Albert George Hall - child killer.
Albert George Hall - child killer.
48 year old Albert Hall was the caretaker at the Park Congregational Church in Lister Lane Halifax. He had taken the position on Monday the 10th of August 1953 and two days later 6 year old Mary Clare Hackett went missing.
The crypt of the church was searched early in the hunt for Mary and Hall was co-operative with the police, even making cups of tea for them. 12 days after Mary disappeared the police made a public appeal for key holders of empty properties to allow them to be searched.
The crypt was also searched a second time. On the 28th of August Scotland Yard detectives, Superintendent John Ball and Sgt. Dennis Hawkins arrived from London to assist. The crypt was once again searched and Hall was his usual friendly co-operative self.
Ball found nothing but noted two tins of paint without lids and suggested to Hall that he should put the lids on to prevent the paint drying out. Also, there was some disused furniture over the spot where Mary’s body was later found. Later it occurred to DS Ball what the significance of the paint cans could have been. In those days paint had a very strong odour - could this be masking the smell of a decomposing body?
Ball organized a fourth search and his team came equipped with digging tools. Sadly, they soon found what they were all dreading, Mary’s body. The Home Office pathologist, Dr. D. E. Pryce carried out the post mortem and found the cause of death was shock and cerebral lacerations that caused multiple skull fractures. It was not possible to tell whether Hall had raped Mary as her body was too decomposed.
As there was no hard evidence against Hall he was placed under surveillance. Hall visited Scalebor Park Mental Hospital, at Burley in Wharfedale in West Yorkshire, where he had been a patient and had a meeting with the medical superintendent, Dr. James Valentine on the 22nd of September. When interviewed Dr. Valentine told police that Hall was concerned that he was a suspect in Mary’s murder and gave him quite a lot of detail that only the killer would know, especially about the cause of death that had not been released to the press at that time.
Hall came to trial at Leeds on the 12th of March 1954 before Mr. Justice Pearson. It took the jury almost 6 1/2 hours to reach a guilty verdict. Hall appealed but this was dismissed by the Lord Chief Justice and Justices Hilberry and Pearce on the 5th of April.
He was hanged at Armley Prison in Leeds at 9.00 a.m. on Thursday the 22nd of April 1954 by Steve Wade, assisted by Harry Smith. Hall weighed 144 lbs. and received a drop of 7’ 8”.
The Deputy Coroner for Leeds, Dr. D. H. Drake, sitting with a jury of eight men, conducted the formal inquest at 10.30 that morning. Surprisingly, as it was the murder of a little girl, Hall’s execution got very little coverage in the press.
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