Strange Stories: Hanwell, London. A forgotten murder.

This is a case you will not be aware of. A forgotten murder. A marriage dispute where a man kills his wife. What is a surprise is the sentence. Recorded in one take in the garden, with no edit, I do not even listen through after recording, so apologies for any mistakes. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Hello, Strange Stories UK here again, recording this one outside towards the end of June as it's so hot indoors. Anyhow, I doubt if you've heard about this case before, so I'll get straight into it. Second of September 1965. So to set the scene, the UK was involved in international tensions, China was protesting to the UK over American troops using British controlled Hong Kong during the Cold War. India and Pakistan were arguing over Kashmir, and there were problems with Ian Smith and Rhodesia pushing for independence without accepting majority rule. In the UK pop charts, the 2nd of September 1965. I Got You Babe, Sonny and Sher was number one, Beatles Were Help at number two, Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones at number three. In the album charts, number one was helped by the Beatles, and the film tracks of The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins were at numbers two and three. In the book world, James Herbert released the Dune trilogy, and at the cinema the Beatles film Help was top spot, and Thunderbirds began to be shown on ITV. Round Trees introduced the sweet jelly tots to the UK public. Well this story is set in Hanwell, North London. Once a village, by 1965 it had been swallowed up by the greater London suburbia. In 1960 Harry Lawrence and his wife Elizabeth, maiden named Dawson, moved into 22 Cumberland Road Hanwell. They had married during March 1957, when he was twenty six and she was nineteen. They had two children, Jonathan born in nineteen fifty eight and Georgina born in nineteen sixty. Harry had attended Lionel Road School and then Brentford Secondary Boys before leaving to work as a shop assistant aged fourteen in nineteen forty five. For national service he served in the Royal Ordnance School as a private cook, but by nineteen sixty he was working as a tire layer or operator at the Firestone Tire Company at the Great West Road in Brentford in London. He was earning between twenty five or twenty six pounds a week, and he was described as a good worker of good character. Harry and Elizabeth did not enjoy a happy marriage. They first separated during January 1959 when their son was still a baby. She took her husband to court for maintenance, and Harry had to be treated in a hospital for what was described as shock. The couple got back together again and moved into a new house at Hanwell, although the unhappy marriage dragged on. It was Christmas nineteen sixty four when Elizabeth Lawrence met Archibald Hodge Brown, and during July 1965 she left her husband and moved in with Archibald, taking her children with her. They lived at 39 Thackery Court, Blythe Road at Hammersmith, W fourteen. Divorce was not that common in the mid-1960s. It was before the steep rise after the Deforce Reform Act of 1969, which came into operation in England and Wales on the first of january seventy one, and that made divorce much easier after separation. In nineteen sixty five there were four grounds for divorce adultery, cruelty, desertion for at least three years, and incurable insanity. There was not the modern reason that the marriage just hadn't worked out. Anyhow, Elizabeth began divorce repeatings against Harry on grounds of cruelty, which was a bit of a catch all category and could mean almost anything. Celicists arranged that Harry should have the children for every other weekend. And it was during July nineteen sixty five that Harry and Archibald met at Elizabeth's mother address, and Archibald said Harry was not unfriendly and discussed the children reasonably and amicably. August nineteen sixty five. Harry took the children away for a three week holiday which had been agreed. Half the school holiday. Towards the end of the three weeks with their father, Elizabeth Lawrence and Archibald Brown went to her mother's house at sixty seven Little Ealing Lane, where they met with Harry, Lawrence to discuss matters. There was a row. There's a row about the children and a fight in the street near the address. It seemed that the fight was between Harry and his wife, his wife's lover and his wife's mother. Three against one. Police constable Wheelan, who was stationed at Acton Police Station, said on Monday the thirtieth of August at nine in nineteen sixty five at six twenty five PM, he was riding his X twenty one lightweight motorcycle when he received an RT message to go to sixty seven Little Ealing Lane because there were men fighting in the street. In Constable Wheeland's words, as a result of this, I went to sixty seven Little Ealing Lane, W five, where I saw Mrs. Elizabeth Anne Rose Lawrence, parent age