Author Description

From matricide to mutilation, poisoning, and the cold-blooded murder of a police man, the case-studies in this collection made headlines in their time and remain as gripping today as then. Frederick Browne, sentenced to death for the shooting of P.C. Gutteridge in 1928, endured a veritable "trial by newspaper" when the damning statement of his accomplice was made public. The plight of the defendent who stands accused by heresay and prejudice was illustrated by the notorious case of Florence Maybrick - found guilty of poisoning her husband with arsenic - which exposed the need for a Court of Appeal. This book also features the convictions of Sidney Fox, who killed his mother, and Dr Ruxton who mutilated the bodies of his wife and her maid, which were both triumphs of forensic investigation, while the Clapham Common murder trial held more than a hint of a tragically wrongful conviction.