As I travel around the country's waterways in my little narrowboat, here's a few true crime cases I stumble across in the villages and towns I visit. Some may be known, but some are unknown.
CASE ONE: Peter Thomas Jackson & Stanley Christopher Payne
In the early hours of Thursday 22nd March 1950, by the bus stop outside of the Britannia pub (105 Western Road, now a private house), the body of 21st year old Peter Thomas Jackson found. He had extensive gunshot wounds to his left hand side and chest. 100 yards away at the Duckmore Lane allotments, his former flat-mate and ex-RAF buddy 22-year-old Stanley Christopher Payne was found, almost dead, a bullet wound to his head, and a gun by his side. He survived his suicide. Back at their shared room, a note was found in which Stanley wrote “Although I had every cause to hate him, I still have pangs of affection”, and asked that the two men be buried together. Found guilty but insane, Stanley was convicted of his murder.
CASE TWO: Matilda Bryan & William Harold Ashton
On the 23rd of September 1897, the inquest into the death of Matilda Bryan, wife of Dr John Bryan was held at the Royal Hotel in Tring. Nearby, the body of Matilda had been found on the trainline, badly mutilated, her legs, arms and head cut off, and scattered along the track. A few months before, Dr Bryan had invited 22 year old William Harold Ashton, a Fleet Street journalist to his house, his young wife had become smitten with the young man, they had fallen in love, and scandalously, she absconded with him to London. Knowing their love affair couldn’t last, William kissed Matilda goodbye at London Euston, paid for her to return to her husband, and although everyone denied that she had any suicidal thoughts, it is said, she threw herself from the carriage, and her body was hit by at least seven passing trains.
CASE THREE: Clive Porter & Sylwester Krajewski
At 63 High Street stands Tring Police Station, the oldest and smallest operational police station in Hertfordshire. For 30 years this was the workplace of Clive Porter a “quiet” man described as “"one of the good guys". In 2008, he retired from the job he loved, but still wanting to give something back, he began working as an enforcement officer for the Canal & River Trust who manage Britain’s waterways. On the 26th April 2021, seeing a canalboat which had overstayed its permitted time in nearby Aylesbury, as he put an enforcement notice on the boat, an argument erupted with its owner, and Clive’s body was later found, beaten to death in a bush. The boat’s owner gave his name as Daniel Wisnewski, in truth he was Sylwester Krajewski, a double murderer who had fled Poland in 2005, having tortured and murdered a couple.
CASE FOUR: Ada & Jesse Theed, 46 Frogmore Street, Tring,
This is 46 Frogmore Street in Tring, Hertfordshire.
Back in 1929, this was the former home of 44-year-old Ada Theed, her husband 40-year-old Jesse, and their 9-year-old son Donald. For several months Ada & Jesse had been separated on the grounds of cruelty, as he husband Jesse was cruel, abusive and on many occasions the police had been called as he had tried to strangle her. She had asked him for maintenance payments to help keep their son clothed and fed, and although a skilled labourer, unable to hold down a steady job, owing to his profound deafness, dizzy spells and headaches having been ran over by a cart, Jesse said no. On the afternoon of Thursday 17th of January 1929, at around 3pm, 9-year-old Donald returned home from school, and found the door to the flat locked. A constable broke down the door, and inside, they found his mother, dead, her head having been brutally bashed in, and three bloodied flannels in the sink, where her killer had attempted to clean the blood up. But the culprit was obvious. That morning, Jesse was seen walking away from Frogmore Street, his overalls covered in blood. Tried at Berkhamsted Magistrates Court, Jesse Theed pleaded his innocence, claiming “I have not done it, If it had, I would own up to it”, but with the evidence stacked against, Jesse was found guilty but temporarily insane of her wilful murder, rather than being executed, as he was found to be mentally unwell and of a low IQ, he was detained at his Majesty’s Pleasure. Poor Donald, his mother was dead, his father locked up for life, and his life was ruined forever.
As I travel around the country, there will be more cases to come. If you're looking for a podcast to listen to, check out this episode of Murder Mile UK True Crime:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMichael J Buchanan-Dunne is a crime writer, podcaster of Murder Mile UK True Crime and creator of true-crime TV series. 
Archives
March 2026
Subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast
Categories
All
Note: This blog contains only licence-free images or photos shot by myself in compliance with UK & EU copyright laws. If any image breaches these laws, blame Google Images.
|