William Edward Lucas

Murder at

Rhos-Y-Meirch

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William Edward Lucas was born on the 17th September 1894 in the Cwm, Knighton. He was the son of Edward, a general labourer, and Sarah Lucas (née Lloyd)

In 1911 the family can be found living at Redishaw Farm, New Mills, Derbyshire where Edward is a farmer and young William is working on the farm.

Two years later in 1913 when William was 19, he was employed as a Lamp Man for the New Mills Railway and joined the National Union of Railwaymen.

At the outbreak of WW1 William was called to join the Mechanical Transport Training Depot of the Army Service Corps. His attestation papers, dated 30th April 1915, state his age as 25 years 8 months (for someone born in 1894 this would be impossible). His address at the time of enlistment was Redishaw Farm, New Mills Derbyshire.

William became Private 096553 Lucas William Edward.

On 6th January 1916 William went AWOL for 3 days and was given 21 days’ detention. William received a further 14 days’ detention for going AWOL for another 3 days on 18th February.

On 11th March 1916 he was demobbed under the King’s Regulations paragraph 393 (ix) = Unfit for the duties of the corps - having failed to qualify as a motor driver and unfit to transfer to another branch of the army. The records say that he was 5' 6" tall with a ruddy complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His age has now lowered to 22 years 6 months. His military character was stated as being 'indifferent'.

William only served for 317 days. 35 days were subtracted for the days spent in detention. This left him with 282 days’ total service towards his pension.

His intended place of residence upon discharge was Rosemont College, New Mills, Derbyshire.

Out of the Army Service Corps, William took up employment at the Vickers-Armstrong factory in Manchester.

The history of Vickers-Armstrong factory in Manchester can be found here

1921 finds William with his parents, Edward and Sarah, living in New Mills, Derbyshire. Edward is a poultry farmer. William is an out of work motor driver.

In 1927 William married Annie Brown in the Registry Office, New Mills, Derbyshire.

William and Annie were living at 3 Dolphin Street, Ardwick, Manchester in 1939, William was a general labourer and Annie a daily cleaner.

In 1941 William and Annie separated.

Sometime between 1921 and 1937 Edward and Sarah, William's parents, moved to Radnor House at the Rhos but William stayed in Manchester.

In 1939 we find Edward, a general labourer and Sarah living at Radnor House.

Edward died at the Rhos early in 1942 aged 75. Sarah was a widow for just 3 short years, following him on 5th July 1945 aged 78.

Meanwhile, William met up with Elizabeth Florence O'Brien, aged 39 (some reports describe her as his prostitute).

Elizabeth was born in Sunderland on 27th April 1907, Her Mother lived with a man by the name of Michael Mullaney, on occasions Elizabeth would use the surname Mullaney rather than O'brien, she was orphaned when she was only 13 and she suffered from asthma.

In 1921 she was 14 and in the workhouse,Highfield, Hylton Road, Sunderland

In 1939 Elizabeth was living with her Married sister Kathleen Bailey at 14 Upper Hillton Street, Manchester, Elizabeth was a domestic servant.

Elizabeth, a single parent, she had a child Johnny, in 1941 by a man named Jones who had died. She then had been living with a Scottish soldier for a couple of months in 1945 and again became pregnant. Elizabeth went into hospital in February of 1946 to give birth to a daughter.

As Williams parents had died, he decided to move to the Rhos.

William went to visit Elizabeth in hospital. He said that he would take her to his home at the Rhos where she could be his housekeeper, offering to take care of her and her children.

They all took up residence at Radnor House in March 1946. From the moment they arrived at their new home William's attitude towards little Johnny, aged just 5, changed. He picked on him endlessly and would 'pester' Elizabeth for 'favours'. After another quarrel Lucas said. "I'll kill you on the spot if I can't get what I want."

Poor Johnny only had to step out of line and he would feel the full force of William's wrath. One time William smashed Johnny's face against the table with such force that it made his gums bleed.

