He did not come upon a Constable and arrived home at around half ­past eight, seen by his father and his younger brother with whom he quarreled before going to bed.  On the Spixworth Road, a quarter of a mile from the nearest house, on what was described as `an exceedingly dark night', Nellie Howard lay on her side in the lee of a roadside hedge, her head on her left arm, blood running through her clothes to the chocolates in her pocket.

At ten minutes to nine Police Sergeant Walter Slater, walking from Catton to Spixworth and probing ahead with his lamp, lit up Nellie's body.  Closer examination revealed the full horror of his find and, taking into consideration the recentness of the injuries and the isolation of the spot, he darted into the adjoining field, spraying his lamp over wheat sheaves for a hiding murderer.  But Horace Larter had by now reached his home.

Sergeant Slater made for the nearest habitation, the blacksmith's shop of Joseph Laws, and sent Laws to the city to obtain a doctor and inform the County Police Station.

Doctor Flack set out from Magdalen Road on his bicycle but lost his way and did not arrive until ten minutes to eleven, and then only by following an Eastern Daily Press reporter.  Constable Sizeland arrived earlier, followed by Inspector Roy.

The murder scene on the Spixworth Road beyond Old Catton.

The doctor examined the body by lamplight under the intent gaze of the police, press and blacksmith, confirming what was obvious - the young woman had suffered at least two terrible wounds and was dead, and not too long previously. They placed her on the blacksmith's cart and took her to the coach house at The Maid's Head Inn.

At dawn the police searched the road and adjoining area.  They found spots of blood 150 yards in the Spixworth direction from the body, but no signs of a struggle.  It meant the couple had turned back towards Norwich, Nellie possibly running, possibly wounded.  Or had Larter cut himself at that point?  Blood grouping was too far away for this 1908 case.

Another spot of blood was found on the roadside between where the body had fallen and Norwich and this can safely be attributed to Larter's cut hand, likewise blood on the floor of The Maid's Head Inn.

The post-mortem examination revealed a third wound upon Nellie, a knife wound in her back that had just missed her spinal column.  Doctor Flack said that the two inches deep puncture wound in her neck and shoulder had severed an artery and been the fatal wound.  She had not been sexually mistreated.

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