Field, Frederick Herbert
*****
Fell, Peter
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Field,
Jack Alfred & Gray, William Thomas
*****
Fish, Albert Howard
*****
Fitz, Alfred
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Forsyth, Francis
*****
Fowler, Frank
*****
Fox, Sidney Harry
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Fraser, Simon
*****
Freedman, Maurice
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Furnace, Samuel James
*****
Fell, Peter
Peter fell told police that he had killed the two women because they
had laughed at him and one of them reminded him of his mother whom he hated.
He was tried at Winchester Crown Court and found guilty. In
July 1984 he was sentenced to life imprisonment on each of
the two counts of murder
His victims were Mrs Margaret Johnson who was 66 years old and
Mrs Ann Lee who were both out for a walk when they were unfortunate enough
to fall prey to Peter fell on 10 May 1982. He attacked them both
with a knife and stabbed Mrs Ann Lee who was forty five years old five
times, and Mrs Margaret Johnson was stabbed eleven times..
Field, Frederick Herbert
Frederick Herbert Field was a young man who worked for a firm of signboard
fixers. On 2 October 1931 the strangled body of a 20-year-old prostitute,
Annie Louisa Upchurch, better known as Norah was found by workmen lying
in a passageway of an empty shop London's Shaftesbury Avenue. One of the
workmen, Albert Field, had gone there the day before to remove a to let
sign and he came under suspicion when he made a statement about handing
over the keys of the shop the day before to a man who he believed was about
to rent the shop. The Coroners court returned an open verdict.
On 25 July 1933, twenty one months after the death of Norah Upchurch
Field walked into the offices of the Daily Sketch and told the news editor
that he wanted to make a statement. He told of how he had taken the girl
into the empty shop and strangled her and then made off with her handbag.
He repeated this story to the police. When it came to trial Field withdrew
this evidence. It became obvious that Field's tactics were only to obtain
money from the newspaper and as there was no other evidence the judge directed
the jury to acquit him.
By 1936 he was arrested after having deserted from the RAF. He promptly
confessed to having killed Beatrice Vilna Sutton. She was a middle-aged
widow who had been found suffocated in her flat in Clapham in April 1936.
At his trial he tried the same technique as before and withdrew his confession.
Unfortunately for him his confession this time was just a little too detailed
and contained facts that could only be known by the killer. This time he
was found guilty. He was hanged at Wandsworth prison on 30 June 1936.
Fowler, Frank
Frank Fowler was a farm labourer who was convicted of the murder of Mrs
Ivy Prentice at Market Deeping, Lincolnshire. Ivy had married George Prentice
three days before and was visting the 'White Horse',pulic house to view
some of her wedding gifts. Frank Fowler,was harbouring some sort of jealous
grudge, perhaps he had hoped it would be him that she married. He
entered the bar and without any warning he shop her. He was hanged
as part of a double execution, the other unfortunate being George Robinson.
The hanging took place on the 13th December 1922 and was carried out by
Thomas Pierrepoint. Frank Fowler was thirty five when he kept his
appointment with death.
Field, Jack Alfred & Gray, William Thomas
Irene Munro was an attractive 17-year-old London typist who was enjoying
her holiday in Eastbourne. On the afternoon of 19th August 1920 she decided
to leave her lodgings and go for a walk. She was seen in the company of
two men walking towards the Crumbles, a lonely stretch of the coast. She
failed to return and her landlady raised the alarm. The body of a young
girl with extensive head injuries had already been found in a shallow grave
on the beach.
Several people had witnessed the girl in the company of two men and
a description of the pair was soon constructed. They were identified as
unemployed locals Jack Field and Thomas Gray. They were arrested and charged
with murder. They were tried at Lewes Assizes in December 1920. The defence
tried to make much of the theory that a refined girl like Irene was unlikely
to have been in the company of such an unsavoury pair as Field and Gray.
Unfortunately for them there had been too many witnesses to their accompaniment
of them girl and they were duly found guilty. They were hanged by Tom Pierrepoint
at Wandsworth Prison on 4th February 1921.
