Twenty-four-year-old Albert Illingworth complained that his fiancee smoked too much. But he had something more serious to trouble him when Alice Wade, 22, began seeing another man two nights a week.
On the evening of MAY 9th, 1939, she went into Bradford where she met the other man and went with him to a cinema. On her return from Bradford at 10.45 that night, she found Illingworth awaiting her near her home. When she failed to arrive at her usual time her parents went to look for her and her body was found near a footpath behind their house. One of her silk stockings had been tied tightly round her neck and she also had several bruises.
Arrested and charged with Alice’s murder, Illingworth was tried at Leeds Assizes. He was said by his counsel to be epileptic, and two doctors told the court they believed he had killed his fiancee during a fit. They said he was unaware of what he was doing, or did not know that what he was doing was wrong.
But this view was contested by a prison medical officer who had examined him, and Illingworth’s defence failed to convince the jury. They found him guilty but recommended mercy on the grounds of provocation.
Sentenced to life imprisonment, Illingworth was released in 1947 after serving nearly eight years.