The Wallace Murder Case
With previously unpublished photographs and
information Compiled and released to commemorate the 80th anniversary of this
most famous real life Liverpool murder mystery.
Many books and articles have
been written, even a few drama documentaries and radio shows, all of which have
carried such spine chilling titles as 'Conspiracy of silence', 'A call to
murder', 'The man they didn't hang', 'Murderer Scot-Free', 'The corpse in the
parlour', 'The final verdict' and 'The man from the Pru' to describe the horror
of what happened in a quiet, nondescript, Anfield back street in the mid winter
of 1931.
It is claimed that some of these works let themselves down
by putting a certain sway on proceedings to guide the reader towards the
author's way of thinking. For this purpose, the account here will try to put
hundreds of pages of published works into a single page, albeit a lengthy page
but nevertheless it will deal only with the hard facts and it will be you who
will decide who had blood on their hands. One thing is certain if nothing else.
National and local crime writers of the calibre of Edgar Lustgarten and Vincent
Burke cannot unravel the mystery.
The case centres on a red herring alibi. Was it an elaborate
plan by someone known to the Wallace's to get Wallace out of the house and to
another part of town - there was no sign of a forced entry into the house. Or
did Wallace set the alibi up himself, making sure he was seen and spoken to by
quite a number of people whilst all the time either he, or a hit man had
committed the deadly deed all along?
England under King George V in 1931 was in a state of great depression, indeed Labour Prime Minister James Ramsay McDonald was having to cope with our share of a world down turn. Overwhelmed by the crisis which split the Labour government, later in the year he would form a "National Government" in which a majority of MPs were from the Conservatives. As a result, he was expelled from the Labour Party, which accused him of 'betrayal'. The Wall Street stock market crash in New York, also known as Black Tuesday was only just over a year gone, U.S. President Herbert C. Hoover was understandably also having a hard time of it.
The Setting
England under King George V in 1931 was in a state of great depression, indeed Labour Prime Minister James Ramsay McDonald was having to cope with our share of a world down turn. Overwhelmed by the crisis which split the Labour government, later in the year he would form a "National Government" in which a majority of MPs were from the Conservatives. As a result, he was expelled from the Labour Party, which accused him of 'betrayal'. The Wall Street stock market crash in New York, also known as Black Tuesday was only just over a year gone, U.S. President Herbert C. Hoover was understandably also having a hard time of it.
To relieve the doom and gloom back home, it was still the
fashion for cinemas to receive full houses as they hosted the latest silver
screen blockbusters such as 'All quiet on the Western Front'. Laurel and Hardy
had only recently moved into talking movies and indeed into feature length
films as Hal Roach capitalised on another opportunity. Ninteen thirty one would
see the birth of well known movies such as the tear jerker 'The Champ',
Chaplin's 'City Lights' and horror movies such as 'Dracula' featuring Bela
Lugosi and 'Frankenstein' featuring Boris Karloff.
In Liverpool, unemployment was rife. The city's population
peaked in the 1931 census at 846,101 however, the city was already in the
process of a mass slum clearance programme that would see many of the old
densely populated inner city courts razed to the ground in favour of
continental style art deco tenement flats.
Elsewhere in a city which already hailed the first and
longest underground rail tunnel under the Mersey, 1931 was the halfway point of
the construction of the Queensway Mersey road tunnel at the Old Haymarket which
was commenced in 1928 and opened by the King and Queen Mary in 1934.
Architect Herbert Rowse was busy in the city. He would be
called upon to design the white stone tunnel entrances and decorative features
but first he was putting the finishing touches to the massive India Buildings
on Water Street. Erected for Alfred Holt's Blue Funnel line, it would open a
year later.
The construction of Speke and Norris Green in the suburbs
was well under way, the Corporation having purchased the land which was
previously open space. Arterial boulevards were laid out to the outskirts and
new estates sprouted from these like spokes on a wheel. One of these in Allerton
will feature later in the story.
Speke airport had just commenced scheduled flights in 1930,
the transport mode for most of us in those days though was by Liverpool
Corporation tram or bus. Many sheds and terminus points were established
throughout the city at strategic crossover points, one of these at Penny Lane,
later immortilised by The Beatles would also feature in this story.
Home life for the 1930s scouser was very much more a simpler
affair than it is for todays folk, if only because of the lack of choice
afforded to them. John Logie Baird's first incarnation of television images
were only a few years young and still very much in the development stages.
Wireless broadcasts of plays were the norm as well as the magical sounds of
music coming across the airwaves, fashioned for the listeners by the likes of
Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Marlene Dietrich, Hoagy Carmichael and Sophie
Tucker.
It was not uncommon for the more well off households to have
an upright piano with many a singsong on a lazy Sunday afternoon after a trip
to a nearby park. Public Houses also catered for this whilst the inner city
deprived settled for the barrel organs and accordians played eloquently by the
many Italian settlers in the area. Gas mantles were still the source of light
in the home. The fear, the blackouts and the rations of war were still over 8
years away.
The Locality
Wolverton Street, Liverpool post code district 6 in the Cabbage Hall area of Anfield and in the parish of Holy Trinity is where this story is set, though Clubmoor to its East, Allerton in the South of the city and North John Street in the city centre play central roles too.
Wolverton Street, Liverpool post code district 6 in the Cabbage Hall area of Anfield and in the parish of Holy Trinity is where this story is set, though Clubmoor to its East, Allerton in the South of the city and North John Street in the city centre play central roles too.
The dates central to this case are Monday January 19th and
Tuesday January 20th. The weekend preceding this had seen fierce gales batter
the city giving little respite to its suffering inhabitants ravaged by a flu
epidemic and still recovering from the densest most persistent fog in living
memory. Anfield at the time was also in the grip of a spate of burglaries, the
perputrator of which had become known as the 'Anfield housebreaker'. Wolverton
Street is a cul de sac off Richmond Park, the Wallace's three bedroomed house
being on a terraced lined street built in 1912 just 3 years before they moved
in. They eat in the kitchen, cook in the back kitchen or scullery and entertain
their infrequent visitors in the front parlour which doubles as a music room
where William plays the violin, Julia the piano. They sleep in the middle
bedroom, the front one being used to store Julia's hats and handbags whilst the
back one has been converted by William into a small chemistry laboratory. They
rent the house for fourteen shillings and sixpence per week from their
landlord, Samuel Evans who resides in nearby Anfield Road. The Wallace's are
comfortable enough financially to have a weekly cleaning lady, Sarah Jane
Draper, who calls each Wednesday morning.
On the Saturday before this story commences, Everton at
nearby Goodison Park had despatched West Bromwich Albion 2-1, the winner being
scored by William Ralph 'Dixie' Dean and thus keeping the club at the summit of
the 2nd Division. He would plunder 39 league goals in 37 appearances that
season as Everton stormed to promotion at the first time of asking. West Brom
would go on to lift the F.A. Cup at Wembley in the Spring.
Arch rivals Liverpool had crashed 2-1 away at Huddersfield
Town which sent them tumbling to 14th in the 1st Division as Charles Thompson
made his last appearance for the reds having made just five league and one F.A.
Cup appearance for them.
THE VICTIM
Julia Wallace was born Julia Dennis on 28th April 1861 at Bruntcliffe House, East Harlsey in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England to William George Dennis and his wife Anne Teresa Dennis (nee Smith). Julia was orphaned at just 2 months from her 14th birthday. It is known Julia was living in Leeds in 1892 when aged 31, however it was not until 1911 that she met William Herbert Wallace in Harrogate, marrying him at the parish church of St. Mary on 24th March 1914.
THE VICTIM Julia Wallace was born Julia Dennis on 28th April 1861 at Bruntcliffe House, East Harlsey in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England to William George Dennis and his wife Anne Teresa Dennis (nee Smith). Julia was orphaned at just 2 months from her 14th birthday. It is known Julia was living in Leeds in 1892 when aged 31, however it was not until 1911 that she met William Herbert Wallace in Harrogate, marrying him at the parish church of St. Mary on 24th March 1914.
Mystery surrounds whether William Herbert Wallace knew
Julia's true age or not as their marriage certificate shows her to be aged 37
in 1914 (but she was one month from being 53). Her gravestone shows her to be
aged 52 upon her death in 1931 which doesn't even correspond with her marriage
certificate, let alone the fact she was actually 69. Furthermore, William
Herbert Wallace's diaries and what he told the police during the murder
investigation leads us to believe he wasn't aware of any of Julia's other
siblings apart from one sister, Amy Dennis. It is suggested that the loss of
her parents at such a young age led Julia to glamourise them. Her father, a
tenant farmer and public house landlord becoming a veterinary surgeon in the
process as well as her mother, an untutored, country housewife named Anne
becoming Aimee of French origin. This fantasising may have estranged her from
her three sisters and two brothers as none of them attended her wedding, nor
her funeral. Julia's husband William suffered from frequent bouts of illness
during the 3 years prior to the murder in 1931. Indeed he was hospitalised for
a month in 1930 and took to his bed on other occasions but according to his
diary entries, as soon as he was better, Julia would take to her bed suffering
in a tit for tat illness scenario. In March 1928 William recorded that Julia
had been an invalid for years, 'a great worry'. Upon her death, character
witnesses were called to the stand, one of whom was a Mrs Wilson who nursed
William at home in 1923, she described the Wallaces as a very peculiar couple
with a strained attitude towards each other lacking the feeling of sympathy and
confidence which was usually found in a married couple, going on to describe
Julia as peculiar in her manner and dirty.
Julia made a lasting impression on Alfred Mather, a one time
work colleague of William found her to be very offhand and 'a proud and
peculiar woman who believed she had lowered herself by marrying Wallace' On the
contrary, the Wallaces next door neighbours Jack and Florence Johnston from
No.31 Wolverton Street described them as a happy and loving couple as did
William's long time friend, James Caird. When Julia was taken to the mortuary
for a post mortem, she was found to be wearing a type of incontinence garment.
At 5ft 3 inches tall, Julia was a diminutive figure to her husband who was
almost a foot taller.
The Accused
Considerably more is known about William Herbert Wallace, husband of Julia. He was born in Millom, Cumbria on 29th August 1878 after his mother and father Margery and Benjamin had moved there two years earlier from Coniston in the lake district. When William was 10 years old, the family moved to Blackpool where he was struck down with typhoid fever, and then back to Cumbria to Dalton-in-furness.
Considerably more is known about William Herbert Wallace, husband of Julia. He was born in Millom, Cumbria on 29th August 1878 after his mother and father Margery and Benjamin had moved there two years earlier from Coniston in the lake district. When William was 10 years old, the family moved to Blackpool where he was struck down with typhoid fever, and then back to Cumbria to Dalton-in-furness.
He left the local board school aged 14 and thereafter the
family moved across the Peninsular to Walney Island, part of Barrow-in-furness.
It was here that he first gained employment as an apprentice draper's
assistant. It is known that from this early age William enjoyed the outdoor
life and participated in nature rambles and camping expeditions as well as
following the local sports, particularly Cricket and football. He was described
as a distinctly cultured youth with a scientific mind, keen on botany and
natural history with an interest in the writings of the Greek and Roman
philosophers. In fact in later life Wallace used his back bedroom as a home science
lab for chemistry experiments, was a keen violinist, played chess, listened to
wireless plays and once persuaded Julia to accompany him to Stanley park to
witness the wonderful effect of a night of keen frost upon all the plants and
trees. Upon completion of his apprenticeship in 1898, Wallace moved to
Manchester where he was to live and work for 5 years, engaged as a draper's
assistant. In the meantime, his brother Joseph has married Amy Margaret
Blackwell and was living and working in Shanghai, China as a printer. The
adventurous William followed suit in moving to Asia when an opportunity arose
in the Calcutta branch of the firm for which he was working in Manchester.
Setting sail for India on 30th October 1903, the 25 year old
Wallace would have had high hopes for his future but found any opportunies for
improvement in an oppresive society under the British Raj not to his liking.
This was compounded by an old kidney complaint, necessitating several visits to
the British hospital. After 2 years he sought a transfer to the Shanghai branch
of his employers, joining his brother and sister-in-law in a land that he hoped
offered better conditions for him. This too was to become a disappointment for
Wallace, this time being thwarted by his kidney complaint whereupon his doctor
advised him to return to England which he did in February 1907 after resigning
his position with his employers. It was 19th March before he arrived in
Southampton via Bremen and within a month was undergoing surgery at Guy's
hospital for the removal of his troublesome left kidney.
Wallace is next recorded as convalescing whilst unemployed
before returning to work for the drapers again in Manchester before appearing
in Harrogate, North Yorkshire in 1910 as an election agent for the Ripon
Division of the Liberal party where he lived in a flat above its offices. At
this time his father and sister, Jessie were also living in Harrogate and the
following year William met Julia who lived in the road that ran parallel to
his. Within 3 years William and Julia were married with Wallace and his father
moving into Julia's apartment.
With the outbreak of the great war in 1914 and the cessation
of party political activity in Britain, Wallace lost his position but through
his father's long standing employment with the Prudential Assurance Company,
landed a job as a collection agent with the company's Liverpool offices in Dale
Street. However, within weeks of moving to the city with Julia, he was back in
Harrogate for his father's funeral. He had died in Knaresborough Infirmary
where he had been nursed by Jessie who worked there.
The Wallaces were now living at 26 Pennsylvania Road,
Clubmoor before moving 4 months later to 29 Wolverton Street, Anfield which
were a red brick terraced row, built only 3 years earlier in 1912. Wallace
continued his interest in chemistry, studying it at Liverpool Technical College
at William Brown Street in the early 1920s, eventually being appointed as a
part time assistant lecturer which he held for five years whilst continuing his
work with the Pru. During 1928 and 29 he suffered recurrent problems with not
only his remaining kidney but frequent severe headaches and pain above and
behind his left eye. His diary entries confirmed him as depressed, unsettled,
nervy and temperamental. In June 1930 following several bouts of illness, he
was admitted to the Royal Southern Hospital in Hill Street where he stayed for
a month.
Wallace's diary at times will talk affectionately of his
wife, about how he persuaded her to walk in Stanley Park with him to admire the
frost on the leaves and about how he was worried enough to report her missing
when her derailed train from Southport meant her diverting to a bus which only
got her home for 1am. It seems they also played music together and his entries
after her death shows how he yearned for her and how she would have loved his
new home on the Wirral peninsula.
Equally though, it could be said that he records his
frustration at her tit for tat illnesses, how she doesn't appreciate the storyline
of a play indicating a lower intellect than his and it is clear she had to
remind him of their 15th wedding anniversary which passed the day before as a
none event. Mrs Wilson who had nursed Willaim at home for three weeks during
1923 remarked that Mr Wallace appeared to have suffered a keen disappointment
in life. Alfred Mather, a one time work colleague of Wallace described him as
'the most cool, calculating, despondent and soured man with an evil temper who
considered his job to be beneath him'. Wallace's doctor, Dr Curwen was a very
frequent caller at 29 Wolverton Street. He claimed that on one occasion when
Wallace was ill in bed, Mrs Wallace implied that he was malingering. 'He wants
to stay at home' she said. At another time when it was Julia's turn to be ill,
William appeared indifferent to her state of health. Dr Curwen upon informing
Wallace that his very own condition was serious, treated it with apathy,
shrugging it off saying he would 'Just have to carry on regardless' Wallace
would claim that he was just of a stoic nature who believe what will be will be
and there's no sense in worrying over it in the grand scheme of things.
Wallace's job of 16 years up to the point of the murder saw
him traipse the streets of Clubmoor, Stoneycroft and Anfield collecting
premiums and arranging payouts, cutting a gangly figure. At 6 feet 2 inches,
Wallace of slight build was gaunt with an ungainly haunched gait. For
relaxation away from work, Wallace not only gained pleasure from his home
chemistry laboratory, playing violin to Julia's piano accompaniment and the
wireless plays he listened to with Julia but played chess at Cottle's city cafe
which met twice a week at their basement premises at 24B North John Street.
Being a stoic would later lead Police
at the death scene to believe his cold heartedness meant his guilt.
Left: The
Prudential Assurance Buildings, Dale street, Liverpool. The grand red bricked
building by Alfred Waterhouse, built in 1855 is one of the city's finest.
Wallace worked for this Company from 1914, Parry worked for them as an
apprentice, straight from school in the early 1920s. This building also
contained the offices of Hector Munro who became Wallace's solicitor during the
case.
Left: The
Prudential Assurance Buildings, Dale street, Liverpool. The grand red bricked
building by Alfred Waterhouse, built in 1855 is one of the city's finest.
Wallace worked for this Company from 1914, Parry worked for them as an
apprentice, straight from school in the early 1920s. This building also
contained the offices of Hector Munro who became Wallace's solicitor during the
case.
Right: Liverpool Technical College where Wallace studied
chemistry and became a part time assistant lecturer as an aside to his 9-5 job.
Richard Gordon Parry was born on 12th January 1909 in
Liverpool. His father William John Parry was a treasury official with the
Liverpool Corporation and the family lived at a villa style house at No. 7
Woburn Hill, Stoneycroft. Parry attended Lister Drive School a few hundred
yards across Green Lane near to the power station. He was a handsome youth but
at school was of little academic persuassion, instead turning his interests to
the creative art of acting, gaining a place in the school's dramatic society. A
young Richard Gordon Parry who stole the heart of school mate Lily Lloyd
THE ACQUAINTANCE
Richard Gordon Parry was born on 12th January 1909 in
Liverpool. His father William John Parry was a treasury official with the
Liverpool Corporation and the family lived at a villa style house at No. 7
Woburn Hill, Stoneycroft. Parry attended Lister Drive School a few hundred
yards across Green Lane near to the power station. He was a handsome youth but
at school was of little academic persuassion, instead turning his interests to
the creative art of acting, gaining a place in the school's dramatic society. A
young Richard Gordon Parry who stole the heart of school mate Lily Lloyd
No.7 Woburn Hill in Stoneycroft was the pleasant villa style
home of William John Parry and his family. Richard would take this interest in
acting into his adult life, joining a dramatics society which would meet in
Cottle's city cafe in North John Street, Liverpool on a Thursday evening, the
very same venue that William Herbert Wallace would use to play chess. As a
youngster, Parry had his first brush with the law whilst still in short
trousers, being convicted at the juvenile court for damaging property. Each day
on his way to and from school he pulled down a boundary wall at the front of
houses in the course of erection. The damage was so considerable and happening
so regularly that he was caught red handed when builders decided to keep watch.
This was to mark the start of a long and varied criminal career.
Court clerk Henry Harris recalled that young Parry was a
great source of sorrow and anxiety to his parents because of his evil
tendencies. It was whilst at school though that he took the eye of the younger
Lily Lloyd and the couple started courting. When Parry left school to begin
work as an apprentice insurance salesman with the Prudential, he soon found
that the meagre wages scarcely allowed him to indulge his extravagant taste for
good living, wine, women and motor cars.
In December 1928, the teenage Parry took over part of
William Herbert Wallace's round when William was having one of his frequent
bouts of illness. Parry would visit the Wallace's to pay the takings to William
who would put them in the cash box atop a bookcase. Around this time Gordon
struck up a friendship with Julia whom he described as sweet and charming.
William said that Parry was 'well acquainted with our domestic arrangements. He
had been in the parlour and kitchen frequently and had been upstairs in the
middle bedroom a number of times to see me while I was in bed'. However, as
William was checking the books, it seemed that Gordon hadn't been paying the
full amounts which he'd collected so William confronted him. Parry apologised
claiming it was an oversight and made up the difference out of his own pocket.
Later, Wallace learned that this was not the first time that
these 'oversights' had happened, as some months earlier Parry had been short
when paying into the Prudential's head office in Dale Street. On that occasion,
Prudential Superintendant Joseph Crewe rather than sack Parry decided to
contact Parry's parents. Parry's father evidently decided to smooth things over
for his son, paying back the sum in order for Richard to remain in his job.
This must have been embarrassing as well as awkward for
Mr.William John Parry who was a treasury official with Liverpool Corporation
who would later be involved in organising the first issues of wartime ration
books to the citizens of Liverpool. He'd hold the position of Assistant City
Treasurer upon his retirement in July 1950. In fact he wasn't the only member
of the Parry family to hold a high position within the Liverpool Corporation as
Richard's uncle George H. Parry became chief Librarian in 1929 during a career
lasting nearly forty five years.
Towards the end of 1929 Parry resigned his position with the
pru to better himself with a competitor in the Insurance business though
unofficially, it has been mooted that Parry (with no doubt the security cushion
of knowing his father would bail him out again) was caught stealing once more
and had been told to quit or be fired.
John Parkes who worked at Atkinson's all night garage and
taxi service on Moscow Drive, Stoneycroft remembers that although certain clients
of the business were welcome to drop in for a late night drink or a chat in the
kitchen, Parry was not one of them after being found going through the lockers
of one of the sons of the garage owner, looking for money. He also had a habit
of inviting himself up into the kitchen above the garage and randomly ringing
people he didn't know. He had the amateur dramatics society training for
altering his voice, Parkes saying he could alter his voice like you changing a
shilling.
Parkes was also convinced of Parry's capacity for such
subterfuge as passing himself off as somebody else, adding 'He was such a liar,
he could spin a yarn and get away with it'. Dapper, suave and a ladies man, he
was known in the neighbourhood as something of a wide boy. Parkes had also gone
to Parry's school at nearby Lister Drive but they were never friends no matter
how much their paths continued to cross in the locality.
We will talk about Parry's movements on the crucial nights
in question concerning this case but it is known that in the years that
followed the case, Parry was in and out of court on several occasions.
Parry in 1966 would readily admit that he was a 'tearaway'
as a young man but makes little of the various criminal charges against him as
just youthful high jinx and little misdemeanours. He would not talk about the
Wallace case, 'not if you were to offer me £2000' he told Jonathan Goodman and
Richard Whittington-Egan who had tracked him down in London. He had promised
his father that he would not talk to anyone about it whilst also offering
snippets that would suggest he knew more about it than he was prepared to say
whilst also offering some untruths to this pair to try steer them from any
scent involving himself.
He intimated that if he chose, he could reveal much more
about Wallace, whom he described as a 'very strange man, very peculiar looking
and immensely tall' and implied that Wallace was sexually odd. He stated that
he used to call on Julia and they would have tea and 'musical interludes'. This
was never recorded in any of William's diary entries so would probably not be
known by him.
In February 1932 he was confronted when found sitting in
Councillor Herbert Owen's car in North John Street, explaining he was sorry,
had got in the wrong car, his being in front. He made his way to the other car,
producing some keys that didn't fit. Owen, finding a nearby constable had him
arrested but Parry bolted before being tripped by a tram inspector in Dale
Street. He was taken to the Bridewell in Cheapside whereupon he threw himself
on the floor outside and had to be carried in. He was fined £5 with £6 costs.
In Aldershot in September 1934, Parry, with two others were
charged with taking and driving away a motor car without consent. He was jailed
for 3 months with hard labour (see photographs and caption below) In Willesden
- July 1935 Parry was again embezzling money from his employers. Working as a
salesman he had taken £2 7s & 3d and was bound over for a year.
On Parry's return from London as a GPO telephone operator in
the mid 30s, he found himself in court again for a more sinister crime. On the
evening of 22nd April 1936 he encountered Miss Lily Fitzsimons of 108
Burnthwaite Road, Old Swan at Arthur Fras Dowling herbalists at 486 Prescot
Road where she had gone after leaving a club in Broadgreen. Known to Parry
having met him once before, he offered her a lift home at about 11pm after
buying her a malted milk and a biscuit but it is alleged that instead he took
her to Rainhill where he assaulted her. An eye witness reported seeing the car
with two occupants alongside his house but reported nothing untoward happening
whilst he observed the scene as he smoked. Miss Fitzsimons claimed she made her
getaway as Parry pulled up at a garage back in Liverpool on East Prescot Road
with a flat tyre. The police were called and both underwent a medical
examination where nothing untoward was found. The subsequent court case on 15th
June was dropped and Parry dismissed.
Parry was twice married and had a daughter by his second
wife. Since 1968 his life was spent living on Waterloo Hill in the tiny village
of Llangernyw in the vale of Clwyd, South of Colwyn Bay. His wife died in 1976
and he had been a switchboard operator at Colwyn Bay hospital and had drank in
the The Marine pub in Old Colwyn with a local man Phil Roberts who recalled
'Dick was one hell of a character, used to get a lot of people's backs up. Had
an incredibly arrogant manner on the telephone. Bit of a handicap really
because that was his job, Switchboard operator'. He also frequented The Stag
and The Bridge public houses in the village.
Parry, a heavy smoker and alcoholic according to his
daughter, died of a heart attack in April 1980 aged 71. He had lain dead in bed
for 2 days before neighbours alerted the village constable that his milk had
not been taken in. He left just over £18,000 to his daughter in his will. Parry
had never mentioned the Wallace case to his daughter but her husband offered
that Parry had been 'secretive, a bit of a recluse, the black sheep of the
family'. Parry's younger brother and sister were as equally in the dark
preferring instead as they said to 'Let sleeping dogs lie'.
Lister Drive School off Green Lane. Richard Gordon Parry, his girlfriend Lily Lloyd and acquaintence John Parkes were all pupils here. All three feature in this story.
Lister Drive School off Green Lane. Richard Gordon Parry, his girlfriend Lily Lloyd and acquaintence John Parkes were all pupils here. All three feature in this story.
An enthroned Lily Lloyd is shown in a play staged at the
school in the early 1920s. At her feet, to the right is Parry.
The Clubmoor picture house, Townsend Lane is where Lily
would play piano during the orchestra's evening break. Richard would pick her
up from here when she was finished. Ted Holmes was the house manager there
during that time. Of Parry he says 'I'm convinced he could have murdered anyone
for money, he was an inveterate liar and twisted me over an insurance policy'.
Is this a correct summary of Parry or sour grapes and a grudge? The Picture
house opened on Saturday 31st October 1925 and closed on 2nd July 1960.
Police mug shots of Richard Gordon Parry from September 1934 when he was jailed at Aldershot for three months with hard labour after being convicted along with two others of taking a motor car without consent. It wasn't his first offence and neither was it to be his last but was he also a murderer or an accomplice to murder?.
Monday 19th January 1931- The eve of the murder
William Wallace decides he is fit to return to work having been laid up the previous week with his second bout of flu in six weeks. It's now Julia's turn to be ill, having developed a heavy chesty cough which had consigned her to her bed the weekend just gone. As William leaves home at 10 o'clock, dressed for the heavy rain and sleet that will greet him as he pounds the streets to collect his insurance premiums, he suggests to his wife that she sees the family Physician, Dr Curwen. This she does, unaware that she has less than thirty six hours to live.
