March 9, 2018 | Leave a comment Kate Webster liked to drink, and the place where she most enjoyed quenching her thirst, was a public house in the London suburb of Richmond, called The Hole in The Wall. Unmarried and with a young son, Kate was 30 years old and in need of work. Julia Martha Thomas was a retired school teacher, who lived at 2 Mayfield Cottages, Park Road, Richmond, and was on the lookout for someone to help with domestic duties around the house. So it was that in January of 1879, Julia employed Kate in the capacity of housemaid. 2 Mayfield Cottages Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that Kate’s somewhat lax approach to her duties, fell well short of Julia’s exacting standards. After just one month, Julia decided to dispense with Kate’s services, and duly gave her notice to leave. On March 5th, a coal porter discovered a large trunk on the shore of the River Thames, close to the Barnes Railway Bridge. To his horror, on opening the chest, he discovered that it contained the body of a woman, minus the head and one foot. Whilst the missing foot was soon found in nearby Twickenham, the head remained unaccounted for, and as a consequence, identification of the deceased was likely to prove extremely problematic, given the rudimentary forensic techniques available to the late nineteenth century investigators. The discovery of the remains of the unidentified woman drew the immediate interest of the local press, who were quick to label the case the “Barnes Mystery”. Barnes Railway Bridge It was not long, however, before neighbours of Julia Thomas became concerned that she had not been seen coming and going for a number of weeks. In addition, Kate Webster, who was known to own little of value, suddenly seemed to be in possession of a significant amount of household furnishings, which she was in the process of trying to sell. Kate Webster The police were notified, and immediately carried out a search of 2 Mayfield Cottages. The scene that greeted the investigating officers was not a pleasant one. Bloodstains were found almost everywhere, charred bones littered the grate of the fire, and a fatty substance was discovered behind the laundry boiler. An attempt had been made to clean up some of the bloodstains, with only limited success. The body in the trunk and the missing householder were deemed to be one and the same, and Kate Webster was subsequently arrested and charged with murder. Her trial began on 2nd July 1879. Throughout the proceedings, Webster tried to apportion blame for the killing onto others, although each of those she accused had alibis that effectively cleared them of any wrongdoing. Kate Webster was eventually convicted of the murder of Julia Thomas, and, as was standard practice at the time, she was sentenced to be hanged. On the eve of her execution, Kate eventually confessed, to a priest, that she alone had committed the crime. She went on to explain that the pair had argued on Julia’s return home from church, and that in the ensuing struggle, Kate had thrown her employer from the top of the stairs to the ground floor. Concerned that neighbours would be alerted by her screams, Kate next grabbed Julia by the throat in an effort to silence her. Tragically her efforts were all too successful, and Julia was silenced forever. In an attempt to dispose of the body, Kate removed the head and limbs, boiling some of them in the laundry tub, and burning others in the fireplace. Most of the remains she put in the trunk that was found near Barnes Railway Bridge, and what she could not fit in the trunk, she removed from the house in a bag. For reasons that were not entirely clear, she chose not to reveal where she had disposed of the victim’s head. Kate Webster, who was executed at Wandsworth Jail on 29th July 1879, must have thought she had taken that secret to her grave. The Execution of Kate Webster The mortal remains of Julia Thomas, that had been recovered, were laid to rest in an unmarked plot in Barnes cemetery. “All very interesting,” you may be thinking, “but what the dickens has all this got to do with the renowned broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough?” Well, I was just coming to that. Remember the pub where Kate used to like to go to get sozzled? Yes, that’s right; The Hole in The Wall. Well that pub just happens to be next door to Sir David’s house, and in 2009, after it closed its doors for the last time, he bought the pub in order to save it from being sold to a property developer. During work to convert the former hostelry into an extension to Sir David’s home, contractors unearthed a human skull! The Hole in The Wall Public House The skull was missing its teeth, and fracture marks suggested the individual had suffered some kind of trauma, possibly occasioned by a fall downstairs. Additionally, the skull contained unusually low collagen levels, indicating that it may have been boiled! In the opinion of the local coroner, there was “clear, convincing and compelling evidence” that the skull belonged to Julia Martha Thomas. Unfortunately for Julia, details of the exact location in Barnes Cemetery where the rest of her remains had been interred, had, in the intervening years, been lost, and consequently, it was not possible to reunite her head and body. Nevertheless, it is thanks to the unwitting intervention of one of the world’s most respected broadcasters, that the last remaining puzzle of the Barnes Bridge Mystery has finally been solved. Well done Sir David! Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/505155/barnes-mystery-twisted-tale-maids-murder-and-mistaken-identity