It was pay day for 60-year-old labourer David Baldey, and he set out from his home in Lewes, Sussex, on December 12th, 1868, to collect his wages. He had a long walk ahead, for his employment was at Kingston, a village a couple of miles away. But when he failed to return home that night a search was organised, and his body was found next morning on his homeward road.
The old man had been badly beaten, shot, and robbed of the wages he had collected.
A former lodger at Baldeys home, Martin Vinall, a 22-year-old labourer, became the prime suspect. Knowing that the police were after him, Vinall enlisted in the Royal Artillery, but was quickly arrested. He confessed to the murder but claimed he had not meant any harm to his victim. He was hanged at Lewes Prison on Monday, January 18th, 1869.