Police mug shots of Richard Gordon Parry from September 1934 when he was jailed at Aldershot for three months with hard labour after being convicted along with two others of taking a motor car without consent. It wasn't his first offence and neither was it to be his last but was he also a murderer or an accomplice to murder?.
Monday 19th January 1931- The eve of the murder
William Wallace decides he is fit to return to work having been laid up the previous week with his second bout of flu in six weeks. It's now Julia's turn to be ill, having developed a heavy chesty cough which had consigned her to her bed the weekend just gone. As William leaves home at 10 o'clock, dressed for the heavy rain and sleet that will greet him as he pounds the streets to collect his insurance premiums, he suggests to his wife that she sees the family Physician, Dr Curwen. This she does, unaware that she has less than thirty six hours to live.
Wallace having completed his usual two sets of rounds,
broken only by his dinner hour is now back home for tea and decides to pay a
long overdue visit to the chess club which meets at Cottle's city cafe at 24
North John Street every Monday and Thursday evening. He is an enthusiastic
player rather than a good one and he only qualifies for the second class team,
however he has a tournament match to play tonight which has been posted onto
the club's notice board for the last few weeks and he knows that he has to make
it there and commence his game by 7.45pm or penalties are imposed on the
players. The night is cloudy and dark and the rain and sleet have subsided to a
thin drizzle. William leaves the house by the back door at 7.15pm to make his
way to the tram stop on Breck Road which will take him into town. It is
precisely at this time that Louisa Alfreds, an operator at Richmond Terrace
telephone exchange, Anfield takes a call by someone wanting to be connected
with Bank 3581, the telephone number of Cottle's city cafe. She makes the
connection, hears a voice answer then hangs up. A few moments later, a
colleague sitting alongside her, Lilian Martha Kelly took a second call from
the man in the kiosk (which was Anfield 1627) again asking for the same number
explaining he has pressed button 'A' but has not had his correspondent yet. It
scarcely seemed important at the time but these calls were later traced. Lilian
who by now had engaged with her colleague Louisa could see from a light on the
switchboard in front of her that the man had not pressed button 'A' which would
have completed the call, but instead button 'B' which would have aborted the
call and returned the man's money.
Miss Kelly spoke to her supervisor Annie Robertson who then
scribbled the two numbers on a piece of paper, noted the time now being 7.20pm,
dialled the cafe herself and put the man through. Gladys Harley, a waitress at
the cafe answers the telephone that rings there. 'Anfield is calling you' says
the operator, then after being prompted to insert two pennies, a man with a
deep voice asks 'Is Mr Wallace there?' quickly going on to explain the call is in
connection with the chess club. Samuel Beattie, the chess club captain is
summoned to the phone by the waitress whereupon he hears a man with a strong
gruff confident voice, the like of which is unknown to him ask 'Is Mr Wallace
there? Will he be there?' 'I can't say' replies Beattie. 'Can you give me his
address?', 'I'm afraid I cannot', 'Will you be sure to see him?', 'I don't
know' says Beattie. The caller then goes on to explain that it's his daughter's
21st and he wants to do something for her which would be in the nature of
Wallace's business and goes on to spell out his name which is R.M. Qualtrough
living at 25 Menlove Gardens East and that a message should be given to Wallace
to visit him there at 7.30pm the next evening.
Samuel Beattie is deeply engrossed in a game of Chess when James Caird, a grocer by trade and a near neighbour of Wallace who has known him for almost fourteen years ambles by his table. Also a chess club member, but in class one, he doesn't have a partner tonight and is flitting about. Beattie asks him does he know Wallace's address. 'Mr Wallace is here' replies Caird having seen him enter at 7.45pm and immediately set about his game against Mr. McCartney. Excusing himself from the game, Beattie tells Wallace of the phone call. 'Qualtrough', ponders Wallace, 'I don't know him, who is he?' Taking out a black Prudential memo book, Wallace jots down the address as dictated to him by Beattie, mumbling...'25 Menlove Gardens West'. 'East, not West' reiterates Beattie as Wallace makes the amendment in block capitals.
 |
| The public call box in Cottle's City Cafe with 3581 Bank etched onto its glass. The Qualtrough call was received here. Next to it, the notice board displaying that Wallace should be attending on Monday 19th January. |
 |
| Police enquiries during their investigation into the murder uncover that the Qualtrough call is made from public call box Anfield 1627 situated on the corner of Rochester Road and Breck Road on the Cabbage Hall triangle of land (above and left) just 400 yards from Wallace's house. It was traceable because the caller had botched the call up, either on purpose so it could be traced to Wallace's locality and point the finger of guilt at him ( see later) or possibly because the caller was just trying to swindle the operator out of tuppence and get connected for free claiming he'd pressed button A instead of button B when he hadn't. If it was the latter, the fact it was traced is probably coincidental and the caller wouldn't have known. Another possibility of course was that the caller was indeed Wallace himself. |
Samuel Beattie is deeply engrossed in a game of Chess when James Caird, a grocer by trade and a near neighbour of Wallace who has known him for almost fourteen years ambles by his table. Also a chess club member, but in class one, he doesn't have a partner tonight and is flitting about. Beattie asks him does he know Wallace's address. 'Mr Wallace is here' replies Caird having seen him enter at 7.45pm and immediately set about his game against Mr. McCartney. Excusing himself from the game, Beattie tells Wallace of the phone call. 'Qualtrough', ponders Wallace, 'I don't know him, who is he?' Taking out a black Prudential memo book, Wallace jots down the address as dictated to him by Beattie, mumbling...'25 Menlove Gardens West'. 'East, not West' reiterates Beattie as Wallace makes the amendment in block capitals.
The pair decide it's probably near Menlove Avenue and ask
another chess club member, Edgar Bertram Deyes, who, like Beattie, also lives
in Allerton, if he knows of it. He doesn't but Wallace says 'It's alright, I've
got a tongue in my head, I can enquire'. It is after 10pm when most of the
games are over, Wallace won his game and is happy as he leaves the cafe with
some other members en route to the tram stop home in North John Street where he
boards with Caird and Caird's friend Mr. Betton. After alighting the tram at
Belmont Road, Wallace walks homeward bound with Caird commenting that
Qualtrough is a funny name 'I've never heard of it, have you'. They discuss the
bus and tram routes to Menlove Avenue, Wallace mentioning that he might not go
at all yet as Caird bids him goodnight at his front door at No.3 Letchworth
Street. Wallace is home a few minutes later, using the front door. Julia is
still up despite her cold and is pottering around the kitchen where they eat a
late supper before retiring to bed.
Left: Harrington Buildings, North John Street wherein Cottle's City Cafe (2nd doorway along) hosted the Liverpool Central chess club. A close up of the doorway is also shown and also we see the steps that Wallace, Beattie, Caird and the other members would use. Hector Munro who became Wallace's solicitor was also a member of the chess club and Parry too would also use these steps during his amateur dramatics evenings. The notice board near the cafe entrance shows that William Herbert Wallace was due there on 19th January though he had failed to meet previous dates and was playing catch-up. So although it is true that he was due there, it wasn't an absolute certainty he'd show but would Qualtrough have known this? Wallace of course would! Bottom Right: 'Caswell' - The home of Samuel Beattie at 27 Ballantrae Road.
A few pointers here. Whoever made that call from the telephone kiosk in Anfield risked being seen, not least of all by the police who had an on going presence in the area due to the prolific 'Anfield Housebreaker'. If it were Wallace, he also ran the extra risk of not only being noticed as a local to the area, maybe by acquaintances or neighbours, but furthermore he risked his voice being recognised by whoever answered and would subsequently speak to him at the cafe. He also ran a risk that if the call were traceable, the kiosk was only 400 yards from his home. Indeed the proximity of the kiosk to his home may well have been a factor if the caller, if it were not Wallace, wanting the call to be traced, hence the botched job of trying to get put through. Regarding the caller asking that Wallace make the trek to Menlove Gardens East. If it were Wallace, he ran a risk that his chess club captain, Beattie, and another player, Deyes, being local to the Allerton area, would advise him that the Street did not exist or that they would consult a street guide advising likewise. If it were not Wallace who made the call, the man acting as 'Qualtrough' ran the risk that the message would not get to Wallace or that it would not be acted upon. Perhaps if it wasn't Wallace, 'Qualtrough could hide and wait to see Wallace leave' or if that were too risky and he was an acquaintance of the Wallace's, (we know there was no break in), then he could have called when he knew Wallace would have left for Allerton and should Wallace have aborted the idea and not gone at all, and perhaps even answered the door, then he could easily have passed himself off as 'just calling on old friends'.
Left: Harrington Buildings, North John Street wherein Cottle's City Cafe (2nd doorway along) hosted the Liverpool Central chess club. A close up of the doorway is also shown and also we see the steps that Wallace, Beattie, Caird and the other members would use. Hector Munro who became Wallace's solicitor was also a member of the chess club and Parry too would also use these steps during his amateur dramatics evenings. The notice board near the cafe entrance shows that William Herbert Wallace was due there on 19th January though he had failed to meet previous dates and was playing catch-up. So although it is true that he was due there, it wasn't an absolute certainty he'd show but would Qualtrough have known this? Wallace of course would! Bottom Right: 'Caswell' - The home of Samuel Beattie at 27 Ballantrae Road.
A few pointers here. Whoever made that call from the telephone kiosk in Anfield risked being seen, not least of all by the police who had an on going presence in the area due to the prolific 'Anfield Housebreaker'. If it were Wallace, he also ran the extra risk of not only being noticed as a local to the area, maybe by acquaintances or neighbours, but furthermore he risked his voice being recognised by whoever answered and would subsequently speak to him at the cafe. He also ran a risk that if the call were traceable, the kiosk was only 400 yards from his home. Indeed the proximity of the kiosk to his home may well have been a factor if the caller, if it were not Wallace, wanting the call to be traced, hence the botched job of trying to get put through. Regarding the caller asking that Wallace make the trek to Menlove Gardens East. If it were Wallace, he ran a risk that his chess club captain, Beattie, and another player, Deyes, being local to the Allerton area, would advise him that the Street did not exist or that they would consult a street guide advising likewise. If it were not Wallace who made the call, the man acting as 'Qualtrough' ran the risk that the message would not get to Wallace or that it would not be acted upon. Perhaps if it wasn't Wallace, 'Qualtrough could hide and wait to see Wallace leave' or if that were too risky and he was an acquaintance of the Wallace's, (we know there was no break in), then he could have called when he knew Wallace would have left for Allerton and should Wallace have aborted the idea and not gone at all, and perhaps even answered the door, then he could easily have passed himself off as 'just calling on old friends'.
Tuesday 20th January 1931- The day and night of the murder
Weatherwise, the day is no better than what's recently gone before. More rain,
another grey day, Wallace dons his Bowler hat, accentuating his great height,
and his mackintosh, setting off on his rounds at ten thirty a.m. He catches a
tram from Breck Road to the clubmoor area, day two of the new week where in all
he has nearly six hundred calls to make by its end. Julia is at home alone when
at 11.30 a.m. Arthur Hoer becomes her first call of the day when he asks for a
bucket of warm water to assist in his window cleaning in the street. Julia
provides this, Arthur and his wife, Emily wash the windows until 2pm when
Arthur has to leave to attend a meeting of the Markets Committee at the
Municipal Offices in Dale Street. As he leaves, so William Wallace arrives home
for dinner having completed his morning round which was at 177 Lisburn Lane
just before 2pm then catching the tram to Breck Road. As the Wallace's eat,
Charles Bliss, Arthur Hoer's brother-in-law arrives to assist Emily and is hard
at work a few doors away as Wallace leaves at 3.15pm to commence his afternoon
round. The rain has given way to a bright but chilly day so William has hung
his mackintosh in the hall, instead using his fawn overcoat.
Within minutes of his departure, Amy Wallace calls on Julia
for a chat, they discuss the Qualtrough name which by now William had obviously
mentioned to Julia. Meanwhile back in Clubmoor, William has entered Maiden Lane
from Townsend Lane where he is seen by Police Constable 206G James Rothwell at
3.30pm who is cycling to work towards the Anfield Road Bridewell. He is
acquainted with Wallace being one of his customers and later will testify as to
how Wallace looked haggard and drawn, very distressed, unusually distressed and
was dabbing his eye with his coat sleeve and seemed to have been crying. Just
minutes later, Wallace turned into Pennsylvania Road via Worcester Drive,
calling at No.11 to see Mrs Louisa Harrison. On the contrary, she claims
Wallace to be joking with her. Mr and Mrs Lawrence of 16 Londonderry Road is
his next port of call where Mrs Amy Lawrence invites him in for a cup of tea
which was accepted, his demeanour being the same as usual, she reports. Back at
Wolverton Street and just after four o'clock, Julia and Amy are interupted by a
knock at the front door. Baker's boy Neil Norbury is delivering the Wallace's
bread and comments that Julia does not look very well. Smiling at his concern,
Julia assures him it is only a slight touch of bronchitis.
At four thirty, Amy puts on her coat and heads for her tram
stop at Belmont Road and as Julia says her goodbye at the front door, so
Charles Bliss climbs over the back wall of 29 Wolverton Street, setting up his
ladders to clean the top windows. He is then on his ladder climbing over the
adjoining wall to No.31, where John Sharpe Johnston and his wife Florence live
when Julia emerges from the back kitchen into the yard asking where Mr. Hoer
is. After explaining about his diversion into town, Florence Johnson steps into
her backyard to listen. Julia then pays Charles with a shilling, he returning
three pence in change. It's now between 5 and 5.15pm as Emily Hoer joins Bliss
at the back of No.31 before moving to the Wallaces lower windows. It's dark now
but a fall of light from the kitchen and back bedroom aids Emily in her work.
Back at Clubmoor, William Wallace is on his last call of the day at 19 Eastman
Road, explaining to Margaret Martins how her daughter should surrender her
insurance policy. She reports him as being calm and the same as usual in
appearance, leaving her house shortly before 6pm. He then catches a bus at the
junction of Queens Drive and Towsend Lane, alighting at The Cabbage Hall public
house making his way home down Taplow Street and along Redcar Street entering
the house at the back door at about 5 minutes past 6. Julia is in the kitchen
and soon they are sitting down to a light tea of scones, washed down with a cup
of tea.
This is the junction of Townsend Lane and Maiden Lane in the Clubmoor district of Liverpool. Wallace on his afternoon round was a little way along here when Police Constable James Rothwell cycled past him noting he looked distraught. Minutes later at about 3.30pm, Wallace called here to collect premiums from Mrs Louisa Harrison at 11 Pennsylvania Road who said he was joking with her. 1)
The junction of Knoclaid Road where William Wallace turned into Londonderry road on his rounds that day. 2) 16 Londonderry Road, the home then of Amy Lawrence. 3) No.19 Eastman Road, the home of Margaret Martin, the last call of the day.
At around 6.30pm William said he collected together some documentation he thought he might require in any business transaction with Mr Qualtrough before going upstairs to the bathroom to wash his hands and face. His last actions before leaving home that night was to enter the bedroom to change his collar and brush his hair .
This is the junction of Townsend Lane and Maiden Lane in the Clubmoor district of Liverpool. Wallace on his afternoon round was a little way along here when Police Constable James Rothwell cycled past him noting he looked distraught. Minutes later at about 3.30pm, Wallace called here to collect premiums from Mrs Louisa Harrison at 11 Pennsylvania Road who said he was joking with her. 1)
The junction of Knoclaid Road where William Wallace turned into Londonderry road on his rounds that day. 2) 16 Londonderry Road, the home then of Amy Lawrence. 3) No.19 Eastman Road, the home of Margaret Martin, the last call of the day.
At around 6.30pm William said he collected together some documentation he thought he might require in any business transaction with Mr Qualtrough before going upstairs to the bathroom to wash his hands and face. His last actions before leaving home that night was to enter the bedroom to change his collar and brush his hair .
Wallace claims that at a quarter to seven, he left the house
via the back door, patting Julia on the shoulder, promising he'd be as quick as
he could. Julia, he said, went with him through the back yard to the back yard
gate as it meets the entry with instructions, as was their usual practice, to
bolt the back door to the house once she went back in.
The Search for R.M. Qualtrough Wallace’s Journey To Menlove Gardens
The Search for R.M. Qualtrough Wallace’s Journey To Menlove Gardens
According to Wallace, he left 29 Wolverton Street by the
back door at 6.45pm. He turned left into the entry, continuing along, then
right, through the narrow entry between numbers 79 and 81 Richmond Park. From
there he crossed the road and walked up the narrow alley alongside the Church
Institute, up past the steps at the top before emerging into Sedley Street.
From there, he walked straight ahead, turned left into Pendennis Street,
continued along, then turned right into Castlewood Road. Continuing to the top,
he turned left into Belmont Road and walked down the left hand side to the
corner of St Margaret’s Church. Distance walked: 605 yards.
The back entry from 29 Wolverton Street, used frequently by the Wallaces and certainly by William and his next door neighbours the Johnston's on the night in question. Next are the entries and steps leading from Letchworth Street to Sedley Street. Part of Wallace's route taken on 20th January 1931 in his business persuit of R.M. Qualtrough in Allerton.
Emerging from Castlewood Road, Wallace proceeding along the cobbled tramlined Belmont Road, past a tram stop he could have used, but presumedly seeing no tram in sight, walked to the end of the road, catching the No.26 outside St. Margaret's Church on the corner of West Derby Road.
Wallace then boarded the number 26 tram here. It takes him along Sheil Road, passing Newsham Park on his left before turning right, into Kensington then left into Holt Road and across the junction of Edge Lane into Durning Road. The route then crosses the junction of Wavertree Road and into Tunnel Road. The tram travels up to the top of Tunnel Road, where Wallace alights. Ditance covered: 1.7 miles.
The back entry from 29 Wolverton Street, used frequently by the Wallaces and certainly by William and his next door neighbours the Johnston's on the night in question. Next are the entries and steps leading from Letchworth Street to Sedley Street. Part of Wallace's route taken on 20th January 1931 in his business persuit of R.M. Qualtrough in Allerton.
Emerging from Castlewood Road, Wallace proceeding along the cobbled tramlined Belmont Road, past a tram stop he could have used, but presumedly seeing no tram in sight, walked to the end of the road, catching the No.26 outside St. Margaret's Church on the corner of West Derby Road.
Wallace then boarded the number 26 tram here. It takes him along Sheil Road, passing Newsham Park on his left before turning right, into Kensington then left into Holt Road and across the junction of Edge Lane into Durning Road. The route then crosses the junction of Wavertree Road and into Tunnel Road. The tram travels up to the top of Tunnel Road, where Wallace alights. Ditance covered: 1.7 miles.
He crosses over the road to the tram stop on Smithdown Lane.
At 7.06pm, he boards the number 5 tram (Car No.229). Along the route he
converses with conductor Thomas Charles Phillips(Badge No.3078)and ticket
inspector Edward Angus on no fewer than 4 occassions between them, wanting to
make sure he was on the right tram and that he was going to be put off at the
right stop.(Angus boarded at Earle Road at 7.06 and alights at the stop at
Portman Road at 7.10) The tram travels along Smithdown Road and onto Smithdown
Place aka Penny Lane roundabout where Wallace alights. Distance: 1.6 miles.
Smithdown Lane bus and tram terminus, better known as Penny Lane roundabout. Some 36 years before it became immortalised in song by Liverpool's very own, The Beatles, it was famous for another reason as it played a part in the route that William Herbert Wallace took in his search for R.M. Qualtrough.
This is the stretch of Allerton Road from the Maze (now a roundabout) towards Allerton and Menlove Avenue. Wallace had travelled this route two years earlier on his visits to his Prudential superintendant Joseph Crewe when learning the Violin. Despite this, he acted to the tram conductor as though he was a stranger to the area.
Wallace then takes the number 5A tram at 7.15pm and asks conductor Arthur Thompson(Badge No.43)to put him off at Menlove Gardens East. The tram passes the Allerton ‘Maze’ of Queens Drive and Allerton Road. It is 7.20pm as Wallace alights at the corner of Menlove Avenue and Menlove Gardens West. Thompson tells him 'East' is probably a continuation of 'West', Wallace leaves him with the parting shot that 'he is a complete stranger around here'. :Distance; 0.4 miles.
Smithdown Lane bus and tram terminus, better known as Penny Lane roundabout. Some 36 years before it became immortalised in song by Liverpool's very own, The Beatles, it was famous for another reason as it played a part in the route that William Herbert Wallace took in his search for R.M. Qualtrough.
This is the stretch of Allerton Road from the Maze (now a roundabout) towards Allerton and Menlove Avenue. Wallace had travelled this route two years earlier on his visits to his Prudential superintendant Joseph Crewe when learning the Violin. Despite this, he acted to the tram conductor as though he was a stranger to the area.
Wallace then takes the number 5A tram at 7.15pm and asks conductor Arthur Thompson(Badge No.43)to put him off at Menlove Gardens East. The tram passes the Allerton ‘Maze’ of Queens Drive and Allerton Road. It is 7.20pm as Wallace alights at the corner of Menlove Avenue and Menlove Gardens West. Thompson tells him 'East' is probably a continuation of 'West', Wallace leaves him with the parting shot that 'he is a complete stranger around here'. :Distance; 0.4 miles.
Wallace walks along the right hand side of Menlove Gardens
West and turns right into Menlove Gardens North. At about the sixth/eighth
house along Wallace encounters a woman, but she doesn’t know where Menlove
Gardens East is. She tells him that it might be a continuation of Menlove
Gardens West. Wallace tracks back and turns right into Menlove Gardens West and
to the corner of Dudlow Lane. It is here that Wallace meets 23 year old clerk
Sydney Hubert Green. Wallace asks him directions but Green notifies Wallace
that there is no ‘East’ as far as he is aware. (Green was to later become the
General Manager of the MDHB and died in 1981 on the very anniversary of the
murder) Wallace thanks him and says he will try 25 Menlove Gardens West.
Wallace knocks at the address. It is the home of Mr Richard Mather. His wife
Katie Ellen answers. Wallace asks if there is a Mr. Qualtrough there but Mrs.
Mather tells him that there is nobody there of that name, Wallace thanks her
and goes on his way.
He walks back along Menlove Gardens West and turns into
Menlove Gardens South. As he walks along here, Wallace realises that the house
numbers are all even. He carries on along and onto the junction with Menlove
Gardens North, but again the houses here are also even-numbered. From there
Wallace walks into Menlove Avenue and asks someone standing under a shelter,
but he too, like Wallace, is a stranger in the area. Wallace walks across
Menlove Avenue and into Green Lane. Wallace claimed that he then recognised
where he was – it was the street on which his Superintendent at the Prudential,
Mr Joseph Crewe, resided (Wallace had visited him on several occasions just
over two years before). Wallace calls at Crewe’s house (number 34), but
receives no answer – Crewe, it transpires later was apparently spending the
evening at the cinema.
Menlove Gardens South, looking across the second of the triangular greens to feature in this case, towards Menlove Gardens North. The second photograph is looking down Menlove Gardens South from its top end.
Wallace called at both these addresses. 25 Menlove Gardens West in the hope he'd been given the wrong address. This was the then home of Richard and Katie Ellen Mather. When Wallace reached Green Lane, he realised he was near the home of his prudential superintendant Joseph Crewe, whose house he visited on a number of occassions in 1929 when learning the Violin. He called here at No.34 but it transpired later that Mr Crewe was out at the cinema for the evening.
Wallace walks down Green Lane and arrives at the junction of Allerton Road. It is here that he meets constable 220F James Edward Serjeant (who has just left Allerton Road police station). Serjeant informs Wallace, who appears nervous, that there is no such place as Menlove Gardens East. Wallace asks if there is anywhere where he could consult a directory. PC Serjeant advises that the Post Office might have one. Wallace checks the time with him, it is now 7.45pm.
Menlove Gardens South, looking across the second of the triangular greens to feature in this case, towards Menlove Gardens North. The second photograph is looking down Menlove Gardens South from its top end.
Wallace called at both these addresses. 25 Menlove Gardens West in the hope he'd been given the wrong address. This was the then home of Richard and Katie Ellen Mather. When Wallace reached Green Lane, he realised he was near the home of his prudential superintendant Joseph Crewe, whose house he visited on a number of occassions in 1929 when learning the Violin. He called here at No.34 but it transpired later that Mr Crewe was out at the cinema for the evening.
Wallace walks down Green Lane and arrives at the junction of Allerton Road. It is here that he meets constable 220F James Edward Serjeant (who has just left Allerton Road police station). Serjeant informs Wallace, who appears nervous, that there is no such place as Menlove Gardens East. Wallace asks if there is anywhere where he could consult a directory. PC Serjeant advises that the Post Office might have one. Wallace checks the time with him, it is now 7.45pm.
Wallace walks along to No.95 Allerton Road which is the Post
Office and stationers run by Eric Laurie Goodman but discovers that they don’t
have a directory. He is advised to try the newsagents on the opposite side of
the road. He crosses Allerton Road and makes his way to (Edmund) Allday’s
Newsagents at No.130 where Nancy Collins and manageress Lily Pinches give him
use of a directory. Pinches tells Wallace that Menlove Gardens East does not
exist. He leaves the shop and makes his way to the tram stop near to the Plaza
cinema. At about 8.10 Wallace boards the number 8 tram which takes him back
along Penny Lane and Smithdown Road. He then takes the number 27 tram along
Tunnel Road and the same route in which he made his outward journey.
Allerton Road Post Office at 95 Allerton Road and Alldays Newsagents at No.130 on the opposite side of the road, a little further towards the maze both played a part in the hunt for Qualtrough that night.
This is the narrow entry way on Richmond Park that Wallace emerged from on his way to find Qualtrough as it leads there via the back entry on Wolverton Street. Local woman Lily Hall would testify at the trial that Wallace was seen talking to a man here on his way back home from Allerton, an accusation which Wallace denied. Wallace boarded the No.8 tram from near the entrance to the Plaza Cinema on his homeward bound journey where he would later discover his wife brutally murdered. Or was he already aware of what he would find?
As you will see later, the prosecution made great mention that the constant questioning of the tram staff and indeed anyone he went out of the way to question that night, of which there were 11 separate people, was to set up an alibi in the knowledge that at least some of those people could be traced to confirm his alibi should any suspicion be thrown on Wallace as the killer. This is in particular light of finding that Wallace occassionally took that very same tram route to his sister-in-law, Amy Wallace's house at 83 Ullet Road, to Joseph Crewe's house at 34 Green Lane, Allerton and to visit nearby Calderstones Park for nature walks in the months and years past.
