Murder - Crimes - History - Bootle and North Liverpool

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filsgreen
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Atrocities are still happening, Joe. :(

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... y-13906482
Shelagh
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God Bless the poor little mite, he didn't stand a chance!!
Even worse cases happening today!

Crimes against children being committed daily, many by the worlds elite;
Doubt you'll see these heinous crimes being reported though!!
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fatboyjoe90
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I know Phil, and Shelagh there’s not a lot, i have to say on this it’s so upsetting in this day and age i would hang any bar-steward who does these bad things to kids. :evil:
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Maltese Hanged for Norris Green Man's Death
In 1948 when a 22-year-old man from Norris Green was stabbed to death in Staffordshire, his Maltese killer was hanged at Walton Gaol.

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Shortly after 10 pm on Friday 9th October that year three young Liverpool men were stood outside the Talbot Hotel in Church Street, Newcastle Under Lyme. When a 24-year-old Maltese man named George Semini walked past with a local lady, Majorie Seabridge, one of them made a remark about her height. Semini reacted ferociously, knocking one of them to the ground. Two passers-by tried to restrain him but Semin broke free and knifed all three Liverpool men before running off across some wasteland.

Two of the men's wounds were not so serious, injuring the knee and One of the three men, 22-year-old Joseph Gibbons, had been stabbed in the chest and died an hour later at the North Staffordshire Hospital. Joseph was originally from Berkswell Road in Norris Green and had been working in the area as a welder at a gasworks. He and his friends were at the end of their contract and had just been paid, so we're enjoying the last night out in the area before returning to Liverpool the next day.

Twenty Four year old George Semini, a Maltese national who works at a local mine in Knutton, was arrested at a miners hostel. He was charged with murder and remanded in custody at a special sitting of the police court the next morning. At the inquest, Joseph's father described him as peaceful and of amiable disposition and said he had recently been discharged from the army.

At this trial at the beginning of December, portrait photographs were produced of Semini holding a knife. Semini did not deny the stabbing but said it all happened in a haze and couldn't remember exactly what happened. The fact he had been held back but broke free did not bode well for him and he was found guilty. As he was sentenced to death, Marjorie Seabridge broke down and cried and a Maltese in the public gallery shouted 'Injustice'.

Semini's lawyers appealed on the basis it was a chance medley, but this was rejected. Lord Chief Justice Goddard said in his reasons that there was no reason to draw the knife and called the stabbing a dreadful and cowardly act of revenge.

The day before his execution Semini was visited by his friend Joe Marguerat, Semini asked him to buy a gold locket and chain so a photograph of him could be put in there for his wife and son in Malta. On the day itself, 27th January 1949, Marguerat was one of two Maltese nationals outside the gates of Walton gaol and told reporters he had promised to look after Semin's family. Semini also had an unlikely sympathiser in Joseph's mother, who wrote to him in prison saying she knew he hadn't intended to kill him.
Cheers Joe.
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filsgreen
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Tell you what Joe, there was no messing about in them days. People had just fought WW2 and did not suffer fools gladly. There are consequences to your glib actions or dialogue.
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fatboyjoe90
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The horrifying true story of the last woman hanged in Liverpool
I read about this murder in the Liverpool Echo, so i thought you’d all want to read it from the paper so click on the link below.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... n-13919906
Cheers Joe.
Shelagh
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Joe, this story, my goodness :shock:
talk about "Hell hath no fury like a women scorned"
Poor man tortured in such a cruel way...what a heartless so and so!!
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fatboyjoe90
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Tell me about it, Shelagh, i wouldn't have fancied going home drunk with her waiting for me. :shock: :shock:
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Mother Convicted Of Atrocious Cruelty
A woman whose baby died of starvation was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by a judge who told her he wished he could have sentenced her to more.

Early in October 1888 Ann Moss and her husband William, who were both aged 29, took lodgings with a Mrs Needham in Salisbury Street, Everton. The couple had four children whose ages ranged from two months to ten years.

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Sailisbury Street, Everton. 1954


The eldest child Hannah attended school and during the daytime Ann and William, an unemployed painter, went out drinking leaving the baby who was also called Ann, and a two year old boy in the care of their seven year old sister. Baby Ann cried constantly and when her mother was at home,she refused to breastfeed her. William was also heard to threaten to kill his baby daughter if she didn't stop crying.

