The Sun. — 1847-03-30 (London, England)

CHESTERFIELD.  CONFESSION OF PLATTS. This criminal, since his conviction, has been placed in the condemned cell of the county gaol, under the ens! tody of Mr. Sims, the governor. He was visited by the Rev. George Pickering, the cgs _,of the prison, who urged on the convict the iety of 1 making a confession of his guilt. On uncle), he I attended Divine service, and in the after part of the day 1 he wrote to his mother, sister, and brother, previous 1 to which he made an unreserved and full confession of the murder. lie stated that he was present when it j was committed, and that he was the principal party I concerned, altht ugh he did not strike the blow by which I the unfortunate man, George Collis, was stunned and rendered insensible. He next proceeded to implicate Morley as taking an active part, and divulged the name of a third person, which, as a matter of course, has not been suffi!red to transpire. The circumstances he narrated were as follows : Platts and Collis, the deceased, spent the Sunday afternoon vridi Morley, Collis was plied with drink and inveigled into Platt's shop in the shambles under pretence or settling the account, and be was then murdered. The object of Platts and Motley was plunekr, for it was conjeetins d that as Collis was about to marry Ellen Bereaford in the West Bars, he had saved a sum of money fur this purpose, which he carried about with hire. This young woman gave testimony on the trial. After the Perpetration of the murder the body was inutilatr d, and on Mender 'night was deposited in a sack by Miley and the convict, and carried across the market-place to the cesspool, where it was accidentally discover, a. During the eis3 Platts had proceeded to the house of Mr. Franks, the landlord of the Old Angel, and not many yards distant from the shambles, and told Mrs. Frank, at the time the corpse was lying in the shop, that he fully expected to meet Collis at the Angel, in order to settle their partnership aceeunts. This statement, made by Punts on Sunday, would make it appear that after the blow inflicted on the victim, he was strangled to prevent the moaning noise, and which noise, it may be remembered, was sworn to as having been heard by scrotal persons on passing through the shambles on the Sunday evening of the murder, and which attracted the attention of the passers-by. The convict admitted that he then proceeded to rifle the dead body of his victim, and divested it of his shoes and part of the dress. Platts then went into lengthened details of the part he had sustained in the murder and the circumstances. After this confession the prisoner appeared more sociable in his manner, and conversed with the attendants. He was then, at his request, furnished with writing materials, and wrote the following letter to his mother:—  " Derby County Gaol, March 21, 1847. " My dear Mother, Sister, and Brothers,—With a trembling, i rite these few lines to you—i hope you will not fret about your unfortunate son, for i hope we shall all meet in a better world than this ; i hope the Lord will forgive us all our sins ; i am shure he will if we due ask the Lord (jeus) jeues Criced our Savor dear mother ; i hope you will pray to the Lord to pardon your sins i am sure he will if you pray to heaven for pardon my dear sister remember what i say to you pray to heaven to pardon all your sins dont delay my dear Brother remember what say dont delay pray to hevon to pardon all your sins; bles the Lord fo: it and i hope he will forgive me for i know we hav all to die therefore i will not lose no time i have praid nite and day to the Lord Jeseus our Savor to forgive me all my sins and to blot out all my old offences my dear mother pleas send word if you are coming to sec me for I should like to see you all lam going to rite to my dear friend Mr. llotham rite to me with speed pleas to show this letter to Mr. R Hotham and you will oblige your unfortunate son,