I WASNT ALONE IN THE MURDER HOUSE

It was one of the most grisly crimes of that time - the brutal murder of Alice Wiltshaw at her own home. Here we take a look back at the awful day in 1952 and how a meticulous investigation by the police saw her killer swing from the gallows... The body of 62-year-old Alice Wiltshaw was discovered by her husband, Cuthbert, when he returned to their home, on Wednesday, July 16, 1952. Cuthbert, a wealthy pottery manufacturer, had finished work for the day and returned to the 14-room mansion in the early evening. To his horror, he found Alice lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen. The trail of blood, and other evidence, led police to the conclusion that Alice had initially been attacked in the kitchen, probably while she had been preparing the evening meal. The intruder had selected two heavy logs from the scullery and savagely beaten Alice about the head, knocking her senseless. The assailant had then gone upstairs to steal property and rifle Alice’s handbag and, upon returning downstairs, had discovered that Alice had recovered consciousness and was now standing in the hallway. The attack began again as Alice tried to escape back towards the kitchen. Her assailant had followed her, hitting as he went. All kinds of weapons had been used; vases, ornaments and finally a three-foot long barbed poker — all of which were found heavily bloodstained. Alice had finally made her way back to the kitchen and as she lay on the floor, dying, the callous killer had stabbed her through the head with the poker. He had also stabbed her in the stomach a number of times. There were, however, clues for the police to examine. The killer had left behind a footprint and a pair of blood-stained gloves. As for the motive for this terrible crime, that was easy to determine. More than £3,000 worth of jewellery was found to be missing. Staffordshire Police soon called in assistance from Scotland Yard and Detective Superintendent Reg Spooner was sent to take charge of the case. He soon determined that there was no sign of a break-in and the crime had taken place when the servants were all off-duty. This suggested that the killer was someone Alice Wiltshaw knew and someone who knew the household routine very well indeed. This, in turn, suggested that an ex-employee would be the right kind of candidate. One by one, all ex-employees were contacted and eliminated from the inquiry until only one name remained; one man who the police could not trace. The prime suspect now appeared to be 29-year-old Leslie Green, an ex-borstal boy who had been employed by the Wiltshaws as a chauffeur-gardener. He had used his employer’s car without permission and had been dismissed for disobedience. All this had taken place just a few weeks before the murder. Further inquires led to witnesses describing a man, who fitted Green’s description, eating in the bar of the Station Hotel in Stafford and leaving at 3.30pm on the day of the murder. The same man was back in the hotel three hours later and this fitted in with the approximate time of Alice Wiltshaw’s murder.