The only time Ann took the baby out with her was when she went begging. She gained a lot of sympathy and was given baby clothes, but she pawned these to get money for drink. William spent most of his days setting up board games in pubs in return for free beer.

Mrs Needham and other lodgers pleaded with Ann to give her baby better attention, and even helped with bathing and gave her money for bread and milk. However Ann was never seen to buy any although she did attend a dispensary seeking help on 21st October. There, a doctor gave her medicine and weighed the baby, who was only four pounds instead of the usual fourteen or fifteen for a child that age. The doctor made it clear to Ann that if her baby died he would not issue a death certificate and would refer the matter to the Coroner.

Ann still didn't give the medicine and the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children were called in. They took baby Ann and her two year old brother William to the children's shelter in Islington. He was was dirty and covered with vermin and was so underdeveloped he couldn't even crawl. He responded to food and made good progress but his baby sister was not so lucky and died at Mill Road hospital on 26th October.


Both parents were charged with manslaughter and appeared before Justice Wills at the assizes on 20th December. They were undefended and told the court that death was due to consumption of the bowels, but the medical evidence refuted this. Ann was found guilty of manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm to young William, but her husband was found guilty only of the grievous bodily harm charge.
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Justice Wills.

Justice Wills ordered that they be brought back before the court the following day as he needed time to consider the sentence. When he addressed them, he said they had been involved in the 'most atrocious cruelty' and that it was 'scarcely short of crime itself to bring children into the world without having the slightest intention of looking after them.' Expressing regret that the law didn't allow for him to impose the sentence he thought adequate, he imposed a term of five years penal servitude on William and ten years for Ann.
Cheers Joe.
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filsgreen
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Sad story Joe, could have happened this century, nothing changes :(
lynne99
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very similar to the Manchester story link at the top of the page. So sad. I hope the little boy and the 2 girls went on to have a good life .
Thanks Joe..
Shelagh
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Always heartbreaking when children are involved in these stories!
Such cruelty, baby Ann didn't stand a chance!
Other three children, hopefully, kept together!

Thanks Joe!
graham01
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Joe,here is a little update on your last story.
first found william,ann and hannah living at number 4 court whiteford street liverpool.william working as a painter.there was a lodger living with them called thomas hargadon a paper hanger.
william died in june 1922.
Hannah had an interesting life....sent to canada (quebec) in november 1891 on board the s.s. mongolian.
1911 finds her back in liverpool at 47 ottley street married to a man 22 years her elder,william henry hesketh burgess(1862 to 1922) and a mother of a baby boy called edmund.
william burgess was a sewing machine agenthannah was also married once before she married william to achap called william henry duckworth (no issue)what happened to this william i dont know.`
hannahs son edmund born feb 1911(died dec 2003).
edmund married elizabet anne morrow and had 3 children.
when i have more time will try to trace what happened to the rest of the family.
cant find a name for the third child (a girl)must find out what happened to ann moss.the only thing i have found is that her middle name was jane.
strange that hannah married two guys called william,same name as her father,
origin waterloo.present and future bootle.
lynne99
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Thanks Graham. That is really interesting. There must be living relatives of the family, that is good to know.
graham01
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done a couple of hours more on this and i have drawn a complete blank,
one thing i did find when i looked at the crimenal records was that someone has underlined ann jane moss in red ink.there are no marks under williams name.
ann janes sentence says 10 years for manslaughter and 5 years for gbh and williams just says 5 years for gbh.surely they should have the same sentance as both were as bad as other.i can not fathom out why he got off so lightly...graham.
origin waterloo.present and future bootle.
Shelagh
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Thanks for all the extra input, Graham, so interesting and good to know, that the children (victims) of Ann and William Moss managed to survive such a cruel and abusive start to their lives!!
Thanks again, Graham :)
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for this info Graham, it’s fascinating what you can find out in some of these murder cases, please feel free to post what you can find in future.
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Dead Baby in a Pillowslip
When two boys found a dead baby whilst playing at low tide in the River Mersey, it led to an actress being convicted of murder but reprieved from the death penalty.

On 1st February 1916 two boys, William Williams and Charles Whiteley were playing below the landing stage at the Pier Head. They noticed a bundle which had a hand protruding from it and on closer inspection found that it was a pillowslip containing the body of a mixed-race baby. There was also an iron, which had appeared to have been used to weigh the pillowslip down.

