Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1890-03-15 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE WEST 11A)I MURDER.  Mr. Lewis resumed on Monday, at West Ham, the inquest concerning the death of Amelia Jeffs, who was found dead in No. 126, Portway. At the request of the jury, Mr. Joseph Roberts, the builder of the empty h3uses in the Portway, of which the house in question is one, was recalled. He said that in November last he went over the houses with the police, as some lead pipe had been stolen. He sent someone to open the etrekt doors, so could not say whether they were opened by means of keys or not. He could not swear that he did not open 126 with a key. He was not out on the night of the 31st of January. He had not got a latch-key of his own house, and always knocked or rang to be let in. Answering questions by Mr. Atkinson, who appeared for the relatives of the deceased, the witness said he still persisted in the statement that he had not had a key of No. 126 for five or six months. Since the last adjournment he had searched for the key of 126, but had not found it. Joseph Holden, carpenter, said that last March he put a lock upon the front door of No. 126. There were two keys, one of which he gave to Samuel Roberts,father of the last witness, and the other he put on a shelf in the cupboard of the store-rooni.—Alfred t;eortre Goriner, a schoolboy, said he saw the girl between half-past 6 and 7 o'clock on the evening of the 31st of January, the night she disappeared. She was walking along past the empty house in the Portway slowly, and by herself. The witness noticed no one about at that time. He returned again in about 10 minutes, but saw neither the girl nor anyone else.—l... specter Harvey stated that when in November last he went over the houses in Portway, wit% Mr. Roberts, concerning some lead stolen from them, the latter admitted witness into No. 126 and the other houses with keys. All the keys were on a bunch which Mr. Roberts had. Witness then detailed the steps which had been taken by tne police when the disappearance of the girl was notified to them. He was questioned by Joseph Roberts as to whether the doors were not opened by some one, but the witness persisted that Roberts opened the doors himself with a key, and produced his notebook to shew the houses visited at the time. —Roberts replied that the inspector visited only five out of the eight houses, and that.he did not notice the officer taking any notes at the time.—Edward Warren said that he had been engaged on the empty houses, but had never had the key of No. 126, which he entered by means of a back window.—Joseph Roberts, a schoolboy, son of a previous witness of that name, said he went into the house the day before the body was found. He entered by means of a window at the back. Ho was looking after lemonade bottles to get marbles out of them. He went into all the rooms and looked into the cupboards. He was quite sure be looked into theone where the body was found subsequently, but he saw nothing there. He opened the door, bent down, and looked all round. He persisted that the body was not there when he looked in and around the cupboard.—Sergeanb Forth (recalled) said that the last witness told him that he got in through the window which had broken glass, The back window of 126 had no broken glass in it, and the thick dust on the shelf beneath was undisturbed.—The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased had been outraged and wilfully murdered by some person or persons unknown; and they drew attention to the defective arrangements for lighting the neighbourhood where the murder occurred.