The discovery of Julia's body! AND THE SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION
Upon his return to Wolverton Street at 8.45pm, William inserts his key into the lock of his front door and turns it but the door will not open. Julia does not respond to his tapping and he notices no light is on so decides to try the back door. There is a dim glow from the scullery but no light from the kitchen, this door too will not yield, so again he knocks and again he gets no reply. Returning to the front door, he again tries the key but it's no use so he hurries to the back again, this time being greeted by his next door neighbours, John Sharpe Johnston and his wife Florence Johnston as they step into the entry from their back yard.
Allerton Road Post Office at 95 Allerton Road and Alldays Newsagents at No.130 on the opposite side of the road, a little further towards the maze both played a part in the hunt for Qualtrough that night.
This is the narrow entry way on Richmond Park that Wallace emerged from on his way to find Qualtrough as it leads there via the back entry on Wolverton Street. Local woman Lily Hall would testify at the trial that Wallace was seen talking to a man here on his way back home from Allerton, an accusation which Wallace denied. Wallace boarded the No.8 tram from near the entrance to the Plaza Cinema on his homeward bound journey where he would later discover his wife brutally murdered. Or was he already aware of what he would find?
As you will see later, the prosecution made great mention that the constant questioning of the tram staff and indeed anyone he went out of the way to question that night, of which there were 11 separate people, was to set up an alibi in the knowledge that at least some of those people could be traced to confirm his alibi should any suspicion be thrown on Wallace as the killer. This is in particular light of finding that Wallace occassionally took that very same tram route to his sister-in-law, Amy Wallace's house at 83 Ullet Road, to Joseph Crewe's house at 34 Green Lane, Allerton and to visit nearby Calderstones Park for nature walks in the months and years past.
The discovery of Julia's body! AND THE SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION
Upon his return to Wolverton Street at 8.45pm, William inserts his key into the lock of his front door and turns it but the door will not open. Julia does not respond to his tapping and he notices no light is on so decides to try the back door. There is a dim glow from the scullery but no light from the kitchen, this door too will not yield, so again he knocks and again he gets no reply. Returning to the front door, he again tries the key but it's no use so he hurries to the back again, this time being greeted by his next door neighbours, John Sharpe Johnston and his wife Florence Johnston as they step into the entry from their back yard.
After ascertaining that they had heard nothing unusual,
William explains his predicament of not being able to gain entry to the house.
Mr Johnston advises him to try again and if it fails once more, he would go and
get his key. After explaining to them that Julia wouldn't be out as she 'has a
bad cold' William turns the handle exclaiming 'it opens now'. Deciding to wait
outside until they see everything is all right, Wallace entered the dimly lit
back kitchen, lighting a lamp with a match. After first checking upstairs,
Wallace dashes out telling his neighbours 'oh come and see, she's been killed'.
Following Wallace through the kitchen and down the hallway
to the lounge, a layout they are familiar with, there to their horror was
Julia's body lying diagonally across the black rug in front of the sunbeam gas
fire. She is face down, her head to one side and from the dimly lit right hand
gas mantle on the wall, they can make out a huge wound above her left ear which
has shattered her skull revealing bits of her brain. The room is cluttered with
furniture and bric a brac, there are two spent matches in the doorway as first
William bends down to grasp Julia's left hand and then Florence Johnston
follows suit muttering 'oh you poor darling' noting that William's face drained
to deathly pale. 'they've finished her' he responds. 'They' must be a
presumption or a macabre slip of the tongue by Wallace who couldn't possibly
know there was more than one assailant at this moment - unless he was somehow
involved. Mr Johnston advises them to touch nothing whilst he goes to fetch the
police and a doctor.
William and Florence traipse mournfully into the kitchen
where a copy of that night's Liverpool Echo is spread open at its centre pages,
Julia's handbag is just visible beneath the fold in the table cloth. William's
attention is drawn to a cabinet where he keeps his Prudential collection money,
the door has been wrenched off it and it lies in two pieces on the floor. He reaches
up to the top shelf and looks in the cash box to reveal that about four pounds
has been taken. Remembering he has money upstairs in a jar, he finds that the
five pounds there has not been touched.
Scene of the crime photographs from the police records reveal the position in which Julia was found in relation to everything else in the room. The second photograph is after William's mackintosh was moved from beneath her for him to recognise it. The third shows the kitchen with the cooking range on the far wall.
John Johnston has by now hurried down Lower Breck Road to the home of his GP, Dr. Dunlop who advises him to also report the matter to the police, John then continuing to Anfield Bridewell on Anfield Road. PC99G Saunders on desk duty takes down the particulars and an otherwise quiet night is transformed into a frenzy of mayhem as PC191G Fred Williams is dispatched by bicycle to Wolverton Street and a call is made to CID city centre headquarters in Dale Street.
Scene of the crime photographs from the police records reveal the position in which Julia was found in relation to everything else in the room. The second photograph is after William's mackintosh was moved from beneath her for him to recognise it. The third shows the kitchen with the cooking range on the far wall.
John Johnston has by now hurried down Lower Breck Road to the home of his GP, Dr. Dunlop who advises him to also report the matter to the police, John then continuing to Anfield Bridewell on Anfield Road. PC99G Saunders on desk duty takes down the particulars and an otherwise quiet night is transformed into a frenzy of mayhem as PC191G Fred Williams is dispatched by bicycle to Wolverton Street and a call is made to CID city centre headquarters in Dale Street.
At ten past nine, almost twenty five minutes after Julia's
body had been discovered, PC Fred Williams raps loudly at the front door.
Florence fumbled with the lock and being unable to turn it, William assists and
after being let in, the officer is led to Julia's body where he kneels to take
her pulse in her right wrist of which there is none, noting that the flesh was
slightly warm. Wallace tells him he does not know how this has happened and
briefly explains his aborted trip to Menlove Gardens East. They both search
upstairs, the middle bedroom seems intact, as does the bathroom, both rooms
being lit. However as the torch is shone in the front bedroom, a scene of
disorder confronts them. The bedclothes are half on, half off the bed, two
pillows are lying in the fireplace and
two handbags and three hats of Julia's are also on the bed but the wardrobe and
dressing table drawers are shut.
In the kitchen, the cabinet door is noted as is the missing
cash from the box on the top shelf. Julia's handbag on the chair has money and
some silver in it. Back at the murder scene in the parlour, Wallace lights the
left hand gas jet as they both look down at the body before retiring back to
the kitchen where PC Williams examines the heavy draped curtains asking if
Wallace saw any lights on, which he didn't.
A second officer, Police Sergeant Breslin, Fred Williams'
immediate superior at G Division is admitted to the house. The bloodied
mackintosh under Julia is confirmed as William Wallace's. Another knock at the
door is that from John Edward Whitly MacFall, Professor of Forensic Medicine at
Liverpool University who has arrived to conduct a medical examination of the
corpse, it is now ten to ten, approximately one hour since the body was
discovered.
Two methods are usually used to established the time of the
death of a corpse, body temperature, unreliable in itself but whereby the
rectal temperature is subtracted from the normal body temperature of 37c -
giving the number of hours dead, and the even more unreliable rigor mortis -
ie, the stiffening of the body over time. MacFall inexplicably opts for the
latter method. After recording the body's stiffness from his arrival until 1am,
he was able to assert with confidence in a report to the CID that 'It was most
likely death had taken place approximately two hours before my arrival' This
would put the murder as having happened at 8pm whilst Wallace was still in the
Allerton Road area. He would contradict this statement later by changing the
time.
Further examination of the body reveals the head is badly
battered to the left side with a three inch wound from which bone and brain
tissue protrudes. The back of the head shows a great depression to the skull
with blood matted hair hiding other wounds. There is no evidence of defensive
injuries to the hands and arms, so having tried to fight her assailant off is
ruled out, concluding that the last blows to the head would have been whilst
she was laying face down. There is a huge pool of blood on the rug where her
head rests and the mackintosh beneath her is heavily bloodstained and is partly
burnt at the front and sides. There are lines of blood splatter on some of the
furniture, reaching seven feet on the walls, it has been a sustained and
frenzied attack.
During this examination, at five past ten, Detective
Superintendent Hubert Rory Moore, the head of Liverpool Special Branch (CID)
and detective Sergeant Adolphus 'Dolly' Fothergill arrive and are brought
immediately to the murder scene. It is quickly established that the murderer
will be heavily bloodstained. 'Julia would go mad if she could see all this'
remarks Wallace. Moore tours the house and aware of the recently prevalent
'Anfield Housebreaker' he is asking if anyone was seen hanging around whilst
checking the windows for forced entry.
Detective Sergeant Harry Bailey now arrives on the scene
before Moore drives off to nearby Anfield Road Police Station where he
telephones each of his seven divisional inspectors with an update of what is
happening, alerting them to organise a city wide search for suspicious characters,
anyone with bloodstained clothing, to search lodging houses, railway stations
and all night cafes, clubs and brothels. Liverpool City Police official
photographer Harry Cooke is ordered to Wolverton Street and then the fire
brigade are instructed to supply a set of floodlights.
Superintendent Broughton and Assistant Chief Constable
Glover are now at the scene as Moore arrives back and just as Detective
Inspector Herbert Gold also arrives. Wallace, stroking the family cat exchanges
greetings with Gold whom he collects insurance premiums from, the men having
known each other for close on a decade.
Wallace again was told to give a re-run of where he'd been
that night and how he'd arrived home to find Julia dead. Moore was pondering
that there'd been no break in, no murder weapon was obviously present and he
wondered why a thief would go through the trouble, whilst under pressure of
time and having made a possible noise, to steal from the tin box and then
replace the lid and then put the tin back on the top shelf?
The front door lock is examined and found to be defective to
which Wallace replies 'That's strange, it wasn't like that this morning' yet
Mrs Sarah Draper, the housekeeper would later testify that it was faulty as was
the catch on the back door. Again Wallace is asked to identify the mackintosh
as his own and he confirms he last saw it 'hanging up over there' pointing to
his hat stand.
Wallace is then asked by Inspector Gold to accompany him and
Sergeant Bailey to Anfield Bridewell to make a formal statement, they leave the
house to crowds who have gathered outside. As he leaves, Wallace's
sister-in-law, Amy Wallace arrives with her son, Edwin. Florence Johnston had
earlier sent her daughter to inform Amy of the tragedy. It is hastily arranged
that Wallace will spend the night at Amy's as the police will not allow William
back to the house whilst investigations are taking place, it is now a quarter
to twelve.
Harry Cook, the police photographer arrives and two views of
the body are shot from the doorway and the bay window, the lounge door having
to be removed in the first instance. In Wallace's first voluntary statement, he
establishes his route to and from looking for Qualtrough, confirms he heard and
saw no one upon reaching the house but mentions he thought someone may have
been inside as he couldn't get in either the front or back doors and that
nobody he knew was likely to call while he was out and that nobody knew he was
going to the chess club the previous night. Wallace is inspected for traces of
blood without his objection and none are found.
At ten to twelve, Dr Hugh Pierce, the Police Medical Officer
arrives at the scene, both he and MacFall for the next hour take regular 15
minute checks on the effects of Rigor Mortis on the body. MacFall also shows
Pierce a small blood clot found in the lavatory pan which ends up not adding to
solving the mystery despite 118 separate tests by Dr Coope and Dr. Dible and
much over deliberation later in court. The house is now a hive of activity when
at 1.15am Sgt Bailey returns to Wolverton Street to supervise the removal of
Julia's body to the Princes Dock Mortuary, leaving behind the blood matted
hearth rug and a piece of hair.
From left to right: Detective Superintendent Hubert Rory Moore and John Edward Whitly MacFall, Professor of Forensic Medicine. Sgt Harry Bailey in the entry to the rear of Wolverton Street at the back gate of the murder scene and another of Police Photographer, Harry Cook's photos, this time of the front of the house.
Police photographs taken by Harry Cook showing the back yard gate which led to the back entry and then the view towards the house from the gate. The bathroom/toilet with a close up on the lavatory pan which had a minute speck of blood on it (which you can just see at four o'clock) and lastly the entry.
Left: Anfield Bridewell, Anfield Road became the nerve centre into this gruesome murder investigation that was led by Hubert Rory Moore who was living locally at the time at 25 Belmont Drive, Newsham Park (Right)
Not only did MacFall use the most unreliable method of attaining the time of death, he would now also concur with Pierce that the time of death most likely would have been 6pm having earlier said it was 8pm, (but Alan Close saw her at around 6.35pm). He also changed his mind from the weapon having been an iron bar to a large, heavy instrument and from 4 blows to the head to 11 blows. The toilet was also used by the police during their investigation before the blood clot was noticed - all in all, not a very professional job up to now and Moore was already under pressure to find answers.
From left to right: Detective Superintendent Hubert Rory Moore and John Edward Whitly MacFall, Professor of Forensic Medicine. Sgt Harry Bailey in the entry to the rear of Wolverton Street at the back gate of the murder scene and another of Police Photographer, Harry Cook's photos, this time of the front of the house.
Police photographs taken by Harry Cook showing the back yard gate which led to the back entry and then the view towards the house from the gate. The bathroom/toilet with a close up on the lavatory pan which had a minute speck of blood on it (which you can just see at four o'clock) and lastly the entry.
Left: Anfield Bridewell, Anfield Road became the nerve centre into this gruesome murder investigation that was led by Hubert Rory Moore who was living locally at the time at 25 Belmont Drive, Newsham Park (Right)
Not only did MacFall use the most unreliable method of attaining the time of death, he would now also concur with Pierce that the time of death most likely would have been 6pm having earlier said it was 8pm, (but Alan Close saw her at around 6.35pm). He also changed his mind from the weapon having been an iron bar to a large, heavy instrument and from 4 blows to the head to 11 blows. The toilet was also used by the police during their investigation before the blood clot was noticed - all in all, not a very professional job up to now and Moore was already under pressure to find answers.
Julia's body arrived at the Princes Dock mortuary just
before 2am whereupon the body is stripped of its clothing for an autopsy. Sgt
Bailey records that Julia is wearing a brooch on her neck and her wedding ring.
As the assistants remove her skirt, it is noted there are burn marks to the
front and side of it. Under her skirt, Julia was wearing what appeared to be a
home made nappy, held in place by a large safety pin. As this is removed, a
small pocket is revealed which holds a one pound note and a ten shilling note.
Bailey returns to Anfield Bridewell where Wallace is still in
the interview room, he is chain smoking and drinking tea. It is just after 4am
before Moore turns back up there, his search of 29 Wolverton Street complete
with the house now locked and two uniformed officers standing guard at the
front and back. After establishing that Wallace has nothing further to add to
his statement, Insp Gold and a police driver take Wallace to his sister-in-law,
Amy's house for the night with strict orders to report to Dale Street Detective
Office at 10am. Moore departs at 5am himself and with not much sleep on the
agenda, is aware that his work is only just beginning.
Left: 83 Ullet Road where Amy Wallace & her son Edwin resided on the upper floor. Right: What is now the Magistrates Court on the corner of Dale Street & Hatton Garden but which housed the police station & detective office back in 1931.
Arriving at 83 Ullet Road, Gold takes statements from Amy and Edwin Wallace who can tell him nothing of any significance relating to the night itself, only that she had visited Julia that day and left her alive and well at about 4.30pm. Remarking that the Wallace's were a reasonably happy couple and that William relied on Julia a great deal.
Left: 83 Ullet Road where Amy Wallace & her son Edwin resided on the upper floor. Right: What is now the Magistrates Court on the corner of Dale Street & Hatton Garden but which housed the police station & detective office back in 1931.
Arriving at 83 Ullet Road, Gold takes statements from Amy and Edwin Wallace who can tell him nothing of any significance relating to the night itself, only that she had visited Julia that day and left her alive and well at about 4.30pm. Remarking that the Wallace's were a reasonably happy couple and that William relied on Julia a great deal.
Since the arrival of the police on the scene, life has gone
on as normal for many local folk who are oblivious to the events at Wolverton
Street. At 11.15pm, twenty four year old John Parkes (mentioned earlier) was
leaving home from 1A Tynwald Hill for the short walk via a back entry to his £2
a week night job at Atkinson's all night garage and taxi business on Moscow
Drive, both these streets running parallel to each other off the East side of
Green Lane, Liverpool 13.
After warming himself against the cold January night chill
with a hot mug of tea, Parkes, known as Pukka to the Atkinson's and regarded as
very much one of the family by Mr William Atkinson and his three sons, Wilfred,
Harold and Arthur, sets about his work. One of the regular night time callers
to the garage was a local beat bobby called Ken Wallace who was eager to tell
Parkes and anyone else of the goings on at Wolverton Street. 'A murder has been
committed and William Wallace had been charged with it'. 'That's Parry's
friend' Parkes said to Ken Wallace. 'That's right' said the constable. In fact,
Parry was only an acquaintance of William Wallace and Wallace had not been
charged with the murder at all at this stage, actually, he wouldn't be charged
for another thirteen days but the rumour mill was in full swing from the crowds
that had gathered outside the murder scene.
Later that night, probably into the early hours of the
morning, Parkes reports that Parry came into the garage in an agitated state
demanding that he hose his car down inside and out, though it appeared to be
clean. Parkes got the high powered hose onto it and upon opening the car he
notice a glove, a leather mitt, inside the compartment and upon pulling it out
to prevent it getting wringing wet, he noticed it was covered in blood. Parry
snatched it off him saying 'If the police found that, it would hang me'. He continued
to ramble on about a bar which he'd disposed down a grid outside a doctors
house on Priory Road.
Parkes claims he could tell by what Parry was saying that he
was now washing the evidence away, he knew why he was washing the car but
didn't dare say anything as Parry stood over him telling him what to do, to
wash the whole car inside and out. Parkes also claims Parry was wearing thigh
boots and that he'd previously borrowed fisherman's oil skins from someone in
the neighbourhood. Could he have been washing the blood of Julia Wallace down
the garage drains. Parry paid Parkes five shillings and instead of staying
until the early hours like he sometimes did, he then drove off into the night
after a brief chat, confident that the evidence was gone.
Parkes was worried about what Parry had told him and before
going off shift in the morning, confided in his boss, William Atkinson. Knowing
at this stage that Wallace was not yet convicted of killing his wife, in actual
fact, he hadn't even been arrested as yet, Atkinson's advice to Parkes was
simple, 'Don't have anything to do with it' and to take a different route to
and from work. They did agree however that should Wallace be convicted, then
they would have to tell the police and as you will see later, this they did.
Atkinson's Garage at No1 Moscow Drive off Green Lane was established in 1910. In 1931 it was operating as a 24 hour garage and taxi service. John Parkes aged 24 and living with his mother at nearby No.1A Tynwald Hill (Pic 2) worked here on the night shift on the murder night and has a very interesting story to tell, backed up by the Atkinson's.
Part of that story includes Parry admitting
to disposing of an iron bar down a grid outside a Doctors on Priory Road. There
were two Doctors practising on Priory Road in 1931. Dr. George Thomson Bogle at
No.111 (Left) and ironically, Wallace's own Doctor, Dr. Louis Curwen at No.9
(Right) - He also had a practice in Anfield Road. No.9 is near the Cabbage Hall
triangle and if true, might be the logical option. Notice, just to add further
drama to the story. There are grids outside both - which were never searched.
John Parkes (Left) in 1981 when he recounted his story to Radio City's Roger
Wilkes and Michael Green. He recalled to them that even after half a century
'I'm as sure as i'm talking to you now'. Parkes in 1981 was still living just a
stones throw from his old workplace, at 60 Guernsey Road (Right).
Meanwhile back in Anfield, morning had broken and detectives were making house to house enquiries and the police HQ phone lines were jammed with anybody and everybody thinking they could help. The only new name in the hat was the Wallace's cleaner, Sarah Draper who cleaned the house every Wednesday who when found and questioned mentioned that a small poker was missing from the fireplace in the kitchen and an iron bar from the parlour. During the course of the day, Wallace's next door neighbours, the Johnston's move out of 31 Wolverton Street and into the home of their eldest daughter who resides at 358 Townsend Avenue.
Atkinson's Garage at No1 Moscow Drive off Green Lane was established in 1910. In 1931 it was operating as a 24 hour garage and taxi service. John Parkes aged 24 and living with his mother at nearby No.1A Tynwald Hill (Pic 2) worked here on the night shift on the murder night and has a very interesting story to tell, backed up by the Atkinson's.
Meanwhile back in Anfield, morning had broken and detectives were making house to house enquiries and the police HQ phone lines were jammed with anybody and everybody thinking they could help. The only new name in the hat was the Wallace's cleaner, Sarah Draper who cleaned the house every Wednesday who when found and questioned mentioned that a small poker was missing from the fireplace in the kitchen and an iron bar from the parlour. During the course of the day, Wallace's next door neighbours, the Johnston's move out of 31 Wolverton Street and into the home of their eldest daughter who resides at 358 Townsend Avenue.
At a quarter to seven that evening, a group of children
gathered outside the Parochial Hall in Richmond Park. Elsie Wright, a 13 year
old who worked part time at the dairy in Sedley Street, ran by the parents of
another local youngster Alan Croxton Close was talking excitedly to two
newspaper boys, Douglas Metcalf and Harold Jones. Kenneth Caird, the son of
Wallace's chess playing friend, James Caird, was also present. 'Alan had
delivered to the Wallace's between half six and a quarter to seven' the previous
night, the night of the murder she recounted. She recalled seeing him herself
as he walked along Letchworth Street on his way to Wolverton Street with cans
of milk. Alan himself then showed up, en route back to the dairy and confirmed
that he'd seen and spoken to Julia Wallace who was alive and well at that time.
After much deliberation and egged on by his friends showing him the story on
the back page of the Liverpool Echo, he is urged to tell the police that his
timing was crucial in the case.
Close, dancing excitedly that he was the 'missing link',
followed by his friends, made his way back to 29 Wolverton Street for the
second time that day, having already asked the police on duty there if they
required any milk. Upon telling the officer who answered the door of his story,
he was invited inside. Furthermore, Closes' story of having seen and spoken to
Julia at around 6.45pm would be corroborated by the testimony of one James
Allison Wildman. He was a 16 year old dock worker with a part time job delivering
newspapers for his uncle William from a shop at 156 Lower Breck Road. He left
the shop at about 6.20pm, his round beginning in Hanwell Street at about half
past six. He then proceeded along Taplow Street, through two entries into
Richmond Park, down another entry by Campbell's dance hall and into Wolverton
Street where he delivered papers at five houses, including No.27 - the
residence of Bertha and Walter Holmes next door to the Wallaces.
Wildman claimed that on the murder night, as on every other
night, he glanced up at the clock of Holy Trinity Church at the corner of Breck
Road and Richmond Park to see how he was doing for time and it was showing
twenty to seven. The clock was spot on because it later emerges that as luck
would have it, on the previous Friday 16th January, John Paterson of Conliff
and Company clockmakers had set the clock to the correct time. Allowing two or
three minutes to reach 27 Wolverton Street, this would make his sighting of
Alan Close, noticable as he is wearing his Shaw Street school cap, to be around
6.38pm. This means that with the statement of Thomas Phillips confirming that
his tram departed from the junction of Smithdown Lane and Lodge Lane at 7.06 pm
with William Wallace on board, it would leave Wallace only a very short amount
of time to Kill his wife, feign a robbery, dispose of blood soaked clothing and
make the journey on foot to the tram stop. The Police would engage on a series
of time trials to see if the timings were possible, some of these would descend
into farce including officers actually running the route, something an infirm
Wallace would be unlikely to have managed, the officers even gaining the
nickname, the Anfield Harriers.
What also didn't fit in with Superintendent Hubert Moore's
increasing belief that William Wallace was the murderer, was when John Parkes
kept to his word after Wallace's arrest and subsequent conviction and
telephoned the CID office to report what he knew. The response was 'pooh pooh,
you must have made a mistake'. Strange then that when interviewed in 1981,
Harry Bailey, son of the detective Sergeant involved in the case confirmed that
his father told him that Parry was indeed the prime suspect as soon as William
Wallace offered his name up on the night of the murder. Apparently the police
turned over his house and his car which was stripped down at Old Swan police
station, Derby Lane (which Parry had always maintained) and that he had an
unshakeable alibi.
From left to right: 63 Sedley Street, the home of 13 year old dairy delivery girl Elsie Wright. 3 Letchworth Street, home to James Caird who played Chess at Cottle's city cafe and also his son Kenneth who joined the group of youngsters the day after the murder to persuade Alan Close to go to the police. No.5 Twickenham Street, home to Newspaper delivery boy, James Allison Wildman and lastly, the site of Sedley Street Dairy at No51 which was ran by Mr and Mrs Close.
156 Lower Breck Road was where James Allison Wildman's Uncle William's newsagents was situated. Next is a view from the corner of Lower Breck Road and Richmond Park along the old back wall of the Belmont Road Workhouse. Wolverton Street is off here as you walk up on the right. Lastly is a shot of Holy Trinity Church on the corner of Breck Road and Richmond Park. The clock tower held vital evidence which was pretty much dismissed by the police.
Twyford Street back entry. One of three used by James Allison Wildman on the night of the murder during his newspaper delivery round. Next is No.358 Townsend Avenue. It was to here and their eldest daughters that the Johnstons (pictured) moved the day after the murder. Lastly, Old Swan Police Station, Derby Lane where it is said, Parry's car was stripped down and searched whilst looking for evidence that he was involved in Julia's murder.
William Wallace during the investigation is having to stay at his sister-in-laws at 83 Ullet Road. 29 Wolverton Street is inhabitable as the toilet and bath are disconnected whilst looking for washed away blood and the fireplace is removed as the search goes on for the murder weapon. There is no forced entry so Julia must have let her murderer in or at least known him. In Moore's mind, the picture is becoming clearer. Wallace could have committed the murder in the nude with just his overcoat over him, the same overcoat found beneath her body covered in her blood, after all there was an earlier case recorded of this having happened before.
From left to right: 63 Sedley Street, the home of 13 year old dairy delivery girl Elsie Wright. 3 Letchworth Street, home to James Caird who played Chess at Cottle's city cafe and also his son Kenneth who joined the group of youngsters the day after the murder to persuade Alan Close to go to the police. No.5 Twickenham Street, home to Newspaper delivery boy, James Allison Wildman and lastly, the site of Sedley Street Dairy at No51 which was ran by Mr and Mrs Close.
156 Lower Breck Road was where James Allison Wildman's Uncle William's newsagents was situated. Next is a view from the corner of Lower Breck Road and Richmond Park along the old back wall of the Belmont Road Workhouse. Wolverton Street is off here as you walk up on the right. Lastly is a shot of Holy Trinity Church on the corner of Breck Road and Richmond Park. The clock tower held vital evidence which was pretty much dismissed by the police.
