Deptford poisonings

Between 1886 and 1889, five suspicious deaths occurred in Deptford, United Kingdom. Amelia Winters was suspected of murder after it was discovered that she had insured the lives of twenty-two people, which allowed her to receive payments for five deaths. As part of the inquiry, three bodies were exhumed, with post-mortem findings non-definitively pointing to poisoning. Most of the alleged victims were Winters' relatives by blood or affinity who had moved into or temporarily stayed in Winter's household.

Winters died before going to trial. Her daughter, Elizabeth Frost, was suspected of complicity and was indicted, but the murder charges were dropped. However, she was convicted of forgery for falsifying insurance documents and sentenced to seven years of penal servitude.[1][2]

Events

The victims in the murder cases were Sidney Bolton, aged 11, the son of a niece living with Winters; William Sutton, the elderly father of another relative; and Elizabeth Frost, the mother-in-law of the daughter Elizabeth Frost. The doctor's certificate had given the cause of death as 'gastrodynia, diarrhoea and convulsions'.

When Joseph Winters, Amellia's husband, discovered the insurance policies, he went to the police. Investigators determined that Winters had insured the lives of 22 persons for a total of £240 with the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society. Five of these individuals had died by 1886, and the society had paid out for them. Winters also had 14 policies with the Prudential Assurance Company, which had also paid out for the same five deaths.

There had been no checks on her relationships with the insured people. On the Liverpool Victoria's insurance form for Sidney Bolton, she had just written 'X' against his mother's name.[3]

Other deaths

Investigators identified other possible poisoning victims of Winters. No criminal charges were brought for these deaths.

  • Benjamin Winters, the brother of Joseph Winters. Winters had insured him for 18 guineas. In 1885, he left Greenwich Workhouse to stay at the Winters' house for a holiday. While there, Benjamin "was taken ill with diarrhaea, sickness, pains in the stomach, and similar symptoms to those described in the previous cases. Dr. McNaughten attended the man, who expired in a few days in a fit."
  • William Winters, age five, Winters' grandson; she had insured him for £5. In the summer of 1886, William was brought from the hospital to stay with Winters. William died a few days later.
  • Ann Bolton, an elderly woman insured by Winters for £3 10s. In November 1886, she died at Friendly Street, Deptford, after Winters had been nursing her.[4]

A witness in the case, George Francis Dear, who had lodged with Winters, later committed suicide by hanging after finding out that Winters had insured his life with a Liverpool society for 19 guineas.[5][6]

Inquest

According to the autopsy evidence at the coroner's inquest, "In Sutton's case, the appearances were quite consistent with death from an irritant poison. In the case of Elizabeth Frost the state of preservation in which the intestines were found indicated the presence of some preservative such as arsenic",[a] as reported in The Colonist at the time.

Evidence of motive was presented showing that between July 1886 and February 1889 five people insured by Winters had died and she had claimed and received payment against the policies she held for Sutton and Bolton.

In July 1889, at the end of the inquest, the coroner's jury delivered a verdict that the deaths were caused by "wilful murder", implicating Winters and Frost, upon which the coroner committed them for trial at the Central Criminal Court, for their culpability to be determined.[8]

Winters' death

Winters died before she could be brought to trial. However, she made a deathbed confession of guilt to her husband and daughter.[9] No inquest was held for her death; the doctor said it was the result of 'marasmus' – a general wasting away.'[10][11]

Winters was buried in Brockley cemetery in Lewisham on 22 July 1889 in unconsecrated ground. The burial was kept secret with police present to deter demonstrations.[12][13]

Frost's trial

Elizabeth Frost was indicted for murder, but the charges were dropped. She was tried at the Old Bailey in July 1889 on charges of forging a document for the payment of money, with intent to defraud, and was found guilty.[14][15] Frost was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude.[16]

Effects on life insurers' practices

The coroner for Surrey, Athelstan Braxton Hicks, had written a letter to The Times on 14 February 1889 listing eleven proposals for combating the dangers of child life insurance. The Deptford poisoning case was influential in tightening up the 1875 Friendly Societies Act.[17]

Notes

  1. ^ During this period, arsenic's preservative properties led to its use in taxidermy and embalming.[7]

