World war crime - new series - Forest Gate murder

A new series of crimes involving soldiers of the First World War 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to World War Crime. This podcast will cover all the different crimes and incidents that occurred during the First World War, giving you the individual stories of the soldiers of that time. Every Friday you'll get a short little podcast telling you a story that I found in the local papers. This week is going to be an extended one, and if I can do longer ones, I will do, but the idea is just to give you a little tidbit to have a look into it. This week we're looking at the Forest Gate Murders of 1919. Henry Beckett would return from being a prisoner of war and then murder his extended family. This is quite a grim podcast, so if you're of a nervous disposition, have a look at my back catalogue and listen to the rather depressing tales I tell about visiting battlefield sites all over Europe. The Forest Gate murders would occur on the 26th of April 1919 at 13 Stookeley Road in Forest Gate. It was committed by Henry Becket, or aka Henry Perry. Perry was born in Chatham in 1882. He was illegitimate son of Polly Perry. His father was a sailor who died when he was young. His mother subsequently married a hawker named William Becket, and Henry used his name throughout his adult life, although sometimes he referred to Perry when he was in trouble. The family moved around East Anglia in a caravan, but never strayed too far from it. In 1916, he had been working as a slater and would join the army, even though it was a reserved pocket of occupation. He would join the 3rd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment and was attached to the Royal Army Veterinary Corps at Barry St. Edmunds. This was in November 1916. The battalion would move out to the Middle East, and he would serve in Egypt and in Palestine. He would then be captured by the Ottomans and sent to several different prisons. The state of these prisons were absolutely horrific, and he would quite often have his feet bound and would be beaten by Turkish soldiers. Whilst he was in prison, he had contracted syphilis while serving out in the Middle East. This would be mentioned in the court case later. At the end of the war he was repatriated, and in February 1919 would be sent back to the United Kingdom. He was given five pounds, and this was an awkward time, as they were trying to work out how to pay and give a pension to these prisoners of war who had come back from the Middle East and the Western Front, as well as all other places of operation where the prisoners had been sent from. They were given a letter not to mention what had happened to them in these prisoner of war camps, though the treatment and the beatings in the prisons of Turkey, he would affect him severely. He moved in with a distant cousin, Alice Mary, Alice Mary Cornwall, her husband, Walter, and their two children, Alice and Marie. In February 1919, he became a local celebrity and was spoken about within the street. This closed kit community on the 22nd of April would be sent into turmoil. In a violent rage, Henry went around, killing Alice, Walter, and their daughter, Alice, with a hammer and an axe. He then lied in wait to wait for Marie to come back from school, where he bludgeoned her to death in the hallway. He was last seen running out of the house, wearing his uniform, which was stained with blood and in tatters. He was a wanted man and would be captured in West Ham several days later. He would then be sent to at Penterville Prison, where he awaited his sentencing. All the way through the court case, he would mention the fact of his syphilis and the way that he'd been treated in that prison of war camp, which they believe led to a mental decline in him. He admitted that the voices in his head had told him to do this. Perhaps this was being truthful, or perhaps he was trying to get an insanity plea. We know that in the post-First World War years, shell shock had been mentioned in 1915, and many soldiers would actually be signed off from the army, suffering from shell shock. Today we call it PTSD. However, it wouldn't be the result Henry wanted, and he would be executed on the 10th of July 1919 at Penthamville Prison.