According to British law Murder is the unlawful killing of one person by another. (In the USA, first-degree murder requires proof of premeditation: second-degree murder falls between first-degree murder and manslaughter). British law states that murder is committed only when the killer acts with malice aforethought, i.e. intending either to kill or to cause serious injury, or realising that this would probably result. In the United Kingdom (1985 figures) 0.006% of male deaths were murders (in the US 1.6%). Here the unlawful killing of a human being in circumstances less culpable than murder is called manslaughter, e.g. when the killer is under extreme provocation, is in some way mentally ill (the oft-heard "diminished responsibility"), did not intend to kill but did so accidentally in the course of another crime or by behaving with criminal recklessness, or is the survivor of a genuine suicide pact that involved killing the other person.

So much for the legal definitions. Great literature has, too, mentioned the word, too frequently for lengthy coverage here -

Shakespeare was, of course, the author of:

"Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural." (Hamlet)

"See how love and murder will out." William Congreve.

"Truth will come to light;
Murder cannot be hid long." Shakespeare. (MoV)

Melton Mowbray has not been bereft of victims of this crime. The first recorded one that I have been able to locate is the now famous "Peppermint Billy" case. Others have followed - some 6 in number and in 3 cases the victim was female.

Before turning to the local horrors, let us look briefly at one nationally famous perpetrator: Ruth Ellis (née Neilson). This lady, born in 1926 in Rhyl, Wales was a night-club hostess and on 10th April 1955 she repeatedly shot her ex-lover, David Blakely, a racing-car driver, outside a Hampstead public house whilst in a jealous rage. Naturally "crime passionnel" came into the headlines as journalists "borrowed" the well-known French phrase meaning "a crime due to (sexual) passion". Ellis was the last woman to receive the death penalty in Britain to date. I have a copy of her Death Certificate and salient details of her death on "Thirteenth July 1955 at H.M.Prison, Holloway N7" are: Ruth ELLIS, Female, 28 years, a Club Manageress of Egerton Gardens, Kensington, London - Cause of Death = "Injuries to the Central nervous System consequent upon judicial hanging" and the death was registered on 14th July 1955 (the day after the hanging) on the basis of a Certificate received from J.Milner Helme, the then Coroner for the City of London, following an Inquest held by him on 13th July 1955. The death is registered in the Registration District of Islington, Sub-district of Tufnell at Entry Number 25 for the September Quarter 1955.
The sentence was carried out by Albert Pierrepoint, the 20th century’s best-known hangman, and his only comment on the subject of Ellis’ last words as she stood on the fatal trap was "She never spoke", and he had said earlier "She deserved to die, unless she was proved insane. Which she wasn’t" in an article in the Empire News.

The local newspaper The Grantham Journal, of 3rd February 1956 announced that "A legal document which has lain in the Melton office of Messrs. Oldham, Marsh and Son, solicitors, for 100 years has been discovered by Mr. Michael Marsh." It is the original brief of Mr.F.J.Oldham, who was the Instructing Solicitor prosecuting the trial at Leicester Summer Assizes of William Brown, alias "Peppermint Billy" and who was hanged following conviction, and the actual Brief for the Prosecution was handed to me by A.P.Marsh shortly before his death with the instructions "Take care of this" - I have since maintained that I am merely the caretaker of the document on behalf of Peter Waller Marsh (his grandson) but have transcribed the entire contents first by typewriter and subsequently onto computer and the same is available for you to read here by clicking the hypertext link above.

Thorpe Tollgate, the scene of the two murders, was located at the junction of the back lane to Scalford and the Thorpe Road, shortly before the hill rises to Thorpe Arnold. The Accused maintained his innocence to the last but was found "Guilty" , sentenced to death and was hanged outside the main gates at Leicester Prison - the last man to be so dealt with publicly in Leicestershire. Some interesting points of note -

The hangman was William Calcraft, from London, was paid £10 for carrying out his duties. 25,000 members of the public gathered at the event and the Chief Constable Goodyer (one of the deposing witnesses at the trial) laid on 150 policemen. The event was seen by Brown’s father from a seat in the Turk’s Head, a public house across the road from the gaol and was heard to say "Well done Billy. Tha’s died a brick."

