A Greek Tragedy in Scotland Road

In 1898, a Greek man living in Liverpool was found guilty but insane after he killed his wife by cutting her throat. 

Emmanuel Mavromatis, a 50 year old cotton porter originally from Greece, had settled in Liverpool in the 1870s. In 1898 he lived in Louis Street, off Scotland Road, with his wife Elizabeth, who he had been married to for fifteen years. Things were not going well, with his wife telling friends early in the year that she wanted to seek employment as a domestic servant and leave him.

Drawing of Mavromatis
in Liverpool Echo

On the morning of Sunday, 27th April, the couple's neighbour, Samuel Widdup, heard cries of "murder" from the property, then a deathly silence. He went to investigate and was met by another neighbour, Margaret Simpson, who had also heard the cries. She went inside and saw Mavromatis coming out of the kitchen, wiping his bloodied hands on a towel. He casually said to her, "I have killed my wife."

Margaret ran outside and told a man called Hercules Shalliday, who lived opposite, what Mavromatis had said. Hercules went in and saw Mavromatis pale and trembling. When asked what the matter was, he replied "I have killed my wife, she called me a liar, me can't help it all the while bother." He then pointed to the kitchen and  said, "She is in there." Hercules could see that Elizabeth was quite dead, her throat having been cut. 

A police constable was soon at the house, and Mavromatis pointed to the fire grate, where he had discarded the bloodied knife. He remained calm and rational as he was taken to the Bridewell in Cheapside. A postmortem found that the wound was eight inches long and three inches deep. Death was due to haemorrhage. She wa buried in a public grave at Anfield Cemetery.

Little over a week later, on 10th May, Mavromatis was on trial at the Liverpool Assizes. Samuel Widdup acknowledged that he had never previously heard the couple argue or seen them in drink. PC Davies said that as Mavromatis was being conveyed to the bridewell, he had said "She talked about breaking my neck every day."

The defence counsel, Mr Segar, described Mavromatis as a temperate and industrious man who had lived in perfect happiness with Elizabeth until the previous year. However, he suffered a head injury when a bale of cotton fell in him. This caused dizziness, and he was further injured when he fell into a cellar. The doctor who had treated him for concussion testified that he did not believe Mavromatis to be of sound mind. Dr. Wigglesworth of the Rainhill Asylum gave evidence of his examination of the prisoner at Walton gaol. In his opinion, he was suffering from delusions and not feigning it. He believed that Mavromatis knew what he was doing when he killed his wife, but did not think that he was doing wrong.

In addressing the jury in his summing up, the judge said that the question for them was whether Mavromatis knew if he was committing a criminal act. Without leaving their box, the jury returned a verdict of guilty but insane. Mavromatis was then detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.