Death at Brothers First Meeting In Three Years

When two brothers went out drinking for the first time in three years, the night ended in tragedy when a fight broke out, leaving one of them dead. 

In  April 1943 William Clare, a twenty year old naval seaman, returned to his family home in Grovehurst Avenue, Dovecot. On the 17th (a Saturday) he went to a pub with his 33 year old brother Patrick, a labourer who lived in a flat in Stockbridge Lane, and another friend. 

The brothers left the pub at 10pm on good terms, walking ahead of their friend. However when he caught up, he found a crowd gathered around Patrick, who was lying on the pavement, his face bruised and battered. He was carried into a house to await the arrival of an ambulance, but he was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

The following morning William refused to believe it when told that Patrick had died. He attended a police station and said "I am the brother of the chap who was found dead. I don't know how it happened, we had a row and started fighting." William was charged with manslaughter but granted bail when he appeared in court on the Monday.

On 4th May William appeared at a committal hearing, where he was defended by Rose Heilbron. His statement was read out, in which he had said the brothers started fighting after disagreeing over whether William had leant Patrick £1 or 10 shillings in the pub. When William had left his brother, he was leaning against a tree and shouted that he wold see him the following day.

Dr Grace, who had carried out the postmortem, said that Patrick had bruising above his eye,  cut on the nose and three teeth were knocked out. He believed that death was a result of shock due to a contused wound on the jaw. After prosecutors acknowledged that William had cuts to his face, Miss Heilbron submitted that it was a most distressing case but that it was an accident and there was no case to answer.

Dismissing the charge, the presiding magistrate Mr Worrall said "This is one of the most unhappy cases that has come before my court."

Boy Killed By Car As He Played

The driver of a car that killed a seven year old boy was jailed for a year after being cleared of manslaughter but convicted of dangerous driving. 

On 4th June 1945, three young boys were playing at the corner of Dingle Lane and Dingle Mount when a car came careering out of control towards them. Rather than turn the corner into Dingle Lane, it carried on straight and collided with a pillar box, trapping seven year old Leslie Stockton. 

The driver of the car was 31 year old Sidney Davies, an insurance agent who lived at 18 Corinthian Avenue, Stoneycroft. On getting out of the car he immediately fell to the pavement and said to a police officer who attended "I am sorry old man, I have had a good night." Leslie, who lived in Dingle Mount with his parents, was taken to hospital but died from his injuries. Sidney was charged with manslaughter and dangerous driving and committed for trial. 

 The following month at Manchester Assizes the prosecuting counsel was Rose Heilbron, who went on to have a number of legal firsts for a woman. She told the court that he drove the car recklessly and under the influence of drink, but acknowledged his staggering may have been made worse by having a wooden leg. Sidney's defence was that his wooden leg had slipped from the brake onto the accelerator and that if he appeared drunk, it was due to the shock of the accident. 

The jury found Sidney guilty of dangerous driving but cleared him on the manslaughter charge. He was then jailed for one year and banned from driving for ten years. 

Murdered Son Dumped in Hedgerow

A father broke down when he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his baby son, saying he had not intended to cause harm.

On 8th March 1965 John Riding, went to his parents home in Ganworth Road, Speke. He shocked them by saying that his seventeen month old son Anthony was missing from home at 131 Upper Warwick Street. They reported the matter to Speke police station, and then went to Toxteth to assist the police and neighbours in searching empty homes in the area.

At Essex Street police station, Riding's partner was questioned by police and said that he had hit Anthony the previous evening. This led to detectives confronting Riding and he told officers to take him to Naylor's Road in Netherley. There, Anthony's body was found wrapped in coalbags in a hedgerow.

A pathologist was called and postmortem conducted, which revealed that Anthony had died from a haemorrhage. There were also bruises all over the body. Riding, a twenty two year old butcher, was charged with murder and remanded in custody by the stipendiary magistrate the next morning. 

When Riding appeared at Liverpool Crown Court at the end of May he was defended by Rose Heilbron. He admitted that he had hit his son as he had lost his temper, but insisted he did not intend to cause harm. He told the court 'I smacked him on the leg, I kept hitting him, I could not help myself. However Derek Hodgson, representing The Crown, said that postmortem results revealed forty one bruises on Anthony's body, in addition to those on the head.

In summing up, the judge told the jury 'You will have to consider the number of blows to the child's head. If you come to he conclusion that this man inflicted those injuries and that he knew what he was doing and that the inevitable result  that violence would be to a child of that age then it is murder.'

It took just fifteen minutes deliberation for the jury to find Riding guilty of murder and he sobbed in the dock as he heard the verdict. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment.

Husband's Sunday Morning Frenzy

A man in wartime Liverpool killed his wife in a frenzied act after she told him she would be leaving him for a sailor.