Twyford Street back entry. One of three used by James Allison Wildman on the night of the murder during his newspaper delivery round. Next is No.358 Townsend Avenue. It was to here and their eldest daughters that the Johnstons (pictured) moved the day after the murder. Lastly, Old Swan Police Station, Derby Lane where it is said, Parry's car was stripped down and searched whilst looking for evidence that he was involved in Julia's murder.
William Wallace during the investigation is having to stay at his sister-in-laws at 83 Ullet Road. 29 Wolverton Street is inhabitable as the toilet and bath are disconnected whilst looking for washed away blood and the fireplace is removed as the search goes on for the murder weapon. There is no forced entry so Julia must have let her murderer in or at least known him. In Moore's mind, the picture is becoming clearer. Wallace could have committed the murder in the nude with just his overcoat over him, the same overcoat found beneath her body covered in her blood, after all there was an earlier case recorded of this having happened before.
Moore is somehow satisfied that Wallace still had time to do
all this and still make it to the tram stop despite Wildman and Closes'
statements about the time Close last saw Julia alive and his own men's time
trials when retracing Wallace's footsteps from Wolverton Street to the tram
stop being less than satisfactory. This would mean that Wallace was Qualtrough
and that he had made the call to the chess club from the Rochester Road
telephone box on the previous night and had managed to disguise his voice to
Beattie and then still make it down in time to the club to start his match -
was this all possible? There was just one other suspect to eliminate. It was
guy known to both the Wallace's and the police. What were Parry's alibis for
the time of the Qualtrough call and the murder night?
William Herbert Wallace was asked by the police if there was
anyone who would be admitted to the house by his wife Julia whilst he was not
in. Parry's name was put forward straight away as was another man who had done
some collection work for Wallace whilst he had been ill, a Mr Marsden, in all
thirteen men were named but Wallace said he didn't suspect any of them of the
murder. If Parry was involved in the murder, indeed anyone, he would have to
have been involved in the some way with the hoax 'Qualtrough' call too.
Parry has become a suspect due to having a known motive,
that of being found short paying both his own round and Wallace's round of
collections and Wallace confronting him and reporting him to his
superintendent, Joseph Crewe which 'may' have resulting in him changing jobs.
He was also a visitor to the Wallace's having become 'friendly' with Julia,
Parry intimating his making of 'sweet music' with her and that her husband was
'sexually odd'. All this done in William's absence from home and not reported
in his detailed diaries, and all unknown to him. Did something go wrong with
Parry's relationship with Julia and so an unknown motive springs up?.
Could the motive have been plain and simple robbery. If so,
it was badly planned as Wallace's tin box would have contained more money had
the robbery taken place when he'd not been ill and certainly more money during
the monthly as well as weekly collections which was on a different date than
the murder night but would Parry have known Wallace had been ill or the monthly
collection date?. If robbery was the motive, it was not done very well as money
was still found in the house in a number of places, not least Julia's handbag.
Parry frequented the same Cottle's City Cafe as Wallace,
they'd acknowledged each other in there. Parry could have seen the notice board
that detailed Wallace's forthcoming chess match date. Wallace had not always
attended these, in fact he was playing catch up but would Parry have known
that? In Parry's defence, why not just commit the murder when it was known
Wallace would be at this chess match on the 19th January, or was the plan to
get him further out of town to give him more time?
When writers Jonathan Goodman and Richard Whittington-Egan
traced Parry to London in 1966 and interviewed him on his doorstep, Parry
readily admiting his criminal past but would not be drawn on the Wallace case
'Not even for two thousand pounds' as he'd promised his father. Why had his
father made him make that promise. As previously stated, Parry's father and
Uncle were high up in the city ranks, would it have been an embarrassment?
Parry also courted that he could talk a lot more about the case if he really
wanted to. Whittington-Egan said he felt certain he'd met Julia's killer that
night.
Parry's alibi for the night of the Qualtrough phone call:
Josephine Ward Lloyd, the mother of Parry's girlfriend Lily
gave a statement to the police that 'On Monday 19th, Parry called at about
7.15pm' 'At about' is obviously loose and critically important because it was
7.15pm when the Qualtrough call was made from the phone box in Rochester Road,
just a very short drive away from the residence of Mrs Lloyd at 7 Missouri
Road, Clubmoor.
Parry's alibi for the night of the murder:
Josephine Ward Lloyd gives the following statement. 'On
Tuesday 20th Parry called at about 9pm and remained until about 11pm, his car
was outside. My daughter told him he was late. He said he'd been to Mrs
Williamson's, Lisburn Lane and to Hignett's at Tuebrook about a battery for his
wireless.
Parry's girlfriend, Lillian Josephine Moss Lloyd gave the
following statement: 'On Tuesday 20th, Parry called between 8.30 and 9pm but
nearer 9. He said he'd been to Mrs Williamson's at 49 Lisburn Lane. It was to
receive an invite to Les Williamson's 21st in April. He stayed here until about
11pm then went home in his car.
Lily Lloyd worked as a pianist in the nearby Clubmoor cinema
and it was usual for Parry to collect her around 9pm when she'd finished work
but on this particular night she was not working. The above alibi doesn't cover
Parry for the time of the murder which must have happened between 6.35pm (when
Alan Close last saw Julia alive and 8.45pm when Wallace discovered her dead.
In 1933, Lily Lloyd, by now engaged to be married to Parry
was jilted by him for some unknown reason. Miss Lloyd contacted Wallace's
solicitor, Hector Munro to offer a sworn affidavit that she had lied to cover
up for Parry, stating that she was indeed playing the piano at the cinema that
night and only saw Parry later on after 9pm. However, as stated above, her
original statement didn't cover him for the murder time anyway, he had another
alibi for that time (see below) so this offer was not taken up by Munro who no
longer had a client to defend anyway. Could this have been the action of a
woman wrstling with her conscious who was now free of the restrictions of Parry
or was it attempted revenge of a woman scorned?
Of the murder night itself, Parry gave the following
statement at Tuebrook Bridewell on Friday 23rd January to Sergeant Breslin.:
On Tuesday 20th I finshed work at about 5.30pm and called
upon Mrs (Olivia Alberta) Brine of 43 Knoclaid Road (a married woman whose
husband was away at sea). Also there was her daughter Savona (aged 13) and her
nephew, Harold English Dennison of 29 Marlborough Road. I stayed until 8.30pm.
I then went out and bought some cigarettes, Players No.3 and the evening
express from Mr. Hodgson at Maiden Lane Post Office. On the way to Lily Lloyd's
I remembered that I promised to call for my accumulator at Hignett's, West
Derby Road. From there I called to Mrs Williamson at No.49 Lisburn Lane to chat
for 10 minutes about a 21st then to 7 Missouri Road until about 11 to 11.30pm
then home.
Jonathan Goodman upon researching his book spoke with Mr.
Parry senior who said his son Richard was having problems with his car battery
on Breck Road on the night of the murder. This is in conflict with his son's
statement but could he have got his wires crossed and there was a genuine
confusion between him thinking of the car battery and the radio battery
(accumulator)?
Roger Wilkes when researching for his Radio programme on the
Wallace case in 1981 telephoned Lily Lloyd who said 'In 1931 I was going out
with Gordon Parry but we were not engaged. I gave a statement to the police
involving the Wallace murder but it was only partly true. This was because I
only saw Gordon later on the night of the crime, I can't remember how much
later. I have made that part of my life a closed book. To reopen it now would
cause me terrible stress.'
These three homes were all visited by Parry on the night of the murder according to his statement and corroborating alibis. 7 Missouri Road, home of his girlfriend Lily Lloyd, 43 Knoclaid Road, home of Mrs Olivia Brine and 49 Lisburn Lane, home of Mrs Williamson.
29 Marlborough Road off West Derby Road was the home of Harold English Dennison. He called on his Aunty Olivia Brine around the corner at 43 Knoclaid Road on the murder night and Parry was there.
Maiden Lane Post Office (Left) was where Parry bought some cigarettes and the evening newspaper before calling in at Walter Hignett's cycle shop which was here at 513 West Derby Road in January 1931. Parry claimed to have diverted here to sort out his accumulator battery before heading off to his girlfriends at 7 Missouri Road.
Left: Tuebrook Bridewell, just a stones throw from where Hubert Rory Moore lived was where Parry would give his statement on Friday 23rd January.
Some books published after the case did indeed point to Parry as the killer but did not name him outright due to the legal implications as he was still alive. Wallace himself hinted in a series of articles in 1932 for the John Bull magazine that he knew who killed his wife and worried the same fate may befall him. Everyone knew who he was talking of. By now, during the day after the murder, Superintendent Moore has opened a new crime file, 1341GC: Julia Wallace, Murder. Wallace himself has been interviewed again, his next door neighbours have given statements, Cottle's city cafe visited and the mysterious Qualtrough story checked out with Sergeant Bailey given the task of contacting all known Qualtrough's. A team is organised to search for the murder weapon and track down people who saw or spoke to Wallace during his jaunt to Allerton, one of them of course being PC James Serjeant of Allerton Bridewell. The Dale Street switchboard is overloaded with a huge volume of calls, some from as far as Blackpool and London, all have to be logged and investigated and the eager press are finally briefed with an update and witnesses sought. Harry Cooke takes 3 photographs of Julia's body on the mortuary slab after Amy Wallace has formally identified her, then Professor MacFall sets to work dissecting the body and here are his notes.
Wallace leaves the Dale Street Detective Office at 10.15pm on Thursday 22nd January, at the end of his second day of assisting the police with their inquiries, a plain clothes officer is dispatched to follow his every move. He heads to the tram stop at the corner of North John Street and Lord Street, his destination being his Sister-in-law Amy's flat where he is staying. At precisely the same time, Wallace's Chess Club Captain, Samuel Beattie and their mutual friend James Caird leave the Cottle's City Cafe on North John Street with two other Chess club members and catch up with Wallace. None of them notice the plain clothes policeman in the doorway, eavesdropping on their conversation as they exchange greetings and pleasantries.
These three homes were all visited by Parry on the night of the murder according to his statement and corroborating alibis. 7 Missouri Road, home of his girlfriend Lily Lloyd, 43 Knoclaid Road, home of Mrs Olivia Brine and 49 Lisburn Lane, home of Mrs Williamson.
29 Marlborough Road off West Derby Road was the home of Harold English Dennison. He called on his Aunty Olivia Brine around the corner at 43 Knoclaid Road on the murder night and Parry was there.
Maiden Lane Post Office (Left) was where Parry bought some cigarettes and the evening newspaper before calling in at Walter Hignett's cycle shop which was here at 513 West Derby Road in January 1931. Parry claimed to have diverted here to sort out his accumulator battery before heading off to his girlfriends at 7 Missouri Road.
Left: Tuebrook Bridewell, just a stones throw from where Hubert Rory Moore lived was where Parry would give his statement on Friday 23rd January.
Some books published after the case did indeed point to Parry as the killer but did not name him outright due to the legal implications as he was still alive. Wallace himself hinted in a series of articles in 1932 for the John Bull magazine that he knew who killed his wife and worried the same fate may befall him. Everyone knew who he was talking of. By now, during the day after the murder, Superintendent Moore has opened a new crime file, 1341GC: Julia Wallace, Murder. Wallace himself has been interviewed again, his next door neighbours have given statements, Cottle's city cafe visited and the mysterious Qualtrough story checked out with Sergeant Bailey given the task of contacting all known Qualtrough's. A team is organised to search for the murder weapon and track down people who saw or spoke to Wallace during his jaunt to Allerton, one of them of course being PC James Serjeant of Allerton Bridewell. The Dale Street switchboard is overloaded with a huge volume of calls, some from as far as Blackpool and London, all have to be logged and investigated and the eager press are finally briefed with an update and witnesses sought. Harry Cooke takes 3 photographs of Julia's body on the mortuary slab after Amy Wallace has formally identified her, then Professor MacFall sets to work dissecting the body and here are his notes.
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Wallace leaves the Dale Street Detective Office at 10.15pm on Thursday 22nd January, at the end of his second day of assisting the police with their inquiries, a plain clothes officer is dispatched to follow his every move. He heads to the tram stop at the corner of North John Street and Lord Street, his destination being his Sister-in-law Amy's flat where he is staying. At precisely the same time, Wallace's Chess Club Captain, Samuel Beattie and their mutual friend James Caird leave the Cottle's City Cafe on North John Street with two other Chess club members and catch up with Wallace. None of them notice the plain clothes policeman in the doorway, eavesdropping on their conversation as they exchange greetings and pleasantries.
Wallace then asks Beattie about the Qualtrough telephone
message saying it may be very important if he can remember the exact time it
was received. 'About seven o'clock or shortly after' is the best Beattie can
offer. Wallace asks him if he can get any nearer to the exact time then remarks
twice that there are many strange things in connection with the murder then
strangely tells Beattie that the police have now cleared him. Beattie tells
Wallace he is pleased to hear that but advises him not to discuss the case with
anyone but the police for his own good in case any simple thing mention gets
distorted. Caird asks when the funeral is, Wallace telling him he thinks it
will be on Saturday but doesn't want any fuss. Wallace then bids his friends
goodnight as the No.8 tram pulls up for him to board, the Policeman doing so
too. His report will be interpreted by Moore, Gold and Bailey, that Wallace was
trying to influence Beattie and it coincided back at the police HQ with news
that the Qualtrough phone call kiosk is situated only 400 yards from the home
of Wallace. The next day Wallace is called in again and gives a third statement
and is questioned about his chat with Beattie the previous evening where he
concedes 'it was indiscreet of me'.
The following day, Saturday 24th January, Julia is buried at
Anfield Cemetery during a miserable drizzle. William, Amy and Edwin are all
present as is constable Thomas Hudson. There are few flowers and Wallace weeps
uncontrollably.
Later that day, a Mr. Hall hand delivers a letter to Moore's
office, it's from his daughter Lily who lives in Letchworth Street and who is
ill in bed. She says she saw Wallace on the night of the murder, at 8.35pm
talking to another man in Richmond Park near to the passage that leads to
Sedley Street. This would be about ten minutes before Wallace was seen by the
Johnstons when trying to gain access to his house. Wallace when questioned
later denies this and no man ever comes forward after an appeal is put out for
his whereabouts. As the last witness on the first day of the trial which we'll
detail later, and under oath, Lily Hall would fall to pieces, not being able to
remember what day it was she saw him, nor what time it was on which day, nor
whether it was on her way to the pictures or on the way home.
In Moore's mind, the case is building against Wallace and
Monday 26th January sees the formation of what became known as the 'Anfield
Harriers', a crack team of his most experienced officers who are going to see
if they can make the journey that Wallace did on the murder night between the
time milk boy Close claims to have seen Julia alive (between 6.30 and 6.45) and
the fixed point of time of six minutes past seven given by the tram conductor
Thomas Phillips. Wallace always claimed to have left his house at 6.45pm.
Moore, using his stop watch gets Close to re-enact his delivery round and
establishes he would have left the milk with Julia at 6.31 and if the
'Harriers' can reduce Wallace's route from 21 minutes (ie 6.45 to 7.06)to
something taking less time, then Wallace could have had the time to commit the
murder. Essentially though, they have to pooh pooh Close's timings and even
then it doesn't account for removing the bloodstaining, faking a botched
robbery, lighting the gas mantle and Wallace's medical condition. Over the next
two days, three pairs of offices make the journey using Wallace's alleged route
and another route in 19,15,17, 20, 18 and 17 minutes respectively. Taking the
average of 18 minutes for the journey and Closes re-enactment time, Moore
concludes that Wallace would have had ample time from 6.31 until 6.48 (17
minutes) to do all he needed to do.
During the second day of the time trials, Wallace
unexpectedly arrives at Moore's office in Dale Street requesting admittance to
Wolverton Street for a change of clothing. The house is uninhabitable due to
the hygiene and sanitary units having been removed as well as the fireplace in
the search for blood and the murder weapon, the admittance though is granted.
With the alibis of Parry, Marsden and Young corroborated and Forensic tests on
Parry's car and clothing completed and satisfactory, a case is put before the
Director of Public Prosecutions for Wallace's arrest.
In the meantime Wallace is interviewed again and a 4th
statement taken. There are no glaring contradictions as to what he has already
said, nor any additional information forthcoming. Was the Qualtrough call a
hoax made by Wallace from a nearby call box, would a person take such a risk or
did someone else make it from there knowing the call could be traced to the
Wallace's vicinity. How about all these people Wallace spoke to on the
Qualtrough night. Did he go out of his way to be seen on his way to and in
Allerton, a route he said was alien to him, yet wasn't? There was no sign of
forced entry, was it a robbery gone wrong by someone known to the Wallace's?,
Wallace had £152 in the bank and Julia who also had £90 in a post office
savings account had life insurance of only £20. Was Wallace having an affair
with his sister-in-law Amy or the charlady, Sarah Draper or was Julia having an
affair, possibly with Parry? On Monday 2nd February, the DPP relents, agreeing
that there is indeed a case for Wallace to answer. Bernard Pearce telephones
Bishop with the news who in turn informs Everett, Glover and Moore.
A warrant is sworn for the arrest of William Herbert
Wallace, aged fifty two, of 29 Wolverton Street, Anfield, in the city of
Liverpool, temporarily residing at 83 Ullet Road, Sefton Park. The charge is
the wilful murder of Julia Wallace on the night of 20th January 1931.
At 7.00pm on Monday 2nd February, a police car pulled up to the kerbside outside 83 Ullet Road. Out stepped Superintendents Hubert Moore and Charles Thomas and Inspector Herbert Gold. The surveillance man on duty informed them that Wallace was in the house. The three detectives made their way up the stairs to Amy Wallace’s first floor flat. Amy was out but her son Edwin was in. When the knock came he thought his mother had returned home without her key. Edwin hurried to the door and opened it.
The
evening of the arrest on Monday 2nd February 1931
At 7.00pm on Monday 2nd February, a police car pulled up to the kerbside outside 83 Ullet Road. Out stepped Superintendents Hubert Moore and Charles Thomas and Inspector Herbert Gold. The surveillance man on duty informed them that Wallace was in the house. The three detectives made their way up the stairs to Amy Wallace’s first floor flat. Amy was out but her son Edwin was in. When the knock came he thought his mother had returned home without her key. Edwin hurried to the door and opened it.
“We want to speak to Mr Wallace” said Gold.
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| Main Bridewell |
“Good evening” Wallace said, rising to his feet. “Won’t you
sit down?” Gold didn’t reply but waited for Edwin to leave the room. “You know
who I am?” said Gold.
Wallace nodded.
Gold made the formal caution and added: “William Herbert
Wallace, it is my duty to arrest you for the wilful murder of your wife.”
Gold stood waiting, pencil on paper, for Wallace’s reaction.
“What can I say in answer to a charge of which I am absolutely
innocent?”
The silence was broken by the scratching of pencil on paper
as Gold recorded Wallace’s reply.
Moore took Wallace by the arm, ushering him out of the room
and into the hall. Before leaving the flat, Wallace knocked at the door of
Edwin’s room. Edwin opened the door. Wallace informed him that he was being
taken away and that to tell Amy that he would be alright.
At the Main Bridewell Wallace was again cautioned and
charged. He made no reply. He was searched, his pockets emptied and placed in a
cell for the night. Cheapside Bridewell
Tuesday 3rd February, 1931
A diary of the various court
appearances, coroners inquests and committal proceedings leading up to the
trial.
Tuesday 3rd February, 1931
At 10am, half an hour before the court was fixed to open,
the gallery in the Stipendiary’s Court was crowded with spectators – mostly men
of the labouring class, with one or two youths. Only half a dozen women were
among them.
The police had to disperse a crowd of about 200 that had
filled the ante-room in the hope of getting into the court. At 10.30 there was
a stir in court when Wallace’s name was called. Wearing a dark suit and
overcoat Wallace stepped into the dock of Court No.1 and placed his bowler hat
on a seat in the corner. He glanced round the court through his gold-rimmed
spectacles. Leaning against the rails of the dock, he listened to the case
intently.
Prosecuting Solicitor J.R. Bishop outlined the case against
the accused and Wallace must have looked on in perplexity as Bishop proceeded
to make one mis-statement after another, eighteen in all. In his opening
statement Bishop said that he proposed to offer only evidence of arrest and to
ask for a remand.
The Stipendiary Magistrate Stuart Deacon asked: “Is he
represented?”
Bishop: “Not as far
as I know.”
Deacon: “What is
Wallace?”
Bishop: “He is an insurance agent.”
Bishop said that it was the custom of Wallace to arrive home
at various times of the day for his meals and that on the evening of January
20th he arrived at 6.05, had his tea and left at 6.45. When he returned again
at roughly 8.40 he discovered that his wife had been murdered. Apart from
Wallace, the last person to see Mrs Wallace alive was the milk-boy. He called
sometime after 6.31.
Bishop’s 18 Mis-statements of Fact
“His business takes him about Liverpool at various times of
the day.”
[1. Wallace’s business was confined to the area of Clubmoor,
contiguous to Anfield]
“He had an appointment – so he says – which required him to
leave the house at 7.00, and it is a fact that he was seen at a short distance
away [2. Not a short distance away – Smithdown Lane is almost two miles away]
“at 7.10.” [3. The time the tram left the junction was about 7.06] “To get to
that spot he may have left the house at any time from five to four minutes to
seven.” [4. The police ‘tram tests’ showed that he could not have left the
house any later than 6.49]
“The message left at the chess club requested him to go the
following evening to a house in the Sefton Park district” [5. Not Sefton Park but Allerton]
“It will be proved that the telephone message emanated from
a call-box two or three hundred yards from 29 Wolverton Street” [6. In actual
fact 400 hundred yards]
“It would have taken him just as long to get from the
call-box, in time to reach the café where he received the message as did time
elapse between the time the message was received and accused arrived at the
café.” [7. This was sheer guess-work. The police never bothered to ascertain
the duration of the journey from the call-box to the café]
“One curious fact is this – but for the fact that the
message was sent from a call-box, and that the number to which it was sent was
engaged one could never have traced the call-box from which the message was
sent.” [8. The number was not engaged.
Neither Gladys Harley nor any members of the chess club had used or answered
the telephone that evening]
“While the message was given to the telephone official in
one voice, a totally different voice was assumed on speaking to the gentleman
who received the message.” [9. There is no evidence to support this statement]
“He says he left at 6.45. The prosecution says that sometime
before seven o’clock [10. No later than 6.49] “he went to keep this appointment
which he said had been made in Menlove Gardens.” [11. Not Menlove Gardens but
Menlove Gardens East]
“When he arrived home says he went to the front door – that
is a curious fact, as he said later that he
was always in the habit of going in by the back door.” [12. Wallace said
no such thing. What he said was that it was his usual practice to use the front
door late at night and his usual practice to use the back door in daylight]
“On entering the back door, the accused asked his neighbours
to wait in case there was anything wrong.” [13. It was not Wallace who made the
suggestion – it was in fact John Johnston who suggested that he and his wife
Florence should wait]
“For some reason, when he went out in the afternoon, he did
not wear his mackintosh, but his coat, Perhaps it was colder.” [14. Wallace did
not wear his mackintosh in the afternoon or evening for the simple fact that it
was no longer raining]
“On entering the parlour, accused immediately remarks to the
neighbour ‘What is my mackintosh doing here?” [15. In actual fact it wasn’t
until Wallace and Mrs Johnston went to the parlour the second time that Wallace
mentioned the mackintosh]
“When the police examined the mackintosh, there was blood
all over it and up the sleeves.” [16. In fact, apart from a few small stains
within the right cuff, the insides of the sleeves were clean]
“Accused found that four £1 notes had been stolen from the
cash-box.” [17. After checking his insurance books Wallace informed the police
that the cash-box had contained a £1 note, three 10s. notes, thirty or forty
shillings in silver, a postal order for 4s. 6d., and a crossed cheque for £5
17s. 0d.]
“The bloodstain found on the top of the rim of the toilet
was, no doubt at all, of the same period of time as the woman’s death.” [18.
The only undoubted facts about the bloodstain were (a) that it was of human
origin, and (b) that it was not of menstrual origin.
Bishop consulted his notes, careful to make sure that he
hadn’t missed anything, then sat down. After Inspector Gold had related the
events of the arrest, Bishop was back up on his feet, applying for a remand in
custody for the maximum period of eight days.
When the Stipendiary asked the accused if he had anything to
say Wallace gripped the rails of the dock tightly with his long hands, and,
pulling himself up to his full height, said, dramatically, ‘Nothing sir, except
that I am absolutely innocent of the charge.’
The remand was granted and Wallace was led down the stairs
of the dock. Before being taken to the hospital block at Walton Gaol, Wallace
was allowed to phone a solicitor. He chose Hector Munro of the Dale Street firm
Herbert J. Davis, Berthen & Munro.
Left to right:
J.R. Bishop, the prosecuting solicitor at the stipendiary court.Stuart Deacon, the stipendiary magistrate. 5th February 1931.
J.R. Bishop, the prosecuting solicitor at the stipendiary court.Stuart Deacon, the stipendiary magistrate. 5th February 1931.
Liverpool City Coroner George Cecil Mort formally adjourned
the inquest of Julia Wallace until February 25th. The inquest was formally
opened on 22nd January.
Hector Munro appeared for Wallace.
The Coroner said: “In view of the criminal proceedings in
connection with this case I propose to adjourn it until such time as these
proceedings will be likely to be concluded.”
Munro suggested an adjournment for two months, but the
Coroner, in fixing February 25th, said he would then probably know the result
of the police court proceedings.
(left)Liverpool city coroner,
George Cecil Mort. 11th February 1931
(left)Liverpool city coroner,
George Cecil Mort. 11th February 1931
(Right) Hector Munro, the solicitor for the defence
A long queue of would-be spectators formed up outside No.1 Court for over an hour before the court opened, and many were turned away by the police. But even the early-comers were disappointed, for the Stipendiary sits in No.2 Court on Wednesdays. Only a few spectators were present there.
Wallace was remanded again for eight days by the Stipendiary
Magistrate. All Prosecuting Solicitor
Bishop did was to apply formally for the remand, and to state that
Wallace would be represented by Hector Munro.
Munro said that the remand would suit him, and the
Stipendiary granted it without comment.
Wearing gold-rimmed spectacles and dressed in a black
overcoat and tie, Wallace was calm and collected and glanced around the court
now and then. Wallace bowed slightly to the Magistrate when he was remanded.
Thursday 19th February, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
The Committal Proceedings lasted for seven days. The
prosecution called thirty-five witnesses, whose evidence – about 50,000 words
of it – were taken down in longhand in the form of depositions, by the Clerk of
the Court, Henry Harris.
