John Charles Parr

John Parr was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend Sarah Willett 19 and sentenced to death.

He shot her outside Bethnal Green Road police station, London on 27 August 1900.

They had been engaged to marry but when Sarah Willett discovered that John Parr had been in prison and had lied about having a job as a French polisher she ended their relationship.

A couple of days before the murder John Parr had been in a pub with some women when he pulled out a revolver and told them that he was going to shoot Sarah Willett and then himself and to prove it he fired a shot outside and shouted, 'Instead of hearing of a marriage, you'll hear of a burial.'

On 27 August 1900 Sarah Willett went to the Forester's Music Hall in the West End, but John Parr  turned up as well. He asked Sarah Willett to buy him a drink but when she refused he picked up her glass and drank it. When it became clear that John Parr was looking for trouble Sarah Willett and her friends left but John Parr followed them.

As they were walking down Bethnal Green Road he stopped them and asked Sarah Willett  to take him back but she refused, saying, 'I don't want you. All I want is an honest, hardworking fellow, not one who robs others'. She then threatened to walk into the police station that they were opposite and John Parr told her to do so. However, as she turned to go he shot her in the head.

When the police came out he still had the gun in his hand and he shouted, 'I have done it. I have done it'.

Sarah Willett had been a fur-sewer and had lived at 3 Sidney Street, Green Road.

John Parr had lived at 10 Busk Street, hackney Road.

They had previously been engaged to marry but Sarah Willett had broken off the engagement about nine weeks earlier because she didn't like his character after hearing that he had been in prison for six months. It was also noted that he had not been in regular employment. They had been keeping company for about twelve months up until the time that they broke up.

Her father said that he last saw Sarah Willett at 8.55pm just before she left with a friend.

The friend had been a bottle labeller. She said that she had joined Sarah Willett on the Monday, 27 August 1900 at the Forester's Music Hall at about 9.15pm, noting that she was sober.

She said that they had been together for about ten minutes when John Parr, who she knew as Jack, came in and spoke to Sarah Willett.

She said that they then went to the bar and John Parr followed and asked Sarah Willett to buy him a drink, however, she refused. She said that he then took up her glass of stout and drank it.

She said that she and Sarah Willett then left the music hall and that John Parr followed. She said that they went down Cambridge Road and then turned into Bethnal Green Road, heading towards the police station, with John Parr walking beside them. She said that Sarah Willett then stopped and asked what he intended to do, to which she said he replied, 'I want you, and no one else. You have got to have me'.

She said that Sarah Willett then replied, 'All that I want is an honest hard working fellow, not one who robs others'.

She said that Sarah Willett then turned as if to go up the station steps and that John Parr then pulled out a weapon and fired one shot from it at Sarah Willett, that struck her on the side of the head.

She said that Sarah Willett gave a scream and then fell and never spoke again.

She said that John Parr then ran to the station steps and into a police officer’s arms.

Sarah Willett's friend said that she saw the flash of the shot and that the weapon had been fired close to her. She said that she had not previously seen the weapon and thought that he had taken it out from his right hand trouser pocket. She said that she had not heard John Parr threaten Sarah Willett before but noted that she had heard that he had, as two girls had told her so.

A police sergeant said that he had been on duty in Bethnal Green Police Station when  he heard the report of a fire arm and rushed outside and met John Parr coming up the steps, and said that he said to him, 'I have done it, I have done it'. He said that he then caught hold of him and took the revolver from him and then took him into the inspectors office and handed the revolver to the inspector.

He said that immediately after Sarah Willett was brought into the police station but she died a few moments later.

When a doctor examined Sarah Willett's body he said that he found that she was recently dead and that she had a wound to her right temple from which protruded some brain matter, noting that the hair around the wound was singed and that the skin around the wound was blackened. It was noted that there were no other marks of injury.

After conducting a post mortem he gave her cause of death as being due to shock due to a bullet wound to her brain.

At the trial the defence stated that John Parr had previously seemed strange in the head and that there had been insanity in his family.

It was also claimed that no one saw him point the gun at Sarah Willett, and that it might very well have gone off accidently.

John Parr's antecedent were:

• Born 1 February 1881.
• 25 March 1889: Admitted to the Mansford Street Board School from the infant school.
• 1 December 1890: Absented himself from Mansford Street Board School.
• 12 February 1894: Admitted to Mansford Street Board School again.
• 22 March 1894: Discharged from Mansford Street Board School having passed the 4th standard and receiving his labour certificate. (it was noted that his attendance was irregular between 1889 and 1890 but that there was nothing to show that he was in any way mentally deficient).
• December 1890: Was admitted to the Parochial School, (commonly known as the Green Coat School), in Church Row, Bethnal Green).
• November 1893: He was before the board of managers for bad behaviour and irregular attendance and reprimanded, but there was no improvement in his behaviour.
• February 1894: He was dismissed from the Parochial School.
• 6 April 1894: Employed by Messrs Truman Hanbury & Co Brewers in the bottling department.
• 9 August 1895: He was discharged, his conduct being such that they could not keep him among the other boys.
• 2 to 27 September 1895: He was employed by a builder of 11 Finsbury Street, Finsbury.
• 10 October 1895: He was fined 5/- at Worship Street Police Court for discharging fireworks in the street.
• 7 November 1896: He was sentenced to 14 days hard labour for being a suspected person attempting to pick pockets.
• 14 January 1897 to 19 March 1897: He was employed by Messrs HW Caslon and Co Typefounders at Chiswell Street in Finsbury.
• 25 October 1898: He was sentenced at Tonbridge in Kent to six months hard labour.
• 13 May 1899: Employed as truck lad by a French polisher at Market Street in Finsbury.
• 22 July 1899: He was dismissed from the French polishers'.

It was noted that on Saturday 25 August 1900 that John Parr's mother had gone to see Sarah Willett's mother at her house looking for her son. She waited for some time to see if he turned up and then went away looking for him. Sarah Willett's mother said that as John Parr's mother was walking away that she said to her, 'What a shocking thing if my daughter was killed and your son was hung', to which John Parr's mother replied, 'Oh, don't say that, don't say that'. Sarah Willett's mother said that they were both crying and that she didn't know what made her say it.

John Parr was convicted at the Old Bailey on 14 September 1900 with a strong recommendation to mercy on account of his youth.

Following his conviction, whilst in Newgate under sentence of death,  John Parr later stated in a letter that he had in fact been on good terms with Sarah Willett on the night before the murder and that he had been walking with Sarah Willett and her friend that night and that he told her that she would not be seeing him anymore and that when she asked why he told her that he was going to do for himself and then pulled out the revolver. He said that she then grabbed hold of him and told her not to be a fool and kissed him and that he then put the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger, but it wouldn't work.

He also said that he had no memory of shooting Sarah Willett on the 27 August 1900.

The police report to the Home Secretary however stated that there was little to justify any action on the ground of unsound mind. The report noted that regardless of any other circumstances, it was clear that the murder was a deliberate one and that on the whole there seemed not to be sufficient grounds for interference and John Parr was executed on 2 October 1900 at Newgate by James Billington.

The police station had been at the corner of Ainsley Street and Bethnal Green Road. Although the building still exists, it is no longer used as a police station.