Gaol Killer Transported

A prisoner who stabbed another to death whilst in Kirkdale Gaol was extremely fortunate to evade a murder conviction and was instead transported for life after being found guilty of manslaughter.

George Metham, who had already returned to England after being transported for seven years, was coming to the end of a custodial sentence at Kirkdale in May 1825. He was transferred to another part of the prison where inmates could mix more freely, but taking advantage of these privileges led to the killing that would see him take to the seas again.

Metham took a sum of money with him when he moved and managed to add to this by successful gambling. However a group of prisoners led by William Hudson decided to rob Metham of this money, but their plan was communicated to him by another inmate. Methan sent word back that he had a knife and would use it if attacked.

On the evening of 16th May Metham finished in the workshop at about 8pm and was taken to the day-room by a turnkey. Metham had the knife on him at that point as he had been using it to cut bread, and he quickly hid it in his clothing without shutting it. On entering the room where the other prisoners were he stood with his back to the wall, ready to fight off any attack if it came.

For several minutes some other prisoners, who were unaware that Metham had been tipped off, tried to entice him away from the wall but he stayed where he was. Eventually Hudson went up and grabbed Metham by the collar, then tried to bundle him to the ground. Metham responded by drawing the knife and stabbing his attacker in the belly.

Hudson died two days after the incident and Metham was charged with murder and appeared before Justice Bayley at Lancaster Assizes on Saturday 20th August. That he had stabbed Hudson to death was not denied, it was just a case of determining whether or not it was self defence. A prisoners gave evidence stating that Hudson had planned to rob Metham, while another old how there had been no previous ill feeling between the two, with Metham having twice given Hudson tobacco in the preceding days.

The only evidence in respect of any intention to cause harm came from Metham himself, whose testimony did not do him many favours. In admitting that he had the knife in anticipation of the attack, the judge suggested that this could be tantamount to premeditated murder given the robbery should not have caused any physical harm and the idea of a prisoner having money in gaol was absurd. However, it was also pointed out that Metham admitted to having used the knife to cut bread just beforehand and may not have had time to close it before hiding it from the turnkey. Another factor in Metham's favour was that he only had the knife as a precaution and did nothing to provoke any attack.

After deliberating for an hour the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter, the foreman saying they believed it was of the most aggravated character. The judge wasted no time on a prisoner who had already been transported once, telling him that this time it would be for life. On 1st August 1826, Metham arrived at Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania) aboard the Woodman, on which he sailed with 149 other convicts.

Pawn Tickets Catch Murderer

A man who committed murdered a relative of his wife's employer during a burglary in 1832 was caught when police found evidence he had pawned the stolen items.

20 year old plasterer John Thomas was originally from Oswestry in Shropshire and in December 1831 arrived in Everton to be with his new wife Elizabeth, who was a servant to Mr and Mrs Okell. They lived in Breck Road, which was then Breck Lane and part of Everton which was a village in its own right and not part of Liverpool. They ran a spirit vaults in Liverpool at Seddon Street, still in existence near the junction of Duke and Paradise Streets.

On the afternoon of Monday 9th January 1832 Elizabeth and Sarah Okell were in an upstairs room together when Sarah opened a drawer containing some silver plated cutlery. The following morning Sarah went to the spirit vaults, leaving her 25 year old niece Ellen Bancroft in the house. The property had some damp and Elizabeth had suggested that her husband may be able to fix the patches, but when he did go around on the premise of looking at them the next afternoon he had other ideas. Taking a poker that was next to the fire he hit Ellen over the head then forced open the draws and stole some of the sliver.

Thomas had waited until his wife had left the house before committing the act. When it happened she was at the spirit vaults with Sarah, having taken some caps there which she had been asked to make. At around 8pm Thomas went there to collect his wife, whispering something that Sarah was unable to hear. A couple of hours later Sarah returned to Everton, where she saw Ellen being removed to the Infirmary in a car. She had been found around 7pm by Sarah's nephew Samuel, who had climbed in through a kitchen window and found her sat in a chair covered with blood, while a bloodied poker was lying on the floor by her side. Ellen was conscious but confused and a doctor who attended dressed the wound before arranging for her to be taken to the Infirmary.