Fitz, Alfred
Alfred Fitz was aged nine and came from a slum in Liverpool. He lost his
temper with a playmate named James Fleeson and hit him with a brick. He
and another boy threw the body in a canal. As far as the law is concerned
it does not really matter if the intention was to kill as at the age of
nine the law does not recognise anyone being capable of being responsible
for their actions. They were both found guilty of manslaughter in August
1855 and were sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, which they served in
Liverpool Prison.
Forsyth, Francis
Francis Forsyth, otherwise known as 'Flossie', was an 18-year-old thug
who, in the company of Norman Jame Harris and Christopher Louis Darby,
who were both 23-years-old, and Terrence Lutt, just 17-years-old, robbed
and kicked to death Allen Jee in an alley in Hounslow, Middlesex, in June
1960.
After the attack they left Jee bleeding from his injuries. Jee was taken
to hospital but despite the efforts of the doctors he died two days later
of head injuries.
Alan Jee was a young man with his whole life ahead of him. He was happy
with himself as he had got engaged the day before. Having walked his fiance'
home he was passing through an alley when he was attacked by Flossie and
his gang. The first blow was struck by Terrence Lutt knocking Jee to the
ground. Before he could get up Darby, Lutt and Harris held him on the ground
while Forsyth kicked him. Being the sixties, the fashion of the day were
winkle pickers, shoes or boots where the front ended in a sharp point.
Forsyth continued to kick him until he was unconcious. They went through
his pockets looking for money before going off leaving him to die.
Norman Harris had not been able to keep quiet about the attack and had
boasted about it to friends. Somehow the police came to hear about it and
arrested him, along with his known associates. Of course at first they
all denied having anything to do with it but when the police inspected
Forsyths shoes they found there was still blood on them.
Forsyth said he had only kicked him to stop him struggling. All four
were charged and tried at the Old Bailey. Terrence Lutt was found guilty
of Capital Murder along with Forsyth and Harris but because he was under
18 could not be hung. He was instead sentenced to detained during Her Majestys
Pleasure. It was felt that Darby had been the least involved and he was
sentenced to life imprisonment.
The motive for the attack seemed to be none other than robbery. Francis
Robert George Forsyth was hanged at Wandsworth Prison and Norman James
Harris was hanged at Pentonville Prison both at 9 am on the 10th November
1960.
Fox, Sidney Harry
Sidney Fox was a 31-year-old homosexual con-man who travelled the country
leaving a trail of unpaid bills and bad cheques, usually accompanied by
his 63-year-old mother. In April 1929 Mrs Fox made out a will leaving her
few assets to her son. A few days later he insured his mother's life.
By October the pair had moved on to Margate, in Kent, staying at the
Hotel Metropole. Sidney, thoughtfully, increased the cover on his mother
to £3,000. At 11.40pm, on the 23rd October, Sidney raised the fire
alarm. A resident dashed into Mrs Fox's smoke-filled room and dragged her
out but she was already dead. A Coroner's Court returned a verdict of misadventure
and Sidney set about getting his hands on the insurance money. The timing
of her death was very convenient. The old woman had died with just twenty
minutes of the policy left to run. Fox made such a commotion about it that
suspicions were raised and his mother's body was exhumed. Sir Bernard Spilsbury
carried out the post-mortem and concluded that the old woman was dead before
the fire had started.
Fox appeared before Lewes Assizes on 12th March 1930 charged with the
murder of his mother Rosaline Fox who was 63 at the time of death. The
prosecution contended that he had got his mother drowsy with port and had
then strangled her. The source of the fire in his mother's room was shown
to be newspaper soaked in petrol which had been placed under her chair.
He was found guilty and executed at Maidstone Prison on 8th April 1930.
Fraser, Simon
Simon Fraser was a happily married man and a devoted father. He was 27-years-old
and doted on his 18-month-old son. At 1am on the morning of 10th April
1878, in their home in Lime Street, Glasgow, he got out of bed and lifting
his son out of bed he then swung him around smashing his head against a
wall. He did not deny what he had done but told the police that he thought
he had been defending himself and his family from a savage creature which
was trying to harm his son.
