August Sangret
Encyclopedia
August Sangret was a French-Canadian
soldier of First Nations
birth, convicted of murdering Joan Wolfe in Surrey
, England and hanged. This murder case is also known as the Wigwam Murder.
Joan Wolfe lived with her mother in the market town of Tonbridge
. They lived modestly in a council house
in Lodge Oak Lane. In 1938, aged sixteen, Joan had become engaged to a young man from nearby Tunbridge Wells. Her mother had lectured her sternly about staying out late, but the two did not quarrel angrily. Wolfe's engagement evidently broke down and she began going out with soldiers; although little is known of Wolfe's relationship with her mother, it seems that she was a caring woman driven to her wit's end by he daughter's behaviour and their relationship deteriorated. Wolfe first left home before she was seventeen years old.
Wolfe was young, naïve, muddle headed and prone to flights of fancy. She was brought up as a Catholic and attended a convent school, she was outwardly pious and regularly wore a conspicuous crucifix about her neck, but she apparently lacked any real religious commitment. Having left home, she headed to Aldershot
, the home of the British Army
and her behaviour became increasingly promiscuous. Wolfe made her way to Godalming
, looking for work.
The police intervened on several occasions; Wolfe was repeatedly questioned because she was still a minor. Despite her repeated claims that the police never did anything to help her, she was offered various forms of assistance with varying levels of compulsion. She returned home more than once; always, she drifted back.
Wolfe became engaged to a Canadian soldier: Francis Hearn. Hearn returned to Canada promising to marry her; she wore a ring that he had given her and she sometimes referred to herself as his wife.
On 17 July 1942, the day after Hearn left for Canada, Wolfe met Sangret for the first time in a pub
in Godalming. They talked and walked through a local park. They had sex that night and parted company having arranged to meet again. As very often happened, Wolfe did not keep her next date, but Sangret met her again by chance a few days later when she seemed to be on a date with another soldier named Hartnell. The three conversed for some time and then Hartnell left. Sangret and Wolfe met regularly, if unreliably, after that.
On 23 July, Wolfe found herself in hospital. She wrote to Sangret:
Wolfe was not ill; she was, apparently, pregnant.
("burnt wood"), part French Canadian
and part Cree
. Little is known of Sanget's early life, but his family was poor and Sangret received little education – he was illiterate, but intelligent. As well as English, he spoke the Cree language
and learned some of the traditional skills of his ancestors, including the construction of sturdy shelters or wigwam
s made from long poles covered by sheets of birch bark; the tools for this task include a small crooked knife that is unique to the Cree.
He was unable to find work in the 1930s, but from 1935 to 1939 he served in the Battleford Light Infantry, a militia regiment which trained for two weeks each year. On 19 June 1940, Sangret enlisted as a full-time soldier in The Regina Rifle Regiment. He had a criminal record, including six months in gaol for a violent assault in 1932. He was not a model soldier; he was repeatedly punished for minor infractions of military discipline and had repeated spells on the sick list and he was at least twice treated for venereal disease requiring five admissions to hospital. He arrived in Britain on 24 March 1940 and was initially stationed in Fleet in Hampshire
. He was then sent to Aldershot
and in July he was posted to a newly formed Educational Company which ran a course for men lacking elementary education. It was at this time that Sangret met Joan Wolfe.
When Wolfe was released from hospital, the couple spent a great deal of time together. Sangret made a shack or wigwam in woodland behind the officers' lines. Here Wolfe would stay most of the time and Sangret would visit whenever he could, including many nights when he should have been in camp. The couple talked about their future plans, including marriage. When they could not meet, Wolfe sent letters to Sangret that would be read out by Sergeant Hicks. Wolfe got work, but she was unreliable and her various employments only lasted a few days. Wolfe drifted away for a few days to London and soon after she returned she was again picked up by the police and spent a few more days in hospital — not because she was ill, but simply so that she would be looked after.
When Wolfe returned, the couple were discovered in a wigwam by Private Donald Brett, a soldier attached to the military police. Brett told them to disassemble the wigwam and move away. Wolfe was once again taken to a hospital by the police. By the time she returned, Sangret had built a second wigwam made waterproof with his rain cape and gas cape. When Wolfe returned, the couple walked into town to try to find a room in town without success. That evening, Wolfe was detained by the military police who questioned her; she was sent to a hospital again and Sangret was arrested for "keeping a girl in camp".
