Kenneth Barlow: The first documented case of murder by insulin
Authors: Vincent Marks, Caroline Richmond
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2008)

On the morning of 4 May 1957, just after 2 am, DrDavid Price, a forensic pathologist, was called tothe home of Elizabeth and Kenneth Barlow in aresidential suburb of Bradford, Yorkshire. Thestory was that Kenneth Barlow had discovered hiswifeunconsciousinthebathatabout11.20pmtheprevious night and called his own doctor, whodiagnosed her as dead. Kenneth, a 38-year-oldstate registered nurse, was unemployed. He hadmarriedElizabeth11monthsearlierandwas,toalloutward appearances, living happily with her andhis 10-year-old son by his first wife.According to Kenneth, Elizabeth had had teaat about 5 pm on the day of her death. Shortlyafterwards she announced that she was tired, andwent to bed. When Kenneth came to bed at about9.30 pm he found that Elizabeth had vomited onthe bed. Together they changed the sheets. Sheput on some pyjamas but took them off becauseshe said she felt too warm and decided to take abath. Kenneth lay on the bed and went to sleep atabout 9.45 pm to the sound of the bath running.When he woke up at around 11.20 pm Elizabethhad not returned to bed. When he went into thebathroom he found her submerged beneath thewater. He tried to lift her out but did not havethe strength to do so. Nevertheless, he held herhead above the water until all the water had runout of the tub. He said he then tried artificialrespiration by ’pressing on her abdomen‘ as hewas unable to lift her from the bath. Only afterthis was unsuccessful did he run next door to hisneighbours, who had a telephone, and ask themto call a doctor.The family doctor arrived 10 minutes laterand found Elizabeth in the empty bath in aposition simulating natural sleep. He did nottouch her beyond ascertaining that she was dead.With such an unexpected death he felt itnecessary to call the police, who in turn called DrPrice, who was on-call as Home Office forensicpathologist. His main job was as consultantpathologist at the nearby Beckett Hospital inBarnsley.Dr Price suspected from the beginning that thiswas not a natural death for two reasons. First,death from drowning in a domestic bath in a pre-viously perfectly healthy 32-year-old woman israre.Second,butevenmoretelling,wasthe110mL(small cupful) of water that remained in the cavitywherethecrookofElizabeth’sarmabuttedthesideof the bath. This made Kenneth’s story that he hadtried to resuscitate her difficult to accept, and con-sequently his account of the events suspicious.Meanwhilethepolicehadmadeathoroughsearchof the house and uncovered nothing very muchexcept two vomit-stained pillow cases in the bath-roomwashbasin,asetofsweat-drenchedpyjamasinthebedroomandacoupleofusedsyringesinthekitchen. Because of the latter, the police searchedthe house for vials of insulin or other injectablemedicationsbutfoundnone.Dr Price began a post-mortem examination inthe local mortuary at 5.45 am, only 3½ hours afterhe first saw Elizabeth’s body and 6 hours after shehad died. He noted that her pupils were widelydilated and that there was bloodstained froth inher nose, mouth and throat. Samples of her lungs,when examined under the microscope, werebulky,congestedandwet.Theyalsorevealedfluidretention and small haemorrhages, confirming theinitialdiagnosisofdeathbydrowning.Apartfromthis, he found no abnormalities, but did observethat Elizabeth was eight weeks pregnant. Inaddition,DrPricetooktheprecautionofcollectingblood from a number of different sites in the bodyas well as some urine from the bladder to send tothe poisons laboratory, just in case she had beenpoisoned.ThesampleswereexaminedbyDrAlanCurry of the North-Eastern Forensic Science Lab-oratory, who went on to become one of the mostdistinguished directors of the UK’s nationwideforensic science service.DrCurryfoundnoneofthecommonpoisonsorabortion-causing substances in any of the sampleshe examined. Nevertheless, Dr Price and hissenior police colleagues remained convinced thatElizabeth had been rendered unconscious before