At 36 Arthur Seabrook had had a wretched life. He spent nearly four years on the Western Front in France during the First World War, and was finally sent to a military hospital suffering from a rare skin disease. When he was discharged in January, 1918, he went home and found his wife in bed with another man.
Distraught, he went back into the army, then went to live with his parents in Hertford, taking his five-year-old daughter Emily with him.
On the morning of April 7th, 1919, Seabrooks mother found little Emily dead in her bed with her throat cut. Arthur Seabrook lay critically ill in his bed, his throat cut too.
Seabrook recovered and was brought to trial on JUNE 16th for Emilys murder. In court medical experts said his skin disease was known to cause mental instability. He was found guilty but insane and sent to Broadmoor.