Julia Wallace Murder Case

[RodCrosby]

There is something in Wallace's first statement which is of interest (as printed in Murphy's book)
"I then boarded another car up Menlove Avene West, looking for 25 Menlove Avenue East where I had an appointment with Mr RM Qualtrough for 7.30pm...."

An odd slip to make by a criminal mastermind.... or just an understandable error made by a dazed, confused old duffer whose world had just come crashing down around him?

Also, can someone answer these two questions definitively, since various works seem to be ambiguous and contradictory on the points.

i) was the front door of 29 Wolverton Street bolted from the inside when Wallace returned?
ii) the photographs of Julia's corpse in the parlour show a mackintosh lying some distance from her body. Was that mackintosh originally found over her shoulders and moved away from the body before the police photo was taken? If so, who moved it? There appears to be a mackintosh belt still lying under Julia's body, protruding from under her neck or upper chest.

Thanks

[RodCrosby]

Just to say today's the 75th anniversary of Wallace's death. RIP an innocent man and his wife...

[AntiPathos]

Just to say today's the 75th anniversary of Wallace's death. RIP an innocent man and his wife...

I've never seen GUILTY spelt that way before. Did you get your dictionary from Jeffrey Archer perchance ?

[RodCrosby]

Well, all I can say is I have just spent an hour up around Wolverton St and elsewhere, and a more plausible theory comes to mind...

[Mark R]

Also, can someone answer these two questions definitively, since various works seem to be ambiguous and contradictory on the points.

i) was the front door of 29 Wolverton Street bolted from the inside when Wallace returned?
ii) the photographs of Julia's corpse in the parlour show a mackintosh lying some distance from her body. Was that mackintosh originally found over her shoulders and moved away from the body before the police photo was taken? If so, who moved it? There appears to be a mackintosh belt still lying under Julia's body, protruding from under her neck or upper chest.

Thanks

Wallace claimed he unbolted the front door when PC Frederick Roberts Williams knocked at about 9.10. WHW claimed it was bolted.
Florence Johnston claimed she thought the photo looked 'staged' and that the mackintosh was in a different position. When Wallace and the Johnstons first saw the body they claimed the mackintosh was tucked under the body. It had obviously been moved from the other photo (as had a stack of papers on the sideboard next to what looks like a fruit bowl). I don't know of anybody ever mentioning this before but it is noticeable...

[RodCrosby]

Thanks Mark

Some other questions.
i) What were Richard Gordon Parry's movements on Mon 19th January. I know he was supposed to have been at Lily Lloyd's from 7.15, but how long did he stay there that night?
ii) Apart from the chess club, what other activities, if any, were occurring at the city cafe on the Monday night?

[Mark R]

I'm not sure exactly how long Parry was at the Lloyds on the 19th. I think it was apparently for some considerable time (thereby covering him for the phone call). But who is to say that he was there at 7.15? I know it was Lily Lloyd's mother that stated he was there 'about that time' but I suppose there could be an argument that it could have been after 7.15.
As regards Cottle City Cafe - it doubled also as a venue for a theatrical group - I'm not sure on which day though.

[Ged]

Lily Lloyd and her mother had a motive for giving Parry an alibi obviously but didn't lily Lloyd retract one of them (either the phone call night or the murder night - can't remember now - when she fell out with him?)

The lad who worked in the garage - ref: the bloodied glove didn't have any motive to point the finger yet eventually did.

Parry had one, maybe two motives to kill - affair/bungled robbery - I still think Parry done it.

[Mark R]

Lily Lloyd and her mother had a motive for giving Parry an alibi obviously but didn't lily Lloyd retract one of them (either the phone call night or the murder night - can't remember now - when she fell out with him?) The lad who worked in the garage - ref: the bloodied glove didn't have any motive to point the finger yet eventually did.

That's right Ged - Lily Lloyd swore that she would sign an affidavit (to Wallace's solicitor Hector Munro), claiming that she wasn't with him at the time she stated on the 20th January. Munro claimed that he didn't bother because he didn't have a client as Wallace was already dead. Munro was only bothered with getting Wallace off.
John Parkes - yes, when the Radio City programme makers made contact with him in 1981 he told them everything. I suppose it could be argued that he was jumping on the bandwagon but there is a strong argument that he told the Atkinson's of the incident that same night/early hours of the next morning (20/21 January 1931). Parkes to me sounds genuine...

[RodCrosby]

No I don't think Parry did it, but I am moving towards a solution which fits all the known facts... It's blindingly obvious, really....
Can you guess?

[Mark R]

I've got my own thoughts on it.

In his book The Murder of Julia Wallace James Murphy mentions 'criminal profiling', claiming (in Parry's favour) that a criminal goes on a career of crime which would culminate in murder much later and not early in their career. Later on in the book Murphy then goes on to compare Wallace with Lowell Lee Andrews (who was convicted of murdering his parents and sister). Andrews was in his late teens when he committed the crime. So much for profiling... Murphy also neatly ignores the fact that Wallace never had a criminal record of any kind and was an exemplary worker, never being a penny out in his collecting.

[RodCrosby]

Another question, Mark.

In the photo of the crime scene (taken from the doorway) there is a cushion on the chaise-longue which looks squashed, as if someone has been recently sitting there. I understand the forensics indicated Julia had been sitting (rather uncomfortably) on the chair to the left of the fireplace.
Was there ever any speculation at the trial or in later books on the significance of the squashed cushion?

[Ged]

Rod knows something............

Was it Rod Crosby?

Are you very old and wanting to get something off your chest maybe?

If you know the killer, get in there before Keith Andrews and Tom Slemen - oh well, maybe anytime will do then

[RodCrosby]

No I don't know the killer, and I think no-one ever will. But it wasn't Wallace, it wasn't Parry and it wasn't the Johnstons...

[JohnH]

Yes. I've never been convinced that the Johnstons murdered Julia (even more so because they moved house). I think it would have looked extremely suspicious moving house (from a guilt perspective). Would a guilty Johnston have moved?

[LIST=1]
[/
I think it might have been the Johnsons because they moved after the trial. John