Herbert Mills

Background

Herbert Leonard Mills (aged 19) was described as “a former dispatch clerk” and lived at Mansfield Street, Sherwood, Nottingham. He was known to have met Mabel Tattershaw at a local cinema and arranged to meet her again.

At the Nottingham Magistrates Court, Herbert Leonard Mills was charged with the murder of Mrs. Bale Tattershaw of Longmead Drive, Sherwood. Her body was found in a derelict orchard two miles from her home. The prosecution described her as “a woman of small significance.”

Mills made a statement that included: “I had always considered the possibility of the perfect crime-murder. I am very much interested in crime and here was my opportunity. I have been most successful. No motive. No clues. ... I am quite proud of my achievement. Seeing an opportunity of putting my theory into practice I consented to meet her on the morrow. ... I put on a pair of gloves. I knelt, my knees on her shoulders. ... I was very pleased. I think I did it rather well. The strangling itself was quite easily accomplished. ... I now confess I murdered Mrs. Tattershaw.”

The offence

On 9 August 1951, Herbert Leonard Mills had met Mabel Tattershaw the day before he killed her and agreed to meet her on Friday 3 August to go for a walk. Mills took Mabel Tattershaw to Sherwood Vale, which he knew to be secluded and safe.

Mills persuaded Mabel to lie down, struck her several times with a blunt instrument, and then strangled her. After she was dead, he had no further interest in the body. He then went home and waited for the discovery of the body.

In his interactions following the killing, the body was described as having been beaten and strangled.

Investigation

On 9 August 1951, Herbert Leonard Mills telephoned the News of the World (a UK tabloid newspaper published on Sundays). He stated that he had discovered the body of a woman and said: “It looks like a murder.”

The newspaper contacted the police and informed them of the conversation. The police went to Sherwood Vale accompanied by Mills, where they found the body of Mabel Tattershaw. Mills gave the newspaper a full account of what had happened and wrote his own account of the murder. Mills also told the newspaper that he wanted to be paid for it. The account amounted to a confession, and the newspaper handed the account over to the police.

When the police first saw the body, Mills told them that the woman had been strangled, although it had been plainly visible that she had been severely beaten.

Arrest

After the newspaper passed Mills’s account to the police, Mills was arrested and charged.

Trial

The trial took place in November 1951. Forensic evidence was given that linked Mills to the killing and left no doubt about his guilt. Some hairs were found on the victim that matched those on Mills’s head. Beneath the victim’s fingernail, a small blue thread was found that matched Mills’s suit.

At the trial, the fibres found under the victim’s fingernails were linked with the fibres of Mills’s suit. Mills was found guilty of murder.

At the Nottingham Magistrates Court, the hearing was adjourned until the following day after evidence had been given.

Sentencing

Mills was sentenced to death by hanging.

Appeals

No appeal information was provided.

Outcome

Herbert Leonard Mills was executed by hanging at Lincoln Prison on 11 December 1951 by Albert Pierrepoint.

At the inquest held that afternoon, the doctor present at the execution reported that it took 20 minutes for Mills’s heart to stop beating. A post-mortem confirmed that Mills’s neck had been broken and that he had not died of asphyxiation.

Other details

Mills described himself as an artist and poet. In a later interview with the News of the World newspaper, Mills said that he went to Sherwood Vale to relax and that when he saw the body he read a poem before deciding his next action.

Mills insisted on being allowed to write the story and his story, for which he was paid, amounted to a “confession” that was handed to the police. Mills had waited for the discovery of the body and wanted to see the frustration of the police when they were unable to solve the murder.

Mills had wanted to commit the “perfect murder” as part of an experiment, and he described himself as having conducted the perfect murder.