By 10.00 – half an hour before time, hundreds of people
gathered in the courtyard, and a dozen constables formed them into a queue
upstairs to the lobby leading to the court.
Similar scenes were witnessed the previous week and there
was a similar repetition of the public misconception as to the court in which
Wallace was to appear.
When the doors of the Stipendiary’s Court were opened, about
half of the crowd managed to obtain standing room in that court, the remainder
being shepherded back into the street. But the accused appeared in No.2 Court,
where few, besides witnesses, had gone.
J.R. Bishop, Assistant Prosecuting Solicitor to the
Liverpool Corporation, prosecuted for the police.
Sydney Scholefield Allen (instructed by Messrs Herbert J.
Davis, Berthen & Munro) appeared for Wallace.
Lay Magistrate R.J. Ward presided.
Wallace was brought into the dock flanked by two officers.
He wore a black overcoat and black tie and a white collar. He appeared brisk
and cheerful. When his name was called Wallace answered briskly, “yes.”
Scholefield Allen said it would be a convenience if Wallace
could take a seat immediately behind him. He understood the police did not
object. The Magistrate agreed, and Wallace, accompanied by the two constables,
left the dock and sat behind his defending solicitor.
Bishop rose to make the opening speech for the prosecution.
A fortnight before, applying for Wallace’s remand in custody, Bishop had
included eighteen mis-statements in his speech. Now, in his second speech, he
repeated most of those mis-statements – and added a few more. Bishop claimed
Wallace had lied when he told Beattie that he did not know where Menlove Avenue
was – [Wallace said no such thing]. Bishop also alluded to Wallace’s visits to
his Super, Joseph Crewe, living at 34 Green Lane, which runs out of Menlove
Avenue. Menlove Gardens North, South and West all run out of Menlove Avenue on
the opposite side. [Only Menlove Gardens North and West run onto Menlove
Avenue] and that Wallace was a regular visitor some two years previously when
Crewe was ill. [This was completely untrue – Crewe said himself that he had
never been ill a day in his life]. Bishop then turned his attention to the
mackintosh: “The reason the accused did not wear the mackintosh at Menlove
Avenue is because it played some part in the crime.”
Scholefield Allen had had enough. He leapt to his feet:
“Time after time Mr Bishop is suggesting things. It is his duty to present this
case fairly, without bias, and on the facts. Wallace is on trial for his life
and my friend seems to forget that. Mr Bishop’s duty is to present the case for
the Crown. Cold, hard, logical facts are needed and not things to prejudice
Wallace. I protest strongly about this, and this is not the first time it has
been done.”
Bishop: “I do not know how far I must curb my opening
remarks.”
Scholefield Allen: “Address to the jury was it not?”
Magistrate: “You can take it from me, it is having no effect
on me.”
William Henry Harrison, a surveyor in the Land Steward and
Surveyor’s Department of the Liverpool Corporation, produced plans and gave
measurements relating to the house in Wolverton Street and the vicinity. He
said the call-box was 400 yards from the house.
Leslie Heaton, telephone electrician in the employ of the
Post Office said there was a telephone call-box – “Anfield 1627” – at the
corner of Rochester Road and Breck Road, Anfield. The telephone number of the
City Café North John Street, was Bank 3581.
He said he thought there was a public telephone in the library, Breck
Road.
Louisa Alfreds, telephone operator at the Anfield Exchange,
stated that on January 19th, she was on duty and received a call from the
call-box Anfield 1627, at 7.15pm. The call was intended for Bank 3581. It was a
male voice and ‘quite ordinary.’ She made the connection right away and heard
Bank 3581 on the line. About two minutes later she saw another operator trying
to get Bank 3581 for Anfield 1627.
Lilian Martha Kelly, operator at the Anfield Exchange,
stated that at 7.17pm on January 19th, she received a call from Anfield 1627.
It was a man’s voice. He did not ask for a number. Miss Kelly replied to him,
and also said something to Miss Alfreds. Miss Kelly later spoke to the caller
and a light on the board indicated that he had pressed button B, and received
his money back. After further conversation with the caller, she tried again to
get Bank 3581, but failed. She then referred to the exchange supervisor, and
two or three minutes later she connected Anfield 1627 to Bank 3581.
Annie Robertson, supervisor in the Anfield Exchange, said
that about 7.20pm Miss Kelly referred a call – Bank 3581 – to her. Miss
Robertson got the call and the connection was made.
Gladys Harley, waitress at the City Café, said she answered
the telephone there between 7 and 8pm on January 19th, when, after a minute or
two, she heard a gentleman’s voice asking for Bank 3581. She called Mr Beattie,
one of the customers.
When cross-examined, Miss Harley was sure the café telephone
line was free at that time, and had been for half an hour. She knew Mr Wallace
but didn’t recognise the voice.
Samuel Beattie, cotton broker’s manager, said he was captain
of a chess club meeting at the café, and had known Wallace, who was a member,
for eight years. He was called to the telephone by Miss Harley, and took a
message for Wallace from a man’s voice – strong, confident and gruff. That was
about 7pm and at 7.45pm he saw Wallace in the club, and told him a Mr
Qualtrough wanted him to call at 25 Menlove Gardens East, Mossley Hill, the
following night, at 7.30 about “something in the nature of your business”. Beattie said Mr Wallace’s reply was:
“Qualtrough! Qualtrough! I don’t know him” – as if surprised. He also said he
did not know where the address was, and, after inquiries, Beattie suggested
which car Wallace should take. Beattie saw Wallace again on Thursday, January
22nd , at the corner of Lord Street and North John Street at 10.20pm. Beattie said accused asked him if he could
be more precise about the time he (Beattie) received the telephone call.
Wallace said he had just left the police, and that they had cleared him.
In cross-examination, Scholefield Allen remarked that it was
said the person who sent the telephone message disguised his voice. The
Magistrates’ Clerk said that expression had not been used in that court.
Scholefield Allen replied that it had been used in applying for a remand, and
he was pleased to hear there was no suggestion that it was a disguised voice.
Beattie said he had never suggested that Wallace did not
know the name or district of Menlove Avenue. Wallace was deep in a game of
chess when Beattie gave him the message, and he treated it indifferently. He
did not appear upset or shaken after leaving the police station on Thursday,
January 22nd.
James Caird, grocer, said he was a member of the Chess Club,
and on the way home with Wallace on January 19th, the accused seemed rather
delighted to have won his tournament game.
He incidentally mentioned the telephone message, and said he had never before
heard the name ‘Qualtrough.’
Caird said he had been in the habit of visiting the
Wallace’s. They seemed a very happy couple. Caird agreed that Mr Wallace was
Mrs. Wallace’s sole thought. She played the piano and he the violin, and on
occasions they played together for Caird’s benefit.
In answer to Scholefield Allen, Caird said there was not the
slightest truth in a rumour that there was some other lady.
Caird, in reply to further questions, said on the night of
January 22nd , when he saw Wallace, he looked like a man under great
strain. He was in mourning.
Sydney Scholefield Allen was part of Wallace's defence team from the offices of Messrs Herbert J. Davis, Berthen & Munro. Friday 20th February, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
Sydney Scholefield Allen was part of Wallace's defence team from the offices of Messrs Herbert J. Davis, Berthen & Munro. Friday 20th February, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
About 200 people were in the public gallery of No.2 Court when R.J. Ward took his seat for the resumption of the hearing. Wallace again sat behind his counsel, and he smiled frequently as he spoke with Sydney Scholefield Allen and Hector Munro. Wallace took off his overcoat before the proceedings began, revealing that he was dressed in mourning.
The hearing opened with the calling of a new witness – PC
James Edward Rothwell. Rothwell knew Wallace for about two years as a collector
for the Prudential, and was a client on Wallace’s round.
Bishop asked Rothwell: “Do you remember Tuesday, January,
20th?”
Scholefield Allen intervened: “I protest against such a
leading question. The date is put into the witnesses head.”
Henry Harris, Assistant Clerk to the Magistrate said: “It
will be better if the witness is not led.”
PC Rothwell continued his evidence, claiming that he was
cycling along Maiden Lane at about 3.30 and saw Wallace approaching him. Wallace was dressed in a tweed suit and a
light fawn raincoat or mackintosh. He was dabbing his eyes with his sleeve and
appeared distressed. “His face was very pale, haggard and drawn” said Rothwell.
It was at this point that the Magistrate addressed someone
in the well of the court: “Do not let us have so much humour. Let us take this
thing seriously.”
Alan Croxton Close, aged 14, said his father was a dairyman.
“I take the milk round between 5.30 and 6.30 each night, and up to two weeks
ago I delivered milk in Wolverton Street. I delivered milk between 6.00 and
6.30. The last time Mrs Wallace took the milk in was January 20th.”
James Patterson, clock winder, said it was his duty to wind
and regulate the clock of the Holy Trinity Church, Breck Road, once a week. He
examined the clock on January 23rd and found that it was all right.
Thomas Charles Phillips, tramcar conductor, said that
shortly after seven o’clock on January 20th, a man came forward and asked him
if the car went to Menlove Gardens East. Phillips told the man (Wallace) that
he would have to get on a 5w or 5a, but changed his mind and said that the man
could board his tram and change at Penny Lane. Phillips claimed Wallace asked
about Menlove Gardens East. Phillips punched a penny ticket for Wallace then
went upstairs to collect fares. When he came back down, Wallace again asked him
not to forget that he would change at Penny Lane. When the car reached Penny
Lane, Phillips said he shouted for Wallace to change for Menlove Gardens.
Wallace got off. Phillips then pointed to a No.7 car headed for Calderstones.
Wallace went towards the No.7 car but Phillips wasn’t sure whether he boarded
it or not.
Arthur Thompson, tramcar conductor was next to give
evidence. He said he went on duty on a 5a car which left Penny Lane for
Calderstones at 7.15 on January, 20th. “I saw a man who I think, was the
accused man, sitting on the left-hand side of the car, and when I went inside
he asked me if I could put him off at Menlove Gardens East. On Approaching
Menlove Gardens West, I signalled for the car to stop and beckoned the man to
the platform. I told him this was Menlove Gardens West and that he would
probably find Menlove Gardens East in that direction. The man said ‘Thank you.
I am a complete stranger down here.’ The man left the car and went in the
direction of Menlove Gardens West.”
Katie Mather said that someone called at her house on
January 20th. She did not recognise the man as she did not turn the light on.
“He was a tall, slight man, dressed in a hat and coat. He made an enquiry for a
Mr Qualtrough.”
PC James Edward Serjeant said that on January 20th, he was
on duty around Menlove Gardens and Green Lane. “I left Allerton Police Station
at 7.40 and crossed over to the junction of Allerton Road and Green Lane. A man
came up to me – I recognise him as the accused now – and asked me to direct him
to Menlove Gardens East. I told him there was no such place, but there was a
North, South and West. The man said he was an insurance agent and he was
looking for a Mr Quallthorp, as he spelled the name to me. I told the man to
try Menlove Avenue. The man asked me if I knew where he could see a directory.
I told him to try the Post Office. The man said; ‘It is not 8 o’clock yet’ and
pulled out his watch. I did the same. I saw that the time was a quarter to
eight. The man then walked towards Allerton Road Post Office”.
Lily Pinches, manageress of Allday’s newsagents on Allerton
Road said she was in the shop on the night of January 20th when a man called ‘a
good while after eight’ and asked for a directory. He was looking for Menlove
Gardens East but I told him there was no East. I told him there was a number 25
Menlove Gardens West in the book but he said they weren’t the people he wanted.
The man then said ‘Good night’ and left the shop.
Sydney Hubert Green, clerk, said that he spoke to a man in
Menlove Gardens West some time after 7.10 on January 20th. Green said the man
asked him if he could tell him where Menlove Gardens East was. Green told him
there was no such place. The man then said he would try 25 Menlove Gardens West
and bade Green ‘good night.’
PC Frederick Roberts Williams “G” Division said he was on
duty at Anfield Road shortly after 9pm on January 20th. Williams relayed that
he went to 29 Wolverton Street and knocked at the front door. After a few
second’s fumbling by someone inside the house, the door was opened by Wallace,
who then said; ‘Come inside officer, something terrible has happened.’ Williams
then told of his sighting of the body of Mrs Wallace;
“She was lying in a twisted position with her head towards
the sitting-room door and her feet towards the fireplace. I felt her right
wrist, but could feel no movement of the pulse.
“I questioned Mr Wallace then. I said ‘How did it happen?’
and he replied, ‘I don’t know. I left the house at a quarter to seven to go to
Menlove Gardens. My wife accompanied me to the back door and walked down the
entry with me. She returned and bolted the backyard door. She would then be
alone in the house. I went to Menlove Gardens, but found that the message which
I received was wrong. Becoming suspicious, I returned home. I went to the front
door, inserted my key, but could not open the door. I went round to the back of
the house and found the back-yard door on the latch, but not bolted. I went up
the yard and tried the back-kitchen door, which would not open. I returned to
the front, again tried the door, and found it was bolted. I hurried round to
the back again and this time found the back kitchen door would open. I entered
the house, and this is what I found.’
“That was all he said then. Accompanied by Wallace, I
searched and examined the house.” continued PC Williams. “In the middle
bedroom, over the kitchen the gas-jet was burning. I asked Mr Wallace if the
light was burning when he entered the house, and he replied, ‘I changed myself
in this room before leaving the house and probably left the light on myself.’
“On the mantelpiece in that room I noticed a small ornament
from which were protruding five or six £1 notes. Wallace took hold of the
ornament, partly extracted the notes, and said, ‘Here is some money which has
not been touched.’ At my request Wallace replaced the notes and ornament in
their original positions.”
PC Williams identified a jar produced as being that he had
seen in the middle bedroom.
“In a corner of the room to the right of the fireplace”,
continued PC Williams “was a curtained recess. I approached this, and Wallace
remarked: ‘My wife’s clothes are kept there. They have not been touched’.
“I looked into the recess and saw that, apparently, the
clothes had not been touched. Wallace said, ‘There appears to have been no one
here’. I went with Mr Wallace to the back bedroom, which had been converted
into a laboratory. Wallace said, ‘Everything is all right here’.
“We then went to the bathroom, in which there was a low
light burning. I asked Wallace if the light was usually left burning and he
replied ‘We usually have a low light here’. We then went to the front bedroom,
which was in a state of disorder and in darkness.
“The bedclothes were half on the bed and half on the floor,
and there were two pillows lying near the fireplace.”
Prosecuting Solicitor Bishop asked PC Williams what other
furniture there was in the room beside the bed:
“A dressing table with a mirror and drawers and a wardrobe”
answered Williams.
“The front of the wardrobe and the drawers in the dressing
table were shut. I went downstairs with Mr Wallace, and in the kitchen I
noticed the door of a small cabinet had been broken in two pieces.
“Mr Wallace pointed out to me a small black cash-box which
lay on top of a bookcase to the left of the fireplace. Wallace said, ‘There was
about £4 in the box and it has gone’. Mr Wallace next picked up a woman’s
handbag lying on a chair near the table. The seat and the chair was half-way
under the table. Wallace opened the handbag and took out a £1 note and some
silver. He said something which I do not remember, referring to his wife’s
money. We went into the sitting-room and both stood near the door. The
window-blinds were drawn and a gas-jet above the fireplace and to the right was
lit and showing a good light.
“I looked round the room, and Wallace stepped round the body
near the sideboard and lit the gas-jet to the left of the fireplace. We left
the room, and I closed the sitting-room door.
“We went to the kitchen, where I said to Wallace, ‘Where
there any lights burning when you entered?’ He replied: ‘Except for the two
lights upstairs, the house was in darkness’. The kitchen window was covered
with heavy curtains, and these I parted slightly.
“I asked Mr Wallace ‘When you first came up the yard did you
notice any light shining through the curtains?’ Wallace replied: ‘The curtains
would prevent a light from escaping’. I said; ‘I’ll try them’, and Wallace
replied, ‘It’s no use now. You have disturbed them’.
“About five minutes later we again entered the sitting-room,
and this time Police-Sergeant Breslin was with us. I pointed to what appeared
to be a mackintosh, and said, ‘This looks like a mackintosh’. Wallace, who was
standing near the door, looked into the hall and said: ‘It is an old one of
mine. It usually hangs here’.
“The mackintosh was a blue grey colour. I did not examine
it. The one produced resembles it. The mackintosh was lying near Mrs Wallace’s
head. It was all rumpled and spattered with blood. Shortly after this Professor
MacFall, Superintendent Moore and other officers arrived, and they carried on
the examination.”
Scholefield Allen: “Did you ask Wallace if the mackintosh
was his?”
PC Williams: “No”
Scholefield Allen: “Is it true to say, as opened in this
case, that there was no doubt that he recognised it at once, although later, in
the presence of the police, he hesitated a considerable time before he admitted
it was his?”
“He did not hesitate in my presence” replied Williams.
Bishop: “You ought to put that question, Mr Allen, to a
later witness.”
Monday 23rd February, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
Long before Magistrate R.J. Ward took his seat for the
resumption of the hearing, a long queue had formed outside the main entrance on
Dale Street. Only a small proportion of the public could be accommodated in the
gallery of the court, with hundreds turned away.
Wallace again sat behind his counsel, accompanied by a
constable and watched the proceedings with close attention.
Joseph Crewe, Wallace’s Superintendent, said he had known
Wallace as an insurance agent for 12 years. Crewe said Wallace was a man of the
highest character, absolutely in every respect. Crewe also stated that although
he lived not that far from Menlove Gardens, he didn’t know if Menlove Gardens
East existed or not. Crewe also said that the nearest tram-stop to his house on
Green Lane was the one on Allerton Road, and that Wallace visited him on a
handful of occasions two years previously. Crewe also told the court that he
was out on the evening of January 20th.
Chief Detective Inspector A.W. Roberts said that he had
received a lock from Detective Inspector Gold on January 26th, and he handed it
to a locksmith the same day.
James Sarginson, locksmith, said that on January 26th he
examined a lock and found it dirty and rusty. Describing another lock from the
back kitchen door, Sarginson said it was rusty and turned with difficulty. The
spring bolt remained inside the lock and the knob returned to its normal
position.
John Sharpe Johnston, engineer, recounted the evening of
January 20th; how he and his wife were leaving by their backyard door at about
8.40 when they first encountered Wallace in the entry; waiting whilst Wallace
went into the house; and Wallace’s return, exclaiming his wife was dead.
Johnston then told of his entering the house with his wife
and Wallace, and the discovery of Mrs Wallace’s body in the sitting-room.
Looking at the photograph, Johnston said that he thought the feet of the victim
were further apart than were shown, and Mrs Wallace was lying with her right
arm underneath and her left arm was across her chest. Johnston then said that
he, his wife and Wallace went into the kitchen, where Wallace drew his attention
to the broken cabinet door and the cash-box. Shortly after, Johnston went to
inform the police.
Florence Sarah Johnston entered the witness-box next. Most
of the evidence she gave was almost the same as that of her husband. She too,
questioned the position of the actual body on the photograph. Indeed, Mrs
Johnston even went so far as to say that it looked like a ‘faked-up’ room, and
that the mackintosh was not near the rug (as on the photograph) but that when
she saw it, it was almost hidden beneath the body.
Mrs Johnston reiterated her husband’s description of going
into the kitchen, and Wallace drawing their attention to the broken cabinet and
cash-box, and her husband’s journey to notify the police.
She also said that she and Mr Wallace started a fire in the
kitchen, and then went back into the sitting-room.
“Mr Wallace then said, “Why, whatever was she doing with her
mackintosh, and my mackintosh?” continued Mrs Johnston. “I then asked Mr
Wallace if it was his mackintosh and he said, ‘Yes – it is mine’.”
Mrs Johnston then told of the police ‘rooting round
everywhere’ (as she called it) and Wallace making the remark: ‘Julia would have
gone mad if she had seen all this’.
Sarah Jane Draper said she had known Mr and Mrs Wallace for
nine months. She went to 29 Wolverton Street every Wednesday to clean. She went
on January 7th, and that was the last time before January 20th. She also said
that she went to there with Inspector Gold on January 21st. There they searched the rooms to see if any
instruments were missing. She claimed there was a small poker missing from the
fireplace in the kitchen, and there was also a piece of iron missing that was
kept in the fireplace in the sitting-room. She described the piece of iron as
‘large – about a foot long and thick as a candle’.
Tuesday, February 24th, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
The fourth day of the hearing saw the same public interest
as evidenced by the long queue assembled in the main archway of the police
court building. The public gallery was crowded with spectators – mainly men –
while many were unable to obtain admittance.
Wallace took off his overcoat as soon as he came into court,
and occupied his usual seat behind counsel.
Professor J.E.W. MacFall gave evidence concerning the death
of the victim, the wounds, the condition and location of the body and the
mackintosh. MacFall then told about the blood clot measuring three-sixteenths
of an inch in diameter, and one-eight of an inch in height, that was found on
the wc pan. On describing his post mortem on the body, MacFall said that the
wounds to the head gave the appearance of being inflicted with terrific force,
with a hard instrument. The edges of the wounds were not sharp.
MacFall said that he believed one blow was harder and more
severe than the other; that was the blow which produced the first open wound
and that death had occurred within a minute. The Professor estimated that the
time of death was determined on post mortem rigidity and blood clotting and
death had occurred at 6.00pm.
Hugh Pierce, Medical Officer to the Liverpool Police, said
that he arrived at Wolverton Street at 11.50pm on January 20th.
Pierce stated that he examined the body with Professor
MacFall and came to the conclusion that death had occurred about six hours
previous to his arrival. When pressed, Pierce said he formed the opinion due to
rigor mortis, and examining the body every quarter of an hour. Pierce also told
of not making any notes during the time he was at the murder scene.
Wednesday February 25th, 1931 – Inquest on Mrs Wallace
Liverpool Coroner G.C. Mort again adjourned for seven days the
inquest on Mrs Wallace.
Hector Munro representing Wallace said he thought the
Committal Proceedings would be concluded in a week.
The Coroner said that in any case the inquest proceedings
would be a pure formality. He would not reopen the inquest except to close it,
whatever the result of the Committal Proceedings.
Thursday February 26th, 1931 – Wallace Remanded
Hundreds of people who waited in a downpour of rain outside
Liverpool Police Court two hours before the resumed hearing were disappointed
when they were told that the proceedings would in all likelihood be formal.
There were only a few people in court when Magistrate R.J.
Ward took his seat.
Wallace took off his overcoat as soon as he left the dock
and took his usual seat behind that reserved for counsel and solicitors, and he
had a few moments conversation with Hector Munro, before an application was
made to the Magistrate.
Munro said; “It has been arranged between my friend (Bishop)
and me, subject to your worship’s approval, that this case shall be remanded
until Monday next at 10.30am, for the convenience of counsel.”
Ward; “I know of no arrangements. You cannot make them
without consulting me.”
Bishop; “I have made no arrangement, but the matter has been
mentioned to me.”
Ward; “I am always ready and willing to help you gentlemen,
but I like to know something about it before you make arrangements. I agree to
the remand until Monday.”
The proceedings lasted a minute, and Wallace then left the
court. Before he went down the dock stairs he waved his hand to someone in the
public gallery.
Sydney Scholefield Allen was engaged in a case in the Crown
Court at Manchester Assizes.
Monday, March 2nd, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
Hundreds of people were unable to be accommodated in the
public gallery. A long queue assembled in the main entrance to the courts and
many of those who could not get into the court tried to obtain admission to the
other courts.
Wallace smiled to his counsel as he took his usual seat
behind the solicitor’s bench. He kept his overcoat buttoned up as he listened
to the evidence.
Recalled, William Henry Harrison, surveyor, said the
shortest route between the back door of 29 Wolverton Street and the corner of
Belmont Road was 605 yards. The distance between the tram stop on Belmont Road
and the tram stop on Smithdown Lane was 1.7 miles.
William Henry Roberts, city analyst gave evidence concerning
the mackintosh and other bloodied items from the sitting-room. Roberts told the
court that the bloodstained £1 note found in the jar in the middle bedroom was
consistent with being ‘bloodied’ on January 20th, but it could also have been
bloodied one or two days earlier. Roberts estimated that the blood spilled at
the murder scene amounted from half a pint to a pint and a quarter at most.
Detective Superintendent Hubert Moore recounted the evening
of January 20th and his visit to 29 Wolverton Street. He also told of his
examination of the premises, his conversations with Wallace and John and
Florence Johnston, and his examining of the front door. He also told of his
questioning Wallace with regard to the mackintosh and Wallace’s hesitation in
admission of ownership. Moore said that he asked Wallace to accompany a police
officer to Anfield Road Bridewell, as there were better facilities there for
taking a detailed statement from him. Wallace left in the company of Inspector
Gold.
Moore said that he made a thorough search of 29 Wolverton
Street with the aid of powerful electric lamps from the Central Fire Station.
In reply to Bishop, Moore said that he left Professor
MacFall and Dr Pierce at about 4.00am – six hours after his arrival – and
returned at 11.00am on January 21st. There, he met the Chief Constable, Dr
Pierce and Professor Roberts. They made a further search of the house but could
not find any weapon or any bloodstains outside the parlour.
Moore said that he saw the accused on January 21st and 22nd.
Wallace was in and out of the Detective Office over the two days. The Detective
Superintendent told of his questioning Wallace with regard to asking Beattie
the time he received the telephone message at the chess club, Lily Hall’s
sighting of him speaking to another man in Richmond Park (which Wallace
denied), and Wallace’s arrest at 83 Ullet Road on February 2nd.
Sydney Scholefield Allen said that there had been too many
rumours, malicious and untrue in the case, and then asked Moore if the police
had advertised and issued an appeal of the man that was seen by Lily Hall to
come forward. Moore replied that they had but nobody had come forward.
Tuesday, March 3rd, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
The sixth day of the hearing saw the same public interest –
well before the court opened, a long queue had formed. Again, many had to be
turned away.
Detective-Sergeant Harry Bailey gave evidence. He told of
his arrival at Wolverton Street at 10.25pm on January 20th. He also read out
the statement Wallace had made at Anfield Bridewell and told of returning to
the house on January 21st and having the body removed to Princes Dock Mortuary.
“I examined the house for forcible entrance but found none.
I saw the body of Mrs Wallace in the front parlour – a mackintosh tucked up
against it at the back.
“I saw two matches inside a fold in the mackintosh”
continued Sergeant Bailey.
Bailey then told of the condition of the murder room, the
broken cabinet in the back kitchen and Mrs. Wallace’s handbag being untouched.
He also told of his examination of the upstairs rooms – the middle bedroom with
the jar of notes, and the front bedroom.
