The murder of London shopgirl Mrs. Mabel Hossey belongs to the dark ages. Told she would have to quit her job because she was three months pregnant, and desperately needing to work, she descended into the dangerous abyss to visit one of those old crones caricatured as leering through crooked teeth at the plight of their afflicted sisters.

After the visit she was taken ill, suffered a miscarriage, and died in hospital seven days later, on Sunday, March 24th, 1928.

Murder? That was what it was. The post-mortem revealed internal damage caused by the failed abortion. Abortion was then regarded as a felony, and so her death became a murder, filed as unsolved because no one had any idea who performed the abortion or where it took place. UK Murder Stories from True Crime Library.

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