It’s a night Alec Whittle remembers in acute detail.

He had taken himself off on his motorbike for a pint at a club in Longsight.

It was the early 1970s and Alec, then about 22, had just left the Army.

When he arrived at the club on Stanley Grove, he walked straight up to the bar and started chatting to the barmaid, ordering a pint of bitter - most likely Red Barrel.

He had taken a shine to her, he says, and remembers being shocked when she unbuttoned the neck of her shirt to show him bruises on her neck and shoulder.

“She started talking straight away. She showed me what had happened to her,” he says now, almost 50 years later.

“She was on her own at the bar and the place was practically empty. I did know her a bit from previous times I’d been there.

(Image: Dan Thompson)

“She showed me all these injuries down her face and shoulder. She said she had no relatives here. I wanted to help her, I wanted to take her home to my parents house, but she refused and said she couldn’t.

“I told her that nobody had the right to do something like that to her. I wanted to take her away on my motorbike.

“This would have been the 1970s after I came out of the Army and before I met my wife.

“We were talking and I said nobody had a right to do that to her.

“Then this bloke came up and she told me to ‘shush’ and sit down.”

It is these haunting details that have played on Alec’s mind for decades.

He is convinced that the woman he was speaking to that night was the so-called ‘Angel of the Meadow’ - an unknown woman whose body was found at a building site in Manchester city centre.

Police say the ‘Angel’ - who was found on land now used for the Co-op headquarters - was murdered.

(Image: Greater Manchester Police)

A post-mortem concluded that she had suffered a fractured jaw, neck, collarbone and nose shortly before her death.

Detectives say she could have been beaten to death and possibly sexually assaulted, as she was naked from the waist down.

Her remains were found by builders working at the Co-op site off Miller Street - historically known as Angel Meadow - on January 25, 2010.

The discovery sparked an investigation by Greater Manchester Police, but the woman’s identity remains a mystery to this day.

Her body was covered by a blue carpet, which police think was cut to fit a Ford Cortina, with a hole for the gear stick.

For Alec, it’s one specific piece of evidence that has convinced him that he met the ‘Angel’ that night back in the early 1970s.

He specifically remembers seeing a pinafore dress hung up by the bar - something that was discovered with the body decades later.

Police found a 1970s-style green pinafore dress with large buttons and an unusual design with the ‘Angel’s body.

“When the report came out there was a body found rolled in a coloured carpet with injuries to her face and neck, and there was a beer mat with her and a pinafore dress, it just sounded right,” Alec says.

“I used to go to this club on Stanley Grove. I can’t remember the name. I remember all about it and the inside of it.

“I did a bit of research of my own and I went to the planning department to see if they had any planning for the clubs on Stanley Grove, in Longsight.

“I remember the dress. It was a distinctive pattern, a Great Gatsby type pattern. I remember that pattern well - I used to doodle it.

“I’m sure it was hung up near the bar in the club, or in a glass frame. She wasn’t wearing the dress, it was hung up.”

Police also found a jumper, a blue bra, a jacket, tights and a handbag near the woman’s body.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

A black high heel stiletto was also found nearby along with a piece of Guinness memorabilia.

Alec is convinced that the woman he spoke to that night, who he remembers being 'afraid', is the same woman whose body was recovered at Angel Meadow years later.

When the gruesome discovery was made back in 2010, Alec got in touch with police and the former police commissioner, so they could look into his claims.

Police say they fully investigated the information Alec put forward at the time but would be happy to look into any new information he has.

The ‘Angel of the Meadow’ was eventually laid to rest in an unmarked grave, five years after her remains were discovered.

Her funeral at Southern Cemetery was attended only by two Greater Manchester Police detectives who had spent years working on the case.

(Image: Greater Manchester Police)

Forensic tests showed she was Caucasian, born in the early 1950s and was between 5ft 1in and 5ft 7in.

It is believed she was killed between 1975 and 1988.

In a bid to identify the woman police made international enquiries, even speaking to families in Tanzania, Texas and Holland.

Artists also produced a facial reconstruction in the hope that relatives would come forward - to no avail.

Alec, now 70, remembers details from his conversation with the barmaid in Longsight, which he thinks took place around 1972 or 1973 when he was around 22 years old.

However he says the mousy-haired, medium built woman he was speaking to that night looked “nothing like” the facial reconstruction image.

“She was attractive,” he says.

(Image: Greater Manchester Police)

“She said she didn’t have any relatives here.

“She was not local but she sounded English, or maybe Dutch. But not Mancunian.

“I’m so convinced it’s her. I probably saw her on the night she died. She opened her shirt and showed me all down her left hand side.

“I do regret not reporting it to the police at the time, but I thought I could have got her in trouble. And I certainly didn’t think it would go any further.”

Head of GMP’s Cold Case Unit, Martin Bottomley, said: “Today marks the 10 year anniversary that the body of a woman was found at a building site in Angel Meadow, near the city centre.

“Sadly there have been no significant developments over the years but we will never give up hope that one day we’ll be able to identify her and find out what happened.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that someone out there knows who she is and what happened to her and I would encourage them to get in touch with police – it’s never too late to come forward.”

Anyone with information should call police on 0161 856 5978 or 101. Reports can also be made via the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.