“At 6.49 on Monday January 26th, I made a test of the
journey from the rear of 29 Wolverton Street to the junction of Lodge Lane and
Smithdown Place with another officer. We reached there at 7.04” said Bailey.
The Detective-Sergeant then recounted making another tram test on January 27th
– that journey taking approximately 20 minutes. He also told of his
investigation into the name “Qualtrough”.
Detective-Sergeant Adolphus Fothergill said that on January
26th, he accompanied Sergeant Bailey on the tramcar to Smithdown Lane and made
another ‘test’ the following night.
Constable William Prendergast, Detective-Sergeant James
Reginald Hill and Detective Constable William Brown Gilroy all gave evidence of
their respective ‘tram tests’.
Detective Inspector Gold gave evidence as to what happened
at 29 Wolverton Street after he arrived there at 10.30pm on January 20th.
The hearing was adjourned.
Wednesday, March 4th, 1931 – Committal Proceedings
Public interest in the proceedings was greater than ever,
and hundreds who formed a queue could not be accommodated in the court.
Detective Inspector Herbert Gold, continuing his evidence, said that on January 20th, he
examined the back yard and wall to see if there were any traces of forcible
entrance, but found none.
Gold said that on 11.45 on the same night, he accompanied
Detective-Sergeant Bailey and Wallace to the Anfield Bridewell. There, Wallace
completed his statement to Bailey. Gold asked Wallace whether he had seen
anybody loitering about his house but Wallace said he saw no suspicious persons
about.
Gold also told the court about questioning Wallace with
regard to his return from Menlove Gardens; whether anything was stolen from the
house, who might have called in his absence and whether he knew anyone named
Qualtrough.
Gold also asked Wallace if he knew anyone who would send a
message to the chess club, and whether his wife would admit anyone to the house
unless she knew them personally. Wallace replied in the negative to both
questions.
“I examined Wallace’s clothing and hands but found no
bloodstains on them” said Gold.
Gold told the court that he took possession of various
articles from the premises for analysis.
Wallace made another statement to Gold at Dale Street
Detective Office on January 22nd. In it, Wallace mentioned the names of various
people, but Gold left the names out when giving the evidence.
The statement explained Wallace’s visit to the chess club on
January 19th and his journey to the Menlove Gardens area on January 20th.
Gold said he took possession of the suit Wallace was wearing
on the evening of the murder, and recounted the evening of Wallace’s arrest on
February 2nd.
Sydney Scholefield Allen cross-examined the Inspector about
the pad of hair found near Mrs Wallace’s head, and witness agreed that it might
have been worn by a lady.
This caused considerable laughter in the court, to which,
Magistrate Ward said: “I do wish everyone would treat this inquiry seriously.
It is serious, and I want the people at the back of the court to realise that.”
Scholefield Allen then asked Gold about the diaries kept by
Wallace. Gold produced diaries kept by Wallace for 1928,1929,1930 and 1931.
There were many entries relating to the illnesses of Mr and Mrs Wallace. This
brought more laughter in court, and Mr Ward said that people in court were
taking advantage of the position. If there was any more of it, he would clear
the court.
Gold was asked to read sections of the diary. When he read
the entry dated January 7th (regarding Wallace and Julia’s visit to Sefton
Park), Wallace wept unrestrainedly and held his handkerchief to his face. He
was so overcome with emotion that he sat for a few moments in court after the
Magistrate had adjourned for lunch. Wallace then walked slowly to the dock and
his solicitor said to him: “All right now, Wallace?”
On the resumption, Scholefield Allen asked Gold about the
diary having many references to the Wallace’s happy family life together, to
which Gold admitted, ‘yes’.
Inspector Gold said that the falling out between the accused
and his wife in January 1928 arose because Mrs Wallace had been buying too many
newspapers.
Essays on scientific subjects were written in the diaries of
Wallace.
“That is the case for the prosecution” said Prosecuting
Solicitor Bishop, as Inspector Gold left the witness-box.
Wallace stood as the clerk read the formal terms of the
accusation to which Wallace replied, in a firm voice, “I plead not guilty to
the charge made against me, and I am advised to reserve my defence. I would
like to say that my wife and I lived together on the very happiest of terms,
during the period of some 18 years of our married life.
“Our relations were those of complete confidence in and
affection for each other.
“The suggestion that I murdered my wife is monstrous. That I
should attack and kill her is, to all who knew us, unthinkable and
unbelievable; all the more so when it must be realised that I could not gain
one possible advantage by committing such a deed. Nor do the police suggest I
gained any advantage.
“On the contrary, in actual fact, I have lost a devoted and
loving comrade. My home life is completely broken up, and everything that I
hold dear has been ruthlessly uprooted and torn from me.
“I am now left to face the torture of this nerve-wracking
ordeal.
“I protest once more that I am entirely innocent of this
terrible crime.”
Wallace’s voice shook as he made the reference to his happy
married life and the breaking-up of his home, and he sat down amid perfect stillness
in court.
Mr Ward said he had followed the case clearly and taken a
note, mental and otherwise, from the beginning to the finish.
“You must go for trial at the next Liverpool Assizes” said
Ward to the accused.
Before he left the court by way of the dock Wallace had a
short talk with Sydney Scholefield Allen and Hector Munro.
Over 400 foolscap pages were used by Henry Harris, the
assistant clerk to the Magistrates’, in writing out the evidence, and more than
50,000 words had been written in the depositions.
The hearing lasted seven days.
Wednesday, March 4th , 1931 – Inquest
The inquest on Mrs Julia Wallace was formally adjourned by
the Liverpool Coroner G.C. Mort, for another week.
“I have received a declaration from the clerk to the
justices that the case is now being heard, and I adjourn the inquest in order
to hear the result of that case” said the Coroner.
Wednesday, March 11th, 1931 – Inquest
The Liverpool Coroner G.C. Mort adjourned the inquest on
Julia Wallace to May 21st.
Mort said he had received a communication that Wallace had
been committed to the next Liverpool Assizes.
Lead Up To The Trial
Hector Munro was responsible for Wallace’s defence. He was
also responsible for raising the money to pay for it. In one of his early
interviews at the prison, Wallace told Munro that he had about £150 in his bank
account. He also had two small endowment policies he could cash in. Although it
amounted to quite a considerable sum at the time, it was nowhere near enough to
cover adequate defence costs.
In the meantime, Wallace’s brother Joseph had travelled from
Malaya to be of assistance to his brother.
One of the lesser coincidences in the Wallace Case was that
the offices of Herbert J. Davis, Berthen
and Munro were in the Prudential Building, Dale Street.
Munro arranged an appointment with James Wild, Prudential
Chief Clerk for Liverpool. Munro was slightly acquainted with Wild, having met
him occasionally in the building. Wild was anxious to help Wallace. Indeed, the
Executive Council would do all it could to assist their ‘brother member’. Munro
also asked Wild if Wallace could expect any financial aid from the Prudential.
Munro pointed out that if one accepted Wallace’s innocence, then one had to
accept that he was on company business – or at least he thought he was, when
his wife’s murder occurred.
Wild shook his head, then said: “I never thought of it.” He
promised to write immediately to the Prudential head office in London.
A couple of days later Munro received a reply from the
Prudential Solicitors’ Department. Like the union, the company wanted to defer
their decision until after the Committal Proceedings.
Within a fortnight of Wallace’s committal, the defence kitty
was £600 - £100 from Wallace himself, £300 contributed by Wallace’s younger
brother Joseph, born on 17.12.1879. The Prudential made a grant not exceeding
the sum of £150 towards the costs.
The P.S.U. devised a plan to resolve how much assistance the
union should provide.
A mock trial was to be held at Holborn Hall, the union
headquarters in Gray’s Inn Road. They would hear both sides of the case – then
decide on a ‘verdict’.
On Thursday March 26th, the council room was packed with
officials from all over the country – all sworn to secrecy. The ‘trial’ lasted
all day. The case was brought before the union jury by Norman Allsop. A union
official read aloud the transcript of J.R. Bishop’s opening at the Committal
Proceedings, then Hector Munro put the case for the defence.
After a short break, the union officials questioned Munro,
arguing the pros and cons of the case. The discussion lasted two to three hours
when J.C. Kinniburgh, President of the P.S.U. called the meeting to order and
asked for the vote to be taken.
The voting slips were completed, collected and counted. The
vote was a unanimous verdict in Wallace’s favour. Kinniburgh announced that the
executive council would guarantee the whole cost of the defence.
Applause, cheers and whistles broke out.
The executive council’s decision made trades union history.
Never before had a union guaranteed the defence costs of a member, except in
cases concerned with union activities.
More than 4000 members responded to the appeal set up as
“The W.H. Wallace Defence Fund.”
It was stated in the Liverpool Echo dated March 18th, that
E.G. Hemmerde was to lead for the prosecution, while the same paper expressed
on April 11th that Roland Oliver and Sydney Scholefield Allen would undertake
the defence of Wallace.
Courts No.1 and No.2 of the Dale Street Stipendiary
Magistrates Courts where Wallace appeared. What is now No.6 Court was in 1931,
the Coroners Court were G.C.Mort resided over the inquest into Julia's death.
THE TRIAL - ST. GEORGES HALL. LIVERPOOL SPRING ASSIZES.
WED 22.4.1931 - SAT 25.4.1931
In 1836 a committee was formed from Liverpool
citizens with a view to erecting a building suitable for the performance of
secular music. This was due to objections raised about current festivals being
held in St. Peter's Church, Church street. Nearly £25,000 was raised and as at
that time, an assize courts were required in the city, the Corporation decided
to take over the financing of the building and held a seperate competition for
the design of each building. Harvey Lonsdale Elms, only 23 years of age won
both competitions detailing a project which would see both needs covered under
the same roof. Elmes was never to see the work completed, dying only 10 years
later, some said from the pressures of his mammoth task. Work was set about on
the site of the old infirmary and lunatic asylum in Lime Street. The foundation
stone was laid on 28th June 1838 and it was completed and opened in 1854. It
has 16 Corinthian columns encasing the main grand entrance, its main structure
being built of Derbyshire stone and is one of the finest neo classical
buildings in the world, having been based on ancient Greece. This is
Liverpool's St. Georges Hall which held the trial of William Herbert Wallace.
Edward George Hemmerde Kings Counsel for the Prosecution
Justice Robert Alderson Wright whom was the presiding Judge over the Wallace trial.
Roland Oliver Kings Counsel for the defence of William Herbert Wallace. The Trial 22nd – 25th April 1931
THE TRIAL - ST. GEORGES HALL. LIVERPOOL SPRING ASSIZES.
WED 22.4.1931 - SAT 25.4.1931
Edward George Hemmerde Kings Counsel for the Prosecution
Justice Robert Alderson Wright whom was the presiding Judge over the Wallace trial.
Roland Oliver Kings Counsel for the defence of William Herbert Wallace. The Trial 22nd – 25th April 1931
Wednesday 22nd April
The trial of William Herbert Wallace took place at the next
Spring Assizes and began at 10am at St George’s Hall. Drizzling rain did not
deter the masses from congregating outside the building. Long before the trial
began many people tried to gain admission into the court. There was room for
about 300 and in consequence many hundreds were turned away.
The judge presiding was Robert Alderson Wright. For the
Prosecution: E.G. Hemmerde KC and Leslie Walsh (instructed by the town clerk
Walter Moon on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions) For the Defence:
R.G. Oliver KC and Sydney Scholefield
Allen (instructed by Messrs Herbert J. Davis, Berthen and Munro)..
Clerk of the court W.J.H Graham asked the accused how he
pleaded, Wallace, in a quiet but firm voice, replied Not Guilty. When the jury
had been sworn in Justice Wright informed them that the case would probably
last until Friday, and he adjourned the court for 15 minutes to enable them to
send home for anything they might require for one or two nights.
Wallace, dressed in a dark suit, black tie and stiff linen
collar, watched the swearing in of the jury with keen interest.
Hemmerde opened for the prosecution. In a speech lasting
over two hours he outlined the case against Wallace. Wallace peered through his
horn-rimmed spectacles, listening attentively and occasionally drumming his
fingers on the dock rail.
Hemmerde recited the circumstances of the murder, listing
the points of the theory put forward by the prosecution.
“If you think the case is fairly established against
Wallace, it will be your duty to call him to his account” concluded Hemmerde in
his opening speech to the jury.
Leslie Heaton (GPO telephone technician), Louisa Alfreds,
Lilian Martha Kelly, Annie Robertson and Gladys Harley all gave evidence with
regard to the telephone facilities and message.
Chess club captain Samuel Beattie told the court that the
voice he heard was a ‘strong, confident voice’ and that it sounded nothing like
Wallace’s voice,
James Caird, friend of Wallace told of his meeting with
Wallace at the chess club on the evening of Monday 19th January and their
subsequent journey home together.
Alan Close gave evidence with regard to his milk round and
visit to 29 Wolverton Street on the 20th January. He also told of his conversation
with Mrs Wallace.
The two conductors (Thomas Charles Phillips and Arthur
Thompson) gave evidence with regard to their journeys along Smithdown Road,
Penny Lane and Menlove Avenue.
Katie Ellen Mather of 25 Menlove Gardens West said that on
the evening of 20th January there was a ring at her door. She answered it and
saw accused. She said he asked if anyone by the name of Qualtrough lived there.
She replied ‘no’ and accused went away.
Lily Pinches, Manageress of Allday’s Newsagents 130 Allerton
Road told of Wallace entering the shop and enquiring about a directory and the
address 25 Menlove Gardens East. Miss Pinches told him there was no such
address. She said accused spent about ten minutes in the shop.
Joseph Crewe, Superintendent in the employ of the Prudential
Assurance Co recounted Wallace’s visits to his home at 34 Green Lane. Crewe
agreed to give Wallace violin lessons in the winter two years previously.
Although Crewe had lived at the address for three and a half years he admitted
that he did not know whether Menlove Gardens East existed or not. Crewe also
deemed the accused an ‘absolute gentleman in every respect.’
Lily Hall, typist of 9 Letchworth Street said that she had
known Wallace (by sight) for three or four years and that on the evening of
20th January saw him talking to another man in Richmond Park. She said that the
men then parted - one straight down the street, the other down the entry. Miss
Hall wasn’t sure but claimed she gave her statement to the police ‘about a week
after the murder.’
Thursday 23rd April
The second day of the Trial was very much the same as the
first – rain and queues of hundreds outside trying to gain admission, queuing
for over two hours in the rain.
Wallace sat motionless in the dock. Only once did his demeanour
change – when neighbour John Sharpe Johnston gave evidence, describing Mr and
Mrs Wallace as ‘a very loving couple.’ Wallace dropped his head, swallowed
hard, and then regained his composure. Johnston described meeting Wallace in
the back entry at 8.45 on January 20th and also of his entering 29 Wolverton
Street; the discovery of the body and Wallace’s demeanour on the evening in
question.
Florence Sarah Johnston corroborated her husband’s account
of the meeting with Wallace in the back entry. Mrs Johnston said on discovering
the body she stood by the victims shoulders, she on one side, Wallace on the
other. She said she felt Mrs Wallace’s left hand and that the photo shown to
her in court looked like what she called a ‘faked room’ – that it looked markedly
different from how she remembered it. Mrs Johnston also told of her husband’s
visit to the doctor and police and how she and Wallace went into the kitchen
for a few minutes before returning back to the sitting room.
PC Frederick Roberts Williams told of his visit to 29
Wolverton Street and the discovery of the body stating that when he felt the
body it was ‘slightly warm.’ The constable also told of his accompanying
Wallace through the house.
The next witness was charwoman Sarah Jane Draper. She said
she had known Mrs Wallace for about nine months. She used to go cleaning one
day each week and was last at the house on January 7th. On January 21st she
accompanied Inspector Gold to Wolverton Street where she noticed a poker was
missing from the kitchen and a piece of iron from the sitting-room fireplace.
Cross examining, Oliver asked if the Wallace’s got on well together, to which,
the witness replied ‘yes.’
James Sarginson, locksmith, said that on January 26th he was
handed the front door lock by the police. He examined it and found it rusty and
dirty. The wards of the lock were stuck in a neutral position. Sarginson also
said he had examined the lock from the back door and found it rusty and stiff
but in good working order. Replying to Oliver, Sarginson agreed that the back
door lock was exceedingly stiff.
John Edward Whitley MacFall gave evidence. He suggested that
the victim had been attacked while she was sitting in an armchair. MacFall also
said that eleven blows had been administered, ten of them when the victim was
lying on the floor. He also commented on Wallace’s behaviour on the evening of
the murder – that it was ‘abnormal’ and that the murder had been committed in a
frenzy. MacFall was the prosecutions star witness but under skilful cross-examination
from Roland Oliver, he was forced to admit that he hadn’t made notes and also
contradicted several of his earlier statements. MacFall said that he came to
the conclusion of the time of the murder due to rigor mortis. MacFall went from
hero to zero as he left the witness box.
Dr Hugh Pierce told the court that he arrived at 29
Wolverton Street at 11.50. He made a general examination and that rigor mortis
was present in the neck, jaw and upper part of the left arm and that death had
taken place some hours previously: two hours either side of 6pm but no later
than 8pm.
William Henry Roberts, analyst, said that on January 24th he
received certain articles from Inspector Gold; a mackintosh, a piece of hair,
two pictures, two photographs, a violin case, a piece of music, a cushion,
cashbox (with dollar bill), a suit of clothes, a towel, a lock and key and a
woman’s skirt. On January 26th he was handed four £1 notes and a postal order.
Roberts had examined all the articles. The mackintosh was heavily bloodstained
on the outside and inside. He also said that about a pint of blood had been
spilled.
Friday 24th April
The queue for the trial began at 5.30am. Many women attended
the trial daily and at times could be seen passing chocolates and other morsels
for their sustenance from one to another. So great was the interest in the case
when the public learned that Wallace was to give evidence that thousands had to
be refused admission to the court, the police turning people away – mostly
girls and women at the rate of two a minute.
Detective sergeant Harry Bailey was the first witness of the
day to give evidence. He stated that he arrived at 29 Wolverton Street at
10.20pm on 20th January. He found no evidence of forced entry. Between the
folds of the mackintosh he found the burned matches (produced).
The witness said he accompanied Wallace to Anfield
Bridewell, where accused made a statement which Bailey took down in writing. He
produced the statement which was signed by Wallace. Witness then went back to
Wolverton Street at 1.15am and had the body removed to Princes Dock Mortuary.
Bailey also told of the jar containing the four £1 notes and how they were
folded and related that on February 15th both he and Inspector Gold accompanied
Alan Close on his milk round over the same route and that the time took five
minutes.
Detective Inspector Herbert Gold said he went to Wolverton
Street at 10.30pm on the night of the murder. He was there when Detective
Superintendent Moore tried the front lock and also when accused was asked about
the mackintosh. Gold also told of his examining Wallace and his clothing but
found no signs of blood upon him.
Witness said that on 22nd January he saw accused at Dale
Street when he (accused) said; ‘I have some important information for you.’ He
then made a statement in which some names were mentioned.
Analyst W.H. Roberts was recalled. He gave further evidence
as to the various scientific experiments he had made to test the clothing of
blood and the clot of blood found on the pan of the WC.
Roland Oliver rose to make his speech for the defence at
11.50. He poured scorn on MacFall’s opinion of the murder being committed in a
‘frenzy’ and also said that the case for the prosecution was built on the
flimsiest of circumstantial evidence and there was ‘no rag of evidence’ except
police suspicion to convict Wallace of the murder.
Oliver then concluded his speech and he then called Wallace,
who entered the witness box at 2.30pm. He looked pale, swayed slightly and was
scarcely audible when he took the oath. He said his throat would soon clear,
and later his answers became clear and unhesitating.
Wallace told how he left home on the fatal night, his wife
seeing him to the back door. He gave evidence in a calm manner, standing in the
witness box with his hands clasped behind him. Justice Wright interposed and
told the prisoner he could sit down to give evidence.
Oliver took Wallace through his evidence starting with
events of Monday 19th January right up to Wallace’s ‘indiscreet’ conversation
with chess club captain Beattie at the tram stop on North john Street.
Wallace was then cross-examined by Hemmerde. Hemmerde made
reference to the Monday night; the events of the Tuesday; Julia’s cold;
Wallace’s friendship with Joseph Crewe; the parlour being used for music; the
piano; the mackintosh and the notes found in the jar in the middle bedroom. It
was all to try and confuse Wallace, which looked certain at the start but
Wallace regained his composure and became unruffled. Hemmerde suggested that
the whole thing was contrived by Wallace himself.
Re-examined by Oliver, Wallace looked stunned when he was
asked whether he had ever played the violin ‘naked in a mackintosh.’
“I have never played naked in my life” was his reply.
After almost three hours in the witness box and over 700
questions (more than 400 from the Prosecution) Wallace stepped down.
James Henry Dible followed Wallace onto the witness stand.
He suggested that ascertaining the time of death due to rigor mortis in itself
was a very unreliable and inaccurate method.
Dr Robert Coope told of making 115 experiments in all
concerning the clotting of human blood. Coope was also of the opinion that the
blood had been deposited onto the pan at least an hour away from the hand that
shed it – possibly even longer.
James Allison Wildman, Elsie Wright, Douglas Metcalf and
Kenneth Caird all gave evidence with regard to their conversations with Alan
Close on the evening of January 20th.
David Jones testified that he had delivered the Liverpool
Echo for four or five years to 29 Wolverton Street. He said that in the evening
of the murder he delivered the paper at 6.35 and saw nobody at the house.
Louisa Harrison, Amy Lawrence and Margaret Martin all told
of their conversations with Wallace and his demeanour on his round on the
Tuesday 20th January:
Louisa Harrison; “Mr Wallace was joking with me.”
Amy Lawrence; “Mr Wallace had a cup of tea with us. He was
the same as usual.”
Margaret Martin; “He was just the same as he has ever been
since he collected; calm and the same in appearance.”
Saturday 25th April
At 10.00am Roland Oliver gave his closing speech for the
defence. He suggested that there were two essential facts in determining guilt.
1) Who sent the telephone message? 2) At what time has the Prosecution proved
that Mrs Wallace was killed? With regard to the telephone message: How does the
evidence stand on that matter? I ask you whether, on that evidence, you can
possibly say that Wallace sent the telephone message. Now, with regard to the
second essential question, at what time has the Prosecution proved that Mrs
Wallace was killed; there are two branches of evidence upon that: 1) The
medical evidence; and 2) The boy Close. Professor MacFall gave the opinion that
death was caused four hours at least before 10pm. “Well that is wrong of course
as she was seen alive long after 6pm. Rigor Mortis taken alone is a hopelessly
fallible test.”
Oliver told the jury to disbelieve the evidence of City
Analyst Roberts’s experiments, that they should ignore the police evidence with
regard to Wallace’s demeanour and absolutely reject the mackintosh theory.
Oliver concluded: “Finally, if I may say so, it is not
enough that you should think it possible that he did this – not merely enough,
but it is not nearly enough.”
Hemmerde had had the first word; now he had the last. He
addressed the points made by Oliver regarding the telephone message and the
time of death.
“The prisoner admits that on Monday night at 7.15 he left
his house. The telephone box is four hundred yards from his house.” Hemmerde
went on – pointing out the ‘singular coincidences’ and stressing the ‘inherent
improbabilities’ and reminding the jury of Wallace’s persistent enquiries on
his way to, and around Menlove Gardens.
“As regards time of death” continued Hemmerde, “the other
point my learned friend said was so vital, I submit that that was also easily
established. You can only convict this man if you are satisfied beyond all
reasonable doubt on all these facts.”
In his summing up, Justice Wright told the jury to consider
the evidence and nothing else. He spoke slowly and with calm deliberation.
“This murder is almost, I imagine, unexampled in the annals
of crime.”
Wallace leaned forward to catch the observations of the
judge to the jury.
During the summing up by the judge there was a certain
amount of coughing, and he deliberately stopped his speech for the jury three
times until the coughing ceased. The coughing broke out again and Justice
Wright paused in his speech several times until it died again.
Step by step the judge reviewed the evidence and as he spoke
Wallace leaned his arm on the rail of the dock and rested his head on his hand.
Wallace repeatedly changed his position and at one time he held one of the
supports of the dock rail in a firm grip and leaned well forward to catch the
words of the judge. It was evident that the strain of the trial was telling
upon him.
The judge emphasised the absence of any motive.
“Can you say, taking all the evidence as a whole, bearing in
mind the strength of the case put forward by the police and prosecution, that
you are satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that it was the hand of the
prisoner and no other hand that murdered this woman?” Justice Wright concluded
his summing up on these lines at 1.20pm and the jury immediately retired to
consider their verdict. The court did not adjourn for lunch.
Wallace left the dock and went below. Justice Wright left
the court, and immediately the large body of spectators, half of them women,
broke into a buzz of conversation. They were silenced on two occasions by court
ushers but as the fateful moments crept by people could not refrain from
talking and gradually the hum broke into a crescendo in which the voices of men
and women could be heard.
The appearance of an usher at 2.20, an hour after the jury
had retired, was the signal for a burst of renewed excitement on the part of
the crowd in the court. The usher told the court officials that the jury were
ready to return.
The Clerk of Assize – Mr W.J.H. Graham – returned to his
seat in the court and the jury filed slowly into their places in the box. They
were headed by the two women jurors, and it appeared at once that their
demeanour was most serious.
After the Clerk of Assizes had called the roll of jurors,
during which, Wallace re-entered the dock, the court awaited the entrance of
Justice Wright. He appeared almost immediately, followed by the High Sheriff
(Sir Frederick C Bowring), the High Sheriff’s Chaplain (Canon F.W. Dwelly) and
the Under Sheriff (Mr G.L. Wright).
Wallace stood with a warder on either side of him and another
warder behind him, while the chief warder was also in attendance. Dr Higson,
Medical Officer at Walton Prison, sat in a corner of the dock.
The Clerk of assize, having ascertained who would speak as
the jury’s foreman, was answered by a juryman, who stood up in the middle of
the front row.
Clerk: “Members of the jury, have you agreed upon your
verdict?”
Foreman: “We have.”
Clerk: “Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty of the
crime with which he is charged?”
Foreman: “Guilty.”
Clerk: “And that is the verdict of you all?”
Foreman: “Yes.”
No sooner had the foreman given the jury’s decision there
was a sudden gasp among the spectators, but this was quelled at once by the
police officers on duty in the court.
Wallace, stoical and cool as he had been right through the
trial, stood before the dock rail, with his hands clasped behind him. But for a
very slight swaying, when the verdict was announced, he seemed to be perfectly
quiet.
