The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-15 00:00:00

AS,VIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORFOLK CIRCUIT.-BEDFORD, March 14.

CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice -Williams.)
MURDER.

Joseph Castle was indicted for the wilful murder
of Jane Castle, his wife, at Luton, on the 9th of
August.

Mr. Sergeant Tozer and Mr. Abdy were counsel
for the prosecution; Mr. Henry Mills defended the
prisoner.

The learned Sergeant, in his opening statement
to the jury, said that the case against the prisoner
at the bar was remarkable for its extreme simpli-
city, and the facts were such as wolth'. be exceed-
ingly easy to arrive at a determination upon. All
the circumstances connected with the commission
of the offence showed great and careful premedita-
tion. The prisoner and the deceased woman had
been married about two years, lodging in a house
belonging to the prisoner's uncle, at 'Ware, in Hert-
fordshire. They had not lived happily together,
and a day or two previous to the Bth of August
there had been some wr ingling between them, and
she had then determined to return to her mother.

It would appear that jealousy on the prisoner's
part was the cause of ill blood between them. The
deceased accordingly on the morning of Monday,
the Bth of August, left Ware on foot, accompanied
by a young girl, a cousin of the prisoner, who car-
ried a bundle of clothes for her, " rep( atedly," as
the girl said, " looking back, dreading lest her hus-
band should be following her." The girl left her
at Hertford, and she then went on to Cromer Hyde,
stopping two hours at the house of a person she had
known before her marriage. She then got a lift in a
waggon to Wickhamstead. Very shortly after she had
left Cromer Hyde the prisoner was there making in-
quiries about her. .In the meantime the deceased
had arrived at Luton, and then went to her mother's
house. She slept there that night, and appeared in
great distress. The next morning the prisoner came
and found he: in bed at about half-past six o'clock,
and endeavoured to persuade her to return with
him. What passed between them that morning is
not known, but at about half-past 10 o'clock they
left her mother's house together, and were shortly
afterwards seen ascending a rising ground called
Sommeries-hill. On the side opposite to that on
which they ascended is a mound and old chalk-pit
called the Dell. Here it was that the body of the
deceased was found before 12 o'clock that morning,
about two hours after she had left her mother's

house. The body when found was still warm and
bleeding, the knees were doubled back under the
body in a kneeling position. There was a superfi-
cial cut across the throat, and about the middle of
this cut a deep stab, dividing the arteries and reach-
ing the vertebrae. There were some other slight
superficial wounds, and some cuts in the hands, as
if an attempt had been made by the deceased to
wrest a knife from the hand of an assailant. There
were marks in the road about 27 yards from where
the body was found, as if a severe struggle had
there taken place, much blood at this place, and
tracks of blood thence to the body. Her shawl and
bonnet were lying about six feet from her, and a
small piece of the shawl near the place of the strug-
gle, from which place there were also marks of
blood in a direction towards Sommer's-castle, and
on a style across a footpath leading there. In a
barley field, seven yards from the body, that after-
noon a knife was found covered with fresh blood.
This knife was shown to have been used by the
prisoner's uncle, and to have been used by the pri-
soner and the deceased while lodging, in the uncle's
house. That same afternoon the prisoner went on to
Welwyn, 13 miles distant, and gave himself up to a
police-constable, saying, "I am your prisoner. I have
had a row with my wife, and cannot tell what the
consequence was." Shortly afterwards a constable
from Luton arrived, and told the prisoner that
he had come to take him into custody on the charge
of murdering his wife at Sommeries. The prisoner
replied, " Murder, murder !" He appeared much
excited at the time, and ou his way back to Luton,
while in custody, he said he had never been in
trouble before in his life, and this would not have
happened if she (meaning his wife) had kept away
from Luton. On being asked where his wife was,
he said, " I left her on the road-side, but she is
found before now, I only struck her." The police-
man then said, " Your wife is dead, you have cut
her throat." He replied, " No; if her throat is cut
she did it herself; but she has cut my hand." There
was some blood in the front of his trousers, and a
fresh cut on the thumb and finger of his right
hand, which was then bleeding. The mother of the
deceased, on cross-examination, stated that her
daughter had told her that her husband was a
jealous man ; that on one occasion when she had
attempted to leave him he tore her clothes to pre-
vent her coming a way ' • that he had shaved off his
whiskers, and slept with knives under his pillow,
and on one occasion had told her she had better
leave him ; that he had strange feelings in his head
and might do her some harm.
Mr. Mills addressed the jury for the prisoner,
and urged that the cuts on the prisoner's hands
showed that a struggle must have taken place, and
that the whole of the evidence was consistent with
a supposition which would reduca the prisoner's
offence from murder to manslaughter, supposing
they were satisfied that she met her death by his
hand ; but that there was no evidence to show that
the blow was not self-inflicted; that the state of
mind of the deceased was such as might have in-
duced her to destroy herself after a quarrel with
her husband, and therefore the account he gave on
delivering himself into custody was a correct de-
scription of what did take place, and which no
other living person had seen.
The learned judge having then concluded his
summing up,
• The jury found the prisoner guilty of wilful mur-
der, and sentence of death was passed upon him.

THE MURDER 11V NOTTINGBA 21ISIIIRE

The adjourned inquiry into this most painful case
was resumed yesterday at Walkcringham, before
the deputy coroner, Mr. Burnaby (coroner for the
district) being present.
Mr. Geo. Jones, solicitor (Newton and Jones,
Retford), appeared to watch the inquiry for the
prisoner.

Evidence corroborative of the statements which
have already appeared was given.
John Cooper, police officer, was examined, and
said,—l received information of the murder about
seven o'clock on Tuesday morning, saw the body,
and took the cravat off the neck. In company with
Policeman Kew, we went first to Mr. Henderson's
and then to John Fenton's. I said to Fenton,
" Where have you been this morning, your boots
look very wet. ?" He replied, " I've been up the
garden." I asked to see the clothes he wore on
Tuesday. He said he had these (clapping his
hand on those he wore) trousers on. I thought his
mother answered, "No, John, they are in the water."
He (witness) then went into the brewhouse and
found in a bucket these (the trousers produced). I
told him I should take him into custody, when he
said, " 0 Lord, Cooper charges me with murdering
Speect r." In the prisoner's waistcoat pocket I found
two pistol bullets and five gun caps. After search-
ing upstairs I came down into the brewhouse, and
under the sink I found a tin bucket, in which were
these overalls. The water was discoloured, being
slightly red. Prisoner's boots looked as if they
had been washed.
John Kew, police-officer, gave similar evidence.
—I searched the body of the deceased, and found
there had been a dirty hand in the right-hand
pocket of the trousers. The left was turned out, as
was an inside or secret pocket. I saw Some pistols
found with deceas.Nl., on one of the nipples of which
was a spent cap. While I had charge of Fenton in
the room, he picked the trousers up, and tried to
push by me to get out. He seemed agitated.
Robert Sandford, superintendent of the Retford
police, received on Wednesday morning, from Ser-
geant Cooper, John Fenton, who said he had been
to Gainsborough market, and being " near fresh,"
got home about eleven o'clock, coming along the
road as stated. He said; after leaving James Fen-
ton, he went home, and did not, after leaving him.
see Char!es Spencer. I then charged
_t.he prisoner
with robbery and murder, and he replied, " I am
innocent of the crime. The clothes I had on yes*
terday were bloody, and my mother put them in
water."
The jury returned a verdict of " Wilful Murder"
against JohVen ton.

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