The couple had to explain themselves to the authorities, they explained that their plans included getting married and they were treated sympathetically. On leaving hospital, Wolfe again returned to Sangret. They tried again to find a room in town, but ended up sleeping together in an unlocked cricket pavilion. Over the next two weeks, they spent a number of nights at the old pavilion and then, on 14 September, Wolfe disappeared. The affair between Sangret and Wolfe had lasted 81 days.
was then an army training ground regularly used for military exercises. On 7 October 1942, Royal Marine William Moore was patrolling the area on a routine march when in one of the many tank tracks that criss-crossed the area he saw what looked like a human hand protruding from a mound of earth. As he looked closer, he saw that two of the fingers and the thumb had been gnawed away by rats and nearby a foot also protruded from the earth; Moore realised he had found a human body.
Moore did not interfere with the body, but immediately reported his find to his sergeant who passed the information to Lieutenant Norman McLeod who called the police. By evening, a full scale police investigation was underway. Among the investigators was pathologist Eric Gardner, followed by Inspector Edward Greeno of Scotland Yard
with forensic pathologist
Cedrick Keith Simpson
and his secretary Molly Lefebure
.
The body was that of a female placed face down in a shallow grave which had then been disturbed by a passing vehicle, probably a half-track
. The exhumation began the next day. There was a strong smell of putrefaction, and flies and maggots were everywhere. The body was badly decomposed and the head practically fell apart. Among the decomposing remains were clothes. The body was removed and taken to Guy's Hospital
.
Simpson examined the body. Based on the hydrolysation of body fats saponification
and taking into account the extra heat that would be generated by the maggot
s, Simpson estimated that the victim had died in mid-September. Simpson carefully reconstructed the skull by wiring together all the fragments that could be found, clearly revealing a large impact site. Simpson concluded that the victim died as a result of a single heavy blow to the head while the victim was already lying face down. The blow which caved in the skull and simultaneously broke the jaw and dislodged teeth. The murder weapon was a pole or bough. Simpson found knife wounds on the body, inflicted before the victim had died. The wounds on the arms, particularly the right arm, suggested a struggle in which the victim fended off stabs to the face; the cuts were unusual in that tissue had been pulled out of the lesions. There were knife wounds in the head too; one of the wounds in the reconstructed skull was particularly unusual, it was a round countersunk
hole. Simpson concluded that the knife had a blade resembling a parrot's beak.
The police quickly realised that the body and clothes matched the description of the missing Joan Wolfe. A search of the area where she was found was carried out by sixty police constables. Finds included a missing shoe, a tuft of hair, a fragment of skull, and a tooth. Later, Wolfe's bag was found with personal effects and identity papers; and a bloody bough was found that was certainly the murder weapon. A letter was found, written by the victim to August Sangret, informing him that she was pregnant. On Sangret's clothes were found bloodstains, and his army knife was found soon after in a drainpipe.
Sangret was taken to Godalming police station and interviewed at length by Inspector Greeno. The questioning went on for days and Sangret's statement, which was then the longest statement ever made, took a policeman five days to write out in longhand. After making the statement, Sangret was released as he had not incriminated himself: shortly afterwards the knife was found, and Sangret was arrested charged with Wolfe's murder.
The judge finished his summary with the words:
The jury, who took two hours to reach their verdict, made a strong recommendation to mercy. Before sentence of death was passed, Sangret declared, "I am not guilty. I never killed that girl."
Sanget's appeal was heard on 13 April. The appeal was dismissed and the jury's appeal for mercy was not a matter for the courts, but for the Home Secretary
. Then Home Secretary Herbert Morrison
found the jury's recommendation surprising, even inexplicable. Seeing no good reason to interfere, he let the law take its course. Sangret was held in the condemned cell
at Wandsworth Prison
where he was hanged on 29 April 1943.
In his memoirs, published in 1960, Edward Greeno made his opinion quite clear:
Private August Sangret, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps, is commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial. His entry can be found on Panel 23, Column 3. Other executed criminals present on the Brookwood Memorial are Ernest James Kemp and Theodore Schurch
.
. Firstly as "The Case of the Hunted Hunter" in the series Secrets of Scotland Yard in approximately 1949, then on the series The Black Museum
in 1952 under the title of "The Brass Button". The case was featured in the Discovery Channel television series Crime Museum UK in the episode "Strange Weapons".
The case is the subject of non-fiction book The Wigwam Murder by M. J. Trow
.