On March 1st, Elizabeth went to a neighbour, Mrs Maud Wozencroft, and asked for help. She said that William hadn't fed her or her children for 2 days. Mrs Wozencroft took Elizabeth and the children to Knighton workhouse. On Elizabeth's admission into the institution she once again stated that she and her children had been refused food for two days. The master went to see William, who had by then turned up at the workhouse, and asked him if it was true about the family not being fed. William’s reply was a simple 'Yes'.

William also said he had registered as the father of Elizabeth's baby girl. (This is not true, as the baby was registered as the illegitimate daughter of Elizabeth.)

The matron, on one of his visits, had advised him that with his wealth he ought to see the world. William went on a spree in Blackpool for a month.

On April 6th William turned up at the workhouse and persuaded Elizabeth and her children to return to Radnor House. He promised to treat her better. After her return it was quite evident that the relationship was far from a happy one.

On the second day of her return to the house William asked Elizabeth what flowers she liked; Elizabeth said ‘roses’. William replied ‘I think roses would look nice on Johnny's grave.’ He even asked Johnny if he would like roses on his grave. William had said to Elizabeth on a previous occasion ‘You could get rid of Johnny. It is such a lonely place here, and nobody would ever know.’

One day William was picking on Johnny yet again. Elizabeth was feeding the baby but managed to push him away from Johnny, picking up a lamp and went to hit him with it. William screamed and so Elizabeth put the lamp down. William grabbed hold of her and said, ‘If you ever do that again, I will blacken your face so no policeman can ever recognise you.’ In the struggle, the baby was dropped on the table.

By this time Elizabeth was becoming so scared for the safety of her children that she started looking for employment elsewhere.

On April 13th William and Elizabeth and the children visited Robert Winton Shuter, a general dealer of Knighton. Elizabeth said that Johnny had that day broken a mirror at Radnor House. This had caused a row, and she had come to ask if Robert could find her a job. She did this quietly whilst William was outside the front door. Elizabeth told him that once again they had been refused food for two days. Robert asked William if it was true that they had had no food for 48 hours. William said ‘yes’. Robert arranged to take on Elizabeth as a housekeeper, but later he went into his garden where Johnny had been and found he had done a tremendous amount of damage, chopping sticks and umbrellas with an axe, smashing ducks’ eggs, and throwing nails into the fowl manure. He wrote to Elizabeth and cancelled the arrangements to engage her.

So it was that Elizabeth was still at the mercy of William. While bathing the baby Elizabeth was trying to think of a way to keep William from injuring Johnny any further. She also wanted to abate the advances that William kept making on her. If only she could make him ill, not any permanent harm, just to stop his advances. She thought of dropping a brick on his head from an upstairs window but thought that would cause too much damage. Elizabeth reached for the soap while washing the baby and her hand alighted on a box. Looking at it she saw that it was rat poison. So, she hatched a plan to add a small amount to William’s supper…. not much, just enough to make him ill. That night they had stew. Elizabeth added some of the rat poison to William’s plate. When she asked William what he thought of the meal, he replied that it was very tasty.

William didn't show any sign of poison until 2 p.m. the following day, Thursday. After he had been sick, Elizabeth asked him how he felt and he said he felt a lot better. He said nothing more about his sickness, but said he thought he had 'flu. The next morning he said. 'I'm sure I've been poisoned.' As William had become very weak in the legs, Elizabeth brought his feather bed down and made him comfortable. She gave him Bovril to try to get him better and also gave him some of the child's orange juice. About 4.30 p.m. or 4.45 p.m. William started to make loud wailing noises.

Elizabeth could not understand why he was dying. She went into the scullery and stood there until he died about half an hour later.

William had died. What could Elizabeth do? Not thinking straight, she dragged his lifeless body into the scullery. She piled wood all round his head and round the sides of his body and poured paraffin all over him. She opened all the windows in the house and set light to the body. While William’s body was alight Johnny came down and saw him burning. He screamed out ‘Mummy, man's on fire burning. Don't burn me Mummy.’ Elizabeth, shocked at what she was doing, threw a bucket of water over the body to put the fire out. She and the children then went to bed.

