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| Murderer Gwen Massey. |
What lead to a seemingly ordinary woman to bludgeon another woman to death in a manic attack with a hammer?
Gwen Massey was a beautiful woman from Rudyard, she was a Sunday School teacher and had a passion for music. Singing at concerts and churches, even once winning the top prize at a music festival in Blackpool.
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| Police search for clues |
It was a partically cold winter, there had been keen frost overnight on Friday the 8th of February in 1963. A red mini estate with lights still on had been abandoned in front of Mow Cop Castle, High Street, Mow Cop. A few people had noticed the unfamiliar vehicle but thought it had maybe broken down. The following day Mr. Ruben, a curious bus driver decided to take a closer look. He rubbed the frost from the window and peered inside with his torch. To his horror, he had discovered the body of fifty two year old Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Walton slumped across the back seat of the car.
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| The abandoned car at Mow Cop |
Investigator soon uncovered a horrific crime of passion. Gwen Massey was previously having a secret love affair with Mary Waltons husband, Frank Walton, with whom she sang a duet in Congleton. This marked the start of the affair, which continued until Mrs. Walton found out in October in 1962, although at this point she did not know who the affair had been with.
I believe Gwen Massey was desperate to continue the love affair with Frank and believed the only person that stood in her way was Frank's wife, Mary.
Gwen Massey arranged a meeting with Mary Walton at the Plough pub in Endon, then tricked her into going back to her house in Rudyard. whilst there Gwen viciously attacked Mary with a brick hammer, striking her at least eight times in the head. She then bundled Mary's body into Mary's car and drove her up to Mow Cop, where she abandoned the car with Mary slumped across the back seat.
Gwen then walked the eleven miles back home through a blizzard and large snowdrifts in the freezing conditions in a pair of stilettos in order to evade capture. Witnesses had seen Gwen on her journey back home in the blizzard.
Only Gwen herself knows if murder was the intention when she arranged the meeting, or if it came about with a fit of anger.
The court case began on May 1963. On the 30th of May 1963 after just over an hour, the jury found Gwen Massey guilty of murder and she began her life sentence. She served only six years and was released after exemplary behavior at the age of forty on the 30th of May 1969.
After committing such a brutal murder, Gwen Massey was extremely fortunate to have such a short prison sentence.
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| Mary's abandoned car |
Gwen Massey arranged a meeting with Mary Walton at the Plough pub in Endon, then tricked her into going back to her house in Rudyard. whilst there Gwen viciously attacked Mary with a brick hammer, striking her at least eight times in the head. She then bundled Mary's body into Mary's car and drove her up to Mow Cop, where she abandoned the car with Mary slumped across the back seat.
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| The brick hammer used in the attack. |
Only Gwen herself knows if murder was the intention when she arranged the meeting, or if it came about with a fit of anger.
The court case began on May 1963. On the 30th of May 1963 after just over an hour, the jury found Gwen Massey guilty of murder and she began her life sentence. She served only six years and was released after exemplary behavior at the age of forty on the 30th of May 1969.
After committing such a brutal murder, Gwen Massey was extremely fortunate to have such a short prison sentence.
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