Drink was Jane Turner’s ruination. When her employer, to whom she was housekeeper, finally threw her out of his home in Farmer Street, on March 27th, 1941, because of her drunken habits, she made straight for The Bell in Bristol Street.

There she met Eli Richards, 45, who worked at the ICI Metals factory and who walked with a stick, and by the time they left The Bell at about 11 o’clock that night they had had a skinful. They were put off a No. 71 tram at the wrong stop and were given directions by a couple of Home Guard men. Jane, 64, was found lying dead in Franklin Road, Cotteridge, in the early hours of the next day. She had been battered to death and nearby lay a walking stick.

Two days later Richards, whose face was heavily scratched, was arrested at his Castle Street lodgings. He was found guilty of murdering Jane and hanged at Birmingham on Friday, SEPTEMBER 19th, 1941.