John and Maud Povall had married in 1922, aged twenty and eighteen years old respectively. They went on to have four children and set up home in Cromarty Road, Old Swan.

At the outbreak of the Second World War John volunteered for the Royal Navy and was then transferred to the Merchant Navy. He went away to sea in 1941 for a voyage that last eleven months, during which time his wife began a liaison with a Dutch seaman.

Mrs Povall didn't hide the relationship from her children and on one occasion went to London leaving the children at home in the care of her eldest daughter Hilda who was in her late teens. Hilda didn't tell her father about the repeated infidelity but he eventually found out by receiving an anonymous letter.

Although Povall was prepared to forgive Maud, she told him on Sunday 10th May 1943 that she would be leaving home and taking the youngest three children with her. An argument broke out which was calmed down by their lodger George Bollingham. At Povall's request the lodger went back upstairs to get changed so they could go out for a drink but as he was doing so Povall began beating and kicking his wife. Bollingham heard the screams and went out to find help and on returning with a policeman saw Povall bathing a wound on his wife's neck.

Maud told her husband she would try to start afresh with him and they kissed as she was helped into an ambulance. At the police station, Povall said the knife caught his wife's neck as she tried to stop him attacking her, then admitted kicking her as she lay on the floor. Maud required 44 stitches in wounds to various parts of her body but at 4.30 the following morning she died of shock and a perforated wound in the larynx. Povall made no reply as he was charged with murder.

On 16th June Povall appeared at the Liverpool assizes before Mr Justice Lawrence, with the prosecution opening the case by referring to it as a 'sad one.' The couple's eldest daughter Hilda said they had appeared to be fine on the evening before the killing and were planning to go out together. The lodger Bollingham recalled that they had been friendly that night, but that Maud's face was bruised and they had argued earlier in the week. He described how he had tried to pull Povall from his wife but couldn't do so and ran outside to find help. Asked how Povall was acting, Bollingham responded that he was 'in a frenzy, like a man possessed.' He also said that he was broken hearted at the affair as he loved her so much.

Under cross examination from Rose Heilbron, Hilda said that her parents relationship was good until he went away to sea in 1941. After that, he mother began frequenting public houses and bringing men back to the house, including the Dutch seaman. Hilda went on to say that she had often ordered the Dutchman out of the house and this association caused her to leave home to go and live with her grandmother in Moreton. 

Dr W H Grace, a lecturer in forensic psychology at the University of Liverpool said that in his opinion the injuries on Maud were consistent with somebody who had lost control. In her closing speech, Miss Heilbron said the case was 'one of the saddest possible to be recounted in these courts.' She referred to Povall as a devoted family man and described how Hilda had endured the pain of being devoted to both parents and having to try and hide her mother's infatuation with another man from her father. 

The jury agreed with Miss Heilbron's plea to find Povall guilty of manslaughter rather than murder and he was then sentenced to ten years penal servitude.

Booted to Death

Three gang members from Dingle were given stiff sentences after an attack on a trio of naval seamen that led to one being kicked to death.

At around 11.30pm on 13th July 1945, little more than two months after war in Europe had ended, a group of males were sat on top of an air raid shelter in Hill Street when three naval comrades walked past. Some words were exchanged leading to 21 year old Leonard Dixon jumping down and punching one of them, after which a brief fight broke out.

When one of the naval men saw his cap being picked up he said 'You've had your fight now give me back my cap' but his request was ignored. They continued their way towards the depot but the gang members then followed, a fight breaking out again. Two of the naval men got away but 29 year old signaller James March, who hailed from Essex, was repeatedly kicked and left in the gutter. A resident of Hill Street who heard the commotion went out to help but he was already dead. He told the police that as many as five males had been involved in the kicking.

Police soon established that members of the Park Lane Gang were responsible and quickly made three arrests; 19 year old Moses Birch from Caryl Street, 21 year old Henry Johnson of Tillotson Street and main aggressor Dixon, who was from Stanhope Street. All three admitted being in a fight and were committed for trial at the Liverpool assizes.

On 5th November the males pleaded guilty to manslaughter and the prosecution did not proceed with the murder charge. Police told the court that Birch and Dixon were part of the eleven strong Park Lane Gang, who terrorised shops in the south of the city and would not hesitate to use violence. It was acknowledged however that Johnson had a good sea going record and never been convicted of violence. 

The judge, Mr Justice Croom-Johnson, had little room for leniency when it came to Johnson. Despite the pleas of his counsel Rose Heilbron, he said that Johnson had known that the other two were members of the gang and made no attempt to walk away that night. He then imposed a sentence of four years penal servitude on Johnson, and six years each for Dixon and Birch, commenting that 'it was high time terrorist gangs in Liverpool were made to understand that the law was strong enough to stretch out and reach them and punish them severely.'

