Murder most shocking

9:44am Friday 11th January 2008

IN the 1920s, judges still had the power to employ the ultimate sanction on those who came before them - death.

Miscarriages of justice at that time, could literally mean the difference between life and death for those wrongly convicted of murder, with an appeal, and eventual release, not yet an option.

The tragic consequence of this was brought into stark relief in December, 1922, when a beautiful young Ilford woman was condemned to death at the Old Bailey, after being found guilty of murdering her husband.

Edith Thompson was one of the new breed of middle class women reshaping British society in the years following the First World War.

Confident, intelligent, and charming, the 29-year-old had risen rapidly through the ranks at a London fabric company, to become chief buyer, a position held by few women at the time.

She enjoyed a wealthy lifestyle, living with her husband, Percy, an accountant, in Kensington Gardens, Ilford, which was then a rapidly expanding, Essex town.

Despite this affluence, Edith became increasingly bored with married life as the differences between her and her more staid and conservative husband became apparent.

Things changed forever in 1920, when Edith bumped into former Merchant Navy seaman Freddy Bywaters, a friend of her younger brother, who soon began to lodge with the couple.

Though still only 20, Bywaters was dashing, handsome and exciting - all the things Edith desired in a man, but could not find in her husband.

The pair began a reckless and passionate affair right under the nose of the unsuspecting Percy, who threw Bywaters out when he finally discovered the truth.

He rejoined the Merchant Navy and took to sea where he continued to receive a constant stream of love letters from Edith throughout September that year.

On October 3, the Thompson's, who by then appeared to have settled their differences, were returning home from a night out at the Criterion Theatre, in Piccadilly Circus, when they were confronted by Bywaters, who had been lying in wait near their home.

He pulled a knife and stabbed Percy to death during a violent struggle and knocked Edith to the floor as she screamed for him to stop.

A visibly shaken Edith, named Bywaters' as the killer, and gave police details of their illicit relationship.

Police charged both Edith and Bywaters with murder after discovering more than 60 of her love letters to him, he was arrested.

The letters were the only evidence linking Edith with the murder, with Bywaters consistently denying her involvement.

Despite this, the pair stood trial for the crime on December 6, 1922, with Edith practically signing her own death warrant by admitting in one of the letters to crushing a light bulb and feeding it to Percy in an attempt to kill him.

She then pleaded with Bywaters to "do something desperate," when her husband failed either to die or even become ill.

Her case was further undermined when she ignored her lawyer's advice not to give evidence from the stand.

Her confidence was misconstrued as arrogance' by the judge and some jurors, with her various inconsistencies seen as lies.

The pair were convicted of murder on December 11 and the judge sentenced both to death.

The public outcry which followed failed to save Edith's life and she was hanged in Holloway Prison, at 9am, on January 9, 1923, at exactly the same time her lover was executed a short distance away in Pentonville jail.

Edith's body was buried in the grounds of the prison before being reinterred in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, when Holloway was rebuilt in 1971.

The couple's tragic story was turned into a best-selling book, Criminal Justice, by author Rene Weis and then a movie, Another Life, in 2000.

Despite the controversy caused by the case, capital punishment would continue to be used in Britain until the mid-sixties.

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