On the fly sheet of the Brief you will see that I.S. (Instructing Solicitor) received a very meagre fee!!

Brown was aged 32 at the time of the offence and had an eye affliction which caused him to blink constantly.

The "WANTED" poster having named him, went on: "A returned convict from Van Diemen’s land and a native of Scalford, Leicestershire (wanted) for the most heinous crime of Murder at Thorpe Road Toll Gate, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire on July 19th, 1856" and with a footnote "Please approach with caution for this man is wanted for the heinous murder of a 70-year-old Toll Gatekeeper and the barbaric slaying of his 12-year-old Grandson in the early hours of the 19th inst."

Brown was heard (from the Public Gallery at the trial) to say "It’s all false, it's all spite and malice and nothing else."

The Death entry of Edward Woodcock certifies him as being 70 years old and that he was "Wilfully murdered by William Brown" as was James Woodcock, aged 10 years.

Eighty seven years were to pass before Melton was shocked by its next murder case. Recorded as Thomas Albert Gibbs, male, aged 31 years, of 794 Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E.17, a Staff Sergeant (7591393) R.E.M.E., he died on 12th November 1943 at the Central Ordnance Depot, Old Dalby, Broughton and Dalby from "injuries to the brain caused by a piece of metal which had entered the skull causing instantaneous death" There was a conviction for Manslaughter, the offence charged being Murder. The local, doubtless by now embellished, story is that a young soldier, stationed at the Depot lay in wait for the Staff Sergeant as he left a Dance held at the Sergeants’ Mess, and threw a hand-grenade at him - there had evidently been some previous animosity between the two soldiers. During the course of one of my frequent "talks" to Women’s Institute Groups, Church Groups, PROBUS etc., a lady confirmed that she had attended that Dance and had, on returning to her home at nearby Nether Broughton, heard the explosion of the grenade.

Only eleven years later, on 21st September 1954, the then Coroner, A.P.Marsh and I were working together in his Office in Bank Chambers, Nottingham Street, Melton when a telephone call alerted us to a death which had taken place at Church Street Farm, Scalford and that the assailant had ran amok with a shotgun. Police were brought into the area from distant parts but the murderer was later found, dead, in a Barn at the farm: he had killed himself by cutting his throat with a razor and shooting himself in the abdomen with a shot-gun whilst the balance of his mind was disturbed. He was Ernest Albert Bullen, aged 78 years, a retired farmer. His victim was John Askew King, of Thorpe Side, Scalford, a Dairy Farmer who died from a fracture of the skull and laceration of the brain caused by a Gun Shot wound and had been murdered as the Inquest verdict recorded. Again, earlier animosity between the two parties was blamed for the killing and suicide.

In 1957 an Asfordby man was convicted of the murder of his step-father, William Ernest Boddington, aged 48, a Forester of Keepers Cottage, Stathern Point, Stathern. The fight between the two men took place on 19th October 1957 and the murder weapon was a motor car foot-pump from which Boddington received "brain damage and sub-dural haematoma and fractured skull". The Inquest was not resumed of course following the conviction.

The first recorded female to be murdered in the Borough was Julie Elizabeth Hubbard (otherwise Julie Elizabeth Adkins) who died from Asphyxia (due to strangulation) near the Swimming Baths, River Eye, Play Close Park, Melton Mowbray on 12th October 1985. She was a Shop Assistant of 8 Tudor Hill, Melton Mowbray - born 1st July 1969 at Wigston Magna. Modern death Certificates are less revealing as to the name of the Accused or the Charges brought against them.

