All That Glitters: A Maggie Power Adventure (Maggie Power #2) *Unedited version*

Document Insert 2 - Newspaper Clippings From The Margaret Power Archive

Newspaper Clippings From The Margaret Power Archive

The London Chronicle, 18th October 1842

Dramatic Ending To ‘Blood Countess’ Murder Trial

Trial ends before details of crimes or indeed evidence is presented to the court.

What had been billed as the trial of the decade came to an abrupt and extraordinary conclusion yesterday morning at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey. The so-called ‘Bloody Countess’ murders, in which up to ten children are thought to have been killed in a brutal and ritualistic manner – with a number of others still unaccounted for – resolved itself in a most dramatic fashion.

On the opening day of the trial, before any witness had been brought to give evidence to the court, two of the four accused said they wished to alter their pleas from not guilty to guilty. As a result, two defendants were duly pronounced guilty of the murders, while the two other accused were released and assured of their complete innocence by the judge.

The morning’s proceedings began with a great buzz of expectation and the court room was full to bursting a full hour before the trial was due to commence. The public had turned out in great numbers to sneak a glimpse of the woman vilified variously as a witch, a vampire, and as a being in thrall to a bloody ancestor – the infamous Countess Bathroy.

However, before the trial had even begun, it was clear to this correspondent that the frail and fragile woman helped into the dock by two sturdy turnkeys, had been most ashamedly and wrongly defamed in the run up to this trial. The other would-be innocent man, Mr Thomas Henry Whitmore, held himself with a silent dignity during the brief proceedings, and avoided eye contact with the two subordinate men, who would later be found guilty of these dreadful crimes.

As the judge began the morning’s proceeding, the counsel for Countess Jouvente and her adopted son, Mr Whitmore, approached the bench and engaged the judge in a long conversation. Within fifteen minutes or so, it became clear that something extraordinary was afoot.

The judge then spoke directly to all four defendants in the dock. “It has come to my attention that two of you are now ready to confess your guilt to all the crimes you have been charged with. Namely, the murder of ten innocent children at the Countess Jouvente’s estate and the murder of Mr William Turner at Fetter Lane earlier this spring. Is this indeed true?” Both Beagle and Sexton, the co-accused, merely nodded in response but the judge said that he needed to hear their full confessions in front the jury.

There followed a great and lengthy narrative of the despicable crimes committed by the two defendants. During this account, greatly helped by the judge’s skilful questioning, both accused exonerated the other two defendants, who stood quite unmoved as their innocence was proven beyond any doubt to the court.

Afterwards, the judge turned towards the lady known as the Countess Jouvente and her adopted son, Mr Thomas Whitmore, a respected man of great concerns within governmental circles, so we are reliably informed. He reassured them, though it would be of very little solace to them at present, that as far as he and his fellow judges were concerned, they had no case to answer.

However, to guarantee the fairness and impartiality of the court, he said he would leave it to the good men of the jury to decide whether or not a case could still be brought against them, in light of Sexton and Beagle’s earlier confessions. Further, he believed to save the court time and expense, a full trial would not be required, now confessions had been conceded.

Thus, the jury – under instruction from the judge – retired for less than fifteen minutes to deliberate. At 20 minutes past 11 o’clock, the jury returned into the court room and pronounced that Sexton and Beagle were indeed guilty of the murders of at least ten young children, most of whom were young girls. Further, they were responsible for the death of Mr William Turner too, a crime now forgotten within the excitement generated by the murder of so many children.

That they had admitted their guilt was good for them, he continued, even at such a late stage. However, to keep two well-regarded persons in such a state of purgatory and to almost allow a full trial against them to commence, was beyond cruelty. The jury thus found both Countess Jouvente and Mr Thomas Whitmore not guilty of all the charges

Judge Alexander spoke for all who crowded into the court yesterday morning, when he summed up and passed sentence:

“Before we could even begin an investigation into what happen to the poor, wretched creatures dragged from the lake of your employers’ home, you have finally admitted your dual roles in these appalling murders. Your actions since you were arrested have been most wicked and detestable. That you would carry out such crimes is one sort of depravation. What I find just as detestable, however, is that you would drag your employers, your betters, into the mess of a public court room, knowing they would be judged most harshly by public opinion. You would have been better thought of if you had spared these two innocents – and, as it transpires, goodly people – the upset of such speculation upon their character, brought about by this impending trial and their subsequent imprisonment while awaiting its commencement.”

The learned judge then passed sentences of death, individually, upon both men, Sexton and Beagle. Outlining the usual terms which accompanies such a pronouncement, he finished by saying, “and may God have mercy upon your souls.” To which there was an audible response of “Amen,” from the innocent Countess, once accused of their crimes.