UNLAWFUL KILLING

THE KILLING OF A KING

 

The New Forest inn,  The Sir Walter Tyrrell,  gives its name to the man  thought to be responsible for the death of King William 11.   The Rufus Stone, which can be seen in a clearing nearby at the side of an unclassified road north of the A31, recalls the death of King William 11 (1056 – 1100).  It was erected in 1745 to replace a tree which had marked the original spot where William Rufus was killed by an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest.   But was the death an accident ?   Called Rufus supposedly because of his ruddy appearance, William was a man, so it is said, who was ill tempered and small both in body and in mind.  He was loathed by his people and few tears were shed when he was killed, and indeed the clergy at Winchester Cathedral refused religious rites to his remains.

Whilst his death was probably an accident,  Tyrrell has  by tradition been suspected of being responsible.   Was it an accident or was it regicide?  We will never know.    The Sir Walter Tyrrell Inn  can be found nearby.   The former forge at nearby Avon is where, according to legend, Sir William stopped before fording the river, and made the blacksmith reverse his horse’s shoes in order to mislead his pursuers, whilst fleeing the scene.

 

 

 

THE RUFUS STONE






THE KILLING OF A POLICEMAN

 

 

Some other gypsies were very fortunate at Taunton Assizes in 1876 when, charged with the murder of a policeman,  they were rather surprisingly convicted of manslaughter.

PC Nathaniel Cox was the well respected village policeman at East Coker near Yeovil in Somerset, where he lived with his wife and four young children.   On the night of 16^th November 1876, PC Cox was kicked and bludgeoned to death whilst in the discharge of his duty.  Nat Cox was 37 years of age, broad shouldered, thick in fist, a brave man who could look after himself and normally a ready match for any law breaker.    It was the eve of Yeovil Fair which often meant trouble for the local police with an increase of horse thieving and poaching.   Taking no chances, the police were patrolling in pairs and Cox was with a younger colleague, PC Henry Stacey from West Coker, when they had occasion to stop and check a horse and cart being driven by one man with three other men walking alongside.   Suddenly PC Cox was struck a heavy blow on the head which left him sprawled on the road.  PC Stacey, who went to his assistance, was also felled with a blow to the head which left him unconscious in a ditch.   When he came round there was no sign of the cart, the four men, or indeed PC Cox.   The seriously injured policeman managed to summon assistance from a nearby farm and PC Cox was subsequently found lying dead a short distance away.

The local doctor later said in evidence, of PC Cox, ‘I found he had a compound comminuted fracture of the scalp on the left side of the head and the brain was protruding.  The left ear was badly lacerated.’   He said he thought that the terrible injuries had been caused by a succession of heavy kicks.  Comminute means to break into little pieces, to crush or grind.    PC Stacey was critically ill for some weeks with severe concussion, but eventually recovered.

A police notice was soon circulating naming three members of a well known family of poachers – George Hutchinson (55) and his two sons, Giles (30) and Peter (26).  The three men had disappeared but a fourth man, Charles Baker, was soon arrested and charged with murder.  George and Giles Hutchinson eventually gave themselves up and Peter was subsequently found hiding in a loft at West Coker.   All four men eventually appeared at Taunton Assizes charged with the murder of PC Cox and the attempted murder of PC Stacey.

The dramatic evidence to’d and fro’d about what had happened on the fateful night.  The local populace had no doubt about the guilt of the four accused men, but Lord Chief Justice, Sir Alexander Cockburn, told the jury, ‘ When PC Cox met his death, it was by foul means, both gross and brutal…. That the violence was the act of some, if not all the prisoners is, I feel, clear.  But as to how and in what precise circumstances the constable met his death, we are left absolutely in the dark.’    After deliberating for just 45 minutes the jury found all four guilty of manslaughter!   There was a gasp of disbelief around the courtroom.   His Lordship then said, ‘The jury have taken a merciful view in your case and I think have acted wisely too.  I don’t think this was a case of premeditated murder.’    He decided that George Hutchinson had taken no part in the attack and gave him a free pardon.  This followed a dramatic interruption by the accused Baker, who told the judge that the older man had not left the cart and took no part in the assaults on the two constables.   The other three men were sentenced to 24 years penal servitude. 

In time, widow Mrs Cox, told an uncanny story.   On the night before her husband’s death he had had a restless night.  He told her, ‘I’ve had a bad time.  I dreamt that I had a fight with some gypsies and they gave me a horrible smack on the head.’

PC Cox was buried in the churchyard at East Coker where a nice stone marks his grave.

 

 

 

 

 

PC Cox's grave





KILLED BY RECRUITING SERGEANT

In 1727 a  military recruiting sergeant was haranguing and cajoling a crowd in Hinkley Market Place in Leicestershire.  A young man by the name of Richard Smith made a nuisance of himself, ridiculing the sergeant with jokes and quips.  The sergeant became so fed up that he ran Smith through with his pike and killed him, rather a drastic measure.

A gravestone in Hinkley churchyard recalls this event and the epitaph reads :

' A fatal halbert this body slew

The murdering hand God’s vengeance will pursue.
From Hades terrence although justice took her flight
Shall now the judge of all the earth do right?
Each age and sex his innocence bemoans
And with sad sighs lament his dying groans.

RICHARD SMITH

Who departed this life the 12^th day of April 1727

In the 20^th year of his age.’

The stone is said to sweat blood on the 12th April.

 

 

 

MURDERED BY TERRORISTS

Pan American Boeing 747 Clipper, ‘Maid of the Seas’, with 243 passengers and 16 crew, left Heathrow Airport at 18.25 hours on Wednesday 21^st December 1988, bound for New York as flight 103.   At approximately 19.03 hours, the aircraft was blown apart by an internal explosion from a terrorist bomb.   Falling over 31,000 feet, it crashed near Lockerbie in the Scottish Borders, and pieces of the wreckage were scattered over 846 square miles.   All the people on board were killed, as were 11 residents on the ground, a total of 270 people.  In Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie, there was a crater 155 feet long and 733 cubic yards volume.  

Some of the dead were buried at Lockerbie where a fine memorial garden can be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1999, two Libyan’s thought to be responsible, were handed over for trial.  The two men were subsequently tried in Holland by a Scottish court.  Only one of them, Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, upheld on appeal. In 2009 Al Megrahi, suffering from terminal cancer, was contraversially released on compassionate grounds and subsequently died in Libya.