Charles Saunders

A blacksmith sentenced to death at Hereford Assizes for the murder of a young child. Saunders persuaded the parents of Walter Charles Steers who was only two, to let him look after the boy while they stayed in London. During May, Saunders and his girlfriend 'tramped' to Leominster, using the child to help them beg for food and money but Walter soon became a burden. They took shelter in a disused cottage, and one night Walter's crying kept Saunders awake so he picked the child up and bashed its head on the floor. He buried the body under a pile of straw where it lay undiscovered for sixteen weeks. He was convicted on the testimony of his girlfriend and hanged by James Billington. The execution took place on the 23rd December 1891 at Hereford.  Saunders was thirty one at the time of his execution.