French Canada
French Canada, also known as "Lower Canada", is a term to distinguish the French Canadian population of Canada from English Canada.-Definition:...
soldier of First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
birth, convicted of murdering Joan Wolfe in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England and hanged. This murder case is also known as the Wigwam Murder.
Joan Wolfe
Joan Pearl Wolfe was born 11 March 1923. Wolfe's mother, Edith Mary Watts had married a Mr Wolfe, who suffered from an illness believed by his neighbours to be a form of sleeping sickness. He ended his life by gassing himself. Wolfe's mother married twice more; Joan had a sister and a half-sister.Joan Wolfe lived with her mother in the market town of Tonbridge
Tonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
. They lived modestly in a council house
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
in Lodge Oak Lane. In 1938, aged sixteen, Joan had become engaged to a young man from nearby Tunbridge Wells. Her mother had lectured her sternly about staying out late, but the two did not quarrel angrily. Wolfe's engagement evidently broke down and she began going out with soldiers; although little is known of Wolfe's relationship with her mother, it seems that she was a caring woman driven to her wit's end by he daughter's behaviour and their relationship deteriorated. Wolfe first left home before she was seventeen years old.
Wolfe was young, naïve, muddle headed and prone to flights of fancy. She was brought up as a Catholic and attended a convent school, she was outwardly pious and regularly wore a conspicuous crucifix about her neck, but she apparently lacked any real religious commitment. Having left home, she headed to Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
, the home of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and her behaviour became increasingly promiscuous. Wolfe made her way to Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
, looking for work.
The police intervened on several occasions; Wolfe was repeatedly questioned because she was still a minor. Despite her repeated claims that the police never did anything to help her, she was offered various forms of assistance with varying levels of compulsion. She returned home more than once; always, she drifted back.
Wolfe became engaged to a Canadian soldier: Francis Hearn. Hearn returned to Canada promising to marry her; she wore a ring that he had given her and she sometimes referred to herself as his wife.
On 17 July 1942, the day after Hearn left for Canada, Wolfe met Sangret for the first time in a pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in Godalming. They talked and walked through a local park. They had sex that night and parted company having arranged to meet again. As very often happened, Wolfe did not keep her next date, but Sangret met her again by chance a few days later when she seemed to be on a date with another soldier named Hartnell. The three conversed for some time and then Hartnell left. Sangret and Wolfe met regularly, if unreliably, after that.
On 23 July, Wolfe found herself in hospital. She wrote to Sangret:
Wolfe was not ill; she was, apparently, pregnant.
August Sangret
Sangret was born on 28 August 1913 in Battleford, Saskatchewan. He was of mixed race, called in French Bois-BrûlésBois-Brûlés
Bois-Brûlés , or Brullis , is a sub-tribe of North American Dakota Indians . The name is most frequently associated with the Dakota in Manitoba near the Red River of the North.The Bois-Brûlés took part in the Battle of Seven Oaks...
("burnt wood"), part French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
and part Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
. Little is known of Sanget's early life, but his family was poor and Sangret received little education – he was illiterate, but intelligent. As well as English, he spoke the Cree language
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
and learned some of the traditional skills of his ancestors, including the construction of sturdy shelters or wigwam
Wigwam
A wigwam or wickiup is a domed room dwelling used by certain Native American tribes. The term wickiup is generally used to label these kinds of dwellings in American Southwest and West. Wigwam is usually applied to these structures in the American Northeast...
s made from long poles covered by sheets of birch bark; the tools for this task include a small crooked knife that is unique to the Cree.
He was unable to find work in the 1930s, but from 1935 to 1939 he served in the Battleford Light Infantry, a militia regiment which trained for two weeks each year. On 19 June 1940, Sangret enlisted as a full-time soldier in The Regina Rifle Regiment. He had a criminal record, including six months in gaol for a violent assault in 1932. He was not a model soldier; he was repeatedly punished for minor infractions of military discipline and had repeated spells on the sick list and he was at least twice treated for venereal disease requiring five admissions to hospital. He arrived in Britain on 24 March 1940 and was initially stationed in Fleet in Hampshire
Fleet, Hampshire
Fleet is a town and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England, located 37 miles south west of London. It is part of Hart District. The 2007 population forecast for Fleet was 31,687.-History:...
. He was then sent to Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
and in July he was posted to a newly formed Educational Company which ran a course for men lacking elementary education. It was at this time that Sangret met Joan Wolfe.
