On one cold January evening in 1953 elderly Elizabeth Thomas was found fatally injured at her home . The 78-year-old had been beaten on the head with a stick and stabbed numerous times in her front and back. Unable to recover from her injuries she died the next morning in hospital.
The stick was left behind in the hallway of her home in Clifton Street in the tranquil surroundings of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. The stick was found to have had human hair on it but the knife was never found. George Roberts, a deaf and mute man, was tried for her murder but acquitted. While he was in custody a woman from the deaf institute in Llanelli acted as his interpreter.
At the time Mr Roberts lived in Ferry House with his three uncles and had worked in the district as a gardener. He was unable to read or write and had no knowledge of sign language. He had been deaf and mute since birth.
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It was heard that his only movements in the dock during his trial were the shaking or nodding of his head and the shrugging of his shoulders in response to signs used by the court interpreter. It was heard that several attempts had been made to convey the evidence presented at the trial to Mr Robert but the they were unsuccessful.
It was noted it was possible that Mr Roberts could have been found unfit to plead as he could not talk. However that could have meant he would spend the rest of his life in Broadmoor – even though he might have been innocent.
In total there were 46 witnesses due to give evidence at the trial. Evidence included statements detailing George's movements on the day of the murder on Sunday, January 10, after he finished work at about 4pm up until 6pm and then again between 6.15pm and 6.40pm.
Many reported seeing him in the vicinity around the time of Ms Thomas' murder. Other's close to the defendant said they had seen him on occasions with a "sharp table knife" but that it had given them no cause for concern. One witness described Mr Roberts as a "very reliable, steady, and trustworthy" person.
When Ms Thomas was attacked in her home it was heard that she screamed. The scream was heard by a number of witnesses including neighbour Ronald Jones. He called police and told them he believed he heard his neighbour calling out a man's first name at the time she was injured.
He told a Daily Mirror reporter: "She seemed to be pleading with someone. She said something like: 'Don't hurt me Harry' but I can't remember if the name was Harry. Detectives have spent a lot of time with me trying to help me remember but the excitement of that night has knocked the all-important name out of my head."
Two detectives walked up and down the street and called out male Christian names to him in the hope it would jog his memory. "They told me that if it comes back to make a note of it and phone them immediately," he said.
A second witness who ran Clifton Stores said he had known Mr Roberts most of the 29 years he had lived in Laugharne. He explained how the alleged killer would come into his shop once a week to do the shopping for a woman. He said that he would tell him what he wanted by signs – for example if he wanted cigarettes he would show that by putting his hand to his mouth. The witness said that when Mr Robert shopped for the woman he would give him a written list.
He said he last saw Ms Thomas on January 10 when she came into his shop to buy some sweets at about 5pm. He said she had also gone through into the kitchen to see his wife.
He said that he later saw the deaf man at about 5.30pm when he went to his front door and saw him standing to his right about eight to 10 yards away on the pavement just outside of Croft House. He said it was dark and a car passed downhill into Laugharne when he saw him in the lights. He said that he didn't notice what he was wearing but said that he thought he had been wearing a cap although he could not be sure. He noted he had seen Mr Roberts quite a few times around and about over the previous three or four weeks.
Another witness who heard the screams was a laboratory worker who had been passing by between 6.06pm and 6.15pm. He said he had seen Mr Robert in the vicinity of Ms Thomas' cottage on the other side of the road up until 6pm and then again at 6.15pm coming away from the home through a field.
This meant the defendant possibly had the opportunity to go into his alleged victim's house – the door of which was not locked – and assault her. It would have also given him enough time to escape out of the back door and through some gardens to a field and then onward home.
The laboratory worker said he knew the deaf man and said he lived in a "world of his own" and that he had never known him to lose his temper. He said: "He lives in a world of his own and the only way he can be made to understand is by the simplest of signs."
Similarly to fellow witness Mr Jones the laboratory worker said he thought he heard Ms Thomas shout out a scream. He said: "The screaming came from the passage of Ms Thomas' house. It was shouting not to hurt her and appealing. The shouting was loud. I went near to the door of Ms Thomas' house to hear better. I was there about 15 seconds. I also heard her shouting for help and a name mentioned and scuffling feet. I am not certain what the name was... It was something to the effect of Harry. I am not going to say it was the deaf man's name. The name Harry is the one I have always mentioned as the name being uttered by Ms Thomas."
While the laboratory worker stood outside the house a police sergeant came over to assist. The police sergeant said that when he got to the house there was a light in the room on the right of the door when facing the door. He said he heard a noise in the passage similar to the sound of buckets being moved before he spotted a figure.
The officer said: "I heard some fumbling noise in the passage and what sounded like buckets being moved. I then saw a keyhole in the right-hand side of the front door and looked through it and in faint light reflected from a lamp in the living room I saw a person who I made out to be in a bent position and wearing a light-coloured man's cap. The crown of the cap was facing the front door. I cannot say whether this person was a man, woman, or child."
