James Greenacre - the "Edgware Road Murder".
James Greenacre - the "Edgware Road Murder".
On Christmas Eve 1836, 46 year old Hannah Brown had left her lodgings and moved in with 42 year old James Greenacre, who was a grocer, at his house, in Carpenter's Place off Camberwell New Road in south London, preparatory to their marriage the next day. She was not heard from again by her family. The murder took place in the house and Hannah had been battered to death with a rolling pin and subsequently dismembered.
On the 28th of December 1836, Robert Bond, a bricklayer who was working on some new houses, came across a package wrapped in a sack, which appeared to have been carefully placed under a paving stone. Lifting the stone, he saw that there was a pool of blood under the sack. Police Constable Samuel Pegler examined the package and found that it contained a torso without the head and legs. On the 6th of January 1837 a human head was recovered from Johnson's Lock, on the Regent’s Canal in Stepney.
On Thursday, the 2nd of February, James Page was working in Coldharbour-lane between Camberwell and Brixton, where he discovered the missing legs. Examination by the district surgeon, Mr. Girdwood, showed that the head the legs had been sawn from the trunk and all appeared to have belonged to the same female. The problem was who was this lady?
The story of the unidentified body was big news. On the 20th of March 1837, Mr. Gay, a broker, asked Mr. Thornton, the churchwarden of the parish of Paddington, for permission to view the remains.
Hannah was his missing sister and he was able to positively identify the head as hers.
Greenacre was the prime suspect as he was person in whose company she had last been. He was arrested by Inspector Feltham on the 24th of March, 1837, at his lodgings at St Alban's Place, Kennington Road, together with his girlfriend 32 year old Sarah Gale. Greenacre tried to deny any knowledge of Hannah Brown.
Pressed, he admitted that he had been engaged to her but did not know what had become of her, since Christmas. He also told the Inspector that he and Sarah Gale had planned to sail to America the following day. Their packed trunks were found to contain items that were identified as Hannah’s.
Greenacre and Sarah Gale were tried at the Old Bailey on the 10th of April 1837 before the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Tindale. Her friends gave evidence of the forthcoming marriage and that Hannah and Greenacre seemed to behave as a couple about to get married. The trial lasted two days and it took the jury just 15 minutes to reach their verdicts. Greenacre was sentenced to death and Sarah Gale to transportation for life to Australia, as an accessory to the murder.
Greenacre was hanged by William Calcraft on Tuesday the 2nd of May, 1837 outside Newgate prison, before a huge crowd. The preparations took just two minutes but Greenacre struggled hard for at least three minutes once the drop fell.
At least one broadside was printed and plaster cast was made of his head before the body was buried within the prison. It appears that the motive for the murder was to get control of Hannah’s properties. However, the actual existence of the properties was illusory - a story apparently made up by her to hook Greenacre.
In 1861 it was revealed by the Sidney Empire newspaper that Sarah Gale had confessed to her part in the murder. She had done well in Australia and having gained her freedom had become wealthy. However, in 1861 she had a serious accident and was told by her doctor that she didn’t have long to live, prompting her confession.
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