A mum and nan was found dumped in an area of wasteland yards from busy streets after suffering a brutal and cruel death 17 years ago this week.
The brutalised body of Ann Marie Foy, 46, was found on a patch of land at the junction of Crown Street and West Derby Street, Liverpool city centre, where the new Royal Liverpool Hospital building stands today, on September 15, 2005.
Miss Foy had battled with addiction over the years and had turned to sex work, but had tried several times to get clean. She was also remembered by others in similar situations for her kindness and "maternal instinct" towards younger working girls.
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To this day the full story of her death has never been fully uncovered, despite a man being charged with her murder in 2012 after an apparent breakthrough in DNA evidence. However taxi driver David Butler, then 65, was found not guilty by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court.
Mr Butler's lawyers had argued his chronic bronchitis and COPD would have rendered him "incapable" of the savage attack. The defence also questioned a DNA sample that led the charge against Mr Butler, after it emerged it could have been deposited on money later handled by Miss Foy due to his job as a taxi driver.
Mr Butler, speaking to the ECHO after his acquittal, said: "No-one should lose their mother in those circumstances and I wish them [Miss Foy's family] every success in getting justice. This was another false dawn for them which must have been hard but it has to be the right man and it wasn’t here."
During that trial, harrowing details emerged of the attack that killed Miss Foy. A pathologist recorded 62 separate injuries including 21 to her head alone. He theorised she may have been throttled by a large broken tree branch found near the scene with traces of her blood on it.
One of her sons, who spoke to the ECHO previously, said: "I saw her a couple of weeks before she died and she had been off the drugs for around three months, she had started painting and writing poetry again, she was re-discovering her creative side.
"She was a Christian and she loved going to church. I have since found out she had a lot of trauma in her own life, but I have never had the chance to get closer to her."
No-one else has been charged with Miss Foy's murder. Anyone with information should contact Merseyside Police on 101.
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