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Liverpool Pierhead1907

A postmortem showed that the child was healthy and weighed eleven pounds. Death has been as a result of suffocation or drowning. A few days later, twenty-eight year old Gertrude Hill, a dressmaker lodging at Cecil Street in Manchester, confessed her knowledge of the crime to her landlady. She said that she had accompanied fellow lodger Beryl Lingard to Liverpool and saw her throw the baby into the river. Hill remarked that she was haunted by this and she kept seeing the little brown legs of the baby, whose name was John.

The police were called and she made a statement saying that she was present when Lingard placed the baby into a pillowslip, weighted it down with an iron, then threw it into the river. Hill said Lingard had wanted to run but she persuaded her to remain calm so as not to arouse suspicion locally. This led to the arrest on 4th February of Lingard and Hill, who were both taken to Liverpool and kept in custody.

Lingard had led an eventful life. Born in Seville in Spain, she had lost both her parents by the time she was sixteen and gone to Venezuela, where she met a Trinidadian she called Dr Punch. He was the son of a merchant and found her work in films in Australia, then persuaded her to return to Europe where she worked in London and Paris before heading to Manchester.

In Manchester Lingard found that Punch had another woman with whom he had had a child. However she continued the relationship and after giving birth in December 1915 she and Punch lived at the Blackfriars Hotel but were told to leave due to constant arguing, a result of Punch's womanising. Punch had then disappeared and Lingard moved to Cecil Street, where she became acquainted with Gertrude Hill.


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Beryl Lingard.

Hill was initially only arrested on suspicion of being an accessory before the fact but after the inquest and committal hearing on 9th February, this was changed to murder. Their trial was set for 24th February when both women appeared together before Justice Bailhache at the Manchester Assizes.

Ethel Mason, the midwife who delivered the baby remembered that Gertrude had said during her labour that if the baby was black then she wanted it killed. Fellow lodgers told how Hill had confessed to knowing about the killing, while the proprietor of the Blackfriars hotel remembered how Lingard was in a pitiable position when she stayed there.



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Justice Bailhache.

A key witness was George Jones, a train guard who recalled seeing the two women on both the outbound and return journeys on the day in question. He explained to the court that on the return journey, there was a delay at Warrington and when he spoke to the ladies, he asked where the baby was that they had been carrying earlier. They responded that a family in New Brighton was now looking after it and recalled that they had done well to get there and back in time for the return train.

The jury acquitted Hill of all charges but found Lingard guilty of murder, but with a strong recommendation for mercy. She was sentenced to death in the usual way and then taken to Strangeways gaol to await her fate. On 7th March Lingard's solicitor, Mr Geddes received communication from the Home Secretary that following his submissions the sentence had been commuted to penal servitude for life.
Cheers Joe.
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filsgreen
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sad story Joe. :(
lynne99
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I agree, poor little boy had done nothing. Just the wrong father. Couldn't even say it was post natal depression. So sad. Thanks Joe.
Shelagh
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Makes you think, situations people get themselves into!
This woman's crime was discovered, how many other babies lay undiscovered at the bottom of the Mersey?
Thanks for the story Joe!
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your kind comments Phil, Lynne and Shelagh they are much appreciated. :wink:
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Murderer Throws Himself in Front of Train

The killer of a fifteen year old girl in Waterloo in 1920 committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train once he realised police suspected him of the crime.

On the morning of 3rd February that year a workman found the body of a well dressed girl on an allotment off Brook Road. She had been gagged with a handkerchief, her throat had been cut and her head battered. Her eyes were wide open and her face had a look of terror.
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Mary Drury,

The body was soon identified as that of 15 year old Mary Drury, who had left her home at 2 Gordon Avenue at 7pm the previous evening to visit her friend in Park View. Mary's father Arthur, a clerk in a meat company, had been desperately searching for her all night when she failed to return home by 9pm.

There were very few clues for the police to go on at first, but the coldness of the body indicated that the monstrous deed had been committed the night before. Apart from one young boy saying he had seen a girl chased by a man in the vicinity, there were no potential witnesses and no sign of any murder weapon. So many people had been at the scene after the body was found that any footprints of the killer had been obliterated. Mary's father could think of no motive for the murder, saying she had nothing valuable on her and that she was of 'contented disposition.'

