Scunthorpe Murders E-Book

Douglas Wynn

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 160

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

This chilling collection of murder cases delves into some of the villainous deeds that have taken place in Scunthorpe's past. Among those featured are a woman who beat her teenage daughter to death for refusing to get out of bed, a steelworker who stabbed two people before barricading himself and his children in his home, and a policeman who strangled his wife and set up the crime scene to make it look like the work of an intruder. Illustrated with a wide range of archive material and modern photographs, Scunthorpe Murders will appeal to everyone interested in Lincolnshire's criminal past.

Leseprobe

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I should like to thank the staff at the Scunthorpe Central Library, the Grimsby Reference Library and the Lincoln Central Library for their kind and helpful assistance. My grateful thanks are also due to Richard D’Arcy for help with research and for the loan of books and also to David Robinson for the loan of pictures from his collection. Grateful thanks also go to Rose Nicholson for images from the collection of the North Lincolnshire Museum and to Nick Tomlinson for images from the ‘Picture the Past’ collection. And to the editors of the Scunthorpe Telegraph and the Grimsby Telegraph for permission to use part of the publications under their control. Thanks also to Robert Hale Ltd for permission to use the picture of Norman Birkett, and to Hodder and Stoughton Ltd for permission to use the picture of Travers Humphreys. I should particularly like to thank Matilda Richards at The History Press for helpful advice during the writing of this book. And last but by no means least, to my dear wife Rosemary, for without her this book would never have been written.

All uncredited images are from my own collection.

CONTENTS

Title

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Case One

1921

The Mystery of the Reeds

Case Two

1936/7

A Shot in Time

Case Three

1945

Disaster Averted

Case Four

1953

Strange Mother Love

Case Five

1955

A Night Out with Menaces

Case Six

1966

A Question of Honour

Case Seven

1971

A Policeman’s Lot

Case Eight

1971

Lethal Triangle

Case Nine

1973

A Continuing Mystery

Bibliography

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

The name Scunthorpe comes from the Old Danish word ‘Escumetorp’ which meant ‘Skuma’s Homestead’. And indeed the original village was probably a Danish settlement on the limestone uplands known as the Lincoln Cliff, overlooking the Trent valley. Nineteenth-century maps show a rough line of five villages, nearly all with Danish names, running north and south and with less than a mile between each of them. They were from north to south: Crosby, Scunthorpe, Frodingham, Brumby and Ashby. Ashby was probably the biggest and it had the largest population until the census of 1871, when it was overtaken by Scunthorpe. This was because of the discovery of iron ore by Rowland Winn, who later became Lord St Oswald, on land belonging to his father near Scunthorpe. Iron ore was first mined in July 1860 and an iron works to which the ore could be processed was built in 1862. Other iron works followed, the last being Lysaght’s Iron and Steel Works in 1911 – steel had first been manufactured in 1890. The workers for the new industry came from the agricultural community locally although skilled workers came from other areas like Sheffield. The work was hard and dangerous, particularly in the early days as the smelting process was often beset by explosions.

The fastest growth in population and prosperity came in Scunthorpe and Lord St Oswald provided a substantial town church, St John’s. Scunthorpe was the first to reach urban district status in 1883. Frodingham and Brumby formed one unit until they joined with Ashby and became amalgamated with Scunthorpe in 1919. Then in 1936 Scunthorpe became a municipal borough, incorporating Ashby, Brumby, Frodingham and Crosby. The First World War increased the demand for steel, which led to even greater expansion. This continued through the Second World War until in 1974, the time of local government reorganisation, Scunthorpe was the largest town in North Lindsey. By then it had the huge Anchor Steel Works, a rail network linking to an ore terminal at the port of Immingham and a road network to the Humber Bridge, south to Lincoln, east to Grimsby and west to the Midlands. But the future was not as bright as it looked. In 1981 it was decided to close all local mines and only use iron ore from abroad; local ore contained only 20 per cent iron whereas imported ore contained 60–70 per cent. There were and are proven reserves of iron ore beneath the Scunthorpe area, but it remains cheaper to use imports. However, today the steel industry is still the major employer in the town, the largest employer being Tata Steel.

Apart from iron and steel there are other industries. Some are engineering works associated with steel, but there is also a food industry involved in production, distribution and retailing, which employs immigrant labour on a large scale, mostly from Poland and Slovakia. The steel industry has also employed immigrant labour, particularly in the boom era of the late 1970s, and these came mainly from the Middle East.

Because Scunthorpe is a relatively new town, the councils were able to plan the development carefully and to use the historical fact of five nuclei to create plenty of open spaces between them. It has justly been called the Industrial Garden Town.

Notable people from the town include:

• Daren Bett, BBC Weather presenter.

• Ian Collins, radio presenter born in the town.

• Howard Devoto and Ian Mathews, singers.

• Reece Mastin, singer and winner of X-Factor Australia in 2011.

• David Plowright, television producer.

• Peter D. Robinson, Archbishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America. (Was born in Scunthorpe but grew up in nearby Barton-upon-Humber.)

• Graham Taylor, former England football manager.

St John’s church.

