Thank you for this moving story about a brutal crime. I particularly applaud your attention to detail, and and wider observations about the nature of inquests and their findings. One wonders how many murders got away because there was simply insufficient evidence, how many murders were ruled suicides? How often were suicides happening such that this would be an effective defence?
This is something I think about a lot. In my PhD data, there are no suicides-that-could-be-homicides, but there are thousands of inquests per year so it's inevitable that a few slip through. Suicide is far more common than murder, although again, suicide is sometimes identified as an accident or narrative verdict.
In the City of London at this point, there's at least one inquest per day and I wonder how much this volume impacted decision-making.
What an incredible story Sophie. A real tangled mess and how the jury could unravel all that in less than two hours I will never know. Superbly written and researched a thoroughly grisly tale that could have ended so differently if the Police and jury had believed the staged scene.
Thanks Paul! Two hours is quite a long time for a jury to retire at that time: it's far more common for them to leave for a few minutes, or not even bother!!
The evidence in court was very firmly focused on the morning of the murder and the evidence fiddling afterwards, so it wasn’t quite so complex for the jury as it seems here. But that would make a much less interesting story!
This seems a really complicated entanglement at first. Then, as the story unfolds, we realise how the truth eventually reveals itself in its simplist form 'revenge'. You have a real gift for storytelling that grips the reader, shocks them, picks them up, and then delivers the verdict with a flourish.
I can imagine that Betsy did hear something but was so scared she didn't go and look until she was sure Sam had left the house. If he knocked Elizabeth about then it was likely that she had also experienced violence. What a horrible guy!
Yes, it's difficult to get a real sense of how any of the relationships played out in this story - as is so often the case, the person telling that story was the least trustworthy actor! But I think Betsy was accustomed to hearing fights.
Thank you for this moving story about a brutal crime. I particularly applaud your attention to detail, and and wider observations about the nature of inquests and their findings. One wonders how many murders got away because there was simply insufficient evidence, how many murders were ruled suicides? How often were suicides happening such that this would be an effective defence?
This is something I think about a lot. In my PhD data, there are no suicides-that-could-be-homicides, but there are thousands of inquests per year so it's inevitable that a few slip through. Suicide is far more common than murder, although again, suicide is sometimes identified as an accident or narrative verdict.
In the City of London at this point, there's at least one inquest per day and I wonder how much this volume impacted decision-making.
My forthcoming article covers some of this!
Please share once published. I hopefully soon will have acccess to journals and such
Wow! That's quite a story!
What an incredible story Sophie. A real tangled mess and how the jury could unravel all that in less than two hours I will never know. Superbly written and researched a thoroughly grisly tale that could have ended so differently if the Police and jury had believed the staged scene.
Thanks Paul! Two hours is quite a long time for a jury to retire at that time: it's far more common for them to leave for a few minutes, or not even bother!!
There was so much to digest in this case though! Imagine that happening today 😳
The evidence in court was very firmly focused on the morning of the murder and the evidence fiddling afterwards, so it wasn’t quite so complex for the jury as it seems here. But that would make a much less interesting story!
The staging of the scene itself was central to the story
This seems a really complicated entanglement at first. Then, as the story unfolds, we realise how the truth eventually reveals itself in its simplist form 'revenge'. You have a real gift for storytelling that grips the reader, shocks them, picks them up, and then delivers the verdict with a flourish.
I can imagine that Betsy did hear something but was so scared she didn't go and look until she was sure Sam had left the house. If he knocked Elizabeth about then it was likely that she had also experienced violence. What a horrible guy!
Yes, it's difficult to get a real sense of how any of the relationships played out in this story - as is so often the case, the person telling that story was the least trustworthy actor! But I think Betsy was accustomed to hearing fights.