Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1883-04-07 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

VERDICT OF WILFUL MURDER. The inquest on the body of John Thomas Cooper was resumed at the Harewood Arms Hotel on Thursday afternoon. Mr John Thompson, a resident in Albertstreet, was recalled to give evidence; and, in reply to the Coroner, said that Cooper took the child away from his (witness's) house either on the morning of the 14th or 15th of February. Elizabeth Cooper, mother of the deceased— who was apprehended at Middlesbrough on Monday—was next called. fibs stated that she and her husband and their only child (the deceased) lodged at Mr John Thompson's house in Albert-street during the early part of the year. At the latter end of January, or the beginning of February, she left her husband and child at Mr Thompson's, She had seen her husband several times since, and was with him for some time one night about five weeks ago. That was the last occasion on which she saw the child alive, nor did she see her husband again till the police brought her to Stockton. She identified the body of the deceased child as that of her little boy. The Coroner remarked that he did not propose to elicit anything further from the witness; but told her that, if she wished, she might make any voluntary statement to the jury. The woman, who presented a most abject and careworn aspect, replied that she did'nt know that there was anything more for her to  "Dire Isabella Thompson. wife of Mr John Thompson, a previous witness, corroborated the evidence of her husband as to the time when Cooper and his wife lived at their house and as to the date when the child was taken away. Alfred Stevens, a cabinet maker, who lodged at Mr Thompson's house when Cooper and his child were there, was next called to give evidence. He said that he heard that Cooper was intending to send the child to live with its aunt in Norfolk, and remembered Cooper getting up early on the morning of the 14th or 15th of February, and taking the child away, as he said, to:send It off by train from North Stockton. The child was often ill-treated by its mother, but witness never saw the father ill-use it. Matthew Aithwaite, a puddler, living at No. 13, New-street, South Stockton, said he knew Cooper, and heard him say that he intended to send the child to its aunt in Norfolk. A day or two after the child went 'away, witness was at the York Hotel, South Stockton, in company with Cooper, and asked him how the child was getting on. Cooper replied that he had had a letter from his sister who said that the child was "rather uneasy as yet ;" but that she thought he would " settle down " in a day or two. Cooper, in the course of conversation, said that he sent the child away with a van. man from South Stockton, and that his (Cooper's) sister was at York to meet the child and take it home. Some time after this Cooper told witness that he had received a second letter stating that he was not to write again till he heard from his sister, as she was going away from home for a few weeks. Inspector Thornton next gave evidence of apprehending Cooper at the Tees Scoria Brick Works about eight o'clock on the evening of Saturday last. When he took Cooper to the Police Station, and charged him with the murder of his child, Cooper replied, "I sent him to his aunt's at Scole, near Hiss, in Suffolk, but she has since removed, and I don't know where she has gone." Witness, on searching Cooper, found in his pockets a piece of cord similar to a piece with which the jacket of the deceased child was found to be tied when its body was taken out of  the pond. This completed the evidence, and without any remarks from the Coroner, The jury proceeded to deliberate in private upon the evidence. After some ten minutes' consultation they returned the following verdict:—" That George Cooper murdered his son, John Thomas Cooper, in February last." The Coroner then issued his warrant for the committal of George Cooper for trial at the next Assizes on a charge of murder.  The remains of the little boy were interred in South Stockton cemetery on Tuesday after noon.