twenty seven, Thackeray Court Hammersmith, and Mr Archibald Hodge Brown, parent age forty eight of the same address. Mrs. Lawrence complained to me of a sore neck, but I could see no visible signs of injury. Mr Brown had a cut over his right eye, on the left side of the neck, and bruised hands, but both declined medical aid. I went to Cumberland Road afterwards, at Boston Manor Road, near Elforn Park. I saw a man who I know now to be Mr Harry Lawrence with his two children. I said to him, What's your name? He said, What's it got to do with you? I said, I think your name's Lawrence and you've just had a row with your wife. He said, That's right, so what? I said, Well I want to hear your side of the story. He said, I want to get the children indoors. If you want to speak to me, you'll have to come home with me. I said, Fair enough, I'll follow you home. I noticed his face was bleedy in several places, and then he appeared to have been involved in a fight. I went to his home address and went inside. He became more at ease. I said I want to know your side of the story and what you're intending to do with the children. He said, Well I found out my wife was having an affair behind my back and she left me. I went to go and see her at her mother's, and she left with her little new boyfriend. He was so old I thought he was her uncle. I know now that it was her boyfriend. One day when I had the children, we were going through Olympia, when my boy said that they lived near there, so I got him to show me where it was. I knocked on the door and he came to the door. I asked my wife, and he said that she was living there with him. Today I went back with the children. The bloke told me I couldn't see the kids again, so I saw red and hit him. I said, What are you going to do with the children? He said, Well my sister said she would come and look after them, but I'll keep them until I've seen my solicitor. I said to the children, Do you want to stay with your daddy? And both replied yes. I then referred Mr Lawrence to Ealing Court to take out a summons for assault, and he said very well, I'll see my solicitor about it. I then went back to sixty seven Knit Leading Lane, where again I saw Mrs. Lawrence and Mr Brown. She complained of a sore neck, but again Wheeland saw no visible sign of injury. Brown had his injuries, cut over the right eye, but both still declined medical aid. Thursday the thirty first of August nineteen sixty five. Harry Lawrence received a letter from his solicitor, Kenneth Brown of the Mall Ealing. The solicitor was telling Lawrence that he received a letter from Elizabeth's solicitors about the incident on the thirtieth of August, and he advised Harry to hand the children back. He warned that if the children Harry did not hand them back by ten o'clock on the second of September, Elizabeth would take steps to recover them. On the night of the first and second of september nineteen sixty five, Elizabeth was at Archibald's flat, thirty ninth Thackeray Court. On the morning of the Thursday, second of September, Archibald left for work at about seven fifteen in the morning. He said when he left the flat, Elizabeth was still at the flat and was in perfect health. That same morning Harry went to look for Elizabeth. He assumed Elizabeth would be waiting at her mother's for the children, so he went there at ten o'clock. Elizabeth was not there, so then he went on the thirty ninth Thackeray Court. He claimed to get warm clothes for the children. Just for the record, the weather that day was warm and sunny. According to Harry Lawrence, when he arrived at the flat he asked Elizabeth for the children's clothes. He said while she was getting the clothes from the wardrobe, they argued, mainly about custody of the children. According to Harry's later statement, they started a fight. He put his hands around her throat, and she stopped breathing, and she fell onto the bed. He then took some clothes for the children, left the flat, and returned home. Before leaving he crossed Elizabeth's hands over her chest. He said a necklace that she was wearing broke and fell onto the floor. He later stated that he had not gone there intending to harm her, and that the row was triggered by Elizabeth bringing up the other woman he was supposed to have been seeing. On Thursday the second of September, Archibald returned to the flat, his flat at about five PM, found the door locked. He noticed a note, and found Elizabeth deceased, fully clothed, lying on the bed. He identified her necklace as one he had given her and which she wore constantly. Detective Inspector Walter John Bridges and Detective Sergeant Shorto were the police that were called, they arrived at quarter to six. They found Elizabeth's body lying on a single bed in the back bedroom, as said fully clothed, lying on the back with her arms folded across her chest. Bridges found a broken gold necklace with the Taurus the Bull pendant lying on the mat on the bed near the tall boy.