Clerk: “You, William Herbert Wallace, have been convicted of
murder upon the verdict of the jury. Have you anything to say why sentence of
death should not be passed upon you according to law?”
Total silence in court:
Wallace hesitated for a second, then replied; “I am not
guilty. I cannot say anything else.”
The Judge’s Clerk placed the black cap over Justice Wright’s
head and the Judge passed sentence of death.
Wallace, to all appeared as cool as he had always been since
he came before the Judge on Wednesday morning, turned slowly and walked to the
dock stairs. One warder preceded him as he walked slowly out of view of those
in court, but it was seen that as Wallace reached the lower steps, before going
to the cells, Dr Higson placed a hand on his arm as if helping him gently
along.
When Wallace disappeared down the steps there was a rush for
the exits but the police officers had anticipated it and restored order. The
passage of people was controlled. The majority dispersed quietly, but others
stood in groups talking excitedly.
The hordes that couldn’t gain access outside gleaned what
they could from those exiting.
Meanwhile, inside the courtroom there was another outburst
of conversation but silence was quickly restored. Justice Wright told the jury
that they had had a very arduous sitting and recommended that the jury should
be exempted from further jury service for the next seven years.
As Justice Wright left St George’s Hall, the assize
trumpeters played the National Anthem and the large crowds who lined the
streets bowed their heads.
How the verdict was reported. After The Trial
How the verdict was reported. After The Trial
Wallace was taken back to Walton Gaol. There, he was
stripped and changed into the special grey uniform of a prisoner awaiting
execution, the date provisionally set for 12th May. This was likely to be
deferred to allow for the appeal. By Monday 27th April plans for the appeal
were already being made.
Hector Munro said the ground of the appeal was that the
verdict was against the weight of the evidence.
The general opinion of newspaper readers was surprise by the
guilty verdict.
A Wallace Appeal fund was set up to meet the costs.
THE
APPEAL - LONDON Mon 18.5.1931 & Tues 19.5.1931. THE APPEAL.
On Saturday 16th May, Wallace, dressed in civilian clothes
was driven by motor car from Walton Gaol to Lime Street Station, where he was
taken to a compartment by the front of the train unobserved by passengers and
people waiting on the platform. Wallace would later write about his journey
down to London – ‘the green countryside’ – how beautiful it was after being
incarcerated for several months. He was taken to Pentonville Prison. Detective
Superintendent Moore and other police officials left on the Friday night to be
present at the Court of Criminal Appeal at The Strand in London.
Intercessions Extraordinary
Sunday 17th May saw Divine intervention in Liverpool.
Special prayers were offered at Liverpool Cathedral by Canon Dwelly in view of
the Wallace Appeal.
The prayers included:
‘You shall pray for them that are set by God’s mercy to
secure the administration of true justice in our land. Particularly this day
you shall pray for his Majesty’s Judges of Appeal, that they may be guided in
true judgement.’
Appeal 18th – 19th May 1931
The appeal was to take place at the Court of Criminal Appeal
in the Strand, London and would be presided over by Justice Hewart and Justices
Branson and Hawke. For the Defence: Roland Oliver KC and Sydney Scholefield
Allen. Counsel for the Crown: E.G. Hemmerde and Leslie Walsh.
The court was crowded when Wallace entered from an opening
at the rear of the dock. He took a seat between two warders. The public gallery
– the largest in the Law Courts was thronged with spectators who followed with
keen interest the drama which was being enacted.
Wallace’s appeal followed that of a Cypriot, who had been
found guilty of murdering a waitress. That appeal lasted little under an hour
before it was dismissed.
Wallace, dressed in sombre garb, stood before the Judges.
Oliver rose for the Defence and said that the main ground
for appeal was that the Prosecution never sustained the onus of proof, and that
the evidence taken as a whole was as consistent with innocence as guilt.
He also told of a ‘prejudiced and hostile jury’ which
included certain jury members acting in a strange and aggressive manner. He
possibly felt that a near local jury who may have followed the case in the
press would have been prejudiced against his client.
It was a long and exhaustive speech by Oliver and he
apologised for taking up so much time. “You cannot have a man convicted of
murder on this sort of thing.” said Oliver. He concluded his submission and the
hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.
The second day saw the court crowded. People stood in the
gangways as Hemmerde gave his speech on behalf of the Crown. His speech, like
that of Oliver was long and exhaustive. Hemmerde said that all the pieces came
together ‘like that of a jigsaw puzzle’ and pointed irresistibly to Wallace.
Hemmerde also told the Judges that he took full responsibility for everything
that was done in the case and the attacks made upon the police were uncalled
for. Hemmerde continued; “I have no interest in pressing the court in a matter
like this. I am here simply representing the Director of Public Prosecution in
this most important and difficult case, but I submit that the jury have done
what they conceive to be their duty upon evidence that is amply sufficient to
justify them in doing so. Their verdict should not be disturbed.” Hemmerde also
said that he couldn’t understand why the Defence thought the jury hostile and
prejudiced to Wallace. They came from areas outside Liverpool; Widnes, St
Helens, Warrington and Southport. As for the aggressive remark Hemmerde said
that neither he nor his junior Leslie Walsh heard anything at the trial.
Oliver complained that the mackintosh theory by the
Prosecution was first put forward in court, and the Defence, having had no
notice, were unable to examine the garment properly. Oliver also said that the
case should have been withdrawn from the jury.
Lord Hewart: “You say that the case ought to have been
withdrawn from the jury.”
Mr Oliver: “Yes, I am saying that.”
Lord Hewart: “But no submission of that kind was made to the
judge.”
Mr Oliver: “No, with the jury I had before me I did not wish
to make that submission. I assumed that if the judge had been of that opinion
he himself would have withdrawn the case.”
“Putting the case as it seems to me fairly, grappling with
everything, there remain here a number of suspicious circumstances, but nothing
in the nature of proof. There is no fact, no series of facts, that prove that
this man committed this crime, and in these circumstances I ask that this
appeal should be upheld and the man acquitted.”
The court, quiet enough before, was now deathly quiet.
The three Appeal Judges looked at each other and then
followed a hummed whispering among them.
Every eye was on the scarlet-robed figure of the Lord Chief
Justice. Quietly he announced; “The court will rise for a few minutes.”
An excited buzz followed the Judges from the court. The time
was 3.30pm.
It was 4.15pm when, at long last, there was a cry of
‘Silence in the court.’
The Judges entered and bowed low to the court. When all were
seated Wallace was ushered in. He looked tired and worn and once or twice
swayed slightly, but his eyes were fixed on the Lord Chief Justice and only
once did he lower his head.
The Lord Chief Justice spoke in a very quiet voice and very
slowly with long pauses between sentences. At last he arrived at the crucial
words. “The conclusion to which we have arrived – is that the case against the
appellant which we have carefully and anxiously considered – and discussed –
was not proved with that certainty which is necessary in order to justify a
verdict of guilty. Therefore it is our duty to take the course indicated by the
statute to which I have referred. The result is that this appeal will be
allowed…” There was noise in the court – partly a breath of applause, partly
the scurrying feet of the ‘copy’ boys rushing out with the news. “…and this
conviction quashed.” said the Lord Chief Justice after pausing for silence.
There was a bright gleam in the eyes of Wallace. For the
previous minutes his countenance was one of deathly pale.
The police in the side gallery smiled at him and indicated
that he might withdraw. Wallace turned and left the court a free man.
Outside, the crowd gathered waiting to see Wallace go away.
He came out putting on his bowler hat, a half-smoked cigarette between his
lips. Under his arm he carried a bundle wrapped newspaper. He was accompanied
by his brother Joseph.
A taxi was called and Wallace was rushed into it. For a
moment it held up a bus, and the passengers looked out, casually wondering why
there was a rather excited crowd around a taxi in the Strand.
The Appeal - What the Papers Said
FROM FREEDOM
UNTIL DEATH
The Appeal - What the Papers Said
The press were unanimous in the Appeal Court verdict.
The Daily telegraph wrote:
“The Appeal Tribunal has set free a victim of injustice with
his character cleared, a character which, if he had had nothing to rely upon
but the prerogative pardon, would never have been relieved of the stigma of
conviction of a jury’s verdict.”
Under the heading ‘Blind Justice’ the London Star reported;
“Mr Wallace, of Liverpool has had a shattering
experience…The subject of public prayers, condemned by a jury of his
fellow-men; he was finally acquitted by the Court of Criminal Appeal. His case
is a triumph for him and also for British Law. Some of the most coldly logical
minds in the world decided in favour and gave us another case for pride in the
finest legal system in the world.”
“Fiat Justitia” was the heading in the London Evening News
and went on to say:
“Two aspects of this most unusual case call for comment. In
the first place the verdict dealt a severe blow to the popular belief that a
prisoner has a better chance of getting the benefit of the doubt from the jury
than from a judge.
“In the second place it draws attention to the difficulties
which beset a criminal judge who is called on to decide whether or not the
evidence is sufficient to justify its submission to the jury.”
“So strong was the feeling in Liverpool that prayers for the
true judgement were offered in Liverpool Cathedral and in another church a
collection was made in aid of the fund raised to meet the costs of the appeal.”
– The Times
Not all were enamoured with the well-meaning interventions
of the church though – The Morning Post wrote:
“We must admire the courage and sympathise with the feelings
of the Bishop. But we are not compelled to approve the form of all the
prayers.”
Whilst the response in the Daily Mail was:
“A good deal of doubt will be felt as to the special
intercessions which were offered in Liverpool in connection with this case in
Liverpool Cathedral on Sunday. Prayer on such occasions is very right and
proper but should it not be prayer in private?”
Other Views on the Appeal Verdict
Dr David, Bishop of Liverpool said; “I am very glad that
this appeal has been allowed. I have never felt satisfied that the evidence
proved guilt.”
Herbert J. Davis, partner in the firm that represented
Wallace said; “The result of the appeal shows the absolute justification for
the existence of the Court of Appeal. It will be a source of much relief
throughout the country.”
Hector Munro, representing Wallace said; “I believed right
from the start in the innocence of Mr. Wallace, as also did all those who knew
him well. It was a wrong verdict, and the result of the appeal – the right
result – meets the justice of the case.”
Tuesday 19th May
Sydney Scholefield Allen, Hector Munro and Norman Wheeler
all depart on the 5.55pm train from Euston. Also on board were Detective
Superintendent Hubert Moore, Inspector Herbert Gold and other police officials.
The train arrived at Lime Street Station at 9.35pm but any onlookers hoping to
catch a glimpse of Wallace were to be disappointed. He stayed in the capital
overnight with his brother Joseph. He visited the theatre on the evening of
Wednesday 20th to see “The Millionaire Kid.” Wallace accepted the invitation to
visit the production given by Mr. Laddie Cliff, the comedian.
Wallace later said; “If only you knew how thrilling it is to
laugh again, you would realise how every moment of tonight’s entertainment has
been to me a joy.”
Meanwhile, three MP’s – J.S. Clarke (Lab, Maryhill), J.H.
Hughes (Lab, Edge Hill) and D.Hall-Caine (Lab, Everton) all put the question of
compensation for Wallace forward in Parliament. J. Grace (Con, Wirral) said the
question of compensation must be carefully considered. Home Secretary J.R.
Clynes declined to give compensation to Wallace as ‘his situation did not
differ in principle than that of any other defendant who had been acquitted of
a serious charge.'
Wallace returned to Liverpool by motor car on Thursday 21st
May. He visited the Prudential Offices and was given a month’s holiday. He left
Liverpool for Broughton-on-Furness in the Furness Peninsula for three weeks,
accompanied by Joseph.
On his return to Liverpool Wallace went back to his rounds.
He was strongly advised to abandon the idea by Hector Munro but Wallace decided
to go against the wishes of Munro. Munro was right and Wallace, being met with
antagonism, stopped collecting. His Superintendent Joseph Crewe had him
transferred from the collecting staff and had Wallace employed in a clerical
capacity at the Prudential head offices in Dale Street.
Thursday 21st May
The inquest on Julia Wallace was officially closed by
Coroner George Cecil Mort. Immediately Mr. Mort said; “In accordance with
section 20 of the Coroners Amendment Act, I have to say that I received
yesterday a notice from the Court of Criminal Appeal, with regard to
proceedings in that Court.
“That notice intimates that a conviction has been quashed
with regard to the murder of one, Julia Wallace. The notice is signed by N.W.
Kershaw, Registrar of the Court of Criminal Appeal, and therefore I formally
close this inquest, in accordance with that notification.”
The hearing lasted a mere two minutes in which there were
fewer than a dozen people in attendance. Wallace was not present but was
represented by Hector Munro.
In June Wallace moved house due to the public vitriol he was
subjected to from neighbours and others in the area. With the proceeds of
several out of court settlements Wallace was able to use the money as a down
payment on a bungalow on the Wirral.
Wallace settled down in his new home The Summerhouse. He
advertised for a housekeeper but when prospective women applied for the job
they suddenly lost interest. An elderly woman named Annie Mason offered to look
after him. She had been friendly with the Wallace’s for some years – he
accepted her kind offer gratefully.
Wallace commuted to work at the Prudential head offices each
day.
Throughout 1931 and 1932 Hector Munro briefed Sydney
Scholefield Allen in several libellous actions against publishers and printers
who had greatly prejudiced and injured Wallace’s reputation. The libel actions
were all settled out of court.
In January 1932 an action was taken against the publishers
of The Herald of Salvation. In it, the publication portrayed Wallace as a
‘condemned sinner’ and that he ‘should make open confession of his crime.’
Wallace was more incensed that it had been used as an advertisement for
something he did not believe in. Wallace was a confirmed agnostic.
Just before Christmas 1932 Wallace had been suffering from a
recurrence of his kidney trouble. By February 9th 1933 he could stand the pain
no longer. He was taken to Clatterbridge Hospital where he was given medication
to ease the pain. After a week an emergency operation was performed. It was not
successful. From then on Wallace was, for much of the time delirious or
unconscious.
At 3.00am on the 26th February Wallace was pronounced dead.
The death certificate, signed by Elizabeth Lansdown MRCS gave the causes of
death as:
1a. Uraemia
b. Pyelonephritis
c. Left kidney removed thirty years ago
On Saturday 1st March Wallace was buried in Anfield Cemetery
in the same grave as Julia. It was the last time the ornate gates of the Cherry
lane entrance were ever used. Ten mourners, all male, were present. There were
four small wreaths.
Wallace had made Joseph sole executor £1672 14. 7d. He also
gave £100 to Annie Mason.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS AS THEY
UNFOLDED ACCORDING TO POLICE FILES, WITNESS STATEMENTS AND INTERVIEWS. MONDAY
19TH JANUARY 1931
7.15pm. William Herbert Wallace leaves 29 Wolverton Street
destined for Cottles city cafe at 24 North John Street to play his chess match.
7.15pm. At about this time, Richard Gordon Parry calls on
Josephine Ward Lloyd of 7 Missouri Road, Clubmoor, the mother of his girlfriend
Lillian Josephine Moss Lloyd.
7.15pm. Telephone Exchange Operator, Louisa Alfreds takes a
call from a callbox on Rochester Road asking for Cottles city cafe.
7.17pm. Telephone Exchange Operator, Lilian Martha Kelly
takes a 2nd call as the first one didn't get put through.
7.20pm. Telephone Exchange Supervisor, Annie Robertson
finally makes the connection.
7.20pm. Cottle city cafe waitress, Gladys Harley takes a
call for a man asking for Wallace.
7.20pm. Chess club Captain, Samuel Beattie is summoned to
the phone. The caller identifies himself as R.M. Qualtrough of 25 Menlove
Gardens East who is seeking Wallace about some insurance business.
7.45pm. Chess club member, James Caird sees Wallace enter
the cafe and a little time later, Beattie relays the message to Wallace.
TUESDAY 20TH JANUARY 1931
10.30am. William Herbert Wallace leaves 29 Wolverton Street
to catch a tram from Breck Road to Clubmoor to facilitate his morning rounds.
2.00pm. Wallace returns home for dinner.
3.15pm. Wallace leaves his home to commence his afternoon
rounds.
3.20pm. His sister-in-law, Amy Wallace calls on Julia for a
visit.
3.30pm. Wallace is seen in Maiden Lane by PC James Rothwell
who describes Wallace as looking haggard, drawn and very distressed, as though
he'd been crying.
3.35pm. Wallace calls on Mrs. Louisa Harrison of 11
Pennsylvania Road who claims Wallace was joking with her.
3.45pm. Wallace calls on Mrs. Amy Lawrence of 16 Londonderry
Road where he accepts her invitation to a drink of tea, his demeanour being the
'same as usual'.
4.30pm. Amy Wallace leaves 29 Wolverton Street bidding Julia
goodbye as she heads for home.
4.30pm. Julia then chats to neighbour Florence Johnston in
her backyard then pays window cleaner Charles Bliss.
5.15pm. Wallace, still on his Clubmoor rounds makes his last
call of the day on Margaret Martins of 19 Eastman Road who reports him as being
calm and the same as usual in appearance.
5.30pm. Parry finishes work and visits Mrs.Olivia Alberta
Brine of 43 Knoclaid Road. Also present were her 13 year old daughter, Savona
and her nephew, Harold English Dennison. He stayed until 8.30pm.
6.00pm. Wallace catches a bus from Townsend Lane, alighting
at the Cabbage Hall pub a few minutes later.
6.05pm. Wallace arrives home for a light tea with Julia.
6.30pm. Wallace collects together some documentation for his
visit to R.M. Qualtrough.
6.35pm. Wallace washes his hands and face then changes his
collar before brushing his hair.
6.30pm. Local part time dairy girl, 13 year old Elsie Wright
sees milk delivery boy Alan Croxton Close carrying cans of milk along
Letchworth Street on his rounds
6.38pm. Newspaper boy, 16 year old James Allison Wildman
sees Alan Close delivering milk to the Wallace's as he himself delivers a
newspaper next door to the home of Bertha and Walter Holmes at No.27.
6.45pm. It's at about this time that Alan Close confirms
delivering milk to the Wallace's and talking to Julia about their respective
coughs before departing.
6.45pm. Wallace leaves 29 Wolverton Street via the back
door, Julia accompanies him to the back gate. He walks 605 yards to
St.Margaret's Church, West Derby Road where he catches the No.26 tram.
7.06pm. Having alighted the tram at Tunnel Road, Wallace
then boards the No.5 tram on Smithdown Lane, its destination being the Penny
Lane roundabout.
7.15pm. Wallace takes the 5A tram from the Penny Lane
roundabout to Menlove Avenue.
7.20pm. Wallace is on foot in pursuit of Qualtrough's
address. During this next twenty five minutes he encounters four people, a
woman outside a house, Sydney Hubert Green, Katie Ellen Mather and a man in a
shelter, none of whom can help him.
7.45pm. Wallace meets PC James Edward Serjeant who informs
him that no such address exists. Doggedly, Wallace asks where he might consult
a street directory and is told Allerton Road Post Office.
7.50pm. Wallace tries the post office and nearby Allday's
newsagents where he speaks with Nancy Collins and Lily Pinches but both avenues
are to no avail so Wallace leaves the shop giving up on his quest.
8.10pm. Wallace boards the No.8 tram outside the Plaza
Cinema, Allerton Road before connecting with the No.27 tram at Tunnel Road,
taking the same route home as on his outward journey.
8.30pm. Parry calls to Maiden Lane Post Office where he is
served with cigarettes and a newspaper by Mr. Hodgson. Parry then calls to
Walter Hignett's cycle shop at 153 West Derby Road for his accumulator before
calling on Mrs. Williamson of 49 Lisburn Lane to chat for 10 minutes about a
birthday invitation to her son Les's 21st in April.
8.45pm. Wallace returns to his Wolverton Street but cannot
get access to his house by the front door, nor the back, nor the front when
tried again. Neither is there a response when he knocks.
8.50pm. Next door neighbours, John Sharpe Johnston and
Florence Johnston, going out for the night encounter an anxious Wallace in the
back entry. They wait as he finally gains access through the back door which
now mysteriously yields. Wallace emerges minutes later saying 'oh come and see,
she's been killed'.
8.50pm. At about this time, between 8.30pm and 9pm but
nearer 9, Parry visits his girlfriend Lillian Lloyd at 7 Missouri Road.
Lillian's mother, Josephine is also present. Lily tells Parry he's late whereupon
he explains his visit to Mrs. Williamson.
8.55pm. John Johnston heads off on foot to alert the police
at Anfield Road police station via his own doctors on Lower Breck Road.
9.10pm. PC Fred Williams arrives at the crime scene.
9.30pm. Police Sergeant, Breslin arrives at the crime scene.
9.50pm. John Edward Macfall, professor of forensic medicine
at Liverpool University arrives to examine the body.
10.05pm. Detective Superintendent, Hubert Rory Moore and
Detective Sergeant, Adolphus (Dolly) Fothergill arrive at the scene.
10.15pm. Detective Sergeant, Harry Bailey arrives at the
scene.
10.30pm. Moore departs to Anfield Road police station to
inform his 7 Divisional Inspectors by telephone of the murder and to instigate
a city wide search for the murderer. Official Police photographer, Harry Cooke
and the fire brigade floodlight division are ordered to the scene.
11.00pm. Moore arrives back on the scene as Superintendent
Broughton and Assistant Chief Constable Glover are on site. Detective Inspector
Gold also arrives.
11.00pm. Parry leaves his girlfriend's home at 7 Missouri
Road to go home.
11.15pm. Twenty four year old John Parkes leaves his home at
1a Tynwald Hill, taking a short walk to his place of work at Atkinson's all
night garage and taxi services at No.1 Moscow Drive. Soon, a regular caller to
the garage, PC Ken Wallace shows up. He tells Parkes of the murder stating
(incorrectly) that the husband, William Wallace has been charged with it.
'That's Parry's friend' replies Parkes.
11.45pm. The small terraced house at 29 Wolverton Street is
now a hive of activity as Wallace accompanies Inspector Gold and Sergeant
Bailey to Anfield Bridewell to make a formal statement. Crowds have gathered
outside the house and much speculation is abound. Amy Wallace now arrives at
the scene with her son Edwin. Police Photographer Harry Cooke is busy taking
the scene of crime photographs seen earlier on this page.
11.50pm. Dr. Hugh Pierce, the Police Medical Officer arrives
to assist Professor MacFall's examination of the body.
WEDNESDAY 21ST JANUARY 1931.
00.30am. At around this time, certainly just into the new
morning, Parkes says that Richard Gordon Parry drives into the garage in an
agitated state, ordering him hose down the car both inside and out. Parkes
spots a bloodied glove in the glove compartment whereupon Parry grabs it off
him saying 'If the Police found that, it would hang me'.
01.15am. Sergeant Bailey returns to Wolverton Street to
supervise the removal of the body to Princes Dock Mortuary.
01.55am. Julia's body arrives at the mortuary for an
autopsy. Photographs are taken which are too harrowing to reveal on this site.
04.00am. Bailey is back at Anfield Bridewell, Wallace is
still there. Moore turns up, his search of the crime scene complete for the
night and the house under Police guard. Inspector Gold and a Police driver take
Wallace to stay at his Sister-in-law, Amy's house at 83 Ullet Road.
04.30am. Upon arriving at Ullet Road, Inspector Gold takes
statements from Amy and Edwin Wallace who can add nothing of any significance
except to say that Julia was alive and well 12 hours earlier when she had left
her at 4.30pm.
06.00am. At the end of his shift, Parkes tells his boss,
William Atkinson of his encounter with Parry. Atkinson tells him to have
nothing to do with it and to take a different route to work. It was agreed
however that should Wallace be convicted of the murder, they would go to the
Police.
10.00am. Wallace keeps his appointment with Moore at Dale
Street Detective office as back at Anfield, Detectives were making house to house
enquiries as their phone lines are jammed with a lot of mis-information. The
Johnston's and Staff at the city cafe are interview as Moore opens a new crime
file No. 1341GC. Sgt Bailey sets about tracing all known Qualtroughs.
6.45pm. Local kids, Elsie Wright, Douglas Metcalf, Harold
Jones and Kenneth Caird are excitedly reading the Echo headlines and urge Alan
Close to tell the police all he knows. Close goes to Wolverton Street where
he's invited inside by an officer.
THURSDAY 22ND JANUARY 1931.
10.15pm. Wallace leaves Dale Street detective office after
another full day of questioning, his destination being his temporary home at 83
Ullet Road, a plain clothes police officer tails him. Wallace bumps into
Beattie, Caird and two other members of the Chess club at the tram stop at the
corner of North John Street and Lord Street. Wallace asks Beattie about being
more precise on the time of the Qualtrough phone call and tells him the police
have cleared him. Wallace then takes the No.8 tram, the police officer in
pursuit. Moore finds out during the day that the Qualtrough call box is located
400 yards from Wallace's home. Liverpool City Coroner, George Cecil Mort
formally opens the inquest into the death of Julia Wallace.
FRIDAY 23RD JANUARY 1931.
Wallace gives his third statement at the Dale Street
detective office and is confronted about his chat with Beattie and Caird the
night before which Wallace admits was indiscreet of him.
SATURDAY 24TH JANUARY 1931.
Julia Wallace is buried at Anfield Cemetery during a
miserable drizzle. William, Amy and Edwin are all present, as is Constable
Thomas Hudson. There are few flowers and Wallace weeps uncontrollably. Mr Hall
delivers a letter by hand to Moore's office. His daughter Lily claims to have
seen Wallace talking to a man at 8.35pm on the murder night, near to his home.
Wallace when questioned denies this and nobody comes forward when an appeal is
put out.
MONDAY 26TH JANUARY 1931.
Alan Close re-enacts his delivery round and is timed by
Moore's stop watch. The 'Anfield Harriers' police team are formed to retrace
Wallace's journey to the tram on the murder night. These consist of 3 pairs of
offices with mixed results.
TUESDAY 27TH JANUARY 1931.
The time trials continue as Wallace makes a surprise visit
to Moore requesting admittance to 29 Wolverton Street for a change of clothing
which is granted. The alibis of Parry, Marsden and Young are corroborated and
forensic tests on Parry's car and clothing completed to satisfaction. A case is
put before the Director of public prosecutions for Wallace's arrest. Wallace is
interviewed again and a 4th statement taken offering nothing new.
MONDAY 2ND FEBRUARY 1931.
The Director of Public Prosecutions relents, agreeing that
Wallace has a case to answer for murder. Bernard Pierce telephones Bishop with
the news who in turns informs Everett, Glover and Moore to issue a warrant for
his arrest.
7pm. Wallace is arrested at 83 Ullet Road, the residence of
his sister in law Amy. Her son Edwin is at home and admits Spt Hubert Moore,
Inspector Herbert Gold and officer Charles Thomas. Wallace is taken to
Cheapside Bridewell.