When Sarah went upstairs, she found that the dressing table draw had been smashed open and the cutlery was missing. Four spoons had already been pawed by then, having been taken by a man matching Thomas's description to Mr Little's pawnbrokers in Liverpool. On the Thursday evening police went to Mr & Mrs Thomas's lodgings, taking both into custody in relation to the assault and burglary. A search of the room found some damning evidence was found by way of a chisel which was the same size as what had been used to force open the draws, as well as pawn tickets for items of a similar nature to what had been stolen. 19 shillings was also found in Elizabeth's purse, the items having been pawned for 20 shillings.

Ellen lingered on in the Infirmary until the evening of 15th January, when she slipped away. She had been conscious the previous day though when Thomas was taken by police to see her and she identified him as the man who had come to the house to check the damp and then assaulted her. The inquest began the following day and lasted for three days, which included a visit to the Infirmary by the Coroner's jury to view the body. After a verdict of wilful murder against Thomas was returned he was committed to the Lancaster Assizes for trial but Elizabeth was discharged, having apparently been no more than an unwitting accessory to the crime. Ellen was buried in her home town of Weaverham, near Northwich, a week to the day after she was attacked.

At his trial on Friday 9th March there were plenty of witnesses who gave damning testimony against Thomas. In addition to the police evidence, a local resident said she had seen Thomas pacing back and forth along Breck Lane at about 4pm on the day of the burglary, while a joiner working at a nearby property positively identified him as having left the Okell's house, as did a stonemason who saw him running. The pawnbroker's assistant identified Thomas as having pawned the spoons, while Mrs Okell confirmed that they were the ones that had been taken. Dr Horton, surgeon at the Infirmary stated that Ellen's death was as a direct result of the wound.

After the prosecution closed their case, there was little defence Thomas could offer and in summing up, the judge said that if the jury were satisfied Thomas had entered the house and struck the fatal blow there was only one verdict they could return. It took just a few minutes for the foreman to announce a verdict of guilty. Thomas showed little emotion as the judge donned the black cap and sentenced him to death, telling him to spend the few moments left in this life to seeking mercy and forgiveness.

Thomas's execution took place just three days after the verdict, on the morning of Monday 12th March in front of a crowd of 3,000. On reaching the scaffold he shook hands with fellow convict William Heaton, who had been sentenced to death after murdering a man in Burtonwood. Both men were hanged simultaneously at 8.15pm, the Lancashire Advertiser  reporting that Thomas struggled a little. After being cut down, Thomas's body was sent to Liverpool where it was to be used by surgeons for dissection.

Six Weeks For A Life

In 1832 a man who killed another in a fight was sentenced to just weeks imprisonment while a robber was sentenced to death.

On 13th February that year John Jones and John Goodwin, both aged in their early twenties, were drinking in Wards public house in Hood Street, now part of Queen Square bus station. Both men were known as second rate fist fighters and began arguing, leading to them both agreeing to fight outside.

The two men fought for fifty minutes, with Goodwin eventually falling lifeless to the floor. He was taken to hospital where he lingered for two days before passing away. Jones was taken into custody and was committed for trial at Lancaster Castle.

On 11th March Jones was found guilty of 'killing and slaying' but was sentenced to just six weeks imprisonment with hard labour. At the same court sessions Thomas Singleton, a man who robbed Earl of Sefton of £10 at West Derby, was sentenced to death.

Policeman Killed on Election Day

The local elections of 1853 saw a  tragic incident in which a policeman was stabbed to death when he intervened in a row between a canvasser and a man in a pub.

