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Overview
An exploration of murders in Northamptonshire from 1852 to 1952. A chapter is devoted to each murder featured. Kevin Turton covers not only the events and subsequent investigation but also the trial of the killer and public reaction to the crime. Featuring many illustrations including newspaper cuttings, penny dreadfuls, and photographs of the crime scenes as they are today, this book is a comprehensive reference to the county's dark past.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780752484297 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 02/29/2012 |
| Series: | Sutton True Crime History |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 160 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Northamptonshire Murders
By Kevin Turton
The History Press
Copyright © 2012 Kevin TurtonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-8429-7
CHAPTER 1
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF LYDIA ATLEY
Ringstead, 1850
Richard Warren, forty-seven years old, had been a labourer all his life and most of it within the parish boundary of Ringstead village, in 1864 a small, somewhat isolated hamlet of houses on the eastern edge of Northamptonshire. On the morning of 3 February that year his employer, a Mr Peach, sent him to dig out a ditch that ran alongside the narrow lane leading to Keystone. Primarily used as a cart track for ferrying a variety of produce between the two farming communities, it had always been prone to flooding in the winter. Maintaining the ditches, an essential aid to drainage, had become a normal yearly routine, particularly on the Ringstead side. Here the field had been enclosed some ten years earlier, and a hedgerow planted along the top edge of the ditch had a tendency to clog each autumn with fallen leaves. Richard Warren had been instructed to dig out the area around the base of this hedge and widen the ditch where it was possible to do so. This he had spent much of the day attempting to do. At a little after five o'clock, just as the light began to fade and as he reached the last section to require digging out, his shovel unearthed a clean, perfectly preserved human skull.
Calling to Thomas Burnham, who had been sent to assist his efforts during the course of the afternoon, he placed it carefully on top of the grassy bank and the two men sat down to examine the find in greater detail. Warren was in no doubt the head was that of Lydia Atley; Burnham agreed, but in case they were wrong it was decided to say nothing of the discovery until they had been able to dig out more of the body on the following morning. The skull was left overnight, hidden beneath a pile of freshly cut grass, but it was not until the early afternoon of the next day that Richard Warren was able to return to complete his dig. Having been sent down to the lime kilns, which were situated just below the lane, he had been forced to confess his find in order to ensure his return. Mention of the discovery and its probable identity was sufficient to stop all other work until the entire remains had been found.
By mid-afternoon Warren had uncovered the whole of the corpse. Lying face down, at right angles to the lane, head pointing to the hedgerow, feet toward the lane's centre, it was complete, but without any clothing. Police Inspector Williamson arrived just as the last shovelsful of earth were being removed. Examining the skeleton as it lay he could find no obvious cause of death, neither could he identify its sex. In his later report he stated that the body lay in a shallow grave some 18 inches deep; the ground around being dry, the bones had been well preserved. By the time Williamson had completed this cursory examination, Dr Leete, surgeon from Thrapston some two miles away, had arrived and joined him in the ditch. Under his guidance the skeleton was removed bone by bone, placed on to a wooden board, and carried to the neighbouring village of Denford less than a mile away, to an empty house owned by its vicar, a Mr Sandiland. Here Dr Leete worked late into the night trying to ascertain whether or not Richard Warren's earlier assertion had been correct. By the following morning he was able to confirm that the body had been in the ground for between twelve and twenty years and was that of a woman. Other than that, his night's work had yielded little else. So began a mystery that has endured to the present day.
Lydia Atley had been a native of Ringstead for most of her life. At the time of her disappearance some fourteen years earlier she was known to have been suffering from scurvy and to have been heavily pregnant. Police put her age at around thirty. There was no official record of her birth but the estimate was believed to be fair. For most of those thirty years she had endured grinding poverty, taking work wherever she could and peddling herrings and oranges when she could find no regular employment. In May 1850 her mother had died, heaping more despair on to an already desperate life. Lydia took the death particularly badly, forcing her older married sister, Sarah Ann, to move out of her marital home and into the house Lydia shared with her brother John. Whether Sarah's husband objected to all this sisterly love is not known but he appears not to have shouted his opposition to his neighbours too loudly. For Lydia it probably would have made little difference. Having her sister replace her mother was of paramount importance, more so since she was also pregnant – at the time of her mother's death by some seven months – and her condition was the cause of much speculation, most of it centred around Ringstead's only butcher, William Weekley Ball.
A married man with children, it was common knowledge that Ball had been seeing Lydia. Secrets are hard to keep in small villages and Ball had been seen on more than one occasion over the past year skulking around back streets and country roads pursuing his illicit affair. When Lydia became pregnant there was only one person at which to point the finger. Ball of course denied any involvement, insisting that Lydia had not been meeting him but someone else; probably, he postulated, James Wilkinson the baker and alleged father of her first child. But the locals dismissed this as nonsense; he had not appeared in Ringstead for some time they argued, neither had the two of them been sighted together. Ball on the other hand had been seen with Lydia, not just by those who had stumbled upon them in the dark either, but by her own family.
