James Riley

James Riley was convicted of the murder of his 43-year-old wife Mary Riley and sentenced to death.

He battered her to death at Diamond Terrace, West Auckland on 8 October 1920.

James Riley had been a miner. He had joined the Durham Light Infantry in March 1915 and served in India from February 1916 to May 1917 and then in France from January 1918 to the Armistice when he returned home.

He had lived with Mary Riley, to whom he had been married for about 20 years, at 1 Diamond Terrace in West Auckland.

They had had no children, but had adopted a son, who had since left them to get married about twelve months before the murder.

Both James Riley and Mary Riley had been addicted to drink and there had been frequent quarrels, especially at weekends when Mary Riley would accuse James Riley of not giving her enough money, which he would refuse to do on the grounds that she would only get drunk with it.

According to Mary Riley's relatives, James Riley frequently assaulted her, and on the night of 2 October 1920, a week before the murder, she called the police because he had hit her on the head, raising a lump. They had both been under the influence of drink at the time and the police had warned James Riley not to ill-treat Mary Riley further.

On Friday 8 October 1920 Mary Riley's sister said that Mary Riley left her house at about 9.40pm at which time she had been quite sober and all right.

James Riley said that he had left his work that morning and drawn his pay and then stopped at a public house from 12 noon to 2.30pm drinking, and that he then went home and gave Mary Riley £3-7-0 and also quarrelled. He said that he then went out again and stayed at a public house from 6pm to 10pm after which he went home.

He said that when he got home he found Mary Riley drinking a glass of stout and had another bottle on the table. He said, 'She was going to take the other and I took it off her and I drank that'.

He said that they then started quarrelling and that he hit her and that she then got up again and he hit her again with his open hand and she fell down. He said that he then put some coal on the fire and went to bed, stating that he had no idea that she had been seriously injured.

The next morning the milk-boy called and James Riley answered the door and the milk-boy saw Mary Riley's body lying on the kitchen floor, it being noted that James Riley seemed to take no notice of it and took in the milk.

Shortly afterwards James Riley went to a neighbour's house and told them that he had killed his wife.

The neighbour went into their house and found Mary Riley lying dead on the floor and told James Riley that he would inform the police, to which James Riley replied, 'Don't go yet, let me get away a bit'.

James Riley then went away but was arrested some hours later at a place about four miles away from West Auckland. When he was arrested, he said to the police, 'I knew you would get me. I have had a hell of a life with her. I intended giving myself up'.

Then, on the way to the police station he said, 'We had a row last night and I went to bed. When I was called up to the milk-boy this morning she was lying in the kitchen. I felt her. She was cold. I must have finished her. I did it all with my hands'.

Mary Riley was found to have had two gaping, incised wounds, one on each side of her head, and various other smaller injuries. However, the doctor said that he thought that none of her injuries need have proved fatal if she had received attention.

He said that there had been a good deal of blood spattered about, even on a picture six feet from the floor, and there were bloodstains as of stockinged feet on the cement floor. James Riley's socks were found to be blood stained, which he explained by saying, 'That's with plodging about in't last neet'.

No instrument was found with which the wounds had been committed, except a broken part of a poker, however, that didn't appear to have been bloodstained.

It was suggested that James Riley might have possibly kicked Mary Riley after she was down, but all the marks on his boots had been removed by him tramping across the fields before he was arrested.

Mary Riley had been dressed only in her blouse, corsets and knickers and had had no boots on, but in the fireplace were found boot eyelets and hooks, a dress hook and what might have been the charred remains of her skirt. It was suggested that James Riley had been known on former occasions to tear off Mary Riley's clothes and burn them.

At his trial the defence had been an attempt to get the jury to reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter on the grounds that he had been so drunk as to not know what he was doing.

However, he was convicted of murder with no recommendation to mercy.

He was executed at Durham on 30 November 1920.

Diamond Terrace has since been demolished, but was roughly where Montieth Close is today.