In 1951 a man shot his wife and mother in law dead before going on the run. He turn the gun on himself the following day as the police net closed in on him.
The double shooting took place on 16th April that year at 32 Underley Street, off Smithdown Road, where Archbishop Blanch school now stands. Lilian Parr lived there with her 25 year old daughter Lilian (known as Beryl) and 29 year old son in law Walter Beech. The young couple were in disagreement over Walter's decision to rent two rooms locally, as Beryl didn't want to leave her 55 year old widowed mother living alone.
At around 6.50pm their neighbour in number 30, Mrs Barber, heard a scream. After getting no answer when she knocked on the front door, she and her husband went round to the backyard and saw the bodies of Lilian and Beryl lying on the kitchen floor. Both had been shot in the chest. Another neighbour,Thomas Gladwinfield from number 34, ran to a phone box and dialled 999.
A huge manhunt was launched, with fifty officers searching local parks, gardens, cemeteries and wasteground for the murder weapon. A warning was issued to the pubic regarding approaching Walter, with the Liverpool echo stating "He may still be armed and is likely to be dangerous". He was described as five feet eleven and three quarter inches tall, slim build, fresh complexion, dark brown hair, clean shaven with blue eyes. He was last seen to be wearing a navy blue raincoat, brown gloves,a collar and tie.
Lilian was a cleaner at Olive Mount hospital and described as very nice and exceedingly popular. Beryl, a nurse at nearby Sefton General hospital, had been married to Walter,a gas welder, for five years and was expecting their first child. For three years of the marriage, Walter had been in prison after being found guilty of housebreaking with firearms in Blundellsands. Friends of Lilian described her as "one of the most pleasant of girls" but that Walter did not like her having friends and was jealous of the mother-daughter relationship.
Around 24 hours after the killings, police received a tip off that Walter was in the Princes Park Hotel, on Upper Stanhope Street. Two detective sergeants went there and saw him at the bar with a lady, then asked him to step into another room of the pub. He have his name as Ray Lewis and said he was a seafarer from a Dutch ship, who had taken rooms across the road. On being told by the detectives that they knew who he was, Walter then took the gun from under his armpit and shouted "Stand back or you will get it, you are not taking me".
In an incredible act of bravery, DS John Beaverstock edged forward and said "Don't be a fool, put that gun away". Walter then pointed the gun towards the stomachs of Beaverstock and his colleague DS Joseph Gillbanks, shouting "Stop, it is loaded and you will get it". He then turned the gun around and shot himself in the head, toppling over. A search of Walter found he was carrying copy of a newspaper containing reports of the killing she had committed.
The lady Walter was with identified herself as Elizabeth Pierce, a 25 year old waitress from Ireland. She said she had first met him on the Monday evening and had a drink then arranged to meet him the following afternoon, but denied spending the night with him. Elizabeth described Walter as "a nice quiet young man".
Lilian and Beryl were buried together at Allerton Cemetery, while Walter was laid in an unmarked public grave at Anfield Cemetery. Neither grave has any maker indicating who is buried there.
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