unknown 11:28

Dr.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Kearns, the divisional surgeon, arrived soon afterwards and pronounced life extinct. Police called on Harry Lawrence, and he gave his initial account to the police. He claimed on the Thursday morning he got up at nine AM, gave the children breakfast, went shopping from about eleven to twelve, cooked lunch, had lunch between one and two, went to the park with the children, returned about four thirty, watched television, and the police came round to his house at about seven thirty. On that evening, Thursday the second of September, Harry and the police officers took his children to his sister Maureen Tingle, who lived at one hundred and eleven A Carlisle Roe Lealing. He gave his sister money and told her to look after the children. When she asked what had happened, he said he could not tell her, he had to go with the police. That same evening, Detective Chief Inspector Chitty interviewed Harry Lawrence at Hammersmith Police Station. Detective Sergeant David Hind and Superintendent Woolner were present. Chitty asked Harry about his separation, the children, his injuries, and when he had last seen his wife. Harry initially said he had not seen Elizabeth that day, and was not surprised that she was dead. He then gave an account of his day involving, as we already said, breakfast shopping, the park, and so on. Chitty questioned why Harry had not asked how or where his wife had died. Harry replied he wasn't really interested. When Chitty said that the account had to be verified and that he would need to see a shopkeeper and the children, Harry asked about whether the children had to be disturbed that night. Chitty said yes, of course they do. Harry said OK, don't send out to the children, I'll make a statement. I'll tell you what happened. I'll say it once, and you can put it down. I won't say it twice. Around the time that Harry Lawrence was giving his statement to the police, home office pathologist Dr. Robert Donald Tear arrived at thirty nine Thackery Court to examine the body at the flat. He saw Elizabeth's body in the back bedroom. She was lying on her back on the bed with her hands crossed across the lower chest, fully clothed, except for the left slipper which lay between her legs. He saw marks around her neck corresponding to the ribbons of her jumper and a small abrasion on the left side of the neck. The body was just warm, rigor mortis was established in the arms and legs. The atmospheric temperature was sixty eight degrees, the vaginal temperature was eighty seven. He estimated death had occurred eight to twelve hours before his examination. He had examined her at eight thirty PM, so it seemed that she had been killed between eight thirty to twelve thirty on the morning of Thursday the second of September. Elizabeth's father, Harry Dawson of 50 Park Avenue, Barking, Essex, who was a section foreman, had the task of identifying his daughter at Hammersmith Mortuary. The same evening after being cautioned, Harry asked for someone to write down what he said. Detective Sergeant Hine wrote the statement at Harry's dictation in the presence of Chief Inspector Chitty. Harry said he'd gone round the flat to get clothes for the children, argued with Elizabeth, fought with her, put his hands around her throat until she stopped breathing. Then he placed crossed her hands across her check chest and returned home after taking clothes for the children. Chitty asked what position Elizabeth was in when Harry left. Harry answered that she lay on the bed, and he crossed her hands over her chest. Harry read the statement, he wrote the final paragraph himself, signed it, and was told he was being detained. The statement began at nine, half an hour later he had finished it. Later that evening, Detective Inspector Bridgers went to the cells at about eleven PM and took possession of Harry Lawrence's clothing, trousers, jacket, shoes, socks, shirt, vest, pants, and jumper. The items were placed in paper bags and put in the CID property store. Detective Inspector Bridgers went to Hammersmith Mortuary the next morning and took possession of Elizabeth's clothing, red slippers, skirt, jumpers, stockings, brasier, roll on, half slip and underwear. Police interviewed Archibald Brown, who was an engineering inspector. He was aged forty eight, a bit older than Elizabeth, who I said was twenty seven. He told them that he was separating from his wife and came to know about Mrs. Anne Lawrence at about Christmas sixty four. He had visited a solicitor on Ealing about getting a divorce for both of them. It was on the thirtieth of August at Elizabeth's mother's house that there was a row and Harry struck Elizabeth, which caused the fight. The rest of what he told them was exactly what they knew. He did say that on every occasion he met her, she was