Herbert John Bennett

Herbert John Bennett was convicted of the murder of his wife Mary Jane Bennett 24 and sentenced to death. He denied murdering her and at his trial there were several pieces of evidence that indicated that he might not have been the murderer but he was executed anyway. Mary Bennett was found dead on the beach at Great Yarmouth on 22 September 1900 having been strangled with a mohair lace tied around her throat. At first her identity was not known but she was identified as a woman who had checked into rooms at the Rows in Great Yarmouth on 15 September 1900 under a false name, Mrs Hood. But she was later traced to London through a letter and some of her laundry. When her identity was found out the police questioned her husband Herbert Bennett but he denied ever having been to Great Yarmouth. They were married on 22 July 1897. At the time Herbert Bennett was 17 and a petty thief and Mary Bennett was a music teacher. After Mary Bennett realised that Herbert Bennett was not what he claimed to be they separated. Before they separated though they went to Great Yarmouth together where they stayed at the Crown and Anchor Hotel. After they separated Herbert Bennett met another woman. The staff at the Crown and Anchor Hotel in Great Yarmouth said that on the night of the murder Herbert Bennett had been a guest at their hotel and had got in a few minutes before midnight hand had appeared breathless. When Herbert Bennett's rooms were searched they found a watch and chain that were identified as belonging to Mary Bennett. However, in court evidence was also given that Mary Bennett had two identical watches and chains and that the one that Herbert Bennett had might not have been the one that was missing from the body of Mary Bennett when it was found on the beach. Further, evidence was given that four days after the murder a man had gone into a news agents and asked for a newspaper that had a report about the murder in it and that the man had been wearing a pair of boots with only one lace in it which was a mohair lace similar to the one thought to have been used to strangle Mary Bennett. Also, a man later said that he had been with Herbert Bennett in Lee Green, South London on the night of the murder. Herbert Bennett was however convicted and executed. 11 years later another woman was strangled on the beach at Great Yarmouth with a mohair lace, however, her murder was never solved and the similarity cast suspicion on whether Herbert Bennett had actually murdered his wife, something that he had denied throughout. Bennett was a 17 year old petty thief who would turn his hand to anything as long as it made a little money. When he met Mary Jane Clark she was a music teacher 3 years older than him.. He married her on the 22 July 1897 at the West Ham register office and she soon slipped into his world of lies and deceit. In 1900 Bennett fell in love with a young parlourmaid and although he was married already he told her he would marry her. He arranged for his wife to visit Yarmouth where he joined her. On 23 September a woman's body was found on the beach, she had been strangled with a bootlace. Once the body had been identified Bennett fell under suspicion and was arrested and charged. The main evidence being a necklace she was wearing before the murder which was later found in Bennetts lodgings in London. He was tried in front of Judge Lord Alverstone who sentenced him to death. He was hung on 21 March 1901 in Norwich prison by James Billington. It had been a very simple case and this really should have been the end of it but eleven years later on 14 July 1912 another body was found on the beach. The victim was 18 year old Dora Gray. Her clothes were in disaray suggesting rape and she too had been strangled with a bootlace. Was this just a copy cat murder or was an innocent man hung, this case was never solved. Herbert John Bennett was defended by Edward Marshall Hall who is in the image below, you can read more about Marshall who defended quite a few villans here. Wikipedia says the following about the trial: In 1901 he unsuccessfully defended Herbert John Bennett in the Yarmouth Beach case . Bennett was charged with strangling his wife, Mary, in order to marry Alice Meadows. At a late stage in the trial Marshall Hall dramatically produced an alibi witness, Sholto Douglas, who testified that on the day of the murder he had met Bennett in Bexley, after the last train for Yarmouth had departed. Douglas was clearly a truthful witness but he had never met Bennett before the date of the murder and the prosecution easily convinced the jury that he had made an honest mistake ( which was also Marshall Hall's private opinion ).The defence was weakened by the absence of any other suspect or motive, and by the fact that Bennett was such an obvious liar that he could not be put into the witness box. Curiously enough Marshall Hall , despite the overwhelming evidence, was never sure of Bennett's guilt.