Walter Horsford - “The St. Neots poisoning case”.
Walter Horsford - “The St. Neots poisoning case”. On Wednesday the 1st of June 1898, 26 year old farmer, Walter Horsford, stood trial before Mr. Justice Hawkins at Huntingdon Assizes, charged with the murder by poisoning of his cousin, Mrs. Annie Holmes. He pleaded not guilty, the proceedings lasting six days The prosecution, led by Mr. Rawlinson, Q.C., stated that Annie lived at Stoneleigh near Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire. She was a widow and had three children, the youngest still a baby. It was alleged that Horsford had been “intimate” with Annie. In October of 1897, Horsford had married a woman named Bessie. At the end of that month Annie moved to a cottage on East Street in St. Neots. By December Annie told Horsford that she was pregnant by him. He wrote her a letter which said, “Dear Annie, Will come over on Friday to see if we can come to an arrangement of some sort or other, but you must remember that I paid you for what I had done....