Simon Fraser suffered from somnambulism. This was not the first time
that Simon had experienced problems in his sleep, in fact nightmares were
a normal occurance. Witnesses at his trial at Edinburgh High Court gave
evidence of previous injuries he had caused while fighting off the visions
in his nightmares. His father recounted how he had awoken one night to
find his 14-year-old son on top of him beating him. His sister also told
the court how one night Simon had almost strangled her. The court was also
told about one occasion when Simon had to be pulled out of the sea where
he had gone to try and rescue his sister from drowning. She was, of course,
safe in bed at home. On another occasion he had pulled his wife out of
bed by the legs because he thought he was saving her from a fire.
The foreman of the jury intervened to say that he and his colleagues
thought there was little point in hearing any more evidence and that they
considered that Fraser was not responsible for his actions. It was then
decided that testimony should be heard to determine whether Fraser was
sane or not. This would decide whether he went free or spent the rest of
his days in an asylum.
Expert testimony was heard from Dr Yellowlees, who considered him insane
and from Dr Clouston who though he was not. The jury did not even retire
and after a minute or so of whispering amongst themselves returned the
verdict that Fraser was not responsible for his actions and that he was
sane.
However, even though he had been found not guilty there was still some
concern about the fact that Simon may commit yet another serious crime
and no-one wanted that. It was rumoured that a compromise was reached over
a 'special arrangement'. The details of the 'special arrangement' were
never made public but it was reported that during the day Fraser was a
free man. At night he slept alone, in a room locked from the outside. His
wife kept the key.
This is a very sad case but not as uncommon as one would think. Through
the years murders have taken place by people who are locked within a dream
or nightmare as are living completely different circumstances. The worst
of it is that normally the only people in the same room or house as the
sleeper are close relatives or loved ones. The effect on the person when
he wakes up is normally devastating.
Furnace, Samuel James
It was the evening of Tuesday 3rd January 1933 and Mr Wynne, of 30 Hawley
Crescent, Camden Town, was alarmed to find his garden shed on fire. After
the fire brigade had put out the blaze they found the charred body of a
man sitting on a high chair in front of the remains of a desk. Mr Wynne
rented the shed to Sam Furnace, a small-time builder. The body was identified
as that of Sam Furnace by one of his tenants and a note was found which
said 'Goodbye all. No work. No money. Sam J Furnace.'
A suspicious coroner, Mr Bentley Purchase, decided to examine the body
himself. He determined that it was neither suicide or Furnace that he was
dealing with. For a start there was a bullet hole in the corpse's back
and its teeth were those of a man younger than the 42-year-old Furnace.
A post-mortem showed that the man had been shot twice and had been dead
before the fire was started. Examination of the clothes on the body revealed
a post office savings book in the name of Walter Spatchett and a local
doctor confirmed the identity of the dead man. Spatchett was 25-years-old
when he had vanished, with £40 in his pocket, the day before the
fire.
A nation-wide manhunt was instituted for Furnace. He made the mistake
of sending a letter to his brother-in-law, Charles
Tuckfield, asking him to bring some clothes and to meet him in Southend.
He took the letter to the police and, shadowed by the police, kept the
appointment with Furnace who was quickly apprehended. He was taken to Kentish
Town police station.
Furnace's story was that Spatchett was in the shed with him, they both
did work for the same firm, when Furnace's Webley
revolver had accidentally discharged. Thinking that he had killed the
man he decided that he would use the opportunity to escape from his precarious
financial position by faking suicide. He set fire to the shed, left a suicide
note and threw the revolver in the Regent's Canal.
Sam Furnace was never brought to trial. The night after making the
statement he asked for his overcoat to be returned to him. Police checking
his cell at 7am saw him raise something to his mouth. The cell was hurriedly
unlocked to find Furnace writhing on the floor. He had swallowed hydrochloric
acid which had been in a small bottle sewn into the lining of the coat.
He died in St. Pancras hospital twenty-four hours later, on Tuesday 18th
January 1933. A coroner's jury found Furnace guilty of Spatchett's murder.