TUESDAY 3RD FEBRUARY 1931.
10.30am. Wallace appears in Court No.1 in the stipendiary
court before Magistrate, Stuart Deacon. Solicitor, J.R. Bishop, prosecuting for
the crown outlines the case against Wallace. Wallace, at this point
unrepresented telephones Hector Munro of Herbert J Davis, Berthen & Munro
before being taken to the hospital block of Walton Gaol.
THURSDAY 5TH FEBRUARY 1931.
Liverpool City Coroner, George Cecil Mort formally adjourns
the inquest into the death of Julia Wallace until 25th February due to the
on-going court proceedings. Hector Munro was present for Wallace.
WEDNESDAY 11TH FEBRUARY 1931.
At No.2 Court of the Stipendiary Magistrates Court, Wallace
is remanded into custody for a further 8 day period.
THURSDAY 19TH FEBRUARY 1931.
10.30am. Day one the Committal Proceedings at No.2 Court of
the Stipendiary Magistrates Court which was to last 7 days in all. Lay
Magistrate R.J. Ward presided over the case, J.R. Bishop being the prosecution
Solicitor. Sydney Schofield Allen of Hector Munro's office appeared for
Wallace. Clerk of the court, Henry Harris took longhand depositions from the 35
witnesses that were called throughout using over 400 pages of foolscap.
FRIDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 1931.
10.30am. Day two of the Committal Proceedings commence.
MONDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 1931.
10.30am. Day three of the Committal Proceedings commence.
TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 1931.
10.30am. Day four of the Committal proceedings commence.
WEDNESDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 1931.
Liverpool City Coroner, G.C. Mort again adjourns the inquest
into the death of Julia, this time for 7 days.
THURSDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 1931.
Wallace is remanded into custody.
MONDAY 2ND MARCH 1931.
The 5th days of the Committal Proceedings resume.
TUESDAY 3RD MARCH 1931.
The 6th and second to last day of the Committal Proceedings.
WEDNESDAY 4TH MARCH 1931.
The last day of the Committal Proceedings. J.R. Ward tells
Wallace that with everything considered, he must go to trial at the next
Liverpool assizes.
G.C. Mort adjourns the inquest on Julia for a further 7
days.
WEDNESDAY 11TH MARCH 1931.
G.C. Mort adjourns the inquest until May 21st.
WEDNESDAY 22ND APRIL 1931.
10am. The trial against Wiiliam Herbert Wallace opens in a
glare of publicity and crowds at St. Georges Hall. Robert Alderson Wright is
the Judge. E.G. Hemmerde KC is for the prosecution. R.G. Oliver KC is for the
defence. Wallace pleads not guilty. 14 witnesses are called on this first day.
THURSDAY 23RD APRIL 1931.
10am. Day 2 and a further 8 witnesses are called.
FRIDAY 24TH APRIL 1931.
10am. Day 3 and after the first 4 witnesses are called there
is great interest as Wallace himself is called.
2.30pm Wallace takes to the witness box where he remains for
almost 3 hours answering over 700 questions. After he is excused, a further 14
witnesses are called as tomorrow will be the summing up and verdict.
SATURDAY 25TH APRIL 1931.
10am. Oliver gives his speech for the defence. Hemmerde
gives his speech for the prosecution. Justice Wright sums up the case.
1.20pm The jury retire to consider their verdict.
2.30pm After one hour out, the jury return. Wallace is found
guilty of the unlawful murder of his wife. Justice Wright dons his black cap
sentencing Wallace to death by hanging.
TUESDAY 12TH MAY 1931.
This was the day that William Herbert Wallace was sentenced
to hang.
FRIDAY 15TH MAY 1931.
Det Supt Hubert Moore and other Police officials departs to
London for Wallace's appeal.
SATURDAY 16TH MAY 1931.
Wallace is taken by car from Walton Gaol to Lime Street
Station and thereafter by train to London for his appeal.
SUNDAY 17TH MAY 1931.
Prayers are offered for Wallace at the Liverpool Anglican
Cathedral by Canon Dwelly.
MONDAY 18TH MAY 1931.
The Court of Criminal Appeal in The Strand, London opens and
is presided over by Justices Hewart, Branson and Hawke. Again, Roland Oliver
and E.G. Hemmerde act for the defence and Crown respectively with their
colleagues Sydney Scholefield Allen for the defence and Leslie Walsh for the
Crown. Oliver spoke for the defence on the first day.
TUESDAY 19TH MAY 1931.
Hemmerde spoke for the Prosecution on the second day.
3.30pm The Court
retires for the verdict.
4.15pm The Judges
re-enter the Court for the verdict which is that the appeal has been successful
and Wallace is a free man.
5.55pm Det Supt
Hubert Moore, Insp Herbert Gold and other Police officials depart from Euston
for Liverpool. Hector Munro, Sydney Scholefield Allen and Norman Wheeler are
also on board.
9.35pm. The train arrives at Lime Street station.
WEDNESDAY 20TH MAY 1931.
Wallace, accompanied by his brother Joseph visit the theatre
to see 'The Millionaire Kid'.
THURSDAY 21ST MAY 1931.
Wallace returns by car to Liverpool. He visits the
Prudential Offices in Dale Street and is given a months holiday. He and his
brother later depart to Broughton-On-Furness.
During this day, the inquest into the death of Julia Wallace
is officially closed by Coroner G.C. Mort. Munro was there to represent
William.
JUNE 1931.
Wallace moves house to 'The Summerhouse' on Wirral. He
commutes to work, now based in the Prudential Dale Street offices having been
positioned there by his Superintendent, Joseph Crewe.
DECEMBER 1932.
Wallace suffers from a recurrence of his kidney trouble.
FEBRUARY 9TH 1933.
Wallace is admitted to Clatterbridge Hospital.
FEBRUARY 26TH 1933.
3am. William Herbert Wallace is pronounced dead, the causes
being Uraemia and Pyelonephritis.
SATURDAY 1st MARCH 1933.
William Herbert Wallace is laid to rest in Anfield Cemetery
in the same grave as his wife, Julia. Ten male mourners and four small wreaths
are present.
1933.
Lily Lloyd, by then engaged to, but jilted by Parry,
contacts Wallace's Solicitor, Hector Munro to offer a sworn affidavit that she
lied to cover up for Parry back in 1931. Claiming she was indeed at work,
playing the piano at the Clubmoor Cinema until after 9pm and only saw Parry
after that. As previously stated, she never offered an alibi that covered Parry
for the hours of the murder anyway so the offer was not considered. Was this
the action of a woman with a guilty conscience or the actions of a woman
scorned? POSSIBLE MOTIVES INFIDELITY:
Was William Herbert Wallace having an affair with his
Sister-in-law, Amy Wallace whose husband Joseph, Wallace's brother, remained in
India during this time? Was William having an affair with one of the ladies on
his rounds? There is even a somewhat outlandish theory that William dressed up
as Julia to speak with Alan Close during his milk delivery round. It is
debatable that Wallace and Parry would forge a partnership in crime as Wallace pointed
the finger at Parry during questioning. Could Wallace and Another be
responsible, possibly even Marsden or Young. Could Wallace have had something
on either of these and be blackmailing them for help in ridding himself of
Julia? Was Lily Hall correct in saying she saw Wallace talking to a man in the
alleyway at Richmond Park just before his return home? Did Wallace organise a
contract killing due to him having an affair or perhaps because he found out
about Julia having an affair or perhaps for a totally different reason
altogether? If there was a second guilty party, he would not be coming forward
upon appeal.
Was Richard Gordon Parry having an affair with Julia during
his visits for 'musical interludes' with her as Parry himself put it? These
visits were not recorded in William's diaries and Parry implied William was
'sexually odd' to Whittigton-Egan. This could have been possibly mentioned to
him by Julia in conversation? Was Julia about to expose this infidelity to
William? Did Parry then kill her and stage a botched robbery?
ROBBERY GONE WRONG:
If this was the motive, it was not a very good attempt at
robbery as although about £4 was missing from a tin containing Wallace's
Prudential takings, Julia's handbag and other cash upstairs remained untouched.
The fact there was no break-in, may pretty much rule out the
'Anfield Housebreaker' that was so prevalent in the area at this time unless he
could have gained entry to the house by other means.
Was it a spur of the moment, spontaneous act? Wallace's cat
was said to be missing in the days before the murder but as detectives and
police swarmed around the house in the aftermath of the discovery of Julia's
body, Wallace was said to be found feeding the cat? Could someone have visited
the house to return it or did it just find it's own way back.
Seventeen people were listed by Wallace whom Julia may have
admitted to the house in his absence. Of those, a Richard Gordon Parry, Joseph
Caleb Marsden and Stanley Young feature prominently as previous co-workers of
Wallace who had covered for William while he was ill. Parry is known to have
stole before, in fact from Wallace indirectly when he short paid his takings
into the Prudential when he stood in for him. If Parry had known Wallace had
been ill or that this particular week was not Wallace's monthly takings week,
then surely he would have waited until richer pickings were available?
Could it have been a collusion of two or more participants.
Parry and A.N.Other, possible even Marsden or Young. Could Parry have been the
provider of the car or perhaps merely the getaway man? Could John Parkes'
statement about the bloodied glove be accurate? It is debatable that Wallace
and Parry would forge a partnership in crime as Wallace pointed the finger at
Parry during questioning. Could Wallace and A.N. Other be responsible. Was Lily
Hall right in saying she saw Wallace talking to a man in the alley way at
Richmond Park just before his return home. If there was a guilty party, he
would not be coming forward upon appeal.
Next door neighbour, John Sharpe Johnston has even been
touted as a possibility. He was known to have a key, as when Wallace found
difficulty in gaining access to his house, Johnston offered to fetch his key?
Could he have been rumbled by Julia during a robbery. Was Johnston the Anfield
Housebreaker? The Johnston's left their house next day to move in with their
eldest daughter. Was that something already planned? Would moving so soon not
throw some suspicion your way - in that case, why would you do it if guilty?
REVENGE:
Parry again features. Wallace reported Parry to his
Superintendent, Joseph Crewe. This was due to a shortfall in the takings handed
in by Parry when he stood in for Wallace during the latter's illness. This may
have resulted in Parry losing/changing jobs a little later.
If you find a mistake in the spelling, grammar or reporting of this case, or if as an amateur sleuth or fellow enthusiast of this case, you can offer another opinion or further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
This web page, dedicated to the Wallace case as it enters its 80th anniversary is the product of research undertaken by Mark Russell and myself but could not have been achieved without references from previous publications, most notably by Jonathan Goodman, Roger Wilkes and James Murphy whose works we thoroughly recommend.
If you find a mistake in the spelling, grammar or reporting of this case, or if as an amateur sleuth or fellow enthusiast of this case, you can offer another opinion or further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
This web page, dedicated to the Wallace case as it enters its 80th anniversary is the product of research undertaken by Mark Russell and myself but could not have been achieved without references from previous publications, most notably by Jonathan Goodman, Roger Wilkes and James Murphy whose works we thoroughly recommend.
The Photographs used are primarily those belonging to the
Liverpool Records Office and Merseyside Police but with a number whom are the
sole copyright of Mark Russell and myself. Photographs numbered
9,11,16,62&67 as they appear are the copyright of David Mullen, Harold
Ackroyd, Paul Bolger, Mike Green and Linda Williamson respectively and may not
be reproduced without permission from the copyright holders. All of the
photographs have been sourced and copyright permission sought and granted.
FOOTNOTES AND UPDATES - OCTOBER 2011
Another publication going to press is John Gannon's 'Julia Wallace and the devil in the detail'. John has detailed a number of statements not previously published in their entirity, though James Murphy may have been aware of their full contents but only chose to highlight the facts which would take the reader down his way of thinking. Goodman may not have had access to them at all, as he talks of Parry collecting Lily Lloyd from the Clubmoor cinema which wasn't so according to what we read below......
FOOTNOTES AND UPDATES - OCTOBER 2011
Another publication going to press is John Gannon's 'Julia Wallace and the devil in the detail'. John has detailed a number of statements not previously published in their entirity, though James Murphy may have been aware of their full contents but only chose to highlight the facts which would take the reader down his way of thinking. Goodman may not have had access to them at all, as he talks of Parry collecting Lily Lloyd from the Clubmoor cinema which wasn't so according to what we read below......
QUOTE:
Richard Gordon Parry's Statement.
Tuebrook Bridewell - 23/1/31.
Richard Gordon PARRY says:
I live at 7, Woburn Hill, and I am an Inspector employed by
the Standard Life Assurance Co., 28, Exchange Street East. I have known Mr and
Mrs Wallace of 29, Wolverton Street since September 1926, by being in the
employ of the Prudential Assurance Co., of which Mr Wallace was an agent. In
December 1928 Mr Wallace was off duty ill and I did his work for two weeks. On
the Thursday of the first week, and on the Wednesday evening of the second week
I called at his house to hand over the cash, and settle up the books. The first
time I called Mrs Wallace gave me a cup of tea and some cake while I was
waiting for Mr Wallace to come downstairs. It was about 10.0am and I waited in
the kitchen. I had been to Mr Wallace’s house on several occasions prior to
December 1928 on business matters for my Superintendent, Mr Crewe, and had also
called several times after that date on similar business. I always looked upon
Mr and Mrs Wallace as a very devoted couple. The last time I called at
Wallace’s was about October or November 1929, and then I called on business for
Mr Crewe. The last time I saw Mr Wallace was about three weeks ago on a bus
from Victoria Street. I got off at Shaw Street. I know that Mr Wallace is very
fond of music, he plays bowls, and I have seen him at the City Cafe in North
John Street; he is a member of a Chess Club which has its headquarters there.
I am a member of the Mersey Amateur Dramatic Society and
previous to the production of “John Glaydes Honour” on November 17th 1930, at
Crane Hall, we were rehearsing at the City Cafe every Tuesday and Thursday. It
was during these rehearsals that I saw Mr Wallace at the city Cafe on about
three occasions. I did not know previously that he was a member of the Chess
Club there.
On Monday evening the 19th instant, I called for my young
lady, Miss Lillian Lloyd, of 7, Missouri Road, at some address where she had
been teaching, the address I cannot for the moment remember, and went home with
her to 7, Missouri Road at about 5.30pm and remained there until about 11.30pm
when I went home.
On Tuesday the 20th instant, I finished business about
5.30pm and called upon Mrs Brine, 43, Knockliad (sic) Road. I remained there
with Mrs Brine, he daughter Savona, 13yrs; her nephew, Harold Dennison (sic),
29, Marlborough Road, until about 8.30pm. I then went out and bought some
cigarettes – Players No 3, and the Evening Express from Mr Hodgson, Post
Office, Maiden Lane, on the way to my young lady’s house. When I was turning
the corner by the Post Office I remembered that I had promised to call for my
accumulator at Hignetts in West Derby Road, Tuebrook. I went there and got my
accumulator and then went down West Derby Road and along Lisburn Lane to Mrs
Williamsons, 49, Lisburn Lane, and saw her. We had a chat about a 21st birthday
party for about 10 minutes and then I went to 7, Missouri Road, and remained
there till about 11 to 11.30pm when I went home.
I have heard of the murder of Mrs Wallace and have studied
the newspaper reports of the case and, naturally, being acquainted with Mr and
Mrs Wallace, I have taken a great interest in it. I have no objection whatever
to the police verifying my statement as to my movements on Monday the 19th and
Tuesday the 20th instants.
Signed) R G Parry.
24th January, 1931.
Lily Lloyd's Statement.
“Lillian (sic) Josephine Moss LLOYD says:
I am 20 years of age and reside with my parents at 7,
Missouri Road. I am a music teacher. I am keeping company with R E (sic) Parry,
7, Woburn Hill. On Monday the 19th inst I had an appointment at my home with a
pupil named Rita Price, 14a Clifton Road at 7pm. I cannot remember properly but
either Rita Price was late or I was late. It was not more than 10 minutes. I
gave my pupil a full ¾ of an hour lesson and about 20 minutes before I finished
Parry called. That would be about 7.35pm. I did not see him and when I finished
the lesson he had gone. I know he called because I heard his car and his knock
at the door and I heard his voice at the door. I do not know who answered the
door. He returned between 8.30 and 9pm and remained until about 11pm. He told
me he had been to, I think he said, Park Lane.
On Tuesday the 20th inst Parry called between 8.30pm and 9pm
but I think it was nearer 9 than 8.30pm. He told me in answer to my question as
to where he had been that he had been to a Mrs Williamsons (sic), 49, Lisburn
Lane. I know Mrs Williamson, she is a friend of mine. He told me that he had
got an invitation for myself and him to Leslie Williamson’s 21st birthday party
in April. I do not remember whether or not he told me he had received the
invitations that night but I got the impression that he had. He remained until
about 11pm and then went home. He came in his car. I think Parry wore his
striped trousers on Monday night and his blue suit on Tuesday and Wednesday,
and I think he has worn his striped trousers every day since, but I’m not sure
about Friday and Saturday.
(signed) Lilian J M Lloyd.”
Josephine Ward Lloyd's (Lily's mother) Statement.
“Josephine Ward LLOYD, 7, Missouri Road, says:
I am the wife of Reginald Lloyd and I have a daughter,
Lillian (sic) Josephine Moss Lloyd, 20 yrs. My daughter is a music teacher. She
is keeping company with R G Parry of 7, Woburn Hill.
On Monday the 19th of January 1931 Mr Parry called at my
house at about 7.15pm as near as I can remember. I can fix the time as about
7.15pm because my daughter has a pupil named Rita Price, of Clifton Road, who
is due for a music lesson at 7pm or a bit earlier every Monday. Last Monday
(19th inst) she was a few minutes late and she had started her lesson when
Parry arrived in his car. He stayed about 15 minutes and then left because he
said he was going to make a call to Lark Lane. He came back in his car at about
9 to 9.15pm and stayed until about 11pm when he left.
On Tuesday the 20th January Mr Parry called at about 9pm and
remained here until about 11pm. He came in his car which he left outside. On
Monday and Tuesday nights of last week (19th and 20th) Parry was dressed in a
black jacket and vest and striped trousers and spats when he called. On
Wednesday and Thursday or Thursday and Friday he was wearing a navy blue suit,
I think it was Thursday and Friday because on Saturday he had his striped
trousers again.
(Signed) Josephine W Lloyd.
Josephine Ward Lloyd further states:
When Parry called at about 9pm or a little after on Tuesday
the 20th my daughter told him he was late and he said he had been to Mrs
Williamson’s, Lisburn Lane and to Hignetts at Tuebrook about a battery for his
wireless. He was wearing his dark overcoat that night. He has a check grey
tweed overcoat. He also has a brownish plus four suit and another brown tweed
suit.
(Signed) Josephine W Lloyd.”
The conclusion here is that R.G. Parry's and Lily Lloyd's
statements are so at odds with each other for Monday 19th. Lily was teaching a
private pupil that evening at home and though she could have been playing at
the Clubmoor cinema later there is no mention of this in either statements and
so Parry would not have been collecting her from there as mentioned by Goodman
in his book. In any case, the timing of such an event had it happened may have
been much later than the murder time anyway so would become irrelevant.
What also must be rememberd, is the fact that in
interrogating Parry, presumably the police didn't tell him why he had to
account for himself on both Monday and Tuesday. He has a cast iron alibi for
Tuesday but has lied to completely cover himself for the time of the Qualtrough
phone call: if he was innocent of making that call, how would he know that he
now had to have an alibi and what time it had to cover him for? If he was
expecting to be quizzed over it - why had he not prepared an alibi? What had
happened that had changed the goal posts? A fact we do know, is that Wallace
found out the day before Parry gave his alibi, that the police knew exactly
what time the call was made, and where from. Simply something to contemplate:
could Wallace have informed Parry of the findings?
Parry's statement starts on Friday 23rd Jan 1931 but is
concluded and dated as 24th so it must have ran over midnight into Saturday.
Postion of Julia's body.
The positioning of Julia’s body, as found by Wallace, has
consistently been given as lying on her stomach, stretched out, almost
diagonally, across the fireside rug; her feet together (her toes almost
touching the right hand side of the fender surrounding the fire), heels
uppermost,. The trunk of her body, slightly bent at the hips, brought her
shoulders in line with the long edge of the rug close to the door; her right
arm lying on the rug by her side, her left arm extending across the floor
toward the window. This description has almost exclusively been described from
the two photographs taken by the Official Police Photographer, Harry Hewitt
Cooke, taken one after the other at approximately 1.00am on the night of the
murder (see photos 55 and 56). The first of these photographs was taken from
the doorway of the parlour (the door actually having to be lifted from its
hinges in order to accomplish this); the other from behind the chaise lounge in
front of the window. If one looks carefully at each image, it can be plainly
seen that, even in the time taken to move the camera from the door to the
window, Julia’s body has been repositioned! By the time these photographs were
taken, the police had been allowed to blunder their way around the crime scene
without restraint or accountability: the room, at times, had been as busy as
Lime Street Station on a bank holiday; between Wallace, Mrs Johnston, the
police and two medical examiners, the room had been entered and exited
innumerable times and Julia’s body had been prodded and probed for over four
hours. Luckily, in examining Hector Munro’s vast archive of files concerning
the case, I was more than excited to come across two statements given by Mr and
Mrs Johnston in February 1931, that, in combination with other evidence, give
quite a complete picture of the original positioning of Julia’s body when
Wallace first entered the parlour and, presumably, when the killer left her.
Julia was lying on her right hand side, almost diagonally across the rug, her
legs slightly parted, her feet lying flat on their sides close to the right
hand end of the fender, toes pointing toward the window. Her right arm was
hidden beneath her body; her left arm lying against her body, was bent at the
elbow, the forearm resting over her chest, the fingers almost touching the
floor. Approximately 18 inches from the open door, Julia’s head lay on its
right side, her eyes staring out toward the window; surrounding her head was a
nine-inch border of congealing blood, brain tissue and bone. Just above, and in
front of, her left ear was a huge, cruel opening through her skull, two inches
wide by three inches long, through which what remained of her brain could be
seen.
A second publication out in the shops just recently is Murders on Merseyside by Tom Slemen. There are 14 pages dedicated to the murder of Julia Wallace, the chapter is titled 'Who killed Julia Wallace'.
A second publication out in the shops just recently is Murders on Merseyside by Tom Slemen. There are 14 pages dedicated to the murder of Julia Wallace, the chapter is titled 'Who killed Julia Wallace'.
Just as in a newspaper article some time ago Tom points the
finger at the next door neighbours, the Johnstons and credibility must be given
to it as merely another possible option to ponder and to let you the readrs
make up their minds as before.
Apparently a man called Stan told Tom's detective friend
Keith Andrews that upon his deathbed at Kirkdale Homes institution, Jack
Johnston who was by the suffering from Senile Dementia admitted his guilt. He
and his wife Florence had taken the Wallaces cat, 'Puss', and it was their
intention to lure Julia to their house to get it, whereby Jack could then
burgle the house for the insurance takings. This scenario of course means that
Jack Johnston was Qualtrough who made the phone call the night before. However,
on the night that Wallace was heading for the Menlove Gardens area, the
Johnstons seen what they thought was Julia accompanying him on the journey as
she went into the alleyway with the mackintosh around her.
Actually she was only walking William Wallace to the back
gate and then took a look along the alley, looking for the cat but the
Johnstons didn't see her return, according to Tom. This left the way clear for
Jack and Florence to use their key to gain entrance into the Wallace's (but why
couldn't they have just done that anyway at some other time they were both out
on one of their walks in the park etc isn't explained)
Upon entering the parlour, having used a jemmy to prise open
the cabinet door in the kitchen (or this could have been done after the
murder), the Johnstons were shocked to find Julia sitting there with the
mackintosh around her (she had a cold remember), no doubt wondering why they
were in her house and did the only thing now open to them to do, to kill her,
because she had seen them, perhaps he was even the Anfield housebreaker and had
been rumbled?
I would have thought that if this scenario was likely and
the Johnstons are now confronted with Julia (Who they thought was out) that
they could have thought on their feet and came up with the notion that either
they'd found the cat and had knocked but got no answer, or that they'd heard a
noise and assuming both were out, came around with a jemmy in case they came
across the Anfield burglar or just some other fanciful story.
We know the Johnstons moved to their eldest daughters next
day, something they claimed was just coincidental and arranged some time
earlier. Tom makes the most of this, claiming it was because they'd committed
the murder but that surely would have pointed them into spotlight. Tom says
that their grand daughter was not expecting them that night and that they never
made visits to her that late in the evening anyway. Where he sourced this
information from is not clear.
Tom claims that the fact the Johnston's only had to walk 18
feet to their own house accounts for how nobody saw the murderer leaving the
scene that night, a good point. The Johnston's grandchildren claim that their
household had 6 people in it that night and that this fanciful story couldn't
have happened without the Johnston's being seen.
It is a known fact that residents in Wolverton Street had
keys that fitted other front doors in the street. A drunken Mr Cadwallader had
in fact mistakenly entered the Wallaces once causing Julia to scream upon being
confronted by him. Tom states the reason why Wallace could not gain entry to
his own house that was locked against him that night, and yet mysteriously and
suddenly opened after Jack Johnston told William to try it again once he'd
arrived on the scene.
Furthermore, Tom claims that irnoically, Hemmerde who was
prosecuting Wallace, had an inkling or more all along that it was in fact the
Johnston's who were guilty as seen in his questioning of them, about not
believing they'd only ever been in the Wallaces 3 times in 10 years, and always
only ever saw Julia alone. This line of questioning though could have been to
prove the next door neighbours were not well acquainted with each other, as he
was the prosecuting counsel.
It is also claimed that some years later, Florence Johnston
was talking to a neighbour or passer by at her gate and Jack who was
eavesdropping from the hallway heard her talking of the murder case. Jack
ordered Florence in who was next seen sporting 2 black eyes. A little while
later she died of an embolism when she complained of a headache during the
night but Jack just told her to go back to sleep.
Tom goes on to report that the Johnstons were not in the
best state moneywise since his employers, Cammell Laird shipbuilders in
Birkenhead had only 1 ship on order that year which could have been the motive.
Johnston of course was also Qualtrough according to Tom.
Having met Jack and Florence Johnston's grandsons, they
state that the move by their grandparents to their eldest daughters house had
been in the planning long before this and in fact it was to their house they
were going on the night when they came across William Wallace in the entry.
Furthermore they state that no such death bed confession was ever given by
their grandfather as a member of family was ever present. They also state that
their grandparents had their own notions on who was guilty of the murder, one
favouring William, the other not. However, Tom and those who believe this
version of events could say 'Well they would say that wouldn't they'.