Youve been sleeping with Herbert! John Newell, 42, screamed at his wife. Herbert was their lodger, and there was no evidence that Mrs. Newell was sleeping with him or anyone else for that matter.
Indifferent to her husbands rage, she continued to drink her tea at the breakfast table. Without another word Newell picked up a coal hammer and beat her to death with it.
The murder was committed on August 21st, 1894, in the grocers shop the couple ran at 53 Woodgate, Loughborough. Leaving his wifes body crumpled on the floor, Newell went outside into the road and stopped a patrolling policeman.
Good morning, he said. Ive just killed my wife. She was having an affair.
When he was arrested he said: Ill go to the gallows in good heart if I know she is dead.
He was hanged on Monday, December 10th, 1894, at Leicester Prison, after confessing at his trial that he knew what he was doing, and had become an alcoholic because he thought that the lodger, Herbert Hoares, was his wifes lover. Victorian murder stories from True Crime Library.
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