On the 1st November of that year an election took place in Vauxhall ward and candidate Jonathan Evans arranged to meet a voter at Shaw's public house in Scotland Road. While he was waiting 19 year old Thomas Copeland, who was a well known neighbourhood ruffian, came in and demanded Evans buy him beer.

After Evans refused Copeland threatened him with violence and some of his associates, on hearing the commotion, began to gather around the pub entrance. Evans got away and headed for Marybone, where he found a policeman that returned to the pub to deal with the small crowd who had gathered. On being told to disperse they did, with the exception of Copeland who told Evans he was going to break his skull and also threatened the landlady, refusing to leave until he was given 4 pints of ale.

When more officers arrived Evans punched one of them on the head and then fled towards Cavendish Street, where he lodged in a court. Two constables and an inspector went inside and arrested Copeland, but as he was being led away he managed to stab one of them, Richard Sunderland, in the thigh. With blood streaming out of the wound, Sunderland said 'The Lord Receive My Soul' before collapsing. He was carried to the dispensary in Rose Hill but was dead within ten minutes, the femoral artery having been severed.

With Copeland under arrest, officers returned into his lodgings and found his sister casually washing a knife. His landlady said that after he had entered the property with the officers in pursuit, he had picked up a knife from the table and put it in his pocket.

At the inquest the following day, it was revealed that Sunderland left a wife and two young children. It was also stated by Superintendent Ryde that associates of Copeland had already been threatening witnesses to the crime. Copeland's sister's claim that she was washing a different knife to the murder weapon was immediately seized upon by the Coroner, who said he preferred disputes to be settled by a stand up fight rather than butchering by a knife.

After a verdict of wilful murder was returned, Copeland was committed for trial at the Lancashire Winter Assizes, where he appeared before Judge Baron Alderson on 8th December. Witnesses told how Copeland had ran into the court shouting he'd rip the officers and also that he had been seen to throw the knife over his shoulder shortly before Sunderland fell down. Among them was 8 year old Mary York, who saw Copeland take the knife from the table and also inflict the fatal thrust, which was three inches deep.

There was little point in Copeland trying to say he hadn't carried out the stabbing, so it was a case of going for damage limitation. It was pointed out that the police had no right to enter the property without a warrant for the type of offence committed, and also that there was no premeditation as he grabbed the knife in the heat of the moment. After an hour and a half's deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter.

Baron Alderson told Copeland he was fortunate that the jury had found him guilty of the lesser offence, but that it was still one of great aggravation. He had already served three months in gaol for stabbing his brother but this time there was to be no leniency, as Alderson sentenced him to be 'transported beyond the seas for the term of his natural life.' There were some cries of support which were quickly quashed and Copeland then had to wait sixteen months for his voyage. After eight months on the Adelaide, he finally landed at Western Australia on 16th December 1855.

Spaniard Transported For Stabbing

A Spanish sailor narrowly avoided a murder conviction after stabbing a man to death and only an act of mercy by the judge saw him avoid a full life term of transportation.

At around midnight on 22nd October 1853 John Crimp and Richard Crispin, two sailors attached to the Camlor ship that was berthed in Canning Dock, were walking down an alley off Whitechapel. They encountered American Thomas Williams and Spaniard Immanuel Monterro, and words were exchanged that Williams objected to. He then kicked Crispin in the belly and when Crispin punched him back Monterro ran at both with a knife, stabbing them in the groin.

Williams and Monterro both ran off and a police officer who heard the commotion attended to find Crispin and Crimp bleeding heavily. Both were taken to the Northern Hospital where Crispin died within ten minutes of arrival and Crimp remained in a critical condition.

The following afternoon Monterro was arrested at George's Dock near to his ship the Triumphante while Williams was apprehended at a boarding house in Peter Street, where Monterro had fled from. Both were taken to the Northern Hospital on the morning of 25th October, where the Coroner took a deposition from Crimp, who remained in a critical condition. He was able to state he had been punched by Williams and stabbed by a Spaniard, but couldn't positively identify Monterro.

