Oliver Newman

Case identification

• Defendant: Oliver Newman
• Victim: Herbert William “Pigsticker” Ayres, 45-year-old casual labourer
• Other defendant: William “Moosh” Shelley, 57-year-old
• Place: Old Bailey; Scratchwood railway sidings (rubbish tip); Mill Hill, north-west London (rubbish dump)

Timeline

• 1st June 1931 — A man walking past a rubbish tip at Scratchwood railway sidings noticed a human arm sticking out of smouldering rubbish; the body was later identified as Herbert William “Pigsticker” Ayres.
• 30th May 1931 — John Armstrong said he had seen Ayres attacked by “Tiggy” and “Moosh”.
• 29th May 1931 — Detectives were told Ayres had been attacked by two men, William “Moosh” Shelley and Oliver “Tiggy” Newman.
• August 5, 1931 — Shelley and Newman were hanged after being convicted of murder.
• June 1931 — Shelley and Newman were tried at the Old Bailey.

Background

• Herbert William “Pigsticker” Ayres, aged 45, had been a casual labourer who had lived in a group of shacks by the sidings.
• There were tramps and “down-and-outs” who lived in shacks in a nearby disused lane.
• John Armstrong, who lived rough in the shacks, said he had seen Ayres attacked by two men known as “Tiggy” and “Moosh”.

The offence

• Herbert William “Pigsticker” Ayres was found with serious injuries.
• Sir Bernard Spilsbury concluded that Ayres had been dead for two or three days.
• Spilsbury concluded that death had been caused by a rectangular-shaped object that had fractured the man’s skull.
• The back of the axe found under the floor of Newman’s abode matched the impression in Ayres’s skull.
• The defendants said they had caught Ayres stealing food and had beaten him up “to teach him a lesson”.
• When they realised they had killed him, they buried the body.
• The pair set the dump alight as part of concealing the body.

Investigation

• On 1st June 1931, a human arm protruding from a burning rubbish dump at Mill Hill, north-west London was spotted, and the rest of the body was uncovered and identified as a man.
• His nose, left temple, and jaws were fractured, and he had obviously been beaten.
• The tell-tale hand protruding effect was described as resulting from heat contracting the muscles and extending the hand before rigor mortis set in.
• Police learned that 45-year-old Herbert “Pigsticker” Ayres had not been seen for two days, and the body was identified as his.
• Detectives were told that on May 29th Ayres had been attacked by two men: William “Moosh” Shelley, 57, and Oliver “Tiggy” Newman, 45.
• Another part of the timeline described John Armstrong seeing Ayres attacked on 30th May by two men known as “Tiggy” and “Moosh”.
• Sir Bernard Spilsbury examined the body and concluded that it was a case of murder.
• A search of the defendants’ shacks revealed a bloodstained axe under the floor of Newman’s abode.

Arrest

• “Tiggy” (61-year-old Oliver Newman) and “Moosh” (57-year-old William Shelley) were quickly arrested.

Trial

• Shelley and Newman were tried at the Old Bailey in June 1931.
• At trial, Shelley and Newman claimed that Ayres had grabbed a weapon and that his hand must have been bruised when they tried to knock the implement from his grasp.
• Sir Bernard Spilsbury told the court that Ayres’s fractures had been caused not by fists but by a weapon or kicks.
• It was stated that if Ayres had been holding a weapon, it would have taken more than one blow to cause the bruises on the back of his hand.
• The court was also told that the bruises had more probably been inflicted when Ayres placed his hand on his head to protect himself from a rain of blows.
• Both defendants were found guilty.

Sentencing

• Shelley and Newman were executed on 5th August 1931.

Appeals

• No appeals were stated.

Outcome

• Oliver Newman was convicted of murder and executed by hanging on 5th August 1931.
• Before Shelley’s execution, Shelley boasted that there were five more bodies buried in the rubbish tip.

Other details

• The record described the cause of death as being consistent with a rectangular-shaped object fracturing the victim’s skull.
• The record included a concealment method: burying the body and setting the dump alight.