Read Barbaric Murders - Child victims, lady-killers and bodies in boxes (Infamous Murderers) for Free Online Page A

were sent off to fetch Mr Kent from Southwick and the doctor, Mr Parson, from Beckington. By this time, Kent had reached Southwick toll gate, and was reporting that his child had been stolen in a blanket and that anyone with a child in a blanket was to be stopped. This was an odd thing for him to report; no-one knew that a blanket was missing, and the baby had not been found together with the blanket until well after Kent had left for Southwick. How did Mr Kent know that his son had been carried to the privy in a blanket? There was something else very peculiar about Mr Kent’s ride to Southwick. The messenger who went after him to tell him the baby had been found dead, discovered that Mr Kent had only reached the tollgate. He had not reached Southwick itself, which was only a mile away, yet he had been gone an hour and a half. The lost hour was never explained. What was Mr Kent doing during this crucial time, when he should have been riding as fast as possible to get help?
    Back at the house, the case had been taken over by Inspector Foley. Foley’s policeman found a bloodstained shift, belonging to a woman above the boiler in the kitchen, though this was only mentioned three months later. All the night dresses in the house were inspected. Only one of them had blood on it, and that, the doctor confirmed, was menstrual blood – nothing to do with the murder. The investigators rapidly came to the conclusion that no outsider was involved. The murderer knew the layout of the inside of the house perfectly, knew that the window could only be opened a certain way without creaking, knew about the privy in the shrubbery, and so on.
    The nightdresses were inspected for blood because of the way the baby had been killed. The poor little boy had had his throat cut with a razor and died instantly. There was another injury too, one that was harder to explain. A weapon of some sort had penetrated the child’s night gown and made a smaller wound in the chest. This had not bled. There were also two more tiny wounds in the left hand; they too had not bled. When the parlour maid collected the laundry, she took Constance’s nightdress along with the others. The girl followed her and asked her if she would get her a glass of water; the maid later thought this odd, as the girl had a jug of water in her room. When she returned she went on with her tasks, but next day discovered that Constance’s nightdress was missing. It was never found. The boodstained shift in the kitchen was a different garment, and no-one knows who that belonged to.
    The inquest was opened in the Red Lion Inn. There was evidence that the amount of blood spilt in the privy was about a pint and a half, not enough given the nature of the wound. The jury wanted to question the children, who were clearly emerging as suspects, especially William and Constance, but among the crowd there was such a strong feeling against the children that the inquest had to be adjourned to the Kents’ house. Constance said she knew nothing, had gone to bed at half past ten, had heard nothing unusual, knew of no resentment against the boy, and found the nurse always kind and attentive. William said much the same. The verdict was wilful murder by person or persons unknown.
    There was great local outrage about the crime, and Scotland Yard became involved in the case. Inspector Whicher quickly concluded that Constance had murdered her half-brother and charged her accordingly. She broke down in tears and pleaded her innocence. The nurse suported Constance; she had never known Constance behave other than well towards the child. She also made the point that the walls of Constance’s room were so thin that she could not have gone out in the night without others hearing what she was doing. Constance mentioned giving the child a present and that they had played together.
    But two school friends of Constance’s gave a different story entirely at the committal hearing at Devizes in July 1860. They said