The inquest into Crispin's death took place later that day. A man from the boarding house told the Coroner that the Spaniard had come into the house in a frantic state and washed a knife, before saying that he had 'rompe' two Englishman, which translates as ripped or broken. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Monterro but acquitted Williams, leading tom some angry shouts from friends of the deceased.

Monterro stood trial on 8th December, by which time Crimp had made a full recovery. A female witness Anne Browne told that she had seen him with the knife and told Crimp that he was bleeding. James Thomson repeated the evidence he had given to the Coroner about the knife being cleaned at the boarding house. After a brief deliberation, the jury found the Spaniard guilty of manslaughter.

The following day, Monterro was brought back to the court where the judge, Baron Alderson, sentenced him to transportation for a period of twenty years. He was told that had he not been a foreigner, it would have been for life. He landed in Western Australia on board the ship Adelaide along with 259 other convicts on 16th April 1855.

Liverpool's First Police Killing

The first killing of a police officer in Liverpool took place in 1838 when an inspector died whilst trying to disrupt a prize fight, leading to six men being transported for life.

On the evening of Monday 28th May that year Inspector George Wharton was in Blair Street, when a member of the public told him that there was a fight taking place nearby in Parliament Street. In going there with two constables he found nothing, but was redirected to the top of Hill Street where two men were stripped to the waist and a large crowd gathered.

Wharton managed to take one of the men into custody, but as he was leading him away some of the mob followed him, with Edward Connolly hitting him over the head with a plank enabling the prisoner to escape. Other males were surrounded Wharton's colleagues who were trying to arrest the other fighter. Inspector William Ross was held by James Macklin, then hit over the head by Patrick Canning with an eighteen inch stick and fell to the ground. He was then repeatedly kicked and hit with bricks and planks by James Durning and Martin Murphy, as well as Connolly who returned there after hitting Wharton. George McCarty was in the background shouting 'GO ON'.

As his colleagues tried to assist they were tripped by other members of the crowd, which number twenty to thirty. They managed to escape and secure further assistance, but by the time they got back Ross was unconscious and bleeding on the ground. The crowd had made no attempt to disperse and were not outnumbered to taken into custody, while Ross was carried to the Infirmary.

Despite the best efforts of surgeons to save him, Ross died on 6th June with Dr Nottingham telling the Coroner's inquest that he was no doubt the death was a result of the injuries received, which had caused inflammation of the brain. The funeral took place on 8th June, with a 90 minute procession from the Infirmary to Mount Street cemetery. All police officers who were not on duty, numbering 300 in total, were in attendance.

On 14th August, the six men who were all in their late teens or early twenties were tried for wilful murder at the Assizes in Chapel Street. Although there was no doubt that all had been there and five had taken part in the assault, it wasn't clear who had actually struck the blows which proved fatal. As such all were found guilty of manslaughter, including 19 year old McCarty who had done no more than shout at the others to take part in the assault.  Mr Justice Williams said due to the enormity of the offence he had to pass a severe sentence and sentenced them all to transportation for life.

Stabbing of a Policeman

A row over whether or not a candle should be lit led to a woman having her throat cut, a policeman being killed and a man being transported for life.

On the night of Monday 15th April 1839 Daniel Cole, a 30 year old porter originally from Ireland, returned to his lodgings off College Lane at around 10pm . He found his wife was sat down talking with another lodger named Alice Murphy and a Mrs Moran, keeper of the house.

Alice lit a candle which Mrs Cole immediately put out. She lit it again and when Mrs Cole again went to put it out Daniel shouted to her 'Is this the way, what's your humour now.' Mrs Cole got up and stumbled, being worse the wear for drink, before going into the kitchen. Daniel then followed her and cut her neck from behind, but his wife managed to get away and out into the street to shout 'murder'.

