According to gossip, 79-year-old Frederick Gosling had thousands of pounds hidden in his living-quarters over his shop in Chertsey, Surrey. This was believed to be the motive for his murder when he was found dead in his bedroom on JANUARY 12th, 1951. He had been bound and gagged, struck in the face and asphyxiated. About £60 was missing.

On the previous day he had been attacked by two men who fled when some schoolgirls entered his shop. Descriptions of the men prompted the police to arrest Joseph Brown, 33, his brother Frederick, 27, and Edward Charles Smith 33.

Frederick Brown was subsequently discharged, and at Surrey Assizes he testified against his brother and Smith when they were tried for Mr. Gosling’s murder.

Brown said that on January 11th he had driven his brother and Smith to the shop but had remained in the car while they tried to rob Mr. Gosling, only to flee when they were interrupted by the schoolgirls. Joseph Brown and Smith had subsequently told him they had returned to the shop but had left Mr. Gosling all right after binding him.

Both defendants were convicted, and they went to the scaffold at Wandsworth Prison on April 25th, 1951.