Mrs Ashbrook was the owner of a terraced house that Mavis Riley was interested in buying in November 1977. She viewed the house by herself in the morning and made an appointment with Mrs Ashbrook to come back at 1.00pm with Derek Wilton. When they came back as promised, they were taken with the garden although Mavis said that she wouldn't have much time to tend to it with her job. Mrs Ashbrook joked that she would show them the rest of "the estate" but the guns were out that day. Instead, she offered them a cup of tea.