But even a garden town has its share of murders and mayhem. This book contains a selection of cases where an individual was charged with murder, but not always convicted, except for one. The disappearance of a Scunthorpe schoolgirl in 1973 is now regarded as murder, but no body has been found and no one has been charged with the crime.

Murder, the ultimate crime and the cause of appalling suffering, continues to fascinate. The discovery of the skeletons of two young children in 1921, for example, shocked the town and resulted in a trial which added more surprises. Then there was the woman who shot her husband after his night out on the tiles. The dreadful murder of an elderly woman, which was thought to be the work of a maniac, resulted in the calling in of Scotland Yard detectives and the case threw up more surprises than anybody could possibly have expected. What about the respectable middle-aged wife? Could she be capable of slaughtering her teenage daughter? And in another intriguing case, did the quiet young man kill a prostitute? In Scunthorpe’s history a fight in a steelworks also turned to murder and a local policeman was accused of killing his wife. And the suspect in a double murder barricaded himself in a house and held the police at bay for many hours. All these stories show the variability of the human psyche and that the motives for violent and lethal action are many and varied.

Douglas Wynn

CASE ONE 1921

THE MYSTERY OF THE REEDS

Suspect:

Charles Wolfe

Age:

30

Charge:

Murder

It was in the early morning of Tuesday, 15 November 1921 that farmworker Frederick Rimes was cutting reeds in a low-lying valley near the railway viaduct at Brumby. The area was usually very wet and boggy, but it had been a dry summer and the ground was less damp than usual. Nevertheless the reeds were over 7 feet high and very thickly clumped in places, so it was a lonely spot, frequented by very few people. When he saw something white on the ground in front of him he stopped working and bent to examine it. Then a ray of sunlight caught it and he jumped back in alarm. It was a small skull. He took a closer look and saw that it was not from an animal; it was round and undoubtedly human. The skull of a small child.

As he looked closer he could see bones scattered about. This was no sheep carcase or even a dog. This was murder! He rushed back to Rowbottom Farm, to the farmer who had employed him, and burst out with his news. The farmer himself went to inspect the find and then cycled to Scunthorpe police station to report the discovery. At 10 a.m. that Tuesday, Superintendent Johnson, Sergeant Sharman and several police constables cycled out to the spot indicated by the farmer. What they found there surprised and shocked them. Though the bones had been scattered somewhat by animals, it was obvious enough that there were two separate individuals, one smaller than the other. But little else remained. No flesh adhered to the bones, so they must have been there some time, but there were some scraps of clothing that might help to identify the bodies. There was a girl’s hat, boots, jacket and a pocket handkerchief.

When Dr Bellamy, the police doctor, arrived he opined that they were the skeletons of two children: the older one possibly 6 or 7 and the younger 2 or 3. He wasn’t able to positively determine the sex of the children right away, though from the clothing at least one looked to be female. He also estimated that they had been on the ground for at least two months.

‘This was murder!’

Superintendent Johnson considered that the two children might have been local and had wandered off, become disorientated, couldn’t find their way back home and so perished in that lonely spot. But if that was so, why had nobody reported them missing? And he could recall no notices asking for information about missing children. No, their disappearance was decidedly suspicious. He therefore reported the find to the local press and asked for information from anyone who had heard of children going missing over the last two months or so.

Among the reports that he received was one from Mrs Kate Martin living in Fenton Street. She reported that she had started a job as a housekeeper in March, working for a Charles Wolfe. He had two children, Grace who was 6 and young Herbert who was 3, and Martin looked after them and their clothing. In July, Wolfe obtained a position as a steamroller driver for a firm in Manchester. On a Friday early in August, he sent Martin a letter asking her to send the children to him by train to Ardwick Station on the Great Central Railway. But she was unable to do this and on the following Friday he cycled to Scunthorpe. On the Monday, she dressed Grace in a white hat, brown coat and white socks and Wolfe took both children away, telling her that he was trying to get the children into a home. He left at about 2.30 p.m. that day with the children and returned alone at about 9.30 p.m., saying that a nurse had met the children in Doncaster and they had gone with her.

Scunthorpe Viaduct. (Courtesy of David Robinson)

Martin was able to give the police Wolfe’s address, since he had written to her several times since he had left. And on Thursday, 17 November, Inspector Metcalf from the Scunthorpe Police travelled north and interviewed Charles Wolfe where he was living at Crooklands, Preston Richard, Westmoreland (now part of Cumbria). He repeated that he left his children with a nurse at Doncaster Station. When he was asked where they were now he said he didn’t know, but suspected that they were out of the country and in France. The inspector said he was not satisfied with Wolfe’s statement and brought him back to Scunthorpe where he was remanded in custody until the following Monday.

Fenton Street today.

The inquest on the two skeletons was opened in Scunthorpe on Saturday, 19 November before coroner Mr G.E. Davy and a jury. The court was crowded, as the discovery of the skeletons had caused a sensation in the town. Wolfe, whose name was given as Charles Herbert Wolfe and whose age was 30, was present, as were his father, mother, sister, brother and sister-in-law, who all lived in the town. The coroner told Wolfe that he would have an opportunity of giving evidence if he wished and he answered, ‘Righto.’