extremely concerned about the welfare of the children. Later that day, Dr. Teer, the pathologist, carried out a postmortem examination at Hammersmith. Elizabeth was described as a well nourished adult woman, five foot two. He concluded that the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation. Samples of the body, blood, head hair, pubic hair, vaginal swab, rectal swab, stomach contents and urine were taken and given to Detective Inspector Bridges. He then went back to the scene where Elizabeth was killed and took the bedspread, which was also placed in an evidence bag. Later that evening, Harry Lawrence was charged with murder. He was cautioned, and he replied, Okay. Harry Lawrence first appeared at West London Magistrates Court on Saturday the fourth of september nineteen sixty five. On the same day police collected documents including Elizabeth's personal papers which included her personal letters. Harry Lawrence was being held on remand at Brixton Prison and was under observation in the prison hospital, where he was interviewed by prison doctors. Meanwhile, police collected witness statements from those involved. Harry underwent a psychiatric examination on the sixth of October which concluded that he appeared to be of stable personality. He had not previously shown any evidence of mental disturbance and was fit to plead. It was also noted a family history of mental illness, and that although he may have been liable to break down under stress, there was no evidence of mental disorder at the time of the offence. Further prison hospital tests were done on him. Harry was born on the twelfth of march nineteen thirty one at Arlworth in Middlesex. He had the usual elementary education until he was fourteen years of age. He appeared to have been an average pupil. Soon after he left school he started an apprenticeship at shoemaking, but gave it up after eighteen months because the pay was so small, and then he was employed on his national service in the army. His service appears to have been without incident, and he was not in any serious disciplinary trouble while serving. Since he left the army in nineteen fifty one he had several jobs, most of them unskilled or semi skilled. In most instances, however, he seemed to have left his employment either because he was made redundant or because he feared redundancy. He was working up to the time of his arrest, and he had been sixty months with the Firestone Company. An electroencephalographic and EG examination was carried out at the London hospital during the Roman period. The EG examination records the electrical rhythm of his brain cells. Recording was within normal limits. Both of Harry Lawrence's parents were living. He was the eldest of four children, there being three other sisters all alive and well. His mother had nervous breakdown and had been a patient in Tutingbeck Mental Hospital. A maternal uncle was also epileptic, and two great uncles had been in mental hospitals. His parents did not get on very well and separated for a short time when he was five years of age. During childhood and adolescence he did not get on well with his father, but this improved over time. He served for two years in the army as part of his national service, and subsequently worked in a foundry for seven years, leaving the job when he became made redundant. For the last eighteen months he worked with a Firestone Tire Company. He stated that he had always done well at his work and earned good money. He'd been buying his own house which he had been living in for the past ten years. He said he'd never been violent with the children, while he claimed his wife was always scolding and shouting at them. Since her death he has since discovered that she had been leading a promiscuous life, but insists that he was not aware of this previously. The trial date was the twenty sixth of november nineteen sixty five when Harry was convicted of manslaughter, as it was not thought he intended to kill his wife, he was sentenced to just three years imprisonment. The court case was at the old Bailey. The petition was circulated at the factory where he worked, the Firestone Factory, amongst Harry Lawrence's fellow workers, asking the courts for leniency in his case. In the case notes of the there were copies of the petition. I said Harry Lawrence was found guilty of manslaughter. This sentence gave judges wide discretion from a short prison sentence to life imprisonment, depending on the facts, of course. If a man killed his wife during an argument in the nineteen sixties, he may well have received a three year sentence if the court accepted that it was not premeditated, but a sudden killing of the church. Anyhow, so then I just put a short one up just to uh put something out. I'd like to thank Damself for providing the background music. Until next time, I'll say goodbye.