Chapter 31

George Cyril Epton

1946

Albert Edward Stamp lived at 7 Billing Road, Kensington and, at 5.45am, on the morning of Monday, 6 May 1946, was on his way to work. Following his usual route, at one stage Albert walked down Finborough Road, and what he found there meant that he would certainly be late for work on this occasion.

Each of the houses down this street had steps leading up to the front door, with another set leading down to the basement. On the steps outside number 17, Albert found the body of a young woman. Her legs were on the top step and her head hung downwards, towards the basement. It seemed likely that she had fallen from one of the flats at 17 Finborough Road, and Albert could not help but notice that she wore no shoes. It was obvious that the woman was dead, but, rather surprisingly perhaps, Albert did not report the matter to the police. Instead, he found the nearest public telephone box and reported his find to St Stephen’s Hospital.

It was the hospital who contacted the police and, at approximately 6.40am, Detective Inspector Albert Webb arrived to take charge of the scene. Looking up at the house it seemed that the most likely point of exit for the woman had been the flat on the first floor. This flat had a small balcony, directly overlooking the spot where the woman’s body lay. It was probably the best place to start.

Webb walked into the house and went up to the first floor. The door was opened by a man, who greeted Webb with, ‘I suppose you have come about the murder.’ No mention of murder had been made and, indeed, the police were still not sure that this was a case of murder. ‘What murder?’ replied Webb. ‘The one outside,’ said the man. Webb was not prepared to go any further with that line, and demanded to know who occupied this particular flat. ‘I do,’ replied the man, who went on to identify himself as George Cyril Epton.

Inspector Webb said he was going to have a look around the flat, and Epton did not object. Walking over to the French windows, which led out onto the small balcony, Webb saw that they were fastened shut. Webb opened them and looked out, seeing what he believed were bloodstains on the stone floor.

‘When were you out here last?’ asked Webb. Epton said that he rarely went onto the balcony, except on hot days in the summer. ‘Then how did these bloodstains get here?’ continued Webb. Epton glanced at the stains and replied, ‘That’s not blood. That’s dirt.’ He then paused for a few seconds before adding, ‘Well, they might be blood. My wife recently died of TB and she used to spit blood.’

Continuing his look around the flat, Inspector Webb entered the bedroom, and saw more stains, which looked like blood, on the bottom of the bed. Epton claimed that these stains were red ink. Then, after another pause, he admitted that they might be blood too, but claimed that if they were blood, then they were his blood as he had recently suffered a nose bleed. Inspector Webb said he was not satisfied with Epton’s answers, and he would be taken to the police station for further questioning.

At the police station, Epton continued to say that he knew nothing of the dead woman. He had never seen her before, he did not know her and he certainly had had nothing to do with her death. Nevertheless, he was held in the cells overnight, whilst the police investigation continued.

By this time, the police had spoken to another resident of 17 Finborough Road, John Edward Eldred. He had returned home from work at some time between 9.00pm and 9.30pm on the evening of 5 May, and there had certainly been no body on the steps at that time. This proved that the woman must have been killed sometime on 5 May and her body dumped before 5.45am on 6 May. Meanwhile, items in the woman’s handbag had identified her as Winifred Mulholland, who lodged at 8 Braemar Road, Brixton. When officers spoke to Winifred’s landlady, Lilian Hall, she confirmed that Winifred had been staying there for about eight weeks. She was also able to see that she had last seen Winifred at around 4.00pm on Sunday, 5 May, when she left the house. Later, Lilian made a positive identification of Winifred’s body and also of the distinctive fur coat she had been wearing when she left Braemar Road.

Back at the police station, later that same day, 6 May, Epton was asked for a full statement outlining his personal details, and his movements over the last few days. He began by saying that he had lived at the flat for six years, initially with his wife. She had died, from consumption, on 24 February, since which time he had lived there alone. He had been unemployed since the end of February, and before that, had been an engineer’s assistant at Fulham Cross.

Epton then turned to his movements on the days preceding Winifred Mulholland’s death. He gave a timetable, which involved visits to the Labour Exchange, meeting a lady friend in Tottenham Court Road, and taking her to the pictures. On the Sunday, the day Winifred had last been seen alive, Epton said he had walked to the Kings Road in Chelsea, and had a drink in the Six Bells public house, but had been home in bed by 10.30pm.

At around 4.00am, on the morning of Monday, 6 May, Epton had been woken, by someone ringing the bell of the house next door. A minute or two later, his own front door bell rang and he heard voices in the street outside, but could not distinguish what they said. This was followed by the sound of a car racing off, after which it went quiet. He went back to sleep and knew nothing of the crime until someone knocked at his door and the police came in to talk to him.

