Bread Knife Was Murder Weapon

The alarm was swiftly raised at Camp Hill Borstal Institution on the Isle of Wight when on MAY 3rd, 1937, a prisoner was found to be missing. The panic subsided when the prisoner, John Rowlands, 17, was found in the prison officers’ rest-room.

But when Officer Lawrence Leech, 35, told Rowlands he would be put on a minor charge the youth went ballistic. He grabbed a bread knife and stabbed the officer before two other prisoners rushed to Leech’s aid and pinned down Rowlands.

Seventeen days later Officer Leech died of septicaemia, and at Winchester Assizes on July 15th Rowlands was tried for murder. He told the court that he hated Officer Leech because the officer would always pick on him. He was found guilty and detained indefinitely.