William Wardell – “The Hymen House” murder.


William Wardell – “The Hymen House” murder.

47 year old William Horsely Wardell, alias Mr. Goodson, was convicted of battering to death 60 year old widow, Elizabeth Reaney, at her home at 23 Sunderland Road in the Manningham district of Bradford on the night of Friday, the 22nd/Saturday the 23rd of February 1924.  Elizabeth had agreed to sell her house and move out on Saturday the 23rd of February 1924.

  She planned to move to a new home, “Hymen House” in Buxton in Derbyshire for which she had drawn out £500 in cash and had also hinted that she was going to get married.  Whether this was to “Mr. Goodson” is unclear, but it probably was.  She had arranged for the removal company to come on the Saturday.  Just after 10 p.m. on the Friday night she was seen standing on her doorstep, looking out for someone.

When the removal men arrived the following morning, they discovered her body.  She had been battered to death with four heavy blows with a hammer.  
Strangely the Derbyshire police could find no trace of a “Hymen House”.

Police made a search of Elizabeth’s house and discovered some of the money she had drawn from the bank.  They also found four letters from a Mr. Goodson, all with a Leeds postmark.  These were followed up and the name and address found to be false.  Further enquiries led to Wardell.  Wardell was spotted and questioned by PC Haigh, loitering near to Sunderland Road on Sunday night the 24th of February.
On the 27th of February he was drinking in the Peel Hotel and had asked the landlord, Benjamin Pickles, to change a £5 note for him.  Mr. Pickles noticed that Wardell had a number of £1 notes in his wallet and asked him why he needed change.  Wardell left at 10.15 pm. on the Friday evening with Leonard Heseltine, who accompanied him to the police station in the Town Hall, after the description of the wanted man had been published. 
Investigators found bank notes from the same batch as Elizabeth’s, together with a notebook containing the entry “Goodson Leeds”.  His handwriting also matched those of some letters that Elizabeth had received.  Other items from Mrs. Reaney’s were found in his possession.

He was tried at Leeds on the 8th to the 10th of May 1924, before Mr. Justice Avory.  He was convicted despite the lack of forensic evidence.  The appeal was heard before the Lord Chief Justice and Justices Roche and Swift and dismissed on the 2nd of June 1924.

Wardell was hanged at Armley Prison at 9.00 a.m. on Wednesday the 18th of June 1924 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by William Willis.  The LPC4 form records that Wardell weighed 157.5 lbs. and was given a drop of 7’ 0”, resulting in “Dislocation of vertebrae” but “No destruction of soft parts” (of the neck). The Yorkshire Evening Post recorded that the execution took 50 seconds. Wardell maintained his innocence to the end. 

The inquest was held before the Leeds Deputy Coroner, Mr. J. B. Clarke.  Captain James Browne, the Deputy Governor gave evidence of identification and the prison doctor, Dr. R. Worsley, testified that death had been caused by fracture/dislocation of the cervical vertebrae.

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