The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-27 00:00:00

The Murder near Luton.

Yesterday William Worsley, aged 42 ; Levi
Welch, aged 40; and James Day, aged 22, were
placed at the bar of the Luton Police-court, before
Colonel Ames and the Rev. Mr. Adey, on the charge
that they " did, on the night of the 3d August, wil-
fully murder William Bradbury, in the town of
Luton."

Superintendent Samuel Pope was sworn, and
said that he had a second charge to prefer against
the three prisoners ; it was that they did, on the
night in question, steal from the dying man one pair
of trousers, two shirts, a hat, and some money.
He should merely state certain facts connected with
the death of the deceased, and should then ask the
Bench to remand the prisoners. On Thursday last
he apprehended the prisoners on a warrant. When
the mm was murdered the first persons seen with
him were the three prisoners. They were present
at the inquest, and then made a statement, which
he should be able to prove was false. They said that
they left the Royal Oak public-house at Round-
green, at 12 o'clock on the night in question ; and
that within three minutes afterwards they found the
deceased lying in the roadway. They also stated
that they were the first to give any alarm. Now he
would be able to produce a witness who would prove
that he left Luton at 12 o'clock on that night. It
would take a man 20 minutes to walk from Luton
to the spot where the deceased was found ; and
when this witness reached that part of the roadway
where Bradbury Was lying, he saw the three priso-
ners with him ; and he, and not the prisoners, was
the first person to give the alarm. He had also
other evidence against the prisoners, and was get-
ting more ; but he thought that it would be well
not to go into the case that day.
The Chairman said that for obvious reasons it
ought not to be gone into.
The Bench remanded the prisoners.
It is said that a witness will shortly be called by
the Crown who will allege that he was present when.
the murder was committed, and that he stood by
and saw it done. He will, it is asserted, name the
first man who struck the deceased a blow on the
back of the head, as he was walking along the road.
He will also allege that a third man who was pre-
sent at the murder gave the deceased a second blow
before the murdered man fell. The murderers were
20 minutes with their expiring Victim before they
were disturbed. The deceased had many ;years
officiated as a game watcher, and it is surmised that
robbery was not the only object that induced the
unfortunate man's murderers to slay him. The
police made a searching examination on Saturday
of the place where the murder was committed. In-
spector Smith found a shirt, a wideawake hat, and
a bit of black ribbon " tucked into" a hedge 150
yards from the spot. A further search of the ad-
joining fields and hedges was then made. In another
hedge a hundred yards from where the pool of blood
in the roadway was the superintendent discovered a
pair of trousers and a waistcoat. All the articles of
clothing were new, and they had the shop marks on
them. They were just in the same state as when
the deceased bought them on the night he was mur-
dered. Three years ago, one of the accused, Levi
Welch, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
One night he was out poaching with four other
men in the grounds of Sir Thomas Seabright at
Becchwood. Two gamekeepers came upon them,
and Welch fired his gun. He narrowly missed
one of the keepers, whose dog that was walking in
front was shot dead. After the encounter both
the keepers were found lying insensible on the grass.
One of them was wounded by a blow on the head,
and his life was despaired of for some weeks. The
other had received such a shock to his system that
he got into bad health and died from the excite-
hmiesupta.rt Welchtransaction.saasiettDprisoned for two years for
ion,