On this day in history : 14th December 1959 – The shortest murder trial in British legal history takes place at Winchester Assizes….the proceedings take just 30 seconds….

Brian Cawley pleaded and was found guilty of the murder of Rupert Poole Steed – he was later sentenced to life imprisonment….

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Cawley, a 30-year-old council worker lived, along with his wife and three children, rent free in a house owned by Rupert Steed, in New Road, Basingstoke…. Steed, a 43-year-old retired grocer’s manager and batchelor, had befriended the family – helping them out financially and buying them presents….

However, Cawley started to drink and as a consequence lost his job…. His wife left him, taking the children with her…. One night Cawley returned home….and for no explicable reason beat Steed to death…. After pleading guilty – at his 30 second trial – he began his life sentence….img_4845

Published by cottagecapers

Hi, I'm Hazel.... I write purely for pleasure; I love to delve in history, customs, traditions and nature....or whatever else grabs my attention at the time.... I am in no way an expert on what I choose to write about - I simply love to find out about things.... Whilst I always endeavour to get the facts right - occasionally I may get things wrong.... I guess you could call this my disclaimer.... I hope you enjoy reading my blog posts.... If so please give me a follow on Twitter or sign up via email for future posts.... If you are on Facebook Cottage Capers has a page with lots of ‘mini blogs’ and snippets.... It’s where we ‘like-minded’ folk can interact.... Hope to meet you again soon....

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