George Wood

George Wood was convicted of the murder of 50-year-old Margaret Gilchrist White and sentenced to death. He strangled her at Invermay, 96 Acre Lane, Cheadle Hulme on 18 December 1922. He was noted for having an un-united fracture of the ulna of the left arm, which his defence at his trial meant that he would not have had the strength to have strangled her. He was also known as Frederick Wood and Ronald Lee. He was an ex-service man who at the time of the murder was doing odd jobs as an upholsterer. In October 1910 he got 18 months borstal detention for stealing bicycles. In 1915 he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers, was wounded in the left arm and was discharged in November 1917. xxx1xxx Since then he had received treatment at various hospitals, as there was an un-united fracture of the ulna of the left arm that necessitated wiring and bone grafting. He married in 1918, but only lived with his wife for about 18 months, after which she left him on account of his cruelty and failure to maintain her. On one occasion he assaulted her with a knife, but she was persuaded to withdraw the summons against him. He was addicted to drink and gambling and was a man of violent temper and frequently assaulted his wife. In January 1922 he stole £36 and some jewellery. Ten days later he gave himself up to the police, but the prosecutor refused to charge him as he didn't want him to lose his pension. Thereafter, George Wood appeared to have been roaming about the country, staying at common lodging houses and obtaining his living by jobbing upholstery, covering chairs etc, at private houses. In December 1922 he was staying at a common lodging house at Wilmslow. About 11 December 1922 he mended an ottoman for Margaret White, who lived with her brother, a bank clerk, in Manchester, in a detached house at Acre Lane, Cheedle, about 3 miles from George Wood's lodgings at Wilmslow. Then, upon Friday and Saturday, 15 and 16 December 1922, George Wood and a fellow lodger were repairing some furniture for a woman who lived a short distance from Margaret White's house. George Wood was to be paid £2 for that job, and the woman paid him 30/- on account, although the work was not half done, and he was to return on Monday 18 December to finish it. However, he didn't return. On the morning of Monday 18 December, George Wood left his lodging house about 9.30am and appeared to have passed Margaret White's house in Acre Lane. He said that she called to him and asked him to show her how to pleat a cover that she was putting on a chair. At 7pm that evening Margaret White's brother returned from business and found his sister lying dead on the floor of the sitting room. A doctor was called, but beyond saying that she had been dead for some hours, he didn't diagnose anything but death from natural causes. However, he advised the family to call the police before he left the house. A police constable noticed marks as of strictures round the throat and round both wrists and scratches on the arm. A post mortem was then held that revealed the fact that death was undoubtedly due to strangulation, with both doctors agreeing that Margaret White's hands had been tied and that something had been tied round her neck, probably the strings of her apron, which her brother had found up about her throat and had cut with a knife when he came in and found the body. They also found marks as of a grip, with one doctor saying that he thought the marks had been caused by a left hand on the throat and the other saying that he thought they had been caused by a grip by both hands, probably from behind. George Wood gave himself up to the Lincoln City Police on 23 December 1922. xxx2xxx At first he denied that he had been in Margaret White's house on the morning of 18 December, but he later corrected that and admitted that he did go to her house and helped her mend a chair. He said that she went away to get a half a crown to pay him and that when she was on her way back to him in the hall she entered the sitting room, and that he heard a groan and when he went in he found her on the floor, clutching at her throat with her hands. He said that he then pulled first one hand away and then another, from her throat, and then finally tied her hands together so that he could control them with one hand. He said that he left her groaning, and that in his great agitation at the thought of being found in the house with a lady in that condition, he rushed upstairs and tried to get some money. It was noted that the police found, in fact, that two metal boxes and a cash box and several drawers in Margaret White's bedroom had been broken open and that a desk and other drawers had been broken open in her room and that all the money in the house had been cleared out, although it was thought impossible to say exactly how much there had been, it being estimated at being only a few pounds. Margaret White's watch and a few rings and jewellery, which had been on her dressing table, had remained untouched. At his trial, his defence was in effect the same story, with an emphasis being laid on the waisted condition of his left arm. However, both of the doctors for the prosecution said that they were satisfied that it was quite impossible for Margaret White to have strangled herself, and one doctor said that he was quite satisfied that George Wood had had sufficient grip with his left hand to have suffocated Margaret White with that hand alone. The police report stated that they felt that there was no doubt whatever that George Wood attacked Margaret White and strangled her and then made off with whatever money he could find, leaving the watch and jewellery, because it might assist in his detection. At the trial the jury found him guilty, but with a strong recommendation to mercy. However, his appeal was dismissed and he was executed on 10 April 1923.