1874
August 31st: Henry FLANAGAN (22)
Liverpool
Convicted after a two day trial of the murder of his aunt. Mary Flanagan
(53). at Liverpool. It was alleged that, while drunk, Flanagan broke into
her house and attempted to rape her, before strangling her and fleeing
with her purse containing three sovereigns. He boasted to a friend that
he had stolen some money, and was later arrested for murder. Hanged on
the same morning by Marwood as WILLIAMS, but not together. Flanagan was
hanged first, while Mrs Williams was held in a cell adjacent to the drop.
She was brought to the scaffold once Flanagan's body was taken down and
the trap reset.
1875
August 16th: Mark FIDDLER (24)
Lancaster
Fiddler, an unemployed spinner, and his wife Dorothy (22). quarrelled
often and as a result she left him. He sold their house and its contents
and proceeded to fritter away the money on drink before calling at his
wife's lodging and begging her to forgive him. When she refused, her cut
her throat and then his own. Sentenced to death on 27 June. When the drop
fell, the white hood that was placed over Fiddler's head turned bright
red as blood began to ooze from the neck wound he had self-inflicted. If
the drop had been a few inches longer it would have torn his head from
his shoulders.
1876
April 4th: Thomas FORDRED (48)
Maidstone
Sentenced to death at Kent Assizes for the murder of his paramour,
Mary Ann Bridge (27), at Margate. Fordred was alleged to have kicked her
to death as they returned home drunk from a pub. He maintained that although
he was responsible for her death, he was innocent of murder as she had
merely fallen while they were fooling around. A doctor maintained that
death had been caused by kicks to the head and chest. It was alleged that
earlier in the evening, witnesses overheard him threaten to beat her brains
out if he caught her going with another man. Hanged by Marwood.
1876
August 14th: William FISH (26)
Liverpool
At just after 4pm on the afternoon of 27 March, Emily Holland (7),
disappeared as she walked down Birley Street, Blackburn, after telling
a friend she was going to fetch some tobacco for an adult. After a search
lasting several days, the child's dismembered body was uncovered in a trunk,
wrapped in a copy of the Preston Herald. The autopsy revealed she had been
raped and had her throat cut prior to the dismemberment. Fish, a father
of three, who ran a barber shop in Moss Street, was arrested and immediately
confessed to the crime which had horrified the whole town. (Birley Street
was to feature again in Blackburn's dark history over seventy years later,
when child killer Peter Griffiths was arrested outside his house on the
same street).
1876
December 21st: William FLANAGAN (35)
Manchester
Aka William Robinson. A drifter and layabout, he was dismissed from
his job as a sheriffs officer because he was considered insane. On 8 September,
Flanagan and his common-law wife Margaret Dockerty, went out drinking,
and returned to their bedsit later after both getting drunk, where they
continued drinking with several other lodgers. Next morning he accused
her of stealing some money from him and then killed her by cutting her
throat, the body being discovered by their landlady who had entered the
room to retrieve a saucepan. Flanagan was later arrested in possession
of the murder weapon and charged. His defence was that he was insane, and
evidence was shown that he had made several attempts to commit suicide,
in one instance while he was awaiting trial. After conviction, he was hanged
by Marwood, on his first visit to Manchester.
1882
May 16th: Thomas FURY
Durham
On 19 February, 1869, Maria Fitzsimmons, a prostitute who worked the
docks at Sunderland, was seen drinking in the company of a sailor. Early
next morning her body was found in her room; she had been stabbed ten times,
nine of which had pierced her heart. A sailor called Anderson was arrested
next day but later that week a note was found which was signed by 'A monster
in human form.' The note claimed that Anderson was innocent and that its
author was the real killer and on his way to America. With no real evidence
against Anderson, he was released and the case left unsolved, despite someone
offering one hundred pounds to catch the killer. Twenty years later, in
the spring of 1879, Thomas Fury, aka Wright, also a sailor, was arrested
on a charge of burglary and attempted murder at Norwich. Soon after his
arrest, he enquired whether the reward offered for information on the killing
of Maria Fitzsimmons could still be claimed, as he said he could identify
the killer. When told it wasn't. he said no more about it. He was tried
for the attempted murder and sentenced to fifteen years at Pentonville,
but no sooner had he started his sentence than he asked to see a police
inspector and confessed he had murdered Fitzsimmons. Fury said he'd awoken
after spending the night with her to find her attempting to strangle him
with a cord. He knocked her down, pulled out his knife and stabbed her.