The officer gained access to the home and found Ms Thomas lying on the floor unconscious. By this point the mysterious figure appeared to have left. He said: "Lying in the centre of the passage I saw an elderly woman on her back with her head facing the front door and her legs towards the back door. The head was near the edge of a mat at the entrance to the living toom door, her body was slightly inclined to the left, and her legs were in a slightly bent position. She was moving her arms about but was unconscious. Her clothes were not disarranged. Her hat was by her head on the left side in the centre of the passage."
The police sergeant said that he then moved Ms Thomas into the kitchen with the help of the laboratory worker. A doctor who lived in Green Gables, St Clears, said that on the night of the killing, as a result of a telephone message he received at 6.21pm, he went to Ms Thomas' home. He arrived between 6.30pm and 6.35pm.. He said he could see that her injuries were serious and he arranged for her to be taken to the West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen.
A surgeon at the said he was present when Ms Thomas was admitted to the hospital at 7.30pm. He said she was in an unconscious state at the time. He said on preliminary examination he noticed she was suffering from wounds in the scalp and bruising over her right eye and a fracture of her right forearm.
On further examination he found seven incised wounds on her chest and back, a small abrasion of her left knee, and a scratch on her right calf, noting that the last two injuries were recent. He said Ms Thomas was under his supervision until 9.10am the following day when she died.
A Home Office pathologist carried out a post-mortem examination on January 12. He noted Ms Thomas had a plethora of injuries – both serious and superficial – including a black eye, puncture wounds, and bruising. The pathologist concluded by stating she had died from shock resulting from the cumulative effect of the multiple injuries that she had received, the most serious of which was the fracture to her skull.
A detective sergeant with the Carmarthenshire Constabulary stationed at Ammanford said that on the morning of January 11 he saw Mr Roberts at Carmarthen police station and that through an interpreter he interviewed him.
Mr Robert told him: "I was walking along Clifton Street about 4pm and went as far as the church. I came back at about 4.30pm. I saw Ms Thomas on the doorstep and saluted her – she is my friend. I did not speak to her only saluted her as I passed. I then walked home and had food. There was another man with me on the road. Then I went home. I was home at about 5pm and did not go out again."
However the detective sergeant then said: "You were seen near Ms Thomas' house at about half past five and quarter past six. Have you anything to say?". Mr Roberts replied: "No I was not there. I had had my food and sat in the chair reading."
The police saw Mr Roberts again on January 13 and asked him a number of questions. They met again on January 18 when Mr Robert allegedly admitted to having murdered Ms Thomas. During that interview he was reported to have said: "I was standing where I have drawn a man. I walked across to the door of the house of the old lady. I knock the door. The old lady answered me. I went in. While she was in the passage I picked up a stick which was on the floor and hit her on the head.
"I stabbed her first and while she was on the floor I picked up the stick and hit her on the head. I then saw the light was on and went into the room and turned out the lamp. I went out of the back of the house past the old woman's house next door, past the dentist's house, into the field next to the dentist's house, and then climbed over the wall next to the main road, walked across the road into the pavement opposite, and then walked up the street in the direction of the town clock, then I went home. I don't know why I did – very sorry now that I have done it. I have cried since." After the interview on January 18 officers went with Mr Robert to a place in Cliff Walk where he allegedly demonstrated how and where he threw the knife into the sea.
During the investigation the police took items from Ms Thomas' home including a stick along with samples of her hair which were examined by a principal scientific officer at the Home Office forensic science laboratory in Cardiff. When the forensic specialist examined the stick found in the hall he said he found blood of human origin on four places on the stick and that on one end of the stick he found human hairs in a bloodstain that had been firmly caught in a small slit of the wood. He said that the general and detailed characteristics of the hairs that he found were closely similar to the hairs taken from Ms Thomas.
The murder trial started on February 25. However on March 24 the prosecution offered no further evidence and the judge instructed the jury to find him not guilty. The prosecution said: "It was inevitably a case of considerable difficulty. Having investigated the matter it does seem that in all the circumstances the right course to pursue is not to proceed with the case and to offer no further evidence." The judge then said: "That is a very proper course."
The judge then said to the jury: "There appears to be nothing in the circumstances of the case to point to the accused. The evidence comes down to the fact that the man was seen before and afterwards and the fact that he had previously had a knife in his possession. These things coupled with certain statements said to have been obtained from a man with whom communication was almost impossible. You could never have been asked to convict on evidence of that sort."
The judge also told the court one aspect of the case that disturbed him, noting that the man had been taken to the police station on January 11 and kept there until January 14 with no charge of any sort being made against him. The judge said: "It may be that this man has civil rights which had been infringed but it is obvious that to detain a man three nights in a police station without being charged is something that is open to misconstruction."
Following the collapse of the case it was reported in November 1953 the Labour MP for Nelson and Colne was due to ask the Home Secretary how Scotland Yard officers obtained an eight-page written statement and signed confession of murder from a deaf and mute man who had never been taught any sign language. It was also heard that it was to also be asked how Mr Roberts came to be detained and imprisoned for several days without a warrant and without a charge being made for the purpose of interrogation.
Following Mr Robert's acquittal he drew a number of sketches to show what his plans were following his release which included a holiday boating and fishing and then going back to his old job of gardening. The true killer has never been identified.
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