HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1958-10-23, Page 9Murder Partners
Fought In Dock
A gasp of horror broke from
the startled policeman's lips as
he shone his torch through the
shop door and lit up the batter-
ed, bloodstained face of an old
man. •
It was Joe Bedford; the
eighty-year-old owner of the
shop, a junk store at Portslade,
M Sussex. Police -constable Pet-
ers had been making his rounds
of the shops on his beat that
misty, cold night of November
13th, 1933, He had been trying
the doors, seeing they were
safely locked, when he carne to
Joe's shop.
Peters knew that Bedford, an
eccentric old man, short-sighted
and deaf, took in his stock every
night at eight o'clock. But here
it was at ten, still out on show
on the pavement—bits of iron-
mongery and so forth.
What was going on? Had old
Joe's clock stopped? thought
Peters. It was then that he
heard a groaning in the shop,
shone bis torch through the
locked door and lit up Bedford's
battered face—but only for a
moment or so. As the light
shone on him, the old shop-
keeper collapsed to the floor.
Peters forced open the door,
picked up Bedford and had an
ambulance summoned to take
him to hospital. But the old
man died the next day without
being able to tell what had hap-
pened.
The police searched the shop.
In a corner, £40 in notes was
found. It was known that Bed-
ford usually kept his small
money in a till that had two
compartments; one for silver.
and one for coppers.
When the police investigated
the till, the silver compartment
was empty, but a few coppers
remained, although all over the
floor were strewn pennies and
half -pennies and far thing s.
Among the farthings was a but-
ton.
But what were such things
worth as clues? There were no
fingerprints or bloodstains any-
where.
Then one of Bedford's custom-
ers came forward. At 7.45 p.m.,
on November 13th, he had no-
ticed two men loitering outside
the shop. He was able to give
„y...,,, -the police a good description of
the men, and eventually two
men were arrested at Worthing
and charged with murdering
the junk shop owner.
If these two—Albert Probert,
aged twenty-six, and Frederick
Parker, aged twenty-one—lead
said nothing when charged, it
might have been another case
of the "perfect murder" But,
instead, each man made a state-
ment admitting complicity in
the crime but accusing the other
of the actual murder of the
shopkeeper.
As neither man denied hav-
ing knowledge of the crime, the
police had every reason to have
then brought to trial. But where
was the evidence, the vital clue
that would convict them?
"^^ ' Sir Henry Curtis Bennett, ap-
pearing for the Crown, said that
the case was a most remarkable
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one. One man accused of mur-
der had gone into the witness-
box and, on oath, accused his
fellow prisoner of the crime.
But the other not only denied
that he had had anything to do
with the crime, but said that the
bloodstained clothing he was
wearing belonged to the first
man,
. While the case proceeded,
Probert appeared to be ready to
kill Parker, and Parker was
equally ready to kill Probert
Policeman had to separate them
in the dock, Even during the
preliminary hearing at Hove,
the men had had to be trans-
ported
ransported backwards and forwards
from Lewes Prison in separate
taxicabs.
Parker's statement to the po-
lice was that he and Probert
had metin a Church Army hos-
tel at Brighton. Probert had
told him of "a job" worth doing
and asked him, to go with him.
They took an unloaded gun
and a tyre lever with them as
weapons. As to the crime itself,
Parker said all he had done was
to hold up Bedford while Pro-
bert hit him, He had even bad
to hit Probert to stop him
striking the old man.
While he was giving evidence,
Parker fainted seven times, par-
ticularly when the time came
for Bedford's injuries to be de-
scribed,
Probert went into the witness -
box and denied completely that
he had ever set foot in Bed-
ford's shop. He said that on the
night before the crime Parker
had put on his blue suit and
overcoat, while he had worn
Parker's brown jacket, flannel
trousers and overcoat. On the
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motion will be mointaincd with rare uniformity to the amazement of
to beholders who do not realize that the whole deal is just as easy
es falling off a log."
R
day of the murder, he saw
Parker just before 11 a.m. and
then not until 9 p.m., at Port-
slade Station. Parker appeared
very excited and said he had
managed to borrow £3. Pro-
bert's overcoat was so wet that
Parker lent him his. When he
put on the overcoat, he noticed
there was a button missing.
The question of the borrowed
money was important, for the
following reasons. Between No-
vember 7th and November 13th,
both Probert and Parker had
been very hard up, Not only
had they pawned their clothing,
but they were unable to pay
their room rent. Yet, from the
night of November 13th, they
obviously had money.
They bought new clothing in
Worthing. Why was it so neces-
sary to do this? There were
bloodstains on the right sleeve
of Probert's jacket and on his
trousers!
The police became interested
in those new clothes and called
on every shop in Worthing that
sold clothing until they found.
the one which had served the
two. -suspects.
On the evening of November
14th, they were told, Probert
and Parker had called at the
shop and had bought new suits
and shirts. While the two were
in the shop,. Probert told Parker
that a button was hissing from
his overcoat. The shop assistant
said the establishment had
plenty of similar buttons in
stock, and very helpfully sewed
on one.
The police remembered the
button that had been found
among the farthings in Bed-
ford's shop. Not only was it ex-
actly similar to the buttons on
the overcoat, but presumably.
old Joe Bedford had wrenched
it off in the struggle, because a
particle of the overcoat material.
had come away with it.
Now the pieces of the jigsaw
fitted in faster and faster; the
bloodstains on the jacket and
trousers were tested and they
were found to belong to the
same blood group as Joseph's
Bedford's.
So the police had assembled,
in addition to the clue of the
missing button, the 'following
items of damning evidence.
(1) Accused identified as hav-
ing been seen close to the vicin-
ity of the shop were Bedford
was attacked.
(2) Accused were penniless
before the murder, but the day
after bought new clothes in
Worthing.
(3) They took 15s -a -week
lodgings in Worthing and gave
false names.
(4) When questioned by the
police they also gave false
names.
(5) Farthings were scattered
about Bedford's shop; farthings
found in the -possession of the
accused.
(6) Bloodstains on clothing
belonged to Bedford's blood
group.
lvleanwhile, Frederick Parker
was still talkative. His story
was that they had tried to sell
an old vacuum -cleaner in Port -
Blade. Somebody had said that
Joe Bedford might buy it. He
• and Probert had gone to the
sho
They had held up Bedford
with 'the 'unloaded gun, and Pro-
bert had knocked the old man
out. They, had taken about £.6
from the till, but they thought
the old man would havehad
more money. Until they were
arrested, they did not know that
Bedford was dead.,
And what did counsel for the
defence have to say to all this?
Counsel suggested that .Joe.
Bedford might have fallen and
fractured his skull when P.C.
Peters shone his torch through
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But when the judge, Mr. Jus-
tice Roche, summed up, he said
that if Bedford had fractured
skull through falling as a re-
sult of his injuries, then the in-
juries were the cause of his
death, which meant that it was
still murder.
He also said that the tale of
the exchange of suits was not
credible.
Thejury took only half an
hour to find both men guilty,
and they were sentenced to
death, They appealed, but the
appeals were dismissed, and
they were hanged in Wands-
worth Prison on the morning of
May 4th, 1934.
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