Hit With an Iron and Gassed

A man who knocked his wife unconscious with an iron then put her head in an oven and gassed her to death was found guilty but insane.

Early in 1942 Walter Bentick was discharged from the RAF due to his nerves and returned to his family at 61 Greenwich Road, Fazakerley. The 31 year old lived there with his 26 year old wife Pauline and two young children, aged two and three. The couple had their occasional quarrels, resulting from his medical condition, but were generally very happy.

On 25th April 1943 at around 10pm two of Pauline's sisters called round and were told by Walter that she had left him. An hour later, another sister called and demanded more answers, leading to Walter pointing to the kitchen and saying that she was in there. Her sister then found Pauline dead, her head resting on an open oven door. Walter said that they had been happy all afternoon but she had made him do it and he had been trying to die all afternoon but couldn't.

When Walter was questioned by police he told them that he had hit his wife with an iron and that he hadn't intended it. When his clothing was searched, what appeared to be a suicide note was found which read 'Please Pauline always look after the children, never forget that I always loved you and them. I will always be near you but do not forget me, I love you all, Wallie.' A post mortem was carried out which established that Pauline was pregnant and that the blow to the head had caused a fracture of the skull but carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death. 

Walter was committed for trial at the Liverpool Assizes, where he was defended by Rose Heilbron on 9th June. Pauline's sisters stated that she had told them Walter had been acting oddly in the preceding weeks, and that he was always fidgety on trams and often walked in circles around the bedroom at night. Miss Heilbron produced evidence that showed both Walter's father and brother had died in mental homes and two doctors who had examined him since the killing felt that he had suffered serious brain damage as a result of epilepsy. 

Without leaving the box the jury returned a verdict of guilty but insane, leading to Walter being detained at His Majesty's pleasure. He died in an asylum in Macclesfield in 1985.

The Bootle Bath Murder

The killing of a Bootle woman who was found drowned in a bath in 1951 remains unsolved after her friend was tried for her murder but acquitted. It was a case which the defence barrister described as 'the most harrowing she had ever dealt with.'

Emma Grace was just 22 years old when she separated from her husband in the mid 1930s, going on to bring three children up on her own whilst working as a clerk for a pools firm. She lived in Irlam Road in Bootle in a house that was also occupied by Martin and Anna Neary and their three children. Each family had a floor in the house and they shared a bathroom.

On 25th May 1951 Emma's nineteen year old daughter Mary, a student nurse, returned home at around 5pm to find Anna sobbing hysterically. She described how she had heard Emma go to the bathroom and then raised voices, so when she went up to see what was happening a man had threatened her with a revolver then lifted Emma into the bath and drowned her before making off. When 39 year old Emma's fully clothed body was removed from the bath it was badly bruised and there had clearly been signs of a struggle.  

Anna was questioned by the police who were sceptical about her story, as they simply did not believe that the bathroom was big enough for one person to face great difficulty in drowning another while another escaped unscathed. As some of Emma's wages were found hidden within the fireplace in Anna's room, they concluded that she had committed the murder with robbery as a motive, refusing to believe her statement that a large man with hairy hands had committed the deed.

At lunchtime the following day Anna was charged and replied 'Why should I kill her, she has been awfully good to me.' A special court in Bootle was convened and Anna was formally remanded, leading to her shouting out 'This is not justice, God help me.' She was led away to the cells on what was her 27th birthday leaving her husband in the public gallery holding a young baby

Anna was 26 years old and had been born in France to Polish parents. After growing up near Lille, she had come to Britain after the war, during which she met her husband who was a serviceman with the RAF.

Martin's sister Margaret took the couple's children into her care, telling them that their mother was in hospital.

The trial opened at the Manchester Assizes on 11th July, with the the prosecutors outlining the case that the man with hairy hands had not been traced and as nobody else was in the house or could have gained access, then Anna was guilty. 

When Anna gave her evidence on the second day she stood by what she had told the police on the fateful night, that she had gone to the bathroom where she was locked in by a man with 'big ugly hairy hands' who then threatened her with a gun before drowning Emma. Anna then went on to to describe how there were a number of unknown male visitors to Emma and her daughter, one of whom she had expressed a wish never to see again as he had a nice wife. When asked by her defence counsel Rose Heilbron if she had killed Emma she replied 'No, never' and broke down crying, leading to a five minute adjournment to allow her to regain her composure.

In her closing speech, Miss Heilbron said there was no evidence of ill feeling between the two women and that Anna was not short of money so robbery could not have been a motive.

After retiring for two and a half hours the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. There was a round of applause from the public gallery but this came to an abrupt halt as Anna fainted in the dock and it took two minutes to revive her. She was still sobbing as Justice Barry said 'You may be discharged'. Anna then turned to the jury and said 'Thank you, I swear I did not do it.'

