Frederick Field

Name

Frederick Field

Background

Frederick Field worked for a firm of signboard fixers. He was stationed at nearby Hendon as an airman at the time of the murder of Beatrice Sutton. By 1936 he was arrested after having deserted from the RAF.

The offence

On April 5, 1936, Beatrice Sutton, a 48-year-old widow, was found dead in her London apartment lying across the bed with several pillows stacked over her face. Her death was first attributed to “natural causes,” later shifted to homicide after further investigation proved she had been strangled.

Investigation

The investigation proved that Beatrice Sutton had been strangled.

Frederick Field was charged with the murder on April 25, 1936.

Frederick Field confessed to police.

Frederick Field said: “I had not seen the woman before in my life,” “I proclaimed, and had not the least ill intentions toward her.” “I just murdered her because I wanted to murder someone.”

In later interviews, Field told reporters he was tired of living and had “put himself on the spot” with a capital crime after finding he lacked the courage to commit suicide.

Arrest

Frederick Field was arrested in 1936 after having deserted from the RAF.

Trial

Frederick Field was tried for the murder.

At his trial, Field tried the same technique as before and withdrew his confession.

Field was found guilty of murder and was convicted of murder.

Sentencing

Frederick Field was sentenced to death on May 13, 1936.

Appeals

No appeal details were stated.

Outcome

Frederick Field was executed by hanging at Wandsworth prison on June 30, 1936.

Frederick Field was generally acknowledged as the killer of Nora Upchurch, who had been found strangled in 1931. Field had previously been tried for that 1931 killing and had been acquitted at the Old Bailey.

Other details

Frederick Field was linked to an earlier case involving Annie Louisa Upchurch, better known as Norah.

On 2 October 1931, the strangled body of Annie Louisa Upchurch, described as a 20-year-old prostitute, was found by workmen lying in a passageway of an empty shop on Shaftesbury Avenue in London. One of the workmen, Albert Field, had gone there the day before to remove a to let sign and he came under suspicion when he made a statement about handing over the keys of the shop the day before to a man who he believed was about to rent the shop. The Coroners court returned an open verdict.

On 25 July 1933, twenty one months after the death of Norah Upchurch, Frederick Field walked into the offices of the Daily Sketch and told the news editor that he wanted to make a statement. He told how he had taken the girl into the empty shop and strangled her and then made off with her handbag. He repeated this story to the police. When it came to trial, Field withdrew this evidence. It became obvious that Field’s tactics were only to obtain money from the newspaper and as there was no other evidence the judge directed the jury to acquit him.

At trial for Beatrice Sutton, Field withdrew his confession as well. This time his confession was described as being too detailed and containing facts that could only be known by the killer, leading to a guilty verdict.

Beatrice Vilna Sutton was described as a middle-aged widow found suffocated in her flat in Clapham in April 1936.