Mary's friend, Isabel Connell, who she was meant to visit, could also think of no reason why anybody would do such a terrible thing to her. However she did say that Mary had a boyfriend, but she didn't know who it was. Miss Milroy, the headmistress of the Wesleyan Girls School said that Mary was one of the most advanced scholars and set a good example to her schoolfellows.
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Gordon Avenue Waterloo.

A postmortem found that Mary had not been sexually violated during the attack but also that she was not a virgin. It also established that the blows to the head had been caused by a blunt instrument and the throat had been cut with a pocket knife. Death, it was found, was as a result of shock due to the injuries. The inquest opened on 5th February but the deputy coroner adjourned it until further facts were known.

The following day, four miles away at Sandhills Station, signalman Edward Leahy told a colleague he was going out for a little while. The 31 year old married father of two stepped onto the track and was run over and killed by an electric train. When his body was recovered, it was so mutilated that it could only be identified by the presence of trade union cards. Police then revealed that they believed Leahy would probably have been able to assist them with the investigation into Mary's death. On the same day, Mary was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Luke's Church.

The resumed inquest took place at Waterloo Town Hall on 20th February and heard evidence from Superintendent Gregson. He said that Leahy, who lived in Brighton Road, had a plot at the allotment and been questioned on 4th February. He had admitted having been on the allotments between 7 and 8pm on the evening of the killing and when challenged about blood on his shirt sleeves, he said that it was rust from the lever in the signal box. On being asked why he needed a pocket knife he had responded 'Surely you don't suspect me.'

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Waterloo Town Hall.
Extracts from a diary found in Mary's pocket were then read out, detailing relations with Leahy which were described as of an 'indelicate nature.' A doctor then stated that two strands of Mary's hair had been found on the coat which Leahy had been wearing when he was run over by the train. Isabel Connell then said that Mary had told her she lent two shillings to Leahy, although she hadn't thought them to be courting in any way. After hearing all the evidence the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Leahy.

Four days later on 24th February Leahy's inquest took place. Evidence was heard that he had left the signalbox after a phone call was made to there enquiring as to his presence. No evidence was heard as to his state of mind and a verdict of suicide was returned.
Cheers Joe.
lynne99
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Wow Joe. Another good one. Thanks for taking the time to post . I know I love them as I am sure do many others :D
graham01
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Good story joe,very local to me as i was born in the area.graham.
origin waterloo.present and future bootle.
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filsgreen
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Thanks for posting, Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your kind comments Lynne, Graham and Phil. :wink: :)
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Walton Mother Drowns Two Of Her Children
In 1893 there was a terrible tragedy in Walton when a father returned home from work to find that his wife had drowned two of his three children.

John Winchester was a 27-year-old engine fitter for the Midland Railway Company and worked at Rice Lane station. He lived at 18 Buchanan Road with his 31-year-old wife Mary and three daughters Gertie (5) Flora (2) and Ida (11 months) and his family were described by the Liverpool Echo as 'exceedingly quiet and well-regulated people.'

Following the birth of Ida, Mary's health suffered and she often complained of pains at the back of her head. She would tell John that if she were to die then she would prefer her children to go first. She rarely opened the blinds and was convinced that her neighbours were conspiring against her and that her mother was still alive.

On 27th November 1893, John left for work at 6 am and Mary seemed fine. She took her children out for a walk in the afternoon and at about 5 pm sent Gertie to her grandfather's house in 61 Hertford Road, Bootle, about half a mile away. Whilst she was there, she drowned Flora and Ida in the dolly tub, which was usually used to do the laundry. When Gertie returned, she took him to John's workplace and said to him 'Here is Gertie, the other two are gone.'

John took Mary and Gertie to his father's house in Bootle then they all went to Buchanan Road. John's father asked what she had meant and she directed him to the back kitchen, where he found both children lying face down in the dolly tub, having obviously been dead for some time. The police were called and Mary was taken to Walton police station, where she remained until her first appearance at the County Sessions House in Islington on 29th November.

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Queen Victoria Hotel

On the same day as Mary's first court appearance, the inquest was held at the Queen Victoria Hotel. John's father also called John, broke down as he described how the bodies were as cold as ice when he found them. Eliza Blundell, who lived opposite in number 19, said she asked Mary why she had drowned the children and she replied 'I'd rather them be dead than called bastards' and then that another neighbour had been telling John that she had been having affairs with other men. The neighbour concerned and John both said that these allegations had never been made. A police officer confirmed that John had once expressed his concern for Mary to him, as she had been out wandering all night.

