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. 

Triple Tragedy in Litherland

A husband whose mental health suffered as a result of a house move committed murdered his wife and son before committing suicide. 

On the evening of 6th April 1960 a neighbour of the Gibbon family who lived at 23 Hawkshead Drive, Litherland, became concerned when she smelt gas from the property next door and realised she had not seen or heard any of the occupants that day. When it was seen that milk bottles were still on the doorstep, police were called. 

On forcing entry to the property, the found a terrible scene.  In the bedrooms, still in their nightclothes, were the bloodied bodies of Amy Gibbon and her sixteen year old son William. Both had been battered about the head. In a cupboard under the stairs, was the hunched body of 46 year old Charles Gibbon, next to a severed gas pipe.

An inquest heard from neighbours and family members. They had been a loving family who moved to Litherland from Speke just two months earlier to be nearer Charles's brother. However Amy had expressed concern to neighbours that he may have a nervous breakdown.  He had been finding many faults with the house and regretted buying it, spending many an hour of an evening out walking rather than be there. He was also worried about mortgage payments, despite having a good position as an assistant cashier with a biochemists.  

The inquest returned a verdict that Charles had murdered Amy and William, before committing suicide whilst the balance of mind was disturbed. 

Widowed Woman Strangles Daughter

A Tuebrook woman devastated by the death of her husband strangled her young daughter. When she stood trial for murder, she was found to be guilty but insane.

On the morning of 25th January 1937 Ethel Brown, a 25 year old widow living in 35 Witton Road, Tuebrook, had an argument with her mother, who then left the house. Around 10am Ethel ran to the home of Mrs Yeates in Adshead Road, hoping to find her mother but she wasn't there. Ethel sobbed "Help me, I have killed Maudie" and then collapsed. 

After Ethel came round, Mrs Yeates accompanied her to Witton Road, where Maud's body was lying on a bed in a back bedroom. She had been strangled with a tablecloth and Dr Cohen from Marlborough Road was called to confirm the death. Ethel was in a hysterical state by the time two detectives arrived to arrest her and arrange the removal of the body to a mortuary. 

When she calmed down, Ethel made a full confession, telling the detectives "I did it, I did not mean to do it, I do not know what came over me." That afternoon she appeared at the police court and remanded into custody. Maud was buried at Anfield Cemetery. Her death had come just four months after that of her father, who died in September 1936.

Ethel was first due to be tried on 11th March, but she was ill with pneumonia and the judge allowed the case to be referred to the Manchester assizes the following month. 

On 30th April 1937, Dr Shannon from Strangeways gaol gave evidence that she was insane at the time she committed the crime.  Ethel's mother said she was an affectionate woman who was passionately fond of her daughter, but this changed after she became widowed and she was often distressed. Ethel was then detained at His Majesty's pleasure. 

Shot Dead Next to the River Alt

An ex soldier who shot is lover dead next to the River Alt in 1920 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. 

On the night of Sunday 21st March that year 35 year old Herbert Salisbury was arrested for being drunk and disorderly after falling in the road near the Blundell Arms at closing time. He had a revolver and cartilages in his possession and when asked where his wife was, replied "My wife is lying dead on the river bank, past Tommy Rimmers, on the main road. I shot her last night". Salisbury was held in custody whilst officers searched the location and found a body at the spot he had told them about.

The woman concerned was not Salisbury's wife but Alice Pearson, who had left her husband to co-habit with him. They had met in September 1918 whilst he was in hospital in Leeds, having been wounded on active service in France as a machine gunner for the American army. Salisbury had lived in Rhode Island for twenty years working in hotels, having been born and raised in England.     

38 year old Alice left her husband and began to travel the country with him from town to town after he was discharged from the army in February 1919, living off her savings. Alice was the daughter of a successful boot dealer and had not married until she was in her early thirties. The couple lived in Liverpool for some time before taking lodgings in Castle Street, Southport, in early March 1920.

On being told that a body had been located Salisbury replied "Thank God for that, we planned to end our lives together when the money was done. We had £700 and the money you found in my possession (£2) was all we had left".

Salisbury's trial took place at the Liverpool assizes on 22nd April. He pleaded guilty but the judge insisted on hearing the evidence to allow the jury to consider a verdict. The exact circumstances of the fateful day were never fully determined. It was known they had been expected back at their lodgings and were seen together outside the Royal Hotel in Formby at 6.30pm. An hour later, Salisbury was at the Blundell Arms on his own showing off the revolver. The court heard how a brave pub customer had heard Salisbury's claim that he had pumped four bullets into a woman and disarmed him when he fell and held him until the police arrived. 