He was taken back to Durham. convicted at the summer Assizes entirely on
his own testimony. and hanged by Marwood. He confided to a guard that he
had confessed in order to escape the torture of prison.
1883
May 28th: Michael FAGAN
Dublin
A brawny young blacksmith, hanged by Marwood for his part in the Phoenix
Park murders. (See 1883, May 14th: Joseph BRADY).
1891
August 25th: Edward Henry FAWCETT
Winchester
Aka Watts. Fawcett and his wife lived at Greenwich with their only
child. They had been married sixteen years but had lately become unhappy.
After a quarrel. she left home and took the child to live at Portsea. On
4 April. he also went to Portsea. After failing to persuade to return,
he shot her four times with a revolver. Sentenced to death at Winchester
Assizes. he was the last man hanged by James Berry. who resigned following
the upsetting experience at Liverpool the previous week involving CONWAY.
1894
April 4th: Frederick William FENTON (32)
Birmingham
Fenton was a silversmith at Birmingham. and had become engaged to Florence
Elbrough. a barmaid. To impress her. he exaggerated about his financial
status. and as a result she kept on at him to buy some nev, furniture for
their house. She eventually challenged him as to why he was so reluctant
to spend any money and during a quarrel, he shot her dead and then turned
the gun on himself, but failed in his suicide attempt. Hanged by James
Billington.
1901
November 19th: Marcel FAUGERON (23)
Newgate
A French anarchist who murdered Hermann Jung, the owner of a Clerkenwell
jewellery shop. Faugeron was attempting to steal from the shop in order
to raise funds for his cause. At the trial at the Old Bailey before Mr
Justice Bigham, he pleaded self defence, claiming that Jung had attacked
him first before he stabbed him with a clasp knife. Hanged by James Billington
and Henry Pierrepoint, who was assisting at his first execution.
1902
December 9th: Thomas FAIRCLOUGH-BARROW (49)
Pentonville
Convicted of the murder of his step-daughter, Emily Coates (32). The
couple lived together as man and wife. Due both to his partial disabilities
and his lazy drunken ways, she supported him financially. On 10 October,
he caught her drinking with another man and became so violent that she
feared for her life, and as a result, left him. A few days later she took
out a summons for assault against him following a beating he had given
her. When Fairclough-Barrow saw her not long after, he stabbed her to death.
Sentenced to death at the Old Bailey by Mr Justice Bigham, he was hanged
by William and John Billington.
1904
December 22nd: Joseph FEE (23)
Armagh
John Flanagan disappeared from his home at Clones, Monaghan, on 16
April 1903. Despite a massive search, the police had no clues to Flanagan's
whereabouts until the discovery of human remains under a pile of manure
close to a slaughter house run by Joseph Fee, a local butcher. They were
identified as Flanagan and it was found that death had been due to a blow
to the head followed by a cut throat. Evidence led police to arrest Fee
and he was tried three times for the crime before being convicted and sentenced
to death. Fee protested his innocence throughout his trial and subsequent
period in the condemned cell. It was not until Henry Pierrepoint placed
the noose around his neck that he cried out: 'Executioner. I am guilty.'
Pierrepoint recalled in his memoirs that he was so angry at being deceived
by a man even he thought to be innocent, that he pushed the lever so hard
it almost snapped.
1905
April 25th: John FOSTER
Cork
An ex-policeman with the Royal Irish Constabulary, who murdered William
Regan, a former American soldier. The two men lodged together but in December
Regan's body was found floating in the River Lee. An iron was found on
the river bank, covered in blood. Foster was arrested after he tried to
pawn the dead man's gold watch and chain, and when taken into custody he
was found to have blood stains on his clothing. The execution was carried
out by William Billington and John Ellis, although John Billington had
originally been engaged to officiate but had to withdraw. William was called
out of retirement to carry out what was to be his final job. An incident
occurred at the inquest that was similar to the controversy involving James
Billington four years earlier (see 1901, January 11th: Timothy CADOGEN).