Frederick Rimes gave evidence of finding the remains and Sergeant Benson produced photographs he had taken of the crime scene. Superintendent Johnson reported going to see the skeletons at the place they were found. In answer to a question from one of the jurors, he said that the position of the bodies was a kind of inverted V, with the head of the female towards the feet of the younger child. It appeared to him to be a natural position and he said it was possible that they might have died in their sleep. Sergeant Sharman produced the clothing that had been found by the bodies, but said that there were no laundry marks on any of the clothing. He also produced some brown hair that had been adhering to the skull of the older child.

Dr Bellamy had collected all the bones and had arranged them into two bodies. He was able to tell the jury that there were few bones missing and to confirm that they came from two individuals; one older child aged 6 or thereabouts and one from a much younger child of 2 or 3. There was practically no tissue left on the bones and nothing to indicate any violence or cause of death. He estimated that death had taken place some two months before, although it was very difficult to pinpoint the exact time.

Charles Wolfe. (Courtesy of John Young)

Next into the witness box was Kate Martin. She repeated the evidence she had given the police and when she was shown the clothes which had been found near the bodies, she said she was sure that they were worn by Grace when she last saw her. She also said that she had seen Wolfe later that evening when he had told her that the girl would become a nun and the boy a sailor, when he grew older.

At this Wolfe spoke up. ‘Tell me if you did not suggest many times to get the children away, as you could not stand the slander being put about. Answer me straight lass.’

Martin replied that she had suggested he might try and get the children away as they were so dirty.

Wolfe put another question. ‘What did I look like when I walked into the house that Monday night? Was I excited?’

‘No,’ replied Martin. ‘I don’t think you were.’

The next day she said Wolfe returned to Manchester. Further evidence of the clothing was given by Gertrude Martin, Mrs Martin’s daughter, who had lived with her in the Fenton Street house. She said that she helped to get the children dressed on that fateful day. She had shortened the elastic on the girl’s hat by putting a knot in it. And it was the same knot that was on the girl’s hat produced in court.

Grace Wolfe. (Courtesy of John Young)

When the court adjourned for lunch Wolfe was visited by his father and mother. After lunch evidence was given by a coalman who said that he saw Wolfe with his children at about 6.30 p.m. that Monday on Althorpe Bank, which is on the opposite side of the River Trent from Scunthorpe. This was the first indication that Wolfe’s story of taking the children to Doncaster that night might not be true. Inspector Metcalf gave evidence of Wolfe telling him that the children were in a home in France. The inspector then told him that it was possible he might be charged with the wilful murder of his two children. Wolfe replied, ‘Have my two poor babies been found then?’ The coroner adjourned the inquiry at that point until Tuesday, 29 November. When he was asked if he would like to give evidence Wolfe said, ‘I reserve my defence. I have nothing to say, only that I am innocent of anything.’

Herbert Wolfe. (Courtesy of John Young)

When the inquest was resumed on Tuesday, 29 November the coroner’s court was again very crowded and a murmur of anticipation went round the room as Mrs Wolfe, Wolfe’s estranged wife, went in the witness box. The coroner told her that she need not give evidence unless she wished to do so, but the jury would be glad to hear it if she wished to speak. Mrs Wolfe, however, intimated that she did not wish to speak. Thereupon the coroner read the following signed statement, given previously to Detective Smith:

I am the wife of Charles Wolfe and I reside at 2 Clare Street, Burnley. I was married to Charles Wolfe on the 26 June 1915, at the Westgate Congregational Church, Burnley. Two children were born of the marriage, Grace Mary was born on 24 August 1915, and Charles Herbert was born on 20 March 1918. After the marriage I resided with my father and the prisoner, who was employed as a steam road engine driver for a firm of the name Norman E. Box, contractor, Manchester and was away from home a good deal. He visited me on an average of once a fortnight. After about six months I removed to 49 Holsby Street, Ardwick, Manchester where we resided together for about four years and during that time he constantly complained about the home and the children not having proper attention.

About the end of 1919 I was prosecuted at Manchester for neglect of children by the NSPCC and was discharged on condition that I returned to my father and from then my husband took charge of the children. I returned to Burnley to reside with my father and my husband went to reside along with the two children with his parents at Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. I did not see my husband again until he visited me at my father’s house, in August 1920, where I am still residing. My husband informed me that my daughter Grace Mary was dead. On the occasion of that visit he only stayed with me a few minutes and made no request for me to return with him. I have not seen him since. About September of this year I received the attached letter from him which was answered by my father. I have not seen the children since the time I parted from my husband in Manchester.

The letter which Mrs Wolfe had received contained the following passages:

Madam, I am writing this letter to you to ask if you will take and look after your two children for a while, until such time that I can make a fresh home for them? I am giving you this one chance to redeem yourself … To tell the truth I wish they and I were dead, as I am fed up of life completely … The only thing you will have to watch is being strict with them and learn them to keep themselves clean, as they are now. If you do not accept, this will be the last chance of you ever seeing us again or coming together … It is urgent that you accept and take them on Saturday. After that it will be too late, as where the children are the home belongs to the housekeeper and she is taking everything away.