People in the village of Kirkbride, Cumbria, thought that farmer’s son John Ostle, 30, was “funny in the head.” His shotgun invariably under his arm, he would follow people around, talk to himself, make strange remarks and do very little work.

On Saturday, OCTOBER 21st, 1922, he was seen talking to himself by the village pond. Suddenly he walked off determinedly. Seconds later there was a shot and Jonathan Carr, 40, a local farmer, fell dead.

At Carlisle Assizes it was said that the two men hardly knew each other. Ostle was found unfit to plead and ordered to be detained in Broadmoor.