Like his father, William Billington was issued with a summons for failing
to attend the inquest after the execution, and the coroner was forced to
postpone it for a week, allowing the hangman time to return. When it was
learned that Billington had left in a hurry to catch a boat back to the
mainland, the inquest was allowed to proceed, unlike the inquest on Cadogen
in 1901 which was never resumed.
1909
May 8th: William Joseph FOY (25)
Swansea
An unemployed Merthyr labourer sentenced to death at Glamorgan Assizes
for the murder of Mary Ann Rees (33). Both came from good families but
had become destitute and taken to sleeping rough on vacant industrial premises.
She was deeply in love with him despite his cruel and sometimes brutal
treatment of her. Following a quarrel, Foy lost his temper and threw Mary
into a shaft at a deserted furnace where they had built a shack. Joe Foy
immediately told the police that he had thrown 'Sloppy' - as the victim
was known - down the shaft and he took them to the site. He described how
he had dragged her to the edge, swung her around and then hurled her to
her death. He later retracted the statement and claimed she had fallen
in by accident. He ate a last meal of beefsteak and onions before he walked
calmly to the scaffold, sporting a sprig of fern in his lapel and smoking
a last cigarette. He was hanged by Henry Pierrepoint and John Ellis with
the cigarette still between his lips. Pierrepoint later recalled that the
butt had remained in place when he took the body down an hour after execution.
1909
December 7th: John FREEMAN (46)
Hull
A labourer who murdered his sister-in-law, Florence Lily Freeman, by
cutting her throat after he had been drinking. Hanged by Henry Pierrepoint
and John Ellis, and on the scaffold he said his death should be a warning
for others to leave drink alone.
1910
July 14th: Frederick FOREMAN (45)
Chelmsford
A farm labourer convicted of the murder of Elizabeth Eley, with whom
he lived in a number of old railway carriages at East Farm, Wennington,
near Greys, Essex. They had been seen drinking together on Whit Monday,
and were heard arguing as they made their way home. Her body was later
discovered in a field; she had been battered to death. Convicted at Essex
Assizes on 15 June, Foreman was hanged at Springfield gaol protesting his
innocence to the end. It was the last execution carried out by Henry Pierrepoint.
1911
December 6th: Michael FAGAN (27)
Liverpool
Sentenced to death on 8 November for the murder of two year old Lucy
Kennedy, his girlfriend's child, by hitting her about the head with a belt
when she would not stop crying. Fagan was looking after Lucy while her
mother was out, and when she returned she found the child unconscious.
Despite the jury's recommendation for mercy, he was hanged by John Ellis
and a new assistant, George Brown.
1911
December 15th: Joseph FLETCHER (40)
Liverpool
A labourer who murdered his wife on 2 September by striking her with
a chair after he had been drinking. Hanged by John Ellis and George Brown.
1913
July 9th: Thomas FLETCHER (28)
Worcester
Murdered his sweetheart, Lillian Wharton, at Oldbury. Fletcher shot
her four times with a pistol on l April: she died a week later. He was
tried at Worcestershire Assizes on 7 June before Mr Justice Bray, and claimed
that the gun went off accidentally. Hanged by John Ellis and Thomas Pierrepoint.
1914
November 4th: Charles FREMD (71)
Chelmsford
A German grocer convicted of the murder ofhis wife Louisa, at Leytonstone
in September. Although born in Germany, he had lived in Britain for 4 years.
She was found dead in bed, her nightdress covered in blood, with her husband
lying next to her. Both had cut throats, although his was only a minor,
self-inflicted wound. Beside the bed he had left a note: 'Her first husband
made off with himself. I cannot stand it any longer. God forgive me. Her
temper done it.' Hanged by John Ellis. The inquest stated that the execution
was satisfactorily carried out but the deceased had a bruised eye caused
by the trapdoor catching his head as he fell. Fremd was the oldest man
to be executed this century.
