• Ryland Headley was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 20 years for the murder and rape of Louisa Dunne
• Judge Mr Justice Derek Sweeting KC told Headley he would "die in jail"
• The judge added Headley had a "complete disregard for human life and dignity"
• Louisa Dunne's granddaughter, Mary Dainton, said her life had been turned "upside down"

We are concluding our live coverage. You can find more on this story here.

Avon and Somerset Police have released a statement following Headley's sentencing.

“Ryland Headley is finally facing justice for the horrific crimes he committed against Louisa in 1967," Senior Investigating Officer Det Insp Dave Marchant said.

“The impact of this crime has cast a long shadow over the city and in particular Louisa’s family, who have had to deal with the sadness and trauma ever since.

"Louisa’s granddaughter Mary has shown remarkable resilience and courage throughout the investigation and trial, and our thoughts remain very much with her."

Jeremy Benson KC, defending Ryland Headley, offered no personal mitigation on behalf of the defendant.

“We ask you to look at Mr Headley’s behaviour since he was released from a prison sentence in 1980,” he said.

“His age now: he is 92 and he will be 93 in September.”

One unusual aspect of the case is that Headley was sentenced based on the sentencing regime in force in 1967, and not today.

Prior to 2003, it was the Home Secretary who fixed a minimum tariff for someone sentenced to life imprisonment, rather than the sentencing judge.

The court heard that at the time of the murder, the tariff fixed by the home secretary in consultation with the trial judge and the Lord Chief Justice could not be appealed against and was rarely published, and therefore there was few examples of the types of sentence imposed.

The court was told of one case of where a burglar convicted of two murders was given a 20-year tariff.

The judge said Headley has shown "no remorse" for his offending.

"The fact that the crime was unsolved compounded the family's suffering," he added.

Ten years after Louisa Dunne was raped and murdered by Ryland Headley, he raped two other elderly women in Ipswich, Suffolk. He was convicted of both crimes and burglary.

Addressing Headley in the dock, the judge said: "Your old offences involved the invasion of other homes, which reveal a chilling pattern of behaviour."

Louisa Dunne's cause of death was recorded as a strangulation and asphyxiation.

The judge said Headley's actions involved a "high degree of violence and cruelty" and he had a "complete disregard for human life and dignity".

"Mrs Dunne was vulnerable. You exploited this. You treated her as a means to an end.

"This was a pitiless and cruel act by a depraved man."

The judge has sentenced Ryland Headley to life in prison.

The minimum term is 20 years.

"You will never be released. You will die in prison," the judge said.

We're hearing from the judge, Mr Justice Sweeting, who is telling the court about the evening of Louisa Dunne's death.

She'd spent time at her best friend's house and left her in "good spirits" before planning to head to bed back home.

The judge said Mrs Dunne "did not possess any amount of money in the house.

"Her few treasured possessions included her books, and the deed to her house," he adds.

Addressing Headley, the judge said: "You violated the sanctity and safety of Mrs Dunne’s home where she had every right to feel secure.

“You may not have intended to kill but you did rape her and you brutally attacked her."

The court has risen as the judge is returning to the courtroom.

We’ll bring you all the latest as the sentence is passed.

While the judge considers the sentence, here's what we've heard so far.

• Louisa Dunne's granddaughter told the court the case has turned her life "upside down"
• The murder and rape had a "far-reaching" impact on her family
• The court has heard of differences between sentencing guidelines in 1967 - when the murder took place - and now

The prosecution and defence have addressed the court, discussed the aggravating factors and the changes in the law since the crimes were committed.

We’ve also heard about the impact the rape and murder has had on Mrs Dunne’s family from her granddaughter, Mary Dainton.

The judge has left the courtroom to consider all of the factors before passing the sentence.

He will return at 11:15 BST.

Jeremy Benson KC, defending, is speaking to the judge.

He is referencing Headley's previous convictions for two rapes which took place in Ipswich.

“We ask the court to take into account Mr Headley’s behaviour since he was released in 1980.

"His age now is 92 and he will be 93 in September," Mr Benson said.

Mary Dainton is telling the court that people "withdrew" from her family when they found out about Louisa Dunne's murder.

"There is a stigma attached to rape and murder.

"It has turned my life upside down. I feel sad and very tired, which has affected the relationships I have with those close to me.

"It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice is being done."

The judge is thanking her for speaking in a clear and dignified way.

We're now hearing from Mary Dainton, Louisa Dunne's granddaughter.

She is telling the court that the murder has had a "far reaching" effect throughout her family.

"I have struggled emotionally in ways I did not anticipate, but it falls to me to speak for people who are no longer here," she said.

"Louisa's death had a big impact on my mother - I dont think she ever recovered from it."

She added that her mother's anxiety "clouded the rest of her life" and impacted her other relatives.

Anna Vigars KC, prosecuting, told the court that she would recommend being "very wary" in terms of double counting the offences.

"The fact of the burglary and rape make the murder itself more serious, but they shouldn’t on top of all that aggravate it.

"There are other features which we say are aggravating features, but if one takes the highest starting point because of the sexual conduct its not also an aggravating feature to the offence, of course," she said.

Given the age of this case, there are certain rules the judge must follow when passing Headley's sentence.

Changes in the law mean judges can pass longer, tougher sentences nowadays.

The prosecution said "the culture which now informs any sentencing practice is radically different," compared to 1967, when the crimes were committed.

The courtroom at Bristol Crown Court is starting to fill up.

Headley has arrived in the dock, and the judge will be brought in to pass the sentence shortly.

The jury’s guilty verdict is believed to have set a new record for a conviction in a cold case.

It took 58 years to solve because of a lack of forensic evidence. All police had to work with was a swab which tested positive for semen and a narrow section of a left palm print and area beneath the little finger.

Although police took palm prints from thousands of men living nearby, they missed the culprit as he was living just outside of the radius they were searching.

Headley was convicted of burglary and rape 10 years after Mrs Dunne’s murder, but with no national computerised database to swiftly compare records, the connection was never made between the crimes.

He was also questioned in 2012 over an alleged assault for which he was never charged. A DNA sample was taken from him, but he avoided giving a palm print by telling officers he had arthritis.

After he was arrested on suspicion of Mrs Dunne's rape and murder in 2024, police were able to make the connection.

Ryland Headley had slipped through the net for almost 60 years after raping and killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne.

Officers made 8,000 house-to-house enquiries, took palm prints and about 2,000 witness statements were taken in a bid to solve the case.

At the time, Headley was living just outside of the area police were investigating, in Montpelier, 1.6 miles (2.6km) away from Mrs Dunne. With no leads, the case went cold.

But 10 years later, another manhunt was under way about 200 miles (321km) away in Ipswich following the rapes of two elderly women, aged 84 and 79, in their homes at night. Police took 5,000 fingerprints from local men over the space of a month and Headley was caught.

He pleaded guilty to both rapes and asked for 10 other burglary offences to be taken into account at sentencing.

It was these previous convictions and evidence on a national database which helped police link him back to Mrs Dunne’s murder all those years later.

Following the guilty verdict for Mrs Dunne’s rape and murder on Monday, Det Insp Marchant, from Avon and Somerset Police, called Headley a "dangerous serial offender" with a "shocking and abhorrent history”.