Epton was then asked to explain a few things that did not add up. The dead woman had been wearing no shoes when she was found. A pair of women’s shoes had been found in Epton’s fire grate, partly burned. Black, with red sides, Epton claimed that they had belonged to his wife and he had put them on the fire because they were of no use now. For the time being, the police decided that they had questioned Epton enough and he was returned to the cells.

In the early hours of 7 May, Epton asked to speak to a senior police officer. Divisional Detective Inspector John Ball went to see Epton, who then made a further statement, admitting that he had been involved in Winifred’s death. He was then charged with murder.

Epton’s trial on that charge took place at the Old Bailey, before Mr Justice Birkett, on 16 June 1946. During the two days that the proceedings lasted, Epton’s defence rested in the hands of Mr Malcolm Morris, whilst the case for the prosecution was led by Mr Anthony Hawke, assisted by Mr Henry Elam.

The body of Winifred Mulholland had been examined by Professor Donald Teare. Called to the scene in Finborough Road at 10.00am on 6 May, Teare had performed the post-mortem later that same day.

Professor Teare reported a series of circular shaped abrasions on Winifred’s body. One group were on her right cheek and another two were on her left. There were similar wounds around the chin and left eye. All of these wounds could have been caused by a hammer found inside Epton’s flat.

Continuing his evidence, Professor Teare detailed an irregular shaped wound, four inches across, in the centre of Winifred’s forehead. There was another wound at the back of her head and these could have been caused by an iron, again found in Epton’s flat. These wounds had fractured Winifred’s skull, causing a corresponding laceration of the brain, which was the direct cause of death. Considerable violence must have been used.

Winifred had sustained even more injuries after she was dead. There was a wound on the front of the throat, bruises on the knuckles of her right hand and other bruises on the fingers of her left hand. Her neck vertebrae had been fractured and the lower end of one thigh bone was broken. These wounds could have been caused by a fall onto the steps from the first-floor balcony.

Dr James Stanley Higgs had been the first doctor on the scene on 6 May. He had confirmed that life was extinct. The following day he had taken blood samples from the dead woman and also from Epton. Both samples had been sent to the police laboratory.

Walter Eric Montgomery was a Senior Scientific Officer at the Metropolitan Police Laboratory at Hendon. He had examined various articles taken from Epton’s flat. Blood had been found on some linoleum, and there were signs that this had been swabbed by something in an attempt to clean it up. There were bloodstains and hairs adhering to a flat iron, but he had found nothing of value on a hammer. A rug, also taken from the flat, was heavily bloodstained at one corner. All the stains were of type A, but tests had shown that both Winifred and Epton had blood of that type.

Of more value were hairs and fibres taken from various locations. On the bloodstained rug, Walter had found three dyed rabbit hairs, and these matched hairs taken from Winifred’s distinctive coat. Similar hairs were found on the stonework above the portico outside 17 Finborough Road, and the ironwork around the balcony. Dyed rabbit hairs, and bloodstains, were also found on Epton’s trousers.

Epton’s second written statement was then read out. In this he admitted that he had met Winifred at around 10.00pm, on 5 May, in Piccadilly. They fell into conversation and he asked her if she would like to come home with him. She accepted, saying that she had nowhere else to go.

Back at the flat, Epton claimed that they then had sexual intercourse, on a chair, after which he went to his bedroom. Whilst there, he noticed that £9 was missing from his hip pocket. Going back into the living room, Epton demanded to know if Winifred had taken his money. She said that she hadn’t but she was grinning as she denied it. At this, Epton grabbed her, reached out for something, and struck her on the head. She fell and it was plain that she was dying. Rather than go for help, Epton then dragged her into the bedroom and left her there before going into his kitchen and making himself a cup of tea. Later, he had gone back into the bedroom and found that Winifred was dead. He left her there that night and later that morning, pulled her back into the front room where, at about 4.00am, he put her over the balcony.

With all the evidence against him, and his own confession, there could be no doubt as to the verdict. Found guilty, Epton was then sentenced to death. This was, in fact, the first death sentence awarded since the House of Commons had voted to abolish capital punishment, a vote that was subsequently overturned by the House of Lords.

In fact, Epton never did hang. On 20 July, his sentence was commuted to one of life imprisonment. He was, of course, the second man to have killed in Finborough Road. Ronald True had murdered Gertrude Yates, twenty-four years earlier, at number 13a, just a couple of doors away from where Winifred Mulholland had died.