1919
July 31st: Thomas FOSTER (46)
Pentonville
A chair maker sentenced to death by Mr Justice Avory at the Old Bailey
on June 25 for the murder of his wife Minnie at Bethnall Green. The couple
lived unhappily together on account of his drinking habits, and after being
subjected to repeated cruelty Minnie Foster applied for a separation order,
which she retracted after he promised to mend his ways. On 11 June, neighbours
alerted by her screams for help, found Minnie lying on her bed with her
throat cut. Foster was arrested immediately and claimed that she had driven
him to it. Hanged by John Ellis and Edward Taylor.
1922
December 13th: Frank FOWLER (35)
Lincoln
A farm labourer convicted of the murder of Mrs Ivy Prentice at Market
Deeping, Lincolnshire. Ivy and George Prentice had only been married for
three days when she was visiting a public house, the 'White Horse', to
view some of her wedding gifts. Fowler, who it seemed bore some jealous
grudge, entered the bar and shot her dead. Hanged beside ROBINSON [above]
in a double execution carried out by Thomas Pierrepoint and Robert Baxter.
1925
September 3rd:
Wilfred FOWLER (23)
Leeds
Wilfred Fowler and his elder brother, Lawrence, led a gang of Sheffield
toughs who specialised in instilling terror into local shopkeepers and
generally impersonating the American gangster. Events that were to lead
them to the scaffold began at the end of April when there was a disturbance
in a city centre public house. Trimmer Welsh, the muscle behind the gang,
was causing a scene with the new barmaid in a pub. He went to strike her
for refusing his advances but was warned off by William Plommer. a former
boxer. The two men squared up, and having no fear of the gang's reputation.
Plommer beat the man senseless. On the following day. the gang. out for
revenge, cornered Plommer as he stood talking to another former boxer,
Jack Clay. The altercation ended when Clay beat Wilf Fowler unsconscious.
This loss of face called for drastic action and the next day, the gang
went to Plommer's house and called him into the street. A scuffle took
place, ending with Plommer lying in a heap on the ground. The gang had
attacked him with knives, chains and clubs, and he died from his injuries
a short time later. There was an initial reluctance by witnesses to testify
against the Fowler gang, but under assurance from an Inspector Sillitoe,
who had been given the task of cleaning up the city, that they would be
safe from reprisals, the police soon had enough evidence to arrest seven
members of the gang on a murder charge. Their four day trial took place
at Yorkshire Assizes before Mr Justice Finlay in July and ended in the
death sentence being passed on the Fowler brothers, while three others
were convicted of manslaughter. The remaining two were found not guilty.
Wilfred Fowler was hanged alongside BOSTOCK by Thomas Pierrepoint, Robert
Wilson, and Henry Pollard. Lawrence Fowler was hanged the following day.
1925
September 4th: Lawrence FOWLER (24)
Leeds
Wilfred Fowler and his elder brother, Lawrence, led a gang of Sheffield
toughs who specialised in instilling terror into local shopkeepers and
generally impersonating the American gangster. Events that were to lead
them to the scaffold began at the end of April when there was a disturbance
in a city centre public house. Trimmer Welsh, the muscle behind the gang,
was causing a scene with the new barmaid in a pub. He went to strike her
for refusing his advances but was warned off by William Plommer. a former
boxer. The two men squared up, and having no fear of the gang's reputation.
Plommer beat the man senseless. On the following day. the gang. out for
revenge, cornered Plommer as he stood talking to another former boxer,
Jack Clay. The altercation ended when Clay beat Wilf Fowler unsconscious.
This loss of face called for drastic action and the next day, the gang
went to Plommer's house and called him into the street. A scuffle took
place, ending with Plommer lying in a heap on the ground. The gang had
attacked him with knives, chains and clubs, and he died from his injuries
a short time later. There was an initial reluctance by witnesses to testify
against the Fowler gang, but under assurance from an Inspector Sillitoe
, who had been given the task of cleaning up the city , that they would
be safe from reprisals, the police soon had enough evidence to arrest seven
members of the gang on a murder charge. Their four day trial took place
at Yorkshire Assizes before Mr Justice Finlay in July and ended in the
death sentence being passed on the Fowler brothers, while three others
were convicted of manslaughter. The remaining two were found not guilty.