The next morning Elizabeth packed her belongings, buried the 2 front-door keys near the entrance to the house and she and the children caught a train to Manchester.

On April 20th Elizabeth arrived at the house of a Mrs Slater, with whom she had formerly lodged, and told her she had left Lucas because he was lustful and quarrelsome and did not get on with her boy Johnny.

In July Elizabeth took her daughter to Church to have her baptised by the local priest. When the ceremony was over the priest asked Elizabeth if she would like to go to confession. This Elizabeth did.

William’s body lay undiscovered for 3 months. On Sunday 7th July, Mr Thomas William Wozencroft, husband of Maud Wozencroft, who lived nearby at Tile-house Farm, went to William's cottage intending to ask if he could pick some flowers in the garden. He intended to put them on William's mothers grave. He peeped through the scullery window and saw a mass of flies; there were cobwebs all over the place and what looked like the remains of burnt paper, sheets and clothing on the floor of the scullery. Thomas sent his son for the police.

Sergt. Cole and P.C. Payne, of Knighton, entered the cottage through the window and found the badly charred body.

The local police contacted New Scotland Yard. Chief Inspector John Black of Scotland Yard made his way to Knighton, arriving on the 8th, along with his assistant, Detective-Sergeant Periman,. They entered the premises and inspected the cottage leaving the body undisturbed and took away letters several months old.

New Scotland Yard Detectives

Radnor House

Professor J. M. Webster, the Pathologist from the Midland Forensic Science Laboratory, visited Radnor House, on the 9th and spent nearly two hours carrying out a postmortem examination of the charred body.

A conference was held at Llandrindod Wells between Black, Periman and A. E. Williams, Deputy Chief Constable of Radnorshire.

Chief Inspector Black contacted Manchester police and asked them to contact social welfare officers in Manchester with a view to tracing Miss O'Brien, whom the Scotland Yard officers wished to interview.

Elizabeth was arrested on 9th July. She was traced to an address in Kay Street, Ardwick, Manchester, only a few hundred yards from the home of Annie Lucas, the now widow of William. When questioned, 46-year-old Mrs Annie Lucas, of Coral-street, Ardwick, said 'I have not seen him for six months. I knew he had come into some money and a house in Wales left him by his mother. He asked me to go to him. But we had been unhappy together and I could not face it '

Manchester associates of Williams' who learned of his death, described him as a man without friends or hobbies. Careless in his habits, untidy in dress, he hardly ever bought new clothes, he used to say he was saving up for his old age.

Elizabeth O'Brien and Chief Inspector Black travelled back to Knighton by car that night. Elizabeth's two children, one a few months old and the other aged five, were both taken to a Manchester institution before Elizabeth left for Knighton.

Investigations were started with their neighbours. Until just before Easter, neighbours said they regularly saw William and Elizabeth taking the bus to Knighton, but as far as was known, they were last seen strolling in a lane near their cottage on Good Friday 19th April.

Mrs Wozencroft said 'Radnor House had only been built 10 years ago, and had recently come to Lucas by the death of his mother. His father died suddenly, then his mother died in 3 days after a stroke, and now this' She added 'It has indeed been an unlucky house.'

Miss Mary Askey., living in Atherley-grove, Chadderton, who at the time William was living in Second Street, Trafford Park was his housekeeper, said 'I never knew a man who cared less about his surroundings. A home meant nothing to him. Nor did his personal appearance. He seemed to have quite enough money and often went to the pictures. But he did not like spending money on the house.'

Under questioning Elizabeth told the police the full story. She also told of how she had been to see a priest when she returned to Manchester.

She told the police, “The reason I am telling you the truth about Lucas's death is because I went to see the priest at Holy Name Church, Manchester, this morning. I told him what I had done and asked him what was the best thing to do, to tell the truth or to try and get out of it. He told me to be calm and tell the detective everything, and I would find them very good friends.”

