|
 |
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AKA: |
Hessle
Road Serial Killer |
|
D.O.B. |
1927 |
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Kill
Total: |
1 |
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Kill date: |
1952 |
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Kill
Place: |
Lanark,
Scotland |
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Status: |
Single |
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Occupation: |
Farm
Labourer |
|
M.O. |
Beating |
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Victim: |
Michael Connelly
- 80 |
Michael Connelly, also
Conly, was described as a hermit by locals, known
affectionately as 'Old Mick'.
Michael was a retired
reclusive gent he live in a rundown hut in
Huntlygate Farm Lanark. He was allowed to live there
with the permission of the farm owner, Thomas Alexander/
Michael would draw out his
state pension every Friday. He collected it on Friday
15th August 1952, but not on the following Friday, 22nd.
Sunday 24th August 1952
Mr. Alexander went to check on Michael and found that he
had been battered to death. A post mortem carried out by
Professor Allinson showed multiple head injuries as the
causer of death.. The pathologist put the time of death
as sometime in the afternoon of Sunday the 17th of
August.
The 80-year-old victim had
withdrawn two weeks of money from his pension, but, he
was penniless when his body was found, and his pension
book was also missing
Police
investigations soon came up with the names of Shaw and
friend George Dunn.
Shaw had been
buying rounds of drinks in the Clyde Valley Hotel on the
17th of August, according to the bar tender and had
plenty of pound notes in his hand. Dunn also seemed to
have plenty of cash. Local woman Kathleen Wallace came
forward to say she had seen the pair near the hut on the
afternoon of Sunday the 17th.
Both men were arrested and blood stains were found on
their clothing, the blood group matching that of
Michael’s.
2nd December 1952,
George Francis Shaw, 25, and George Dunn, 22, appeared
in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow, charged with
the murder of Michael Connmolly.
9th December 1952, The
verdict of the jury of seven women and seven men was by
a majority after a seven-day trial at the High Court in
Glasgow, they tookj just 20 minutes to reach a verdict.
Shaw was found guilty of
murder while his accomplice Dunn was ordered to be
detained in Carstairs State Hospital. He was found
guilty of culpable homicide.
During the trial, Psychiatrist Dr James Curran gave
evidence which stated that Dunn was a
'feeble-minded person with a mental age of eight'.
December 9, 1952 Shaw appealed the court’s
verdict which was dismissed by the Scottish Criminal
Appeal Court in Edinburgh.
Monday 26th January 1953,
Shaw was executed at Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow, hanged
by Albert Pierrepoint.
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