Salisbury's counsel asked the jury to consider his state of mind and also whether manslaughter was more appropriate. In summing up however, the judge said drunkenness was no excuse and that if he fired a gun at a woman's face, there must have been intent to kill. It took just twenty minutes to return a guilty verdict and Salisbury showed no emotion as he was sentenced to death.

Salisbury made no appeal and was hanged on 11th May in a double execution at Walton gaol. The man hanged alongside him was William Waddington, an Oldham miller who had killed a seven year old girl.  

Shocking Double Murder and Suicide

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.

Toxteth Mother Unfit to Plead

A mother who drowned her son in 1960 was detained at Her Majesty's pleasure after a medical expert declared her unfit to plead.

On the afternoon of 18th December 1959 Jessie Parkinson, a 34 year old divorcee who lived with her father in Alt Street, Toxteth, drowned her 21 month old son Henry by holding his head under water in the bath. 

The poor child's body was then dressed in nightclothes and placed in a bed. The tragic scene was then discovered by Jessie's father when he returned home from work. He called an ambulance and when it arrived Jessie tried running away, but was caught by the driver. Henry was pronounced dead on arrival at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

On being arrested, Jessie first told the police that a man had killed Henry and escaped down a grid. When she was told the grid cover had not been disturbed she then said "I held it under the water for a long time, I don't want it to suffer anymore. He is in his proper place, the cemetery".

At her committal hearing in January, a pathologist said that Henry had been well nourished. Jessie's sister and father said she was mentally balanced and had loved her son. She was further remanded in custody pending a Crown Court trial.

On 9th February 1960 Jessie appeared at Liverpool Crown court where evidence as given by Dr Calder, Chief Medical Officer at Manchester's Strangeways gaol. He said that Jessie was unfit to plead and the judge ordered that she be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.

An Unsolved Christmas Day Killing

When a woman was found dead beneath a Liverpool office block one Christmas Day there was insufficient evidence to charge the only suspect in the case.

At around 830am on 25th December 1919 two messenger boys from the Union Telegraph Cable Company were running down Covent Garden when they came across a horrific find. The badly bruised and bloodied naked body of a female was huddled up in a recess overlooking the basement of the Oriel Chambers office block.

The boys found a policeman who on searching the immediate area located a pile of rain soaked clothing on the opposite side of the road. On examination it was found to be badly torn and was believed to belong to the woman. A purse with some coins was also discovered in the roadway.

Police enquiries established that the woman went by the names of both Elizabeth McDermott and Isabella Wilson. She was described as an 'Unfortunate' who was aged in her fifties and lived in a lodging house in Richmond Row. The keeper there had not seen her for 24 hours before she was found, but had not raised any alarm as she was often being taken into custody by the police.

On Saturday 27th December John Brien, a 23 year old seaman, was arrested on a steamer in the docks on suspicion of being implicated in the death. Magistrates granted a remand until the Monday so further enquiries could be conducted. Brien admitted leaving his ship on Christmas Eve and spending four hours with a friend and another female on Scotland Road. The female had then shown him to the Pier Head around midnight, and the next he knew he was being woken and arrested by the police. 

An inquest was opened on 29th December. The lodging house keeper, Mary Maguire, said she knew the victim as Elizabeth Wilson and that she had recently spent time in the workhouse hospital with injuries to her arm after being run over by a tramcar.  A police officer said that the woman was originally from Greenock, had been in court many times and usually gave the name Elizabeth McDermott. It was not known if she had ever married but McDermott was her father's name and her mother was Wilson. The coroner adjourned the inquest pending further enquiries while over at the police court, a prosecution request for a further remand of eight days for Brien was agreed. 

On 6th January 1920 Brien was again remanded for a week, appearing unmoved by the ongoing delay. His relaxed attitude was arguably vindicated the following week, when he was freed. At another hearing, the prosecutor said to the stipendiary magistrate "Although the circumstances under which the arrest was effected were distinctly suspicious there was not sufficient evidence to ask the bench to send the prisoner for trial at the assizes. I am now satisfied there is no evidence to place before the court". 

On being told he could go free, Brien bowed his head to the bench and left the court. Nobody was ever convicted in relation to the death of whoever the female was that was found dead at Covent Garden on Christmas Day 1919.