Mary was tried at the Liverpool Assizes before Mr Justice Day on 14th March 1894. Doctors from Walton Gaol and Rainhill Asylum both said that the children had been well loved and cared for and that at the time the murders were committed, Mary was of unsound mind. Justice Day told the jury that there was only one conclusion they could come to and Mary was found guilty, but not responsible. She was detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
Cheers Joe.
nicolas
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What a sad story, Joe, that one brought a glint to the eye!
graham01
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Very sad.graham
origin waterloo.present and future bootle.
lynne99
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What a terrible state to be in. I suppose that now she would have been diagnosed with post natal depression. So sad. I hope the children didn't know what was happening.
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your comments Nicolas, Graham and Lynne. :wink: :)
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Handcart Horror


A shop employee thought he had got away with murder when he dumped the body of his manageress in the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, but he didn't account for its lock system which exposed his crime.

Christina Bradfield.
Image

In 1913, 40-year-old Christina Bradfield managed her brother John's tarpaulin shop in Old Hall Street. Her staff included 22-year-old George Ball and 18-year-old Samuel Elltoft. On 10th December, as Bradfield was counting the day's takings, she was sexually assaulted and battered to death with a piece of wood by Ball. He then instructed Elltoft, who had been putting up shutters outside the shop, to help him dispose of the body.

The corpse was placed in a sack as Ball decided the next plan. Whilst doing this, he had to deal with Walter Eaves, a ships steward whose bowler hat was damaged by a shutter blowing off the window. Ball gave Eaves a florin in compensation, but Eaves remained on the street waiting for his girl. He then witnessed the two young men pushing a handcart up the road, with a suspiciously shaped sack on top of it.
George Ball
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After pushing the cart for half a mile, the sack was thrown into the canal, Ball believing it would eventually end up at the bottom of the River Mersey. The following morning typist Miss Venables turned up for work and was surprised to find that Christina was not there but Ball and Elltoft were. At lunchtime, John Bradfield decided to call the police as he found it highly unlikely that they would be entrusted with the shop keys and a check on all of her known acquaintances found she was not with any of them.

Around the time Mr Bradfield was speaking to detectives, a gruesome discovery was made at the lock fields on the Leeds & Liverpool canal. The sack had got caught in the lock gate and been discovered by the master of a barge the next midday. After Mr Bradfield identified the body and confirmed that money was missing from the shop the police soon concluded who the prime suspects were. Elltoft was arrested at 1.30am the next morning at his home in Windermere Street but Ball had already disappeared. He was arrested at a boarding house a week later in Paradise Street, having been followed there by an old school friend who spotted him at the Everton v Chelsea match at Goodison Park on 20th December. He had shaved his eyebrows and worn an eyepatch and glasses to try and disguise himself, but was cocky enough to have a drink in the Liverpool Arms in James Street.
Sack Murder scene outside court 2-2-14

Image.
At the trial which began on 2nd February, Ball and Elltoft gave completely different fictional accounts of the events of 10th December. Ball admitted dumping the sack in the canal but only because he had been threatened by an unknown man with a gun who had shot Christina dead and told him he would be killed too if he didn't dispose of the body. Elltoft claimed he didn't witness the murder but was too afraid of Ball to do anything other than assist him. Walter Eaves though confirmed that Ball had not looked scared when he spoke to him and could easily have run away, while Ball also couldn't explain why he was in possession of Christina's watch when he was arrested.

Sack Murder trial court scene.
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Ball was found guilty of murder and hanged for murder on 26th February 1914. He finally confessed his guilt the day before and went to the scaffold with a resigned acceptance of his fate. Elltoft received 4 years penal servitude for being an accessory after the fact and initially appealed against this, but withdrew that when police found a large quantity of cash hidden in a bedstead meaning he could have faced an increased sentence. After being released from Dartmoor prison, he was later killed in action during the First World War
Cheers Joe.
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filsgreen
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Thanks for posting, Joe. Nothing more to say on the murder; I'd just be repeating myself. :oops:
lynne99
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Thanks Joe , as usual you keep us enthralled.
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