(Holy Name Church, Manchester, or to give it its full name The Catholic Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, on Oxford Road, Manchester. It is located today opposite the University of Manchester Students' Union)

Professor Webber, Pathologist for Scotland Yard, said that Lucas was dead when the attempt to burn him took place. Phosphorus, which caused the death, was an ingredient in one type of rat poison. It would cause a painful, lingering death. He added that the average lethal dose was between three quarters to one grain. During the postmortem of William's remains he had found one and a half grains in his system

(Grain is an old measurement of weight equal to a single grain of wheat. Today's equivalent weight is 64 milligrams (mg). When you consider that most over the counter tablets contain around 300 mg, 64 mg is a very small amount.)

On November 14th 1946 a trial was held at Presteigne court. It was to last 2 days. More than 100 people, most of them housewives, crowded into the court at Presteigne to watch the trial. In total 28 witnesses were called, one being Robert Winton Shuter, 52, general dealer of Knighton. Mr Edmund Davies, K.C. (council for Elizabeth) asked Robert "Did you think there was something wrong with his head? " Robert replied. "I should say he was not normally mentally sound. He admitted in O'Brien's presence the cruelty to the boy and starvation and everything she had said." Robert went on to say "I gather that the man was eccentric from the start."

Elizabeth was described as "a small, dark haired, sallow complexioned woman, who wore no hat." She sat in the dock accompanied by a woman warder.

Elizabeth Florence O'Brien with her six month old Daughter

Mrs Kathleen Bailey, of Strangeways, Manchester, Elizabeth's sister, said Lucas told her he was going to marry Elizabeth. On Easter Monday Elizabeth told her sister she had quarrelled with William. "She said she was feeding the baby when Lucas struck her. She put the baby down and struck him back."

William Lucas was described by Elizabeth's counsel, Mr Davies, as "a beast of a man." Asking for a manslaughter verdict, Mr Davies said "Johnny, Elizabeth's five-year-old son is the best answer to murder in this case. None of us can think what conditions were like in that dreadful house of lust."

Mr Glyn-Jones, the prosecution, said "You let him die rather than go for help. Is that right?" Elizabeth answered, "I could not understand why William was dying. I did not wish William any harm at all". As soon as Elizabeth returned to the dock after her two-and-a-quarter hours in the witness box she broke down for the first time, and sobbed aloud.

Mr Glyn-Jones made no closing speech for the prosecution, and while Mr Edmund Davies addressed the jury, Elizabeth wept into a handkerchief.

The jury was told by the judge, Mr Justice Hallettt, that they could return any verdict that their conscience permitted. The Jury then retired to decide Elizabeth's fate.

Upon their return, they found Elizabeth not guilty of Murder but guilty of Manslaughter.

Mr Justice Hallettt told Elizabeth that she must be severely punished, sentencing her at Brecknock and Radnor Assizes to eight years’ penal servitude for the manslaughter of William Edward Lucas, for whom she was housekeeper at Radnor House, Rhos, Radnorshire.

Where or how much of the sentence Elizabeth served is not known.

Although William Lucas died on the 19th or 20th April 1946 his death was not officially recognised until the body was actually discovered and identified on 7th July. His death was officially registered on 3rd December 1946. Cause of death - Gastro Enteritis caused by Phosphorus Poisoning - Conviction of manslaughter. The 'certificate of Inquest' was passed to H. E. Morris, Registrar from E Powell Careless, Coroner for the County of Radnorshire.

Kington Times - 3rd August 1946

THE LATE MR. W. E. LUCAS

The funeral of Mr. William Edward Lucas, Manchester, whose body was found in Radnor House, Rhos, took place in Knighton cemetery on July 24th.

The administration of William’s affairs:

William Edward LUCAS of Radnor House, Rhos, Knighton, Radnorshire died 7th July 1946. Administration Oxford 14th October to The General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation Limited. Effects £1836 17s. 9d.