The Postcard Murder: A Judge's Tale

by Paul Worsley QC

It may be of some satisfaction to you, Gentlemen of the Jury, to know that you have been engaged in one of the most remarkable trials that is to be found in the annals of the Criminal Courts of England. Mr Justice Grantham, Judge at the Old Bailey

This is a vintage whodunit set in Edwardian London at a crossroads in time, as social revolution and psychiatry posed new questions for the Law and for the first time the Media were co-opted to run a killer to ground.

The year is 1907: 22-year-old Emily Dimmock lies murdered in her Camden Town flat, her head all but severed from her body. With not a thread or stain or fingerprint to point to the perpetrator, a young artist is manoeuvred into the shadow of the scaffold.

The tale is told verbatim by witnesses presided over by the author, who draws on his own experience as a Judge at the Old Bailey to get inside the mind of the outspoken but irresolute Mr Justice Grantham. The result is as compelling today as it is definitive of the era in which the murder was committed.

The book is illustrated with two maps and 27 photographs, 10 of which are in full colour.

280 pages, Paperback

Published November 14, 2019

Reviews

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow for the tour.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite usually lapping up courtroom dramas and crime novels, I struggled to finish this re-imagining of a famous 1907 case from the fictional perspective of the trial judge, written by another (now retired) Old Bailey judge. Emily Dimmock, a young prostitute was found murdered, with her head virtually severed from her body in her Camden Town flat. A postcard found at the crime scene points to a young commercial artist who had been seen drinking with Emily in local pubs, Robert Wood, whose 'girlfriend' identifies his handwriting. There is an alibi, some dodgy witnesses, a defendant who lies and, above all, the great Edward Marshall Hall defending. Wood escapes the gallows but did he do it? On one level, I can understand why Paul Worsley picked this case for his book - it is unusual in being a capital case where the accused was acquitted, largely on the judge's direction, it was sensational at the time and led to a famous painting by Sickert - and the narrative perspective has potential. But I found the linear narration, descending into minute detail of quite convoluted evidence from various seemingly irrelevant witnesses became quite tedious and slightly hard to follow. There has plainly been serious research of the transcripts but that seems to have led to quite lengthy reproduction of, in particular, Marshall Hall's questioning and speeches, which are histrionic by modern standards when delivered unmediated by judicious editing. Most interesting was the final chapter, delivered by the real-life judge, considering what would be different today: - most things, with the development of forensic science (the evidence of time of death was crucial to the acquittal and almost certainly wrong) and social media. Getting away with murder has become much more difficult.

[Jack Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely interesting and enjoyable read.