John Charles Horner

John Charles Horner was convicted of the murder of 5-year-old Norman Widdowson Pinchin and sentenced to death. He killed him near Windsor Bridge, on the canal, near Peel Park, Salford on 10 June 1924. John Horner had been a carter and was described as a man of bad character. On the afternoon of 10 June 1924, Norman Pinchin and an 8-year-old boy had been playing in Peel Park, when John Horner came up to them and, according to the 8-year-old boy, said: xxxqxxx I'll shoot my dickey up your bottoms. xxxqxxx John Horner then gave the 8-year-old boy fourpence and told him to get two twopenny wafers. The shop had been Hardman's at 10 Oakfield Terrace. The 8-year-old boy said that they all walked to the shop and that he left John Horner and Norman Pinchin there and saw them walk off down Crescent View and Hall Street towards the canal. Another boy also identified John Horner as walking along hand-in-hand with Norman Pinchin, but said that he had seen them walking along Park Terrace and Park View. A slinger that had been working at a timber yard near the canal had been looking out either for a newspaper man or possibly a bookmaker's tout at about 3.45pm along the towpath when he saw John Horner and Norman Pinchin come through an iron gate on to the towpath. The slinger had been near the travelling crane by the canal, at the top of the canal wall about 210 yards from the Windsor Bridge and about 116 yards along from where the gate opened on to the towpath from Wallness Road. xxx1xxx The slinger said that he then saw John Horner and Norman Pinchin walk along to the bridge where the disappeared beneath it for about 9 minutes, before he then saw them return, although John Horner was then carrying Norman Pinchin, holding him by the back with his right hand. He said that he then saw John Horner throw Norman Pinchin into the canal and then kneel down and look into the water. The slinger said that he then got down on the outside of the canal wall and went through the timber yard and along to the gate and on to the towpath, and that about half-way between the gate and the bridge he met John Horner coming towards him and got a good look at him. The slinger said that he then went to the spot where he saw Norman Pinchin thrown into the water but saw no trace of him and so went back and followed John Horner. By that time John Horner was out of his site, but when he got to the gate and looked right up Wallness Road, he saw John Horner about three parts up towards The Crescent, which crossed the canal by the Windsor Bridge. He then followed John Horner, who turned left into The Cresent and kept him in sight the whole way the whole way up to near the Nurse's Home where he recognised two policemen in plain clothes. He then went up to them and told them that he had seen John Horner throw a boy into the canal and the police at once accosted John Horner and asked him if he had seen anything of a little boy dressed as the slinger described, but John Horner replied, 'No'. One of the policemen then said: xxxqxxx A man over there says you threw such a boy into the canal. xxxqxxx To which John Horner said nothing at all. However, the policemen, the slinger and John Horner then went back to Wallness Road and through the gate to the Windsor Bridge where the Slinger said: xxxqxxx I have seen this man throw a little boy in a blue or green jersey and light trousers into the canal here. xxxqxxx John Horner then said: xxxqxxx Nothing of the kind. xxxqxxx However, he then rushed forward to strike the slinger, but was taken away by the police to the police station. Grappling irons were then used to recover John Horner's body. When he was pulled out he had no trousers on and his combinations were found to be torn at the front. Medical evidence showed that sodomy had been committed on Norman Pinchin with great violence. It was found that the opening of the gut into the fundament had been forcibly stretched and that the lining of the membrane of the gut was torn. The doctor found no signs of drowning as the lungs were quite free from water. It was stated that the conditions pointed to death from shock caused by the forcible dilation of the anus, and that it was possible that Norman Pinchin had been dead before he was thrown into the water. Norman Pinchin's light sports trousers were also eventually recovered from the canal. At his trial, John Horner pleaded not guilty and his defence was an alibi. He said that on the afternoon he had arranged to meet a girl, employed as a wardmaid at Salford Hospital, at Old Trafford Station, at 3pm. However, he said that she didn't come and that he then went by car to Salford Hospital, by which time it was about 3.25pm, and thinking that he would call later, nearer her tea hour, which was 4pm to 4,30pm, he went down Oldfield Road, and towards the canal and that he then walked along it towards the Windsor Bridge where he met the slinger about 4 yards from the iron gate into the Wallness Road. However, it was stated that in view of the evidence given by the two boys, and the perfectly clear evidence of the slinger, that there was no doubt whatever that it had been John Horner who had outraged Norman Pinchin and thrown him into the canal. John Horner was convicted with no recommendation to mercy, and sentenced to death. He was executed at Manchester on 13 August 1924. The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal has since been filled in and the place where The Windsor Bridge had been is now where the junction of Crescent (A6) and University road is today.