In 1666 the Great Fire of London was finally extinguished after burning down more than 10,000 houses, 80 churches and St Paul's Cathedral over four days. The catastrophe was initially blamed on Robert Hubert, a French watchmaker who made a false confession to starting the blaze and he was convicted, sentenced to death and hanged at Tyburn. It was later discovered he was not even in the country at the time.
In 1670 the independence of juries was confirmed by a famous legal decision in what became known as 'Bushel's Case'. Edward Bushel and his fellow jurors had been locked up without food, water and heat for two days and then fined for Contempt of Court after they refused to find two Quakers, William Penn and William Mead, guilty of 'unlawful assembly'. Bushel appealed to the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Sir John Vaughan, who ruled that the jury could not be punished solely because of their verdict.
In 1719 Catherine Jones was acquitted of bigamy at the Old Bailey after she claimed her second husband Constantine Booth was a not a man but was in fact ‘a Monster, a Hermaphrodite, and had been shown as such at Southwark Fair, Smithfield, and several other Places.’ Witnesses testified that Mr Booth had been brought up a girl until the age of 12, at which point 'he turn’d Man and went to sea.’
In 1888 the Star newspaper published a story about the mysterious 'Leather Apron', who it claimed was 'the only named linked with the Whitechapel murders'. The Star counted three killings in its article: Emma Smith on 3 April, Martha Tabram on 7 August and Mary Ann Nichols on 31 August. Rumours were sweeping the district that a certain 'Leather Apron' was responsible and the Star claimed that 50 prostitutes had all given similar descriptions of the suspect. He was aged around 40, stood five foot four inches tall, with black, clipped hair and a small moustache. He wore a black cap and, of course, his trademark leather apron. 'He has ranged Whitechapel for a long time,' continued the report. 'He exercises over the unfortunates who ply their trade after twelve o'clock at night, a sway that is BASED ON UNIVERSAL TERROR'. Three days later on 8 September the disembowelled body of Annie Chapman was found in Spitalfields. Leather Apron was later identified as Jewish boot maker John Pizer but he was released after providing solid alibis for two of the murders.
Peter Stubley is the Author of The Calendar of Crime which contains 365 amazing and incredible true crimes from British history. With infamous names – Crippen, Seddon, Haigh, Ellis – alongside lesser-known examples from the British pantheon of crime, it will fascinate, chill and surprise readers everywhere.