Douglas Edmundson, 29, of Southport, was at sixes and sevens with his love life. The Royal Navy petty officer had been going out with Imeldred Osliff, 28, a nurse, since she was a schoolgirl. They had been lovers for 12 years, and although Imeldred had several times turned down his marriage proposals she had come to regard him as hers.

So surprise, surprise for her when, without telling her a thing, he went off and married another nurse. The girl he married did not tell her parents about her wedding, nor did they meet Edmundson before she married him.

When Imeldred found out about the wedding she sent a cable to the bride protesting about it.

Edmundson was frequently strapped for cash, and when he needed £15 to pay a debt he contacted, of all people, Imeldred. On February 7th, 1942, she set out from her parents’ home in Moss Lane, Banks, and they met at Southport’s Chapel Street Station. From there they went to the Scarisbrick Hotel for a drink, and then to Victoria Park.

Edmundson claimed that she suggested that they have sexual intercourse. He told her he couldn’t do that now because he was married. She then refused to lend him any money.

“She called my wife a prostitute. She threatened to write to her and tell her of the miscarriage she had some years previously. As a result of her abuse I strangled her. Then I went into a panic and ran away.”

Imeldred’s almost naked body was found by a park bench next morning. Edmundson meanwhile had gone to Birmingham and introduced himself for the first time to his parents-in-law, not as himself but as his own brother, presumably because he knew the police would be looking for him. When he left his in-laws’ home he was arrested at New Street Station.

Brought to trial at Liverpool Assizes on APRIL 20th, 1942, Edmundson was described as a fantasiser. He had served on the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and had been involved in heavy enemy action. Then he was injured in the blitz.

But his sanity was not in question, and he was found guilty of murdering Imeldred. He was hanged at Walton Prison on June 24th, 1942.