Police
Sergeant Mardlin made enquiries in the local area but no-one within the
village
had seen or heard of anyone suffering difficulties that would cause them to
murder their
own flesh and blood. Numerous villages were visited but none provided any
information
which might have assisted Mardlin in his investigations.
Eventually
he got the breakthrough he required. He heard of a young woman by the name
of Lucy Lowe who had recently given birth to a child in Bedford and had
mysteriously
farmed out the child to relatives in Derby. The Lowes were a Stagsden family
and her
parents were horrified by such reports and refused to accept the possibility
that their
daughter could commit murder. Apart from that, she was working in London.
Mardlin
commenced background enquiries into the life of Lucy Lowe. He found that she
had been married twice; her first husband had died shortly after their
marriage, her
second husband more or less deserted her and the three children which had been
born of
the relationship. These children were now in the Bedford Workhouse. At some
time in
1875 she had managed to gain employment at a large residence in Hampstead,
London,
for a family by the name of Kirkham. She was accepted as being a quiet and
good
employee who caused little trouble for her employers; she had the occasional
boyfriend
but no-one who would cause concern.
On
3rd January 1876 Lucy had left the Kirkhams, advising them that she had
obtained a
position working for her uncle in Bedford. She thanked the family for their
support and
promised to maintain contact. The Kirkhams were upset at losing such a good
employee
but resigned themselves to the thought that as long as Lucy was happy then
they could not
object. In fact, Lucy Lowe was an inveterate liar. She had no job in Bedford,
her actual reason for leaving the Kirkhams was that she was pregnant.
Lucy found accommodation in Bedford at number 66 Greyfriars Walk, where she
lodged
with Mrs Priscilla Hull. On 26th February she gave birth to a baby girl.
Within a few days
of the birth Lucy was again telling untruths. She informed Mrs Hull that the
child was
going to be raised by her relatives in Derby. As a result of this, on 11th
March 1876 Mrs
Hull took Lucy and her child to Bedford railway station and put her on a train
bound for
Turvey. Later that day, at 1.30 pm Lucy Lowe arrived in Stagsden, at her
parents' house,
without her child. Lucy told her parents that she had just returned from
London and
thought she would call in. Her parents knew nothing of her residing in
Bedford, nor that
she had left the Kirkhams' employment. Perhaps more importantly, they had not
the
slightest idea that she had been pregnant.
Lucy
stayed at Stagsden until the horrific discovery of the baby's body was made on
20th
March. Realising that it would be foolish to leave the area too soon, she
remained a
further
two days. On 22nd March she visited Mrs Hull and told her that the child had
been
handed over to the relatives in Derby and that she was going back to London.
The
following day she did, and managed to secure her previous employment with the
Kirkhams.
Sergeant
Mardlin, armed with this information, obtained the Kirkhams' Hampstead
address and on 4th March he travelled to London and the Kirkhams' abode. There
he
spoke with the Reverend Joshua Kirkham and explained to him his reason for
travelling
to London; it was his intention to arrest Lucy Lowe on the charge of murder.
Kirkham
refused to believe the policeman's story. To the best of his knowledge Lucy
had not
given birth to a child in the past few months. Mardlin told him that the girl
had told lies
not only to him but to her family and friends. Kirkham denied Mardlin access
and called
the Metropolitan Police to the house, believing that they would support him
rather than
the Bedford sergeant. He was mistaken.
The
authorities were allowed into the house and Lucy Lowe was brought to see them.
Mardlin took hold of her arm and informed her that she was under arrest on
suspicion of
the murder of her three week old child. Kirkham asked to see the arrest
warrant, under the
misapprehension that one was required. When Mardlin told him that he did not
require
one, the Reverend then refused to let Mardlin take Lucy away. He pulled on her
arm until
officers from the Metropolitan Police intervened and explained that Mardlin
was acting
under correct authority and that no warrant was required. Kirkham himself was
threatened with arrest if he should continue to obstruct Mardlin and after
receiving a
verbal warning from those officers present, he relented, realising that he was
being
foolish
to doubt the police.
Lucy
Lowe was tried at the Bedford summer assizes on 3rd July 1876. The background
to
the crime was revealed and duly discussed at great length. Evidence was given
that
clothing found on the child's remains had been removed from Mrs Kirkham's
wardrobe
by Lucy Lowe, and a singular piece of ticking found upon the baby's body
matched with
some found amongst Lowe's personal possessions at the time of her arrest. Mrs
Hull was
called to testify against Lowe. She spoke of the numerous lies the woman had
told and of
how when she left Greyfriars Walk she had failed to take any of the baby's
clothing or its
feeding bottle, as though she knew that the child would no longer require
these.
The
defence counsel quite simply stated that the charges were a gross
misinterpretation of
the facts. The unfortunate victim of this incident was Lucy Lowe herself, it
was claimed,
the child having died of natural causes. In her panic she left it in the
undergrowth, the
action of a disturbed and concerned mother! Lucy Lowe did not take the witness
stand,
however she made a specially prepared statement which was read out to the
court: 'On
the 14th day of March when I left Turvey station the weather was very cold. I
wrapped the
child in three shawls and carried it along until I got through Stagsden Side
Gate when the
child had a fit and died almost immediately. I was very frightened and I left
it where it
was afterwards found.'
The
jury retired and within twelve minutes returned a verdict of guilty against
Lowe. She
was sentenced to death.
This story does not end here, for the jury took mercy upon the child-killer
and submitted
a recommendation to the authorities that the death penalty should be commuted
and that a
term of imprisonment would be more appropriate. The appeal was granted and
Lucy
Lowe escaped the grip of the executioner's noose.
Did
Lucy Lowe tell the truth about how her child died? If she did then a huge
amount of
evidence against her must have been wrong. Doctor Swinson confirmed that death
had
been by suffocation, but could this have been caused by the mother clutching
the child so
close to her breast that it suffocated? I think not. Lucy Lowe deliberately
murdered her
baby daughter. The 37 year old mother was indeed a fortunate woman to escape
her true
punishment.
- From:
Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire Murders
- -
Paul Harrison 1993 - ISBN 1 85306 263 4
- Reproduced
by kind permission of the
publishers:
- Countryside
Books, Newbury Berkshire
- http://www.countrysidebooks.co.uk