On the evening of 22 July, with most people openly speculating as to his guilt and Lydia now a full nine months into her pregnancy, Ball's standing within the community was at its lowest. Expected to give birth at any time, Lydia had just spent a difficult day with the younger of her two sisters, Sarah Dix, who only lived a few streets away. Sarah had been ill after a particularly difficult birth some weeks earlier and Lydia had been visiting on a fairly regular basis to help nurse her back to health. But now with her own pregnancy reaching confinement stage she had begun to find her condition restrictive. Throughout the day she had complained of feeling unwell. One of her legs had become swollen and painful, which had hampered her general movement even more. Forced to limit any amount of work or household chores to the minimum because of her physical awkwardness, her nursing usefulness had therefore become ever more ineffectual, though by this time Sarah had begun to show signs of a return to health and the daily visits had become less arduous.
At around eight-thirty that night Lydia, like many women before and since, returned to her own home with a craving for something sweet, something milky, something easy to make. She wanted a rice pudding. Older sister Sarah Ann, who had arrived to spend the night, was persuaded to walk with her to the shop to buy the necessary rice. When they got back to the house it was just after nine o'clock and because it was late into the evening Sarah suggested they should wash before they ate. Lydia said she had to go out again first, claiming there was someone she had to see, but that she would only be a short while. Fifteen minutes later she was back at her younger sister's, though for no apparent reason other than to check she was still well. After a stay of no more than half an hour she left.
At around a quarter to ten that same night, while walking back home, she met Joseph Groom, a neighbour she had known for the past sixteen years and a man she had cooked for after his first wife died. The two talked for ten minutes or so and according to his later testimony she told him she was off to see Weekley Ball to obtain some money. There was no need to ask her why; like everyone else in the village he considered the young butcher to be responsible for Lydia's pregnant state. So lighting a pipe he walked with her along the Ringstead road and left her near to the orchard behind Weekley Ball's house. A few minutes later, as he made his way back home, he clearly heard Lydia talking in a raised voice to a man he believed to be Ball. A row ensued, though much of it Joseph could not make out, and after a few minutes' loitering outside his own house alone with his pipe he gave up and returned indoors.
Elsewhere, though, this row was being clearly observed. A labourer by the name of John Hill had been walking out across the fields that fringed the village, taking advantage of the balmy night. As he wandered back along the footpath to Ringstead he had to pass along the bottom side of Weekley Ball's orchard. Suddenly aware of raised voices ahead, and not wanting to be seen, he had hidden in the hedgerow skirting the narrow path, then watched as the two met. Having known Ball for over thirty years he was certain of the man's identity and from his concealed position in the undergrowth he was well placed to hear much of what went on. According to his later story, Lydia told Ball that the baby was his, that there was no one else involved and that he should give her money. The row became heated when Ball tried to entice her to go into the orchard, which Lydia refused to do, but Ball was insistent and as she turned to walk away down the narrow lane into the village he took hold of her. At that point the rowing ceased. Hill heard the latch of the gate to the orchard being lifted and as he peered through the dense foliage of the hedge he watched as the two disappeared among the trees. No more was ever seen of Lydia Atley.
Within days of her disappearance William Weekley Ball was arrested on a charge of murder and arraigned before Thrapston magistrates, but the case was thrown out of court after diligent searching failed to discover a body. However, ostracised by his neighbours and boycotted by his customers, he was forced to leave Ringstead. Moving into Cambridgeshire he opened a new business in the then small village of Ramsey, and there he would no doubt have stayed had Richard Warren never cleared that ditch alongside the narrow lane to Keystone fourteen years later.
Once the skeleton had been examined and clearly identified as being female, Weekley Ball was arrested for the second time and brought to Thrapston. Committal proceedings began on 26 February 1864 before General Arburthnot, and the courthouse was packed to capacity. Outside, and spilling into the street, a crowd unable to gain admittance gathered in the hope of catching just a glimpse of Ball as he arrived, so intense was the interest from surrounding villages – though according to press reports at the time, most who gathered were certain of his guilt. Indeed, Ball would have struggled to find any who held a contrary view. For those who stood in the cold that day, justice had at long last caught up with the Ringstead butcher.
By the time of the committal hearings Ball was described by the Northampton Mercury as being between forty and fifty years old:
[He] was dressed very respectfully in black, and had the appearance of a well to do tradesman. He has a rather high, bald forehead, with a single lock of long dark hair drawn across it, a well-shaped nose, thin lips, and eyes with many wrinkles about them. The face is peculiar from a complete absence of eyebrows.
