The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane - The Story of the Carr's Hill Murder

A Victorian Murder. A Victorian Madman. A Modern Judgement. Gateshead, April 1866 Five-year-old Sarah Melvin was walking along Split Crow Lane looking for her father when she disappeared. Later that night a couple walking home from the pub tripped over her body. Sarah was the child of Irish immigrants who had been drawn to the North-east in search of work. Poor, perceived with prejudice, they quickly came under suspicion of killing their own child. The true murderer was a misfit whose social awkwardness stopped him ever rising above apprentice. He would eventually make clear exactly why he killed Sarah - and the reason would scandalise the whole country, yet to him had a dreadful logic. Told here for the first time, this is an extraordinary story of sexual deviance and murder, offering a chance to reassess a most unexpected judgement with new insight. In lively, empathic prose, Jane Housham explores psychiatry, the justice system and the media in mid-Victorian England to reveal a surprisingly modern state of affairs.

Product details

• Authors: Jane Housham
• Publisher: Riverrun
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2017
• EAN: 9781786481580
• ISBN: 978-1-78648-158-0
• No. of pages: 368
• Dimensions: 157 mm x 241 mm x 32 mm
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Biographies, autobiographies; Geschichte, 19. Jahrhundert (1800 bis 1899 n. Chr.), HISTORY / Social History, HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century, TRUE CRIME / Murder / General, True Crime / Espionage