When Wolfe was released from hospital, the couple spent a great deal of time together. Sangret made a shack or wigwam in woodland behind the officers' lines. Here Wolfe would stay most of the time and Sangret would visit whenever he could, including many nights when he should have been in camp. The couple talked about their future plans, including marriage. When they could not meet, Wolfe sent letters to Sangret that would be read out by Sergeant Hicks. Wolfe got work, but she was unreliable and her various employments only lasted a few days. Wolfe drifted away for a few days to London and soon after she returned she was again picked up by the police and spent a few more days in hospital — not because she was ill, but simply so that she would be looked after.
When Wolfe returned, the couple were discovered in a wigwam by Private Donald Brett, a soldier attached to the military police. Brett told them to disassemble the wigwam and move away. Wolfe was once again taken to a hospital by the police. By the time she returned, Sangret had built a second wigwam made waterproof with his rain cape and gas cape. When Wolfe returned, the couple walked into town to try to find a room in town without success. That evening, Wolfe was detained by the military police who questioned her; she was sent to a hospital again and Sangret was arrested for "keeping a girl in camp".
The couple had to explain themselves to the authorities, they explained that their plans included getting married and they were treated sympathetically. On leaving hospital, Wolfe again returned to Sangret. They tried again to find a room in town, but ended up sleeping together in an unlocked cricket pavilion. Over the next two weeks, they spent a number of nights at the old pavilion and then, on 14 September, Wolfe disappeared. The affair between Sangret and Wolfe had lasted 81 days.
Discovery, evidence and arrest
Hankley CommonHankley Common
Hankley Common is a common near Elstead, Surrey, England. It is an area of heathland with sandy infertile soil. The dry areas are covered in common heather and bell heather with patches of bracken Hankley Common is a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest .-Atlantic Wall...
was then an army training ground regularly used for military exercises. On 7 October 1942, Royal Marine William Moore was patrolling the area on a routine march when in one of the many tank tracks that criss-crossed the area he saw what looked like a human hand protruding from a mound of earth. As he looked closer, he saw that two of the fingers and the thumb had been gnawed away by rats and nearby a foot also protruded from the earth; Moore realised he had found a human body.
Moore did not interfere with the body, but immediately reported his find to his sergeant who passed the information to Lieutenant Norman McLeod who called the police. By evening, a full scale police investigation was underway. Among the investigators was pathologist Eric Gardner, followed by Inspector Edward Greeno of Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
with forensic pathologist
Forensic pathology
Forensic pathology is a branch of pathology concerned with determining the cause of death by examination of a corpse. The autopsy is performed by the pathologist at the request of a coroner or medical examiner usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some...
Cedrick Keith Simpson
Keith Simpson (professor)
Cedric Keith Simpson, CBE, FRCP was an eminent English pathologist. He was Professor of Forensic Medicine in the University of London at Guy's Hospital, and Lecturer in Forensic Medicine at the University of Oxford.-Career:...
and his secretary Molly Lefebure
Molly Lefebure
Molly Lefebure is a British writer who has an interest in the English Lake District and the Lake Poets.-Biography:Molly Lefebure was born in London, the daughter of Charles Hector Lefebure and Elizabeth Cox, and was educated at the North London Collegiate School. She went on to study at King's...
.
The body was that of a female placed face down in a shallow grave which had then been disturbed by a passing vehicle, probably a half-track
Half-track
A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cross-country capabilities of a tank and the handling...
. The exhumation began the next day. There was a strong smell of putrefaction, and flies and maggots were everywhere. The body was badly decomposed and the head practically fell apart. Among the decomposing remains were clothes. The body was removed and taken to Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
.
Simpson examined the body. Based on the hydrolysation of body fats saponification
Saponification
Saponification is a process that produces soap, usually from fats and lye. In technical terms, saponification involves base hydrolysis of triglycerides, which are esters of fatty acids, to form the sodium salt of a carboxylate. In addition to soap, such traditional saponification processes...
and taking into account the extra heat that would be generated by the maggot
Maggot
In everyday speech the word maggot means the larva of a fly ; it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachyceran flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and Crane flies...
