Master Detective February 2012

Description

In 1940 as in 1952, the law in the UK was unequivocal. If two people engaged in a crime shared a resolution to resist a police officer by violence, and one of them killed a policeman, then both were equally guilty of the murder. The Fatal Words That Hanged Three Men and two famous murder cases from Durham and south London that shared incredible parallels.

She was a sometime prostitute and drug-user with a sordid police record, but was she a murderess? Further, her last hours on California’s Death Row were hard. “I wish I could see Tommy grow up,” she tearfully told a reporter. “But I know I won’t so there’s no use wishing.” Part 1 of the murder that put Barbara Graham in the gas chamber. It is this month’s One Life Of Crime.

It was just like the movies – the spurned woman turns on her ex. But in real life Michelle Wilson took no chances. She spent hours improving her aim at the firing range.

LISA AND JERRY…A DEADLY DUO
They were drunk, they were speeding – with a dead body in the back of their van!

VIEWPOINT
More of your views

FATAL WORDS THAT HANGED THREE MEN plus THE BENTLEY/CRAIG
CASE
Twelve years after the “let him have it” murder of a police officer in Durham, PC Miles is shot dead in south London

THIRTY YEARS AGO IN CRIME
More fascinating material from MD’s crime archives

MD FORUM: THE LADY VANISHES
The murder of Ann Chapman in Greece in 1971, as requested by a reader from York

EUROPEAN CRIME REPORT
More cases from the near Continent, including Live Murder On A Reality TV Show

ONE LIFE OF CRIME PART 1: BARBARA GRAHAM The murder that put her in the gas chamber

LET OUT OF THE SCRUBS TO MURDER AGAIN Looking down at the woman’s body the superintendent knew the killer would murder again – and he was right…

THE REMARKABLE CASE OF THE BLIND GIRL AND THE CAT Kate Tyler emailed the True Crime Library Bulletin to ask about this unusual case from Harlesden, London, in the 1950s

MYSTERY BLAZE ON NORTHUMBERLAND MOOR
The latest in the series Curious Stories Of Murder

CRIME ON THE SCREEN
A series of stills that shows how a famous British murder and its aftermath were expertly reconstructed for TV

“FATAL ATTRACTION” DIVA GETS EVEN
It was just like the film – a spurned woman turns on her ex-lover

COLT SHOOTS STEPFATHER
The incredible story of a 15-year-old who got two 12-year-olds to kill for him!