroyd - and a new appeal has been made to find her killer.
But not to be defined by her tragic end, here we look at the person ‘bright and bubbly’ Janet was.
Janet Murgatroyd was the only child of the marriage between newsagent David and Mary Murgatroyd.Her parents separated when she was young and Janet was brought up in Broad Oak Green, Penwortham, by her mum, with whom she had an especially close relationship.
She was also the apple of her dad’s eye and remained in contact with him despite the marital split.
Growing up she was a happy, spirited child who played for endless hours with other children on the local green. She went to St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School, in Penwortham, and was the larger than life character in her class.Years after she left teachers would recall her year as ‘Janet Murgatroyd’s class’ such was her vibrant, bubbly character.
Intelligent and hardworking, Janet was a popular pupil at All Hallows Catholic High School where she was keen on sport and captained the school hockey team. She went on to study at Cardinal Newman College in Preston where she was well liked by her peers and achieved excellent grades.
Her popularity saw her elected as a student representative giving her a role liaising with college staff on behalf of classmates. Janet also kept up her passion for sport and was a key member of the Cardinal Newman netball team which was ranked at the time as one of the finest in the county.
For extra spending money she worked at the French Bistro, in Preston, so she could enjoy life with her pals. After leaving college Janet enrolled at the University of Central Lancashire to study for a law degree. To help pay her way she secured a part-time job in the Crime Input Bureau at Lancashire Police headquarters in Hutton.
Despite her choice of course Janet had told colleagues that she dreamed of a job in the music industry after graduation. An energetic and confident person she was very driven in striving for her goals in life and had successfully passed all of the elements of her first year course at UCLan.
This article is abridged from the book Lancashire’s Most Notorious Murders by Mike Hill and Nicola Adam.Anyone with information can call Lancashire Police on 101.