A policeman immediately arrived on the scene, accompanied by a mariner named Robert Rigg who he had ordered to assist. Rigg was left holding he door shut while the officer sought further help, but Cole managed to batter it down and escape, punching Rigg in the face as he made off. He only got as far as the corner with Hanover Street, where he was stopped by Constable David Bailey, but as the two men struggled and fell down together a knife was plunged into the officers neck.

Bailey managed to get up and knock his stick on the floor three times, while a passer by called William Selsby managed to get the knife which had fell out of a dazed Cole's hand. Thomas Fletcher, a coachmaker, stood over him until other officers arrived on the scene to secure his arrest. Whilst this was happening Bailey fell down and was carried into Atherton's public house and laid out on a kitchen table. Within two minutes he was dead, witnesses having said that blood was coming out of his neck like 'water from a pipe.'

Two surgeons were sent for and they quickly established that a main artery had been severed. Cole was taken to the Hotham Street bridewell and placed in the cells, while a the bloodied knife and hat belonging to Bailey, which had been cut, were also handed in there. Mrs Cole attended a surgery, where a doctor examined her and concluded that the inch wide wound, which was a third of an inch deep, was not endangering her.

The Coroner's inquest into Bailey's death took place the following day and after the doctors gave evidence to the effect that stabbing was the cause of death a verdict of wilful murder was returned. Cole taken to Kirkdale Gaol to a await his trial at the next South Lancashire Assizes in Liverpool's Chapel Street.

Cole's trial took place on 20th August and he was describe by the Liverpool Mercury as 'a well made broad set man, dark complexioned, with large black whiskers; his eyes are fiery and indicated a degree of wildness.' His landlady Mrs Moran told the court that he had posed no problems at all and was a hard working industrious man, but his wide was prone to drunkenness. Most witnesses could only testify that they saw a struggle followed by Bailey staggering away, but Joseph Mantler said that he had seen Cole thrust his right hand, which he assumed to have carried the knife, towards the officer's neck. Dr Callan, who examined the body afterwards, was of the opinion that the blow was a severe one, the knife only being stopped when it struck the jaw, and that death was immediate due to the severing of arteries.

The situation looked bleak for Cole but evidence was presented by the defence that he had spent several weeks in an infirmary in Ireland a decade earlier after receiving a head injury whilst blasting coal. His brother Michael explained that he believed he had never been in sound mind since and often wore tight bandages around his head to keep him stable. When he had fits of anger, he would smash up furniture and two or three people were needed to restrain him, after which he would remember nothing of the episode. In cross examination Dr Callan admitted that this could cause temporary derangement during periods of excitement. His colleague Dr McIntyre also said that just a small amount of alcohol could have brought about temporary insanity.

The jury also heard evidence that Cole was a trusted employee in a warehouse and had worked there for eight years in a job that required him to carry a knife. Fellow employees also told how he was often concerned about his wife's drinking habits, which sometimes involved her selling furniture and taking his wages then disappearing for two or three days at a time.

The defence counsel put forward a passionate defence in the trial's closing stages, painting the picture of a man returning from work to find his wife hopelessly drunk, stabbing her then finding himself surrounded by a baying crowd as he officers stopped him. It was submitted that the act was carried out in self defence after the officer struck him, although this was not what the witnesses had said. When summing up, the judge pointed out that the jury had to consider if Cole knew it was an officer he was grappling with, and also the fact that he had carried the knife without its sheath for a considerable distance.

After deliberating for 45 minutes the jury found Cole guilty of 'a very aggravated case of manslaughter.' In sentencing, the judge said that aggravated manslaughter is only in the slightest degree distinguishable from murder and as such that 'It is my duty to pronounce on you that you be transported to a place beyond the seas to such place as Her Majesty, by the advice of her Privy Council may determine, for the period of your natural life.' Eleven months later Cole and 270 other convicts sailed on the Eden bound for New South Wales, where he eventually arrived on 8th July 1841.