The letter of confession which Amelia Dyer had written to Chief Superintendent Tewsley had been kept secret so as not to prejudice her case; the letter written to Arthur had also not reached its intended destination.
Amelia was not happy.
Allowed to order in the newspapers and read all that was being written about her case, she was dismayed to find no mention of her letter and no mention either that Polly and Arthur were now free from all blame. In her letter written to Arthur on 16 April from Reading Gaol, Amelia had reassured him that he would have a lawyer, but for her she had said, “it is only throwing money away.” it seems she must have had a change of heart for on 23 April she wrote another letter, this time addressed to her solicitor with whom she had been communicating with regard to a possible defence plea. On 24 April the solicitor’s managing clerk and a shorthand writer met Amelia in her cell. She handed over to them some confidential notes she had been making about her case, and among the papers was her second letter of confession.
This one was made public, appearing on the front page of the Daily Courier on Tuesday 28 April. It caused a public sensation.
From Amelia Dyer,
H.M. Prison Reading
April 23, 1896
Sir,
In reply to Telegram in reference to plead in my defence, I must tell you I am afraid there is not any chance of saving my life, unless you plead upon the cause of insanity, and if you do that I may be spared, during her majesty’s Pleasure. My reason for saying this is a very good one. 6 years ago I was an inmate of Gloucester Asylum 2 years after that I was sent to Wells Asylum I got better since then I was sent up to Gloucester Asylum I had not my only discharge out a month on trial I was only home 2 weeks when I had to be taken back again. Finally I had my discharge a twelve month last February all the time I have been here I have not been well, I have not been accountable for my actions they have not left me unattended night or day one moment. 2 years ago now this time I tried to drown myself but I was rescued and taken to the General Hospital at Bristol and my mother died at Dr. Fox Asylum at the early age of 45 years.
One day last week I sent a written statement to the Chief Superintendent of the police stating my Son-in-law had nothing at all to do in the matter that I alone was guilty. Now I look back the most insane part of it is I had invited all the Friends of those Children to come and spend Whitsuntide Holiday with me and they accepted the invitation and was coming. Mrs Dean the attendant who have charge of me or any or all of the officials here will tell you my mind have been quite unhinged. In fact I have been bad in my head all the time. Some days not so bad as others I do know this I should certainly kill myself if only had the opportunity but I must tell you honest and truthfully my daughter Mary Ann Palmer or her Husband Arthur Palmer they never knew but that I meant to do right by those Children they never knew contemplated doing what I did.
The Home Office was horrified that such a letter had been made public, and an inquiry was launched to investigate the breach in procedures at Reading Gaol. The prison authorities were to place the blame on Amelia’s solicitors, remarking, “She handed over to them some confidential notes she had been making about her case … Probably this was the news printed in the Daily Courier.” Whatever the truth of the matter, not only had Amelia Dyer succeeded in placing in the public consciousness the possibility that her son-in-law was innocent, and so too her daughter, she had also managed to raise the question of her own sanity and culpability.
So much horror has been created by the discovery of the Reading baby murders that an alleged “confession” had a sensationalist interest, eagerly snapped at by the enterprising journalist. The Daily Courier today reproduces by eager permission of The Weekly Dispatch, a letter purporting to have been written by the accused woman, Mrs Dyer, in prison and handed to a representative of the press. This letter contains a confession of guilt and a plea of insanity … We ask in all seriousness whether prison authorities are not to be gravely blamed for allowing such letters to be communicated by prisoners to the press. Mrs Dyer is now in custody on the charge of murder. It is for the law to pronounce whether she is guilty, whether she is insane. Trial by newspaper in the interim is contrary to all decent precedent or principle.
St James’s Gazette, 28 April 1896