Wilfred Fowler was hanged alongside BOSTOCK by Thomas Pierrepoint, Robert
Wilson, and Henry Pollard, the previous day.
1926
January 5th: John FISHER (58)
Birmingham
Fisher, a machinist, shared an immaculately kept terrace house in Small
Heath, Birmingham, with Miss Ida Taylor, his partner of the last fourteen
years, and Jessie Dutton, a young girl who lodged with them. A kind, well
liked and immensely houseproud man, why he suddenly turned into a vicious
killer is a mystery. One day in October 1925, Jessie Dutton was sitting
in the lounge opposite Fisher, while Ida busied herself doing the housework.
Some sixth sense told Jessie that something was amiss and she got up, put
her coat on and left the house. It was an act that saved her life. Minutes
later, Fisher rose from his chair and attacked Ida with a carving knife,
cutting her throat. He then washed the knife, tidied up the house and closed
the door behind him. After spending the afternoon wandering the streets,
during which time Ida's body lay in the house undiscovered, he boarded
a tram car. The only available seat was next to a policeman, and when the
officer rose to alight, Fisher told him that he had committed a murder.
At his trial at Warwick Assizes before Mr Justice Talbot on 4 December,
Fisher pleaded insanity and confessed that he had planned to kill both
women in the house. The defence failed and he was sentenced to death. An
appeal was made, backing up the insanity plea by revealing that Fisher
had been discharged from the army with epilepsy, but this too was rejected.
He was hanged by William Willis and Robert Wilson. Willis later recalled
that he very nearly caused the most remarkable accident in the history
of British execution. Fisher was led to the scaffold in a daze, and in
order to prevent him collapsing, two warders stood very close to the prisoner.
In his haste to carry out the execution, Willis attempted to place the
white cap and noose around the neck of the nearest guard. He realised his
mistake at the last moment and within seconds the drop fell. If he had
succeeded in noosing the guard, the speed at which executions were carried
out was such that in all probability the guard would have hanged.
1926
August 11th: Charles Edward FINDEN (22)
Winchester
A labourer from Alton, convicted of the murder of John Richard Thompson
(15). The young lad worked on a farm and disappeared shortly after being
paid his wages. His body was discovered by two gypsies on a piece of waste
ground beside the Alton to Basingstoke railway line. He had been strangled
with a neck tie and robbed of his fifteen shillings wages. On 24 June.
Finden was arrested on suspicion and claimed as his alibi that he was asleep
in a field at the time of the alleged crime. His wife testified that he
had given her a ten shilling note and two half crowns, money which he claimed
he had earned by working at a local tennis court. This was found to be
untrue. Hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint and Robert Baxter.
1928
January 3rd: Frederick FIELDING (24)
Manchester
On Bonfire Night, 1927, Eleanor Pilkington (23) left her home in Rishton
and met up with two sisters, Evelyn and Doris Walker. The three of them
then went to Mercer Hall in nearby Great Harwood where they attended a
dance. Afterwards, Eleanor was on her way home alone when she saw Fielding,
her former boyfriend, approaching. They had courted for four years until
he applied to join the Metropolitan Police Force and had then moved down
to London. After three months probation, he decided against a career in
the force and returned to his home town of Clayton-le-Moors in September,
1927. A week after his return, Eleanor broke off their relationship. He
took to drinking heavily and changed from a hard working young man into
little more than a drunken layabout, losing first his new job in the local
foundry, and then his home. As they neared her house, Fielding slipped
his hand into his pocket, withdrew a knife, and putting his arm around
Eleanor's shoulder he quickly stabbed her twice in the neck. He then confessed
to a policeman. On 22 November, 1927, he stood trial at Manchester Assizes
before Mr Justice Finlay. The prosecution had amassed considerable evidence
of premeditation, and managed to prove that Fielding had expressed an intention
to commit murder a week before the crime. Hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint.
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Gregg Manning
