Edgar Lewis George Bindon

Edgar Lewis George Bindon was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Maud Mulholland 21 and sentenced to death.

He shot her in Cowbridge Road, Cardiff on 9 November 1913.

Edgar Bindon was an insurance agent and had been keeping company with Maud Mulholland for about 18 months.

Maud Mulholland was a shop assistant and the daughter of a master mariner.

Their houses in Cardiff were next door to each other on Theobald Road.

However, prior to seeing Edgar Bindon, Maud Mulholland had been seeing a shop assistant for some months in early 1912 but had broken it off with him, but on 28 October 1913 she started to keep company with him again.

On 1 November 1913, Maud Mulholland's father told Maud Mulholland to cease company with Edgar Bindon and to tell him so.

Then, on 4 November 1913, Edgar Bindon purchased a revolver and called at Maud Mulholland's house between 10pm and 11pm and asked to speak to Maud Mulholland's father. When Maud Mulholland's father came to the door he at once said 'Edgar, give me that revolver'. Edgar Bindon hesitated, but when Maud Mulholland told him that he would take it off him, he took it from his pocket and gave it up. The revolver was found to be empty.

Maud Mulholland's father then told Edgar Bindon to be a man and to leave Maud Mulholland alone and to stop molesting her.

Edgar Bindon then said that Maud Mulholland still wished his company and asked to speak to her. Maud Mulholland's father then called Maud Mulholland in and told her to speak up and to not be afraid and Maud Mulholland said, 'Edgar, I don't wish any further of your company'.

Maud Mulholland's father then took Edgar Bindon to their front door where his mother and brother were waiting for him.

Edgar Bindon then said, 'You will be sorry for this, whereupon Maud Mulholland's father took Edgar Bindon by the throat and said, 'If you threaten me I'll give you a jolly good hiding'.

Edgar Bindon, who was described as being much excited, was then taken by his friends and a constable up to his bedroom.

On the following day Edgar Bindon went out and purchased another revolver and for the next few days seemed to have slept away from home.

Then on Sunday 9 December 1913 Edgar Bindon wrote to Maud Mulholland asking her to meet him at night to say goodbye, saying that he would bring her earrings with him. Maud Mulholland then sent him a note in reply saying that she would meet him that night after seeing the shop assistant who was spending the day with her. It was noted that the note was friendly, but that Maud Mulholland obviously looked on her relations with Edgar Bindon as broken off and merely intended to give him a parting interview.

After Edgar Bindon was arrested, letters were found on him addressed to his mother, in which he said that he had often had connection with Maud Mulholland and that they had determined to die together. However, the police report noted that both of those statements were untrue and that the post-mortem showed that Maud Mulholland was a virgin. The report also noted that Maud Mulholland was also apparently perfectly happy with her resumed relations with the shop assistant.

On the night of 9 November 1913, Maud Mulholland went a little way home with the shop assistant and then at 10.30pm she met Edgar Bindon as arranged and it was thought that he handed her her earrings as they were later found in a packet in one of her gloves.

Edgar Bindon then fired six shots at her in Cowbridge Road, one of which pierced her heart. She was also wounded in four or five other places.

Edgar Bindon then gave himself up to a constable, saying, 'I have shot my girl'.

Two days later he was heard to say, 'It is all right I have had my revenge and will die with a good heart'.

At his trial his defence was insanity which was based on his family history and the 'delusion' that he had had connection with Maud Mulholland. It was heard that his father was said to have died from brain trouble. Edgar Bindon's father had been a farmer who also kept a public house, but he had not been insane. It was also heard that Edgar Bindon had had an aunt who had died in an asylum and another aunt who had been in an asylum for six months after having had a child.

However, the police report noted that Edgar Bindon himself showed no signs of insanity and that rebutting evidence to that effect as given by the medical officer who examined him.

It was also noted that the letters that Edgar Bindon had written to his mother did not indicate any insanity and it was thought that they had obviously been written with the intent of blackening Maud Mulholland's character and justifying her murder.

The police report noted that Edgar Bindon might have intended to kill himself but noted that he made no attempt to do so although there was still one live cartridge remaining in the revolver when he gave it up to the police constable.

Edgar Bindon was convicted of Maud Mulholland's murder but with a recommendation to mercy by the jury on the grounds of his youth. However, he was executed on 19 March 1914.