Emma Matthews searchign for Derry relatives of Ellen Carlin
In 1946, shirt factory worker Ellen Carlin left Derry at the age of just 20 to seek a better life in England.
However, things didn’t go to plan and after falling on hard times Ellen turned to prostitution when she was murdered on September 6, 1954.
The 28-year-old was found dead at a flat in London’s Pimlico. She had been strangled with a stocking and her brutal killing made front page news.
No one was ever charged with her murder but serial killer Peter Manuel allegedly confessed before his 1958 execution.
Reports at the time said police suspected the involvement of an American serviceman in the murder.
Ellen left behind a two-year-old son, Daniel. He was subsequently adopted by an English family who changed his name to Martin Matthews.
Martin only discovered his true parentage after a deathbed confession from his adopted mother.
He began to examine his background, but made little progress before his own death in 2005.
But now Martin’s family have picked up the mantle, with his daughter Emma Matthews and stepdaughter Lisa Dear hoping to track down any surviving relatives.
Ellen’s inquest recorded she was the daughter of James Carlin and the late Mrs Carlin from Rossville Street in Derry.
While the family are unsure how many siblings Ellen had, her sister Sylvia McGill and brother James Carlin also moved to England.
Lisa told the Belfast Telegraph that the family were desperate to hear from anyone in the North of Ireland with information about Ellen.
“We’re just trying to find out if there’s any family left, I’ve been on all the family tree websites but just cannot find any more information, it’s just such a sad story,” said Lisa.
The family are particularly keen to find a photo of Ellen.
“We’d love to know what she looked like, we had heard that one appeared on the front page of the News of The World at the time so I’m planning to visit the newspaper archives when they reopen,” Lisa explained.
Ellen’s granddaughter Emma said the family wanted to find out more about their links to the North of Ireland links.
“We realised how little we really did know with regard to his background and our background, where did we come from, who are we connected to,” she said in a online appeal.
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