s, Simpson estimated that the victim had died in mid-September. Simpson carefully reconstructed the skull by wiring together all the fragments that could be found, clearly revealing a large impact site. Simpson concluded that the victim died as a result of a single heavy blow to the head while the victim was already lying face down. The blow which caved in the skull and simultaneously broke the jaw and dislodged teeth. The murder weapon was a pole or bough. Simpson found knife wounds on the body, inflicted before the victim had died. The wounds on the arms, particularly the right arm, suggested a struggle in which the victim fended off stabs to the face; the cuts were unusual in that tissue had been pulled out of the lesions. There were knife wounds in the head too; one of the wounds in the reconstructed skull was particularly unusual, it was a round countersunk
Countersink
A countersink is a conical hole cut into a manufactured object, or the cutter used to cut such a hole. A common usage is to allow the head of a countersunk bolt or screw, when placed in the hole, to sit flush with or below the surface of the surrounding material...
hole. Simpson concluded that the knife had a blade resembling a parrot's beak.
The police quickly realised that the body and clothes matched the description of the missing Joan Wolfe. A search of the area where she was found was carried out by sixty police constables. Finds included a missing shoe, a tuft of hair, a fragment of skull, and a tooth. Later, Wolfe's bag was found with personal effects and identity papers; and a bloody bough was found that was certainly the murder weapon. A letter was found, written by the victim to August Sangret, informing him that she was pregnant. On Sangret's clothes were found bloodstains, and his army knife was found soon after in a drainpipe.
Sangret was taken to Godalming police station and interviewed at length by Inspector Greeno. The questioning went on for days and Sangret's statement, which was then the longest statement ever made, took a policeman five days to write out in longhand. After making the statement, Sangret was released as he had not incriminated himself: shortly afterwards the knife was found, and Sangret was arrested charged with Wolfe's murder.
Trial and punishment
Preliminary hearings were held at Guildford on 12, 13, 19 and 20 January 1943. With the committal proceedings complete, Captain Creasey noted in his diary that the case was "medium strong, circumstantial case only."The judge finished his summary with the words:
The jury, who took two hours to reach their verdict, made a strong recommendation to mercy. Before sentence of death was passed, Sangret declared, "I am not guilty. I never killed that girl."
Sanget's appeal was heard on 13 April. The appeal was dismissed and the jury's appeal for mercy was not a matter for the courts, but for the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
. Then Home Secretary Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...
found the jury's recommendation surprising, even inexplicable. Seeing no good reason to interfere, he let the law take its course. Sangret was held in the condemned cell
Prison cell
A prison cell or holding cell or lock-up is a small room in a prison, or police station where a prisoner is held.Prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in size with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors...
at Wandsworth Prison
Wandsworth (HM Prison)
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south west London, England. It is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service and is the largest prison in London and one of the largest in western Europe, with similar capacity to Liverpool...
where he was hanged on 29 April 1943.
In his memoirs, published in 1960, Edward Greeno made his opinion quite clear:
Private August Sangret, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps, is commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial. His entry can be found on Panel 23, Column 3. Other executed criminals present on the Brookwood Memorial are Ernest James Kemp and Theodore Schurch
Theodore Schurch
Theodore William John Schurch was an Anglo-Swiss soldier who was executed for treachery following the end of the Second World War. He was the last person to be executed in Britain for an offence other than murder.-Early life:...
.
Media portrayal
The Sangret case was dramatised twice by Harry Alan TowersHarry Alan Towers
Harry Alan Towers was a British-born radio and film producer and screenwriter, regularly using the pseudonym Peter Welbeck. He produced over a hundred feature films and continued to write and produce well into his eighties...
. Firstly as "The Case of the Hunted Hunter" in the series Secrets of Scotland Yard in approximately 1949, then on the series The Black Museum
The Black Museum
The Black Museum was a 1951 radio crime drama program independently produced by Harry Alan Towers and based on real-life cases from the files of Scotland Yard's Black Museum. Ira Marion was the scriptwriter, and music for the series was composed and conducted by Sidney Torch...
in 1952 under the title of "The Brass Button". The case was featured in the Discovery Channel television series Crime Museum UK in the episode "Strange Weapons".
The case is the subject of non-fiction book The Wigwam Murder by M. J. Trow
M. J. Trow
Meirion James Trow is a writer who writes under the name M. J. Trow.-Biography:Trow was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales. He went to Warwick School from 1961 to 1968. In 1968 he went to King's College, London, to read history. After graduation he spent a year at Jesus College, Cambridge...
.
External links
- The Wigwam Murder from The Malefactor's Register
- Murder Charge — Wigwam Girl Case. The Manchester Guardian 14 January 1943 p2