The town of Abertillery in South Wales had been rocked by the brutal murder of an eight-year-old girl. A 15-year-old shop assistant had been arrested and accused of killing Freda Burnell, but a jury found him not guilty. While many in the town felt that justice had prevailed when Harold Jones was acquitted, the declaration of his innocence meant that a child killer was still at large… (Part 2 of 2).
Read moreHistoric Crime / The Trials Of Harold Jones - Part 1
Rumours swirled about a group who were kidnapping children for rewards, but there was no trace of Willie. One year later, a small skeleton was found two and a half miles from the missing boy's home. Willie's father identified the remains when he saw the hobnails he had put in his son’s boots two weeks before he vanished. Willie Pincott was said to have died from exposure on the lonely mountainside. Fifteen years later, the tragedy was still in the minds of locals when another child went missing… (Part 1 of 2).
Read moreThe Life & Crimes Of Donald Merrett / Ronald Chesney
Henrietta Sutherland rushed into the dining room at 31 Buckingham Terrace in Edinburgh. The maid to the Merrett family found 55-year-old Bertha unconscious on the floor, with a pool of blood around her head. Bertha’s 17-year-old son, Donald, was standing next to her when Henrietta entered the room. It was shortly after 9 AM on March 17th, 1926. The maid had been alerted by the sound of a single gunshot. When asked what had happened, Donald explained that he had been arguing with his mother, and she shot herself. However, not everything was as it seemed…
Read moreMurder At The Hotel Metropole / Sidney Harry Fox
“The prisoner is probably the youngest person actively concerned in the investigation of this case. You may build round a case of this kind, a mountain of motive, you may surround it with suspicion, but if you do not prove the person - whose death you are investigating - was murdered, your mountain of motive and all your suspicion are without value” - James Dale Cassels, Sussex Assizes, March 1930.
Read moreExecuted For Immorality? / Percy & Edith Thompson / Frederick Bywaters
Proving once again that true crime is not just a modern fascination, a crowd had amassed early at 4 am on that winter morning of December 6, 1922, desperate to witness the trial. Members of the public pushed and prodded as they fought to get in. Every spectator was hopeful of gaining a ringside seat in the courtroom. Some people paid for the privilege, handing over large sums of cash, which would be £250 in today's money…
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