Outside the court, Anna buried her head into the arms of her husband as she was rushed to a waiting car. Miss Heilbron said that it was the most harrowing case she had ever been involved in and family members said that Martin and Anna planned to take a holiday in France. Although Martin's four sisters and two brothers had been of great help, Anna's mother was too poor to visit England during her daughter's imprisonment and trial.

The killing of Emma Grace remains unsolved.

Knowsley Hall Shootings

Two stately home employees were shot dead by a work colleague in a tragic incident in one autumn evening in 1952

Knowsley Hall, on the eastern fringe of Liverpool and home to the earls of Derby for many centuries, cannot have witnessed more horrific events than those of 9th October 1952.

At 8.15pm that evening 19 year old Harold Winstanley, a trainee footman who had been discharged from the army due to tuberculosis, entered the smoke room and shot Lady Derby in the neck. While she 'played dead' Winstanley turned the gun on butler Walter Stallard and under-butler Douglas Stuart, who had been attracted by the commotion. 

After moving to the inner hallway, a frenzied Winstanley then shot and wounded valet William Sullivan and housekeeper Mrs Turley in the hand and leg respectively. Miss Doxford, Lady Derby's maid managed to slip away from the scene and call the police, after Winstanley had casually told her that he had shot Lady Derby but hadn't meant to hurt her. 

Winstanley then left the hall, drank a pint of beer in the Coppul House pub and then realised his plight was useless. He took a bus to Liverpool city centre and dialled 999 at 11.42pm to give himself up, expressing surprise when he was told that Lady Derby had survived.

On 14th October the two victims were buried in adjoining graves at the Church of St Mary in Knowsley Village. Three days later Winstanley appeared at Prescot Magistrates Court where he was defended by a young Rex Makin, who urged the press to 'stifle their wrong conclusions and suppositions until the facts are known.'

There was little doubt that Winstanley had carried out the shootings and the task of the defence counsel Rose Heilbron at his trial in Manchester on  16th December was to prove that he was insane at the time of the killings. Evidence was heard that his mother had a history of psychiatric problems and fellow staff members told how he had always been pleasant to work with. they said that on the fatal night he was acting normally and in a good mood when he enjoyed a meal with them at 5pm, but by he time of he shootings was white and wild eyed. 

Dr. Francis Brisby, Senior Medical Officer at Walton Prison described how Winstanley spoke of the shootings as if he'd witnessed them, rather than carried them out. It was Dr. Brisby's opinion that he was suffering schizophrenia and gross hysteria at the time, not being able to tell right from wrong. The jury returned a verdict of 'guilty but insane' and Winstanley was detained indefinitely at Broadmoor.

Old Curiosity Shop Murder

The slaying of a defenceless 82 year old man in the quiet suburb of Aintree attracted national headlines in 1953.

Retired tailor George Walker owned a Victorian detached house  at 98 Warbreck Moor, the ground floor of which he used as a bric-a-brac shop. It was known locally as the Old Curiosity Shop. 

On 9th January 1953 Walker allowed 20 year old unemployed labourer John Todd to work unsupervised on a grandfather clock. Walker's sister Mary was suspicious of Todd, who had a knife dangling from a sheath attached to his waistband.  

The following Wednesday afternoon (14th January) Todd killed Walker by repeatedly striking him with an axe, which the old man used for breaking coal. He then took Walker's silver pocket watch and left the premises, his crepe shoes leaving a trail of bloody footprints.

The alarm was not raised for almost 24 hours, when one of Walker's dogs barked at the home of a Marion Owen, a woman who lived  in the next street. The police were called and on breaking into the property, his body was found in the hallway.

Walker's sister gave a description of Todd and this was confirmed by two boys who had called at the shop on the day before the murder, to be told by Todd to come back the next day. On the orders of his mother who was completely unaware at the time, Todd himself gave a statement to police after an appeal for anyone who had visited the shop recently to come forward, telling how he had bought a gramophone there.

Todd, who lived in Roxburgh Street in Walton, was arrested on 19th January after his girlfriend Iris Tucker read an account of the murder in a newspaper. On seeing the description of the man wanted for questioning -Todd had a pointed nose and a wart to the side of his left eye- she gave a statement to the police. The young man was charged with murder and appeared before magistrates the next day, the same day as George Walker's burial in Everton cemetery.

At the trial, Todd was defended by Rose Heilbron and claimed that Walker had fell against him with a bloody nose and that the silver watch was his own. When shown a photograph of the corpse, Todd tried to say that the mess had happened after he had left the property. After being found guilty on 9th April, Todd was sentenced to death by Justice Cassels who told him 'You cruelly and brutally battered that man to death.' 

He was hanged on 19th May 1953, the Home Secretary refusing calls from his defence team for an enquiry into the sanity of a man who prior to this occurrence had not been convicted of any criminal offences.