Jack Samuel Puttnam - “auntycide”.

 




Jack Samuel Puttnam - “auntycide”.

31 year old Puttnam, a boot repairer, was executed at Pentonville prison at 9.00 a.m. on Thursday the 8th of June 1933 by Robert Baxter and Stanley Cross.

He had been convicted of stabbing and strangling his aunt, 44 year old Elizabeth Standley at her home at 13 Blackstock Road in Finsbury Park, London, on Saturday the 4th of March 1933.

Elizabeth Kerswell lived on the ground floor of 13 Blackstock Road and heard the front door bell ring at around 9.30 that Saturday morning.  She heard Elizabeth say “Are you coming up for a few minutes, Jack?  Elizabeth did not hear a struggle or screams.

Elizabeth’s body was discovered at lunchtime.  She had been stabbed with a meat skewer and strangled with the electrical flex of a radio and had been pushed under her bed. Her clothing was in disarray, presumably to make the police think that the motive was sexual. A search of her handbag revealed that there was some £150 missing, which was thought that Elizabeth kept there.

Puttnam owed his aunt some £35, quite a lot of money then.  He was interviewed by the police but denied having seen his aunt for some weeks.  This was shown to be false as he had visited the previous day.  He was finally arrested on the 24th of March after police were alerted by Louis Zachis, a bus conductor who had seen Puttnam run from outside his aunt’s house on the day in question and board his bus.

 Puttnam was taken to Highbury Vale police station where Mr. Zachis was able to pick him out in an identity parade.  Puttnam made a statement in which he said that he and Elizabeth had argued over the outstanding loan and that she had accused him of being involved in an affair with his brother’s wife.  She had pushed him and he responded by hitting her, than stabbing her before strangling her.  Blood stains were found on his clothes and some items belonging to his aunt found in his room.

Puttnam was tried before Mr. Justice Hawkes at the Old Bailey on the 1st to the 3rd of May 1933.

He withdrew his confession and pleaded not guilty, insisting that he had not been to his aunt’s house on that Saturday.  Mr. Zachis was again able to positively identify Puttnam and the jury preferred to believe the original statement.  

They needed just 35 minutes to reach their verdict. Puttnam’s father admitted that he had provided a false alibi to the police for his son.  The appeal was dismissed on the 26th of May.

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