Ghosts of Walton Prison

Just working on a bit about this for my book. As with the thing where Phillip Flynn is alleged to have built Croxteth Hall despite the fact that no-one seems to have any clue who he is, I have hit a bit of a brick wall with regards to the ghost said to haunt cell G2 (presumably cell number 2 in G wing) at the prison. Various sources, both online and in print give the name of the man supposed to have inhabited the cell prior to being hung in 1927 (or thereabouts) as William Kennedy. One source suggests that an accomplice called Guy Frederick was also hanged at Walton and that the men killed a police Constable.

However, I can find no record of either man being hung at Walton nor of any such crime at the time. I'm ready to simply chalk this up as another case where there aren't enough facts to really draw a conclusion but I thought I'd post here and see if anyone else has ever heard of either man or has any idea how I might lay my hands on a complete list of everyone ever hanged at Walton. 60 men and 2 women in total apparently by the way.

Cheers

This mystery has been cleared up thanks to birdseye who pointed me in the direction of the case of Frederick Guy Browne who was hanged at Pentonville, while his accomplice in the murder of a police constable, William Henry Kennedy was suffered the same fate at Wandsworth. Kennedy was arrested in Liverpool but not held or hung here. Nasty case too.

Cheers birdseye.:PDT_Piratz_26:

Hi.
Do you have another number to go with the G2 ?
I think your correct in that it's G wing , landing 2 but the missing no is i think the cell no .
Good luck ,
I'd love to hear of your findings.
Karen

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gorgeous

Hi.
Do you have another number to go with the G2 ?
I think your correct in that it's G wing , landing 2 but the missing no is i think the cell no .
Good luck ,
I'd love to hear of your findings.
Karen

---

All the sources I have refer to "cell G2" but it's interesting to know that's not correct. Cheers Karen.

G wing 2 is aka "Skid Row".

Due to the lack of toilet paper.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by researchwriter

Just working on a bit about this for my book. As with the thing where Phillip Flynn is alleged to have built Croxteth Hall despite the fact that no-one seems to have any clue who he is, I have hit a bit of a brick wall with regards to the ghost said to haunt cell G2 (presumably cell number 2 in G wing) at the prison. Various sources, both online and in print give the name of the man supposed to have inhabited the cell prior to being hung in 1927 (or thereabouts) as William Kennedy. One source suggests that an accomplice called Guy Frederick was also hanged at Walton and that the men killed a police Constable.

However, I can find no record of either man being hung at Walton nor of any such crime at the time. I'm ready to simply chalk this up as another case where there aren't enough facts to really draw a conclusion but I thought I'd post here and see if anyone else has ever heard of either man or has any idea how I might lay my hands on a complete list of everyone ever hanged at Walton. 60 men and 2 women in total apparently by the way.

Cheers

---

There is a book about the case although its name escapes me. Very complicated case indeed. The murder occured down south somewhere.

There was a Liverpool man, William Kennedy, hung for the murder of PC Gutteridge which occurred in 1927

http://www.real-crime.co.uk/Murder1/...%20&%20Kennedy

However he was hung in Wandsworth apparently though he was arrested in Liverpool and presumably was held in Walton for a while.

One weird aspect of this crime was that the PC was shot in both eyes so that the murderers image would not be retained in his retina.

Kennedy, who was an Irishman, might possibly have seen the inside of Walton jail during his career but it wasn't for the crime he was eventually hung for. He was arrested in Copperas Hill just before midnight on 25th January 1928 after a police sergeant recognised him. He grabbed Kennedy, who pulled a pistol out his pocket but was then subdued by other officers and marched around to the police station in Warren Street and then transferred to Dale Street. After questioning, he was on the 2pm train to London the following day.

I found all this in The Times archive, which you can access if you have a Liverpool library card. You can access it from the newspaper's site but it's not as easy to search. Fantastic resource