At the time of writing (Spring 1997) another two murders had occurred, again of a female: first - Robert Brookes (29) stabbed the mother of his three children in a fit of jealousy and was found guilty of Murder on February 1996 and was jailed for life. (The offence took place in October 1994, 16 months before the trial - is this the wheels of Justice or the mills of God grinding exceedingly slow? - vide Peppermint Billy’s offence taking place on 19th June 1856 and the Trial and verdict being on 14th July 1856 -). Sharon Bonney was stabbed at her home, School Hill, Sproxton with a double-edged dagger selected by the murderer from his personal cache of such weapons. Brookes pleaded "diminished responsibility" - he claimed he had no memory of stabbing his victim 9 times.

Latterly, and in rapid succession to the previous case, the body of a missing schoolgirl, Sarah Louise Bottomley, aged 14 was found in a field hedgerow in a lane (Cord Hill) in Edmondthorpe on Monday 19th August 1996. The child had been missing for 12 days. She was unclothed when found by a man walking his dog. She lived in Oakham with her father and two of her siblings but visited her mother in Wymondham frequently. A murder hunt was started and eventually the girl’s father-in-law was charged with the murder. A Trial had not commenced by the Spring of 1997.

On a personal note - the inclusion of this chapter does not signify any morbid interest by the writer in the subject - it is merely an attempt to bring the events under one heading for posterity and for the use of later researchers, and stems from 26 years serving (as Coroner's Officer) A.P.Marsh and M.J.W.Marsh who were H.M.Coroner and Deputy Coroner respectively for the Framland District of Leicestershire until the reformation of Coroner's matters, taking the service under one roof centrally in the County; and 43 years serving latterly as Borough Superintendent Registrar in addition to my other duties in the conveyancing field of a Solicitors' practice.

FOOTNOTE: 31 March 2001.
One escaped - escaped justice and my notice! A contemporary Meltonian, Arnold Jordan, to whom I am greatly indebted, handed me a photocopy of an unidentified newspaper cutting relating to the celebration of the Golden Wedding Anniversary of his late grandfather. This disclosed the "escapee" and its contents are reproduced verbatim AND WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO THE UNKNOWN PUBLISHERS:-
Below photographs of Mr. and Mrs. Smith it reads -

"    Married 50 Years, And LIVED IN MELTON 'HAUNTED HOUSE'    "
"     Ex-Police Supt. Arthur Smith and Mrs. Smith of 'Rookery Nook,' 47, Wilby-lane (sic) Melton Mowbray, will next Wednesday celebrate their golden wedding. They were married at the Baptist Chapel, Barton Fabis on December 19th, 1895, by the Rev. Geo. E. Payne. Mr. Smith served 39 years in the Leicestershire Constabulary, 30 years of the time at Melton Mowbray, the last 11 years as Superintendent.
MURDER RECALLED
The murder of a woman in Rosebery-avenue by a man named Williams will be remembered by many Meltonians. Police Constable Smith, as he was then, was the first police offer on the scene. The man, after shooting his companion, turned the revolver on himself, but did not kill himself outright, and Superintendent Smith accompanied him to Leicester Prison, where Williams died during an operation for the extraction of the bullet. After the tragedy, the house where the murder was committed remained vacant for a considerable time, as it gained the reputation of being haunted. Subsequently Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived in the house for several years, until the horror of the tragedy had been forgotten.
GIFT FROM PRINCE
Mr. Smith was well-known to the Duke of Windsor, who, when Prince of Wales, hunted in the Melton district each of the 11 years Mr. Smith was Superintendent. When Mr. Smith retired in 1932, the Prince personally presented him with a diamond tie-pin. In his younger days Mr. Smith was a cricketer of repute. For many years he was one of the best all-round players in Egerton Park Club. He was captain of the Leicestershire Constabulary team. Mrs. Smith is also very keen on sport, and before the war was an enthusiastic bowls player. She is also keenly interested in the welfare of Melton Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have give children, two sons and three daughters, and seven grand-children.     "
It follows that the 'paper was published in December 1945.
I am indebted to Mr. Howard Miles for pointing out that there is full coverage of the murder in the Melton TIMES of 19th April 1901 and the same is available for public inspection in the microfilm records at the Library on Wilton Road in the town.