A Man of Disgusting Habits

A man who battered his wife to death in Everton in 1889 was jailed for ten years, the judge telling him he was of 'disgusting habits'.

On the evening of Sunday 30th June John Hannay and his wife Martha indulged in some heavy drinking a their Robsart Street home. They then went out but Martha refused to return home when John demanded they did, leading to him kicking her about the head and body when she did make it back there. Even when she escaped and made it to bed, he dragged her out of it and repeated the onslaught.

Martha lingered on until the following Friday when she died. John, a 23 year old dock labourer, was charged with murder and stood trial before Mr Justice Stephen on 9th August. His defence was that he was so drunk he did not know what he was doing, and that they had generally been on good terms. It was also suggested that Martha had been fighting with somebody else earlier in the day and may have got her injuries that way.

John was found guilty of manslaughter and told by the judge that he had 'disgusting habits' before being sentenced to ten years imprisonment.