Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
William
JONES
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide
Number of victims: 5
Date of murders: May 22, 1910
Date of arrest:
Same day (suicide attempt)
Date of birth: 1877
Victim profile:
His wife Suzanna, 28, and their children James, 8, Polly, 7,
Suzanna, 5, and Alice, 1
Method of murder:
Slashing throats
Location: Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, United
Kingdom
Status: Found guilty but insane in June 1910. Sent to a lunatic asylum to be held at "His
Majesty's Pleasure"
William Jones a
33rd year old unemployed labourer moved with his wife Susannah aged 28
and their three daughters, Polly age seven, Susannah age five, and
baby Alice who was a year old to Ailsbury Street Millfield from
Malvern Street Southwick the beginning of May 1910.
On May 22nd a passer by
Mr Hutchinson saw William Jones at the front door with blood pouring
from his throat, Jones pointed to inside the house and Mr Hutchinson
went in and found, Susannah and her three children brutally murdered.
Mr Hutchinson ran for Dr
Gray and stopped a passing policeman, they took Jones to the
Sunderland infirmary to save his life. When detectives went to the
house to investigate the murders, the saw scrawled across the walls "Revenge
is Sweet".
Jones was obsessed with
the idea that his wife was unfaithful, although neighbours said she
was loyal to her husband. Despite being poor she kept the house and
the children clean, sometimes she was forced to take her children and
beg at the nearby colliery for pennies to feed the family. Jones was
often seen drunk and shouting and raving a lot of nonsense.
Susannah's sister who lived nearby heard the argument that night and
heard Jones shout that if Susannah did not get the children into bed
there would be a funeral. The funeral of Susannah and her children
was paid for by the parish.
Jones appeared before
Durham Assizes on the 25th June 1910, he pleaded Guilty but on the
advice of his barrister changed his plea to Not Guilty. The Jury
came back with the verdict of Guilty but Insane. Jones escaped the
hangman but was sent to a lunatic asylum to be held at "His Majesty's
Pleasure".
Oldsunderland.co.uk
William Jones
It was about 8am on Sunday 22nd
May 1910 when Ralph Hutchinson passed along Ailsbury Street in the
Millfield area of Sunderland where he lived. A few houses down from
where he lived was a man by the front door with blood flowing from a
wound to his throat, pointing inside the house. Investigation revealed
the battered body of a young woman lying on a bed next to the body of
a baby. In another bed were the dead bodies of three other children.
All four of the children had had their throats slashed.
Police established that the
injured man was 33-year-old William Jones. The woman was his wife, 28-year-old
Suzanna, and the children were eight-year-old James, seven-year-old
Polly, five-year-old Suzanna and one-year-old Alice.
William Jones recovered from his
self-inflicted wounds in hospital and was charged with the murder of
his family. Jones had lost his job some two years earlier and his wife
had been reduced to begging in the streets to keep the family fed.
Jones considered that his wife had not managed to beg enough money for
that day and had also accused her of infidelity, though this was
patently false.
Jones appeared for trial at Durham
Assizes on 25th June 1910 and initially pleaded guilty to five counts
of murder. Defence counsel managed to persuade him to withdraw the
plea and the trial proceeded. The defence was one of insanity with
witnesses speaking of a cry from the accused during the night of the
killings of, "It's the comet." Expert opinion for the defence
testified that Jones was insane as a direct result of "privation and
poverty." The jury accepted this and found Jones guilty but insane. He
was ordered to be detained during His Majesty's pleasure.
