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Practically every day of the year is a landmark of some sort in the annals of crime. Here’s where you can find out what happened this week in years gone by... Stories from the week beginning July 30th. Moment Of Drunken PassionIt was not unusual for William Griffiths to get drunk, become violent and beat his wife, who would then stay the night at the home of her father. Griffiths, a 23-year-old stoker living on Merseyside, was drunk again on AUGUST 2nd, 1913, when he went up to his father-in-law and sister-in-law on the street. Where was his wife, he wanted to know? His sister-in-law gave him a slight push and told him to go home. Instead, he grabbed her, cut her throat and ran off. In convicting him of murder, his trial’s jury recommended mercy because he had always got on well with the victim, bore her no malice and had slashed her in a moment of drunken passion. The judge supported the recommendation, and Griffiths’ death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released on licence in 1929. Killer's Taunting Letter“It’s me, Ann Heron’s killer!” said the anonymous, taunting letters received by the police and the Northern Echo. Mrs. Heron’s throat had been cut and part of her bikini removed as she sunbathed in the garden of her home at Middleton St. George, near Darlington, County Durham, on AUGUST 3rd, 1990. She was the 44-year-old wife of a haulage contractor who found her body on his return home from work. He offered a £5,000 reward for information leading to her killer’s conviction, and the police conducted more than 100,000 interviews in the investigation. They learned that a man described as suntanned and in his 30s had been seen driving away from the house, but that was as far as they got. The case remains unsolved. A Deadly InsultOn September 13th, 1929, Rauffie Uddin, 24, was in court, accused of the murder of a fellow-lascar seaman, Aktar Ali. The court heard that the two were crew-members of the SS Bhamo, and while their ship was berthed at Birkenhead Docks Uddin had lent Ali five shillings. Uddin claimed that when he asked for repayment, Ali threw a shoe at him. Ali was a Hindu, Uddin a Muslim, and the court was told that the throwing of a shoe at a Muslim was considered a great insult to his God. The prosecutor said that on the morning of AUGUST 4th, the day after the incident, the two men were seen arguing near their ship’s engine-room, and Uddin stabbed Ali in the back as the Hindu moved away. Although they had just been having an altercation, Uddin protested his innocence, claiming he had gone to the dying man’s aid, and that the knife was in his hand because he had picked it up. Although Mr. Justice Hawke told the jury they must judge the degree of provocation by English standards, they convicted Uddin only of manslaughter and he was jailed for 10 years. |
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