Being of such good social standing had, from a financial point of view at any rate, allowed Ball to pay to secure a legal defence. A Mr Gaches, solicitor of Peterborough, had been hired to take on the role and this he did with great conviction. After hearing initial witness evidence from Lydia's sisters and key testimony from Joseph Groom and John Hill, all of which proved mainly circumstantial, it was the turn of the medical men. If guilt was to be proved they had to show that the skeleton was that of Lydia Atley. This was no simple task and Mr Gaches knew it. He also knew that the only piece of identification evidence possessed by the prosecution came from a villager named Henry Dix (brother-in-law to younger sister Sarah). Two weeks prior to her disappearance Lydia had suffered an excruciating toothache. Unable to pay for its extraction she had asked Dix to pull the offending tooth out. This he had only agreed to do after a prolonged debate about the state of her health. According to his testimony the tooth in question had been on the left side of her lower jaw, third tooth counted from the back and he had used a pair of pincers to remove it. Having been allowed to examine the unearthed skull he had been able to confirm that it too was missing a tooth in exactly the same place. Two doctors, Mr Leete of Thrapston and Mr William Orlando Markham of St Mary's Hospital, London, offered corroborating post-mortem evidence that supported his argument. The skull, minus several teeth, showed clear evidence of only one of these missing teeth being lost through extraction and that, in their estimation, shortly before death. By the end of the first day it was looking decidedly bleak for Weekley Ball.
No doubt there was much discussion between Mr Gaches and his client after the day's events, with the solicitor reassuring Weekley Ball over the conjectural nature of much of what had been heard. Certainly when Ball reappeared for Saturday's committal resumption he showed no outward signs of concern, the Northampton Mercury reporting that 'he showed not the least agitation'. As the day's proceedings continued with medical testimony, perhaps he felt on safe ground.
Having discussed at some length the issue of the missing tooth in this opening session, the court turned its attention to that of identification. There was no doubt the skeleton found was that of a woman, but was that woman Lydia Atley? Mr Gaches was convinced that it was not. From the day's opening exchanges it became clear he had every intention of proving his point. Dr Leete had been brought back to the stand to complete his previous day's testimony, none of which proved particularly contentious, that is until he concluded his findings as to the skeleton's sex. Aware that enough gender evidence existed, Mr Gaches knew there was little point to further argument. He also knew, however, as did the whole court, that at the time of her supposed death Lydia Atley was nine months pregnant. To where, he asked, had the unborn child disappeared?
Mr Gaches: If this is the skeleton of a woman, and she was 9 months with child, as Lydia Atley was said to have been, ought you not to have found some foetal remains?
Doctor Leete: There is a probability that there would have been some.
Gaches had sowed serious doubt. The first flaw in the prosecution had been brought to the surface and he rammed home his point. Calling William Orlando Markham back to the stand Gaches asked the same question, to which he received a similar reply. For the first time in two days there was real hope. But it was not to last.
As the day drew towards a close the prosecution launched its last and most devastating piece of evidence. It appeared that shortly after Lydia's disappearance William Weekley Ball had travelled to Northampton to meet a man he had known for some years; furthermore, a man he believed would not be averse to a little subterfuge. The man was William Weekley (no relation) and what he asked him to do was to write a letter. But this was to be no ordinary letter. Knowing that William's mother lived in Ringstead he wanted a letter to say that Lydia Atley had been seen, alive and well, in Northampton. For whatever reason William agreed to the suggestion:
... I recollect the prisoner [Weekley Ball] coming to me about a fortnight or three weeks after Lydia Atley was missed and his saying he wanted to speak to me. We then went to the Ram Inn together and sat in a long room. There was no other person in the room. He then told me that he wanted me to write a letter to say I had seen Lydia Atley. I knew the woman, but I had not seen her for five weeks previous to this time, as I had been in Northampton about six weeks. I wrote a letter, and I sent it to my mother by post. I posted it myself. In this letter I enclosed a note for the prisoner, and wrote, 'Give this to Weekley.'
It was damning stuff, but at the conclusion of this evidence from William Weekley it transpired that the letter he talked of could not be produced in its original format. Eliza Weekley, the letter's recipient, had done exactly as her son had asked and passed it to Weekley Ball without understanding its content or meaning. Reading ability in 1850 was not at its strongest. He in turn had offered it to the police during their questioning of him fourteen years earlier and then destroyed it. Unfortunately for the defence the police officer who met Ball all those years ago had copied the letter, which had been retrieved from old police records:
Northampton August 12th 1850.
I write you a few lines to inform you that I saw L. Atley in Northampton. I was going down Castle Street, at about eight p.m., or half past eight p.m., on Sunday night. There was a man with her with a long smock frock on, and a cape.
William Weekley.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Northamptonshire Murders by Kevin Turton. Copyright © 2012 Kevin Turton. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,1. The Mysterious Death of Lydia Atley Ringstead, 1850,
2. A Deadly Inheritance Daventry, 1851,
3. For the Sake of Fourteen Shillings Rothwell, 1855,
4. The Price of an Argument Holcot, 1871,
5. Murder without Motive Towcester, 1873,
6. The Price of Madness Stoke Bruerne, 1885,
7. The Body in the Bag Murder Northampton, 1892,
8. The Price of Innocence Sulgrave, 1897,
9. A Deadly Relationship Northampton, 1899,
10. With Malice Aforethought Northampton, 1901,
11. An Unfortunate Affair Kettering, 1912,
12. A Not so Perfect Marriage Northampton, 1920,
13. The Price of Love Higham Ferrers, 1938,
14. The Mystery of West Lodge Ashton, 1952,