Crimes Through Time

Train travel in the Victorian era provided many new opportunities, people and goods could travel around the country more freely and much more quickly.  But with it came more crime.  Many Victorians feared travelling by train, the carriages weren’t lit, couldn’t be exited between stations and there was no way to communicate with the driver or conductor during the journey.  Robbery and assault of all kinds were common but it would be the 9th of July 1864 when Thomas Briggs made history as the first person to be murdered on a train in the UK.  The case would involve a transatlantic chase, extradition and trial resulting in changes in railway safety and carriage design.  As well as having unexpected cultural effects.  So let's dive in

In the early morning hours of the 4th May, 1957 doctors attended the home of Kenneth and Elizabeth Barlow.  Elizabeth had been discovered apparently drown in her bath.  On the surface a tragic loss of a young mother.  But how does a healthy woman simply pass away whilst in the bath with no sign of trying to even attempt to save herself?  Suspicions began to mount that foul play was involved.  Until an eagle-eyed pathologist found 4 injection sites on her bum.  Newly developed techniques detected insulin in the tissues and Elizabeth was not a diabetic.  Let’s dive into the first documented case of murder by insulin.

Madeleine Hamilton Smith was a Glaswegian socialite, beautiful, well mannered and from a wealthy family.  When she was arrested for the murder of her ex lover, it rocked Victorian Scottish society to the core.  A scandal of pre marital sex, blackmail and poison played out in the court room and the newspapers.  She received a verdict of “Not Proven” a result unique to the Scottish judicial system.  A verdict that left a cloud of suspicion over Madeleine that even today 165 years after the crime has historians divided.  The Scotman sums it up best quote “Madeleine Smith was a wanton woman with a great lawyer or an innocent in a deadly game of revenge and spite” End Quote. So let’s dive into the case and decide for ourselves 

In this episode, we are travelling over the pond to New York City.  In 1933 Michael Malloy was down on his luck when he was targeted by a group of opportunistic men who decided to murder him for money.  But Michael just wouldn’t die.  He survived over 10 attempts on his life earning him the nicknames Iron Mike Malloy and Durable Mike.

Archibald Brown ruled his household with an iron fist.  In July 1943 his son, Eric had had enough.  He modified a Hawkins mine from the barracks where he was based and hid it under the seat of his father's seat on his bath chair.  And watched as his nurse wheeled him off for his walk in the fresh air.  

Around 11pm on Saturday the 11th September 1971 Robert Rowland’s was at home in his Wimple Street flat in London.  Robert was an amateur radio enthusiast and was scanning the air waves for other enthusiasts to pass his Saturday night with.  He suddenly picked up conversations from nearby walkie talkies.  What he heard and then recorded put him at the centre of the investigation of one of the UK most audacious burglaries.  The gang - later dubbed the Millionaire Moles- were stealing from the safety deposit boxes of the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank.  How had they managed to access the vault? The plan was lifted straight out of “The red-handed League” a short story starring Sherlock Holmes, only in real life the police were too slow and the gang got away - with approximately £4 million worth of money and property.

The Unsolved Death of James William White.

Murder or Mishap?

On the 30th June 1926, James William White Age 43 and 2 other acquaintances were at Acorn Wood in Nottinghamshire.  Spying on a couple being romantic when he is spotted.  James takes off running into the wood and is seen colliding with a tree.  He is found dead. The police believe it is murder - but the witnesses say mishap.  

For 2 weeks in November 1938, the town of Halifax in the North of England was engulfed in mass hysteria. A terror that spread through the community and beyond.  A perpetrator was on the loose attacking local people dubbed the Halifax Slasher. Scotland Yard was dispatched such was the seriousness of the situation. Vigilante groups patrolled the streets, and Businesses in the town were shut down.  Only one problem, the Slasher was completely fictional, an imagined monster constructed from the people's fears- a collective anxiety attack.  What motivated people to fabricate attacks? What did they stand to gain? This is one of the most unique cases I have researched, let's dive straight in

Ethel Major was the only woman to be hanged at Hull Prison, but she was so close to getting away with the murder of her husband had it not been for an anonymous letter delivered to the coroner. 

1931 saw Del Fontaine travel to the United Kingdom to further his boxing career.  He had travelled the US and Canada fighting, winning the Canadian Middleweight Boxing Championship twice.  The UK was a place full of potential for the young fighter.  By 1935 he was established and in love.  A love that would end with a crime of passion leaving one woman dead and another seriously injured.  His defence, Del was Punch Drunk.  So what is it to be punch drunk and was that the cause of Del’s rage? And why in 2022, 87 years after this crime is the link between violence and head injury a very relevant conversation to have.

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