Chapter 20

Owen Leonard

1891

Robert Mumford had lodged at 22 Swinbrook Road, West Kensington, for some years and knew all the other people who had rooms in the same building. He was used to their comings and goings and also knew that sometimes they argued.

On 30 September 1891, Mumford had retired for the night at 10.00pm and was soon in a deep sleep. However, just over an hour later, at some time after 11.00pm, Mumford was woken from his slumbers, by the noise of quarrelling and scuffling coming from the rooms upstairs.

Mumford knew that those rooms were occupied by Owen Leonard and his partner, Mary Jane Byrne. Even as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, Mumford heard Mary’s voice shouting, ‘Don’t kill me’, followed by the noise of someone running out on to the landing. Still, it was nothing to do with him and Mumford decided that it would be better not to interfere.

Ten minutes after this, Mumford heard screaming coming from the street outside. There was obviously no way he was going to get back to sleep until, at the very least, he went downstairs and told the argumentative couple to keep quiet. However, when he went down into the street he found Mary Byrne lying on the ground outside the house, writhing in pain and moaning. This was obviously a most serious assault, so Mumford went off to find a policeman.

In fact, Robert Mumford found two constables and, returning to Swinbrook Road, one of the officers attended to the injured woman whilst the other went upstairs to arrest Owen Leonard on a charge of assault. As the prisoner was escorted past the scene he was heard to shout to Mary, ‘Ain’t you dead yet?’

Mary Byrne was taken to St Mary’s Hospital where, despite medical treatment, her condition grew steadily worse. On 6 October, her condition was so bad that Leonard was escorted to the hospital, from prison, so that he could be present when Mary’s dying deposition was taken. Mary died that same night and the following morning, 7 October, Owen Leonard was charged with manslaughter.

Leonard’s trial took place on 16 November, before Mr Justice Hawkins. The first witness was Kate Byrne, the daughter of the dead woman. She confirmed that although they were not married, Owen and Mary had been living together for some twenty-one years. Kate had last seen her mother alive, at St Mary’s Hospital, just before she passed away.

After Robert Mumford had given his evidence, Henry Houghton, another lodger at 22 Swinbrook Road, took the stand. He said he had first heard a disturbance at around 11.30pm on 30 September. At one stage he heard Leonard shout, ‘Out of the window you go.’ This was followed by the sound of a sash-window being opened, and then immediately by a scream. There was then a sickening thud as Mary hit the ground. Henry was unable to say if Leonard had thrown Mary out of the window or if she had jumped in order to escape him.

Sarah Ann Smith lived next door, at 24 Swinbrook Road. She was awake at the time of the argument and was looking out of her bedroom window. She saw the window open at number 22 and Mary coming out of it, feet first. Mary was fully dressed at the time and, once she was outside, she held on to a flower box on the window ledge, for some minutes. Then, perhaps growing tired, or fearful that Leonard was coming for her, Mary let go and fell to the ground. Sarah dashed downstairs to see if she could offer any help and found Mary lying on the ground, bleeding from wounds in her hand and her head.

William Davies was a grocer and operated his business from 48 Swinbrook Road. He too heard the commotion and went down into the street to see what was going on. He found Mary lying near a window sill on the ground floor, moaning loudly and apparently in great pain.

The two police officers, whom Robert Mumford had found, were Constable Jesse Betts and Constable Frederick Hunt. It was Betts who attended to the injured woman and Mary had said to him, ‘He struck me on the head with his fist, and I got out of the window of my own accord, to escape his violence.’ Betts then left the stricken woman with some of her neighbours whilst he ran for the doctor.

Constable Hunt had gone up to Leonard’s rooms, to arrest him. As he entered the room Leonard said, ‘Well, I suppose you have come after me.’ Hunt replied, ‘Yes, I shall charge you with assaulting your wife,’ to which Leonard replied, ‘Yes, I know I have done wrong, but it is all through jealousy.’

Inspector Francis James Waite was on duty at the Harrow Road police station, when the prisoner was brought in. As details of the charge were being read out by Constable Hunt, Leonard interrupted and said, ‘She said she would jump out of the window, but I did not believe her, as she has said it many times before.’

Inspector Waite was also present at the hospital, as Mary made her deposition just before she died. In one part of her statement Mary had said that she told Leonard, ‘You shall not have the satisfaction of killing me; I’ll do it myself.’ It was Waite who later amended the charge against Leonard to one of manslaughter, after Mary had died.

The final witness was Dr Frederick John Orchard Stevenson, of St Mary’s Hospital. He had treated Mary and also performed a post-mortem on 7 October. The cause of death had been lockjaw, brought on by the wound she had suffered in her head.

The prosecution argued that Mary had died from lockjaw, a disease that had been caused by one of her wounds. That wound had been caused by a fall from the window and, since Mary had only left her lodgings through that window to escape Leonard’s wrath, he was directly responsible for her death. The jury agreed and Leonard was found guilty.

For that offence of manslaughter, Owen Leonard received a sentence of fifteen years in prison.