Richard Davies

Murder of father; Knutsford, Cheshire

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On Saturday 25th January, George Davies who was only sixteen, rushed into the family home and claimed that their father had been attacked by two men on a Crewe road. He took police to the scene where they found the body of Richard Davies senior aged fifty, a tailor. He had been battered about the head with a large tree branch that lay close by, covered in blood. Detectives from Cheshire Constabulary questioned the family and learned that the father frequently bullied his children. A search for the two assailants had yielded no clues so they set about re-checking the statements made by his two sons. Richard Davies junior trapped himself when he revealed more about the murder than he should have and soon both he and George were charged. They were tried before Mr Justice Wills at Chester on 20th March and after a fair trial. both were convicted. George was reprieved a few days before the scheduled execution on account of his age, although he was just as guilty. if not more so. than his brother. Richard Davies was hanged by James Berry. who later wrote that the spectre of the young man frequently came back to haunt him. The execution took place in Knutsford on the 8th April 1890. Richard Davies was only eighteen when he died.