Overview

VICTORIAN criminals often got away with murder. The police often made mistakes, forensic science was in its infancy and juries convicted people on the flimsiest of evidence. The wrong people were hanged at the gallows. In this fresh look at 12 unsolved murder cases, Jon Sutherland reviews the stories, evidence and trials to shed new light on the verdicts passed by the judges and juries of the 19th century. The killings attributed to Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel are the most famous unsolved Victorian murders, but few people know the extent of the doubts surrounding the case. Make up your own mind after reading Jon Sutherland's detailed survey of the material. In Unsolved Victorian Murders Jack the Ripper appears alongside less well-known but equally fascinating characters. - Did Madeleine Smith poison her lover with arsenic in a cup of cocoa? - How did a blind man throw his younger, fitter rival through a narrow window? - What really happened in the woods of the Ardlamont estate in Scotland the morning Cecil Hambrough was shot? Read the stories, examine the evidence and decide for yourself.

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9781859832868

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Reviews

Miscarriages of justice have always been with us, but some of those that took place in the Victorian era were truly appalling. Corrupt policemen, swift trials and lack of forensic evidence meant that many people were convicted of murder on the flimsiest of evidence - and that many murderers escaped scot-free. In this book Jonathan Sutherland discusses 12 unsolved murders - those for which either no one was convicted or the alleged perpetrator could not have committed the crime. Some are famous, such as the case of Madeleine Smith, who was tried for the murder of her lover by means of arsenic and allowed to go free when the jury gave the infamous Scottish verdict 'not proven'. Florence Maybrick was convicted of murdering her husband James with the same poison - but her trial was a farce, and after 15 years imprisonment she was released. James Maybrick himself later became a suspect for the most famous crimes of the century - the Ripper murders, which are discussed here in detail, with the numerous theories weighed up against the facts. Altogether, this is an enjoyable survey of the murky deeds of the 19th century which chills and fascinates in equal measure. (Kirkus UK)

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