References

  1. ^ "The Deptford Poisoning Cases". Times [London, England]. 10 July 1889. p. The Times Digital Archive – via The Times Digital Archive.
  2. ^ "The Deptford Poisoning Case". Greenwich & Deptford Observer. 7 June 1889. p. 5.
  3. ^ Rose, Lionel (2015). Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Great Britain 1800–1939. Routledge. ISBN 9781317370635.
  4. ^ "Deptford Poisoning Cases Further Revelations". South Wales Echo. 26 July 1889. p. 3. hdl:10107/4411522.
  5. ^ "Yesterday's Inquests". Reynolds's Newspaper. 21 July 1889. p. 8.
  6. ^ "The Deptford Poisoning Case". South Wales Echo. 19 July 1889. p. 3 – via Welsh Newspapers Online - The National Library of Wales.
  7. ^
  8. ^ "Female Poisoners at Deptford". The Colonist. Vol. XXXII, no. 5588. 2 September 1889. p. 4 – via National Library of New Zealand. At the Breakspear Hotel, Brockley, on July 10, Mr Wood resumed the adjourned inquests on the bodies of Sidney Bolton, aged 11 years, and William Sutton, aged 74 years, whose remains were recently exhumed by order of the Home Secretary. Since the adjournment a third body, that of Elizabeth Frost, aged 47 years, has also been exhumed, and the organs examined, like those of the others, by Dr. Stevenson, analyist to the Home Office. Each of the persons whose death formed the subject of inquiry has been, together with others, insured by Mr Winters, of 153, Church Street, Deptford. The boy Sidney Bolton had lived with Mrs Winters for some time before his death. His sister also lived there, and was first taken ill but recovered. The boy was next seized with similar symptoms and died, Dr Stevenson finding in the body traces of arsenical poisoning. It was alleged that Mrs Winters declared the insurance policy to have lapsed, but subsequently it transpired that she had received £20 from one office and £10 from another. Sutton appears to have been insured for £8 14s. He left the workhouse on December 4 last and died at Mrs Winter's house four days later. Mrs Frost, whose body was the third exhumed, was insured for £5. In all, five persons whose lives were insured by Mrs Winters had died, the first on July 18, 1886, and the last (Bolton) on February 11 of this year. The coroner now swore the jury to inquire into the death of Elizabeth Frost, who had died on February 7, 1888. Mr Thomas Bond, F.R.C.S., described the result of the post-mortem examination of the bodies of William Sutton and Elizabeth Frost. In Sutton's case, the appearances were quite consistent with death from an irritant poison. In the case of Elizabeth Frost the state of preservation in which the intestines were found indicated the presence of some preservative such as arsenic. The intestines were sent to Dr Stevenson. A number of other witnesses were examined. The jury returned a verdict of 'wilful murder' against Amelia Winters and Elizabeth Frost, her daughter, in each of the three cases, adding that Dr Macnaughton had been reckless in the manner in which he had given the certificates, and that the facilities given by the loose system of some insurance societies is an incentive to wilful murder. The coroner made out his warrant against the two women to appear at the Central Criminal Court. Mrs Winters' daughter Elizabeth who is married to one of the sons of the deceased Mrs Frost, was in court with a baby at her breast, and when the coroner's warrant was made out she was immediately arrested and taken into an ante room. Her husband, who witnessed the arrest, one of the charges being for murdering his mother, was completely broken down with grief, and sobbed like a child. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. ^ "Deptford Poisoning Cases: Confession of the late Mrs Winters". Illustrated Police News. 27 July 1889. p. 2.
  10. ^ "The Late Mrs Winters". St James's Gazette. 19 July 1889. p. 8.
  11. ^ "The Deptford Poisoning Cases". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 21 July 1889. p. 5.
  12. ^ "Deptford Poisoning Case: Burial of Mrs Winters". Croydon Guardian and Surrey County Gazette. 27 July 1889. p. 7.
  13. ^ "Deptford Poisoning Case. Burial of Mrs Winters". The Pontypridd Chronicle and Workman's News. 26 July 1889 – via Welsh Newspapers Online - The National Library of Wales.
  14. ^ Old Bailey Proceedings Online, Trial of Elizabeth Jane Frost. (t18890729-651, 29 July 1889).
  15. ^ "The Deptford Poisoning". London Evening News and Post. 2 August 1889. p. 4.
  16. ^ "Spirit of the News". Lloyd's List. 26 October 1889. p. 11.
  17. ^ "Child Life Insurance". Times [London, England]. 19 July 1890. p. 10 – via The Times Digital Archive.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.