Walter Graham Rowland

Case information

Defendant: Walter Graham Rowland Age: 39 (labourer) Residence/Origin: from Mellor in Derbyshire

Timeline

• 20 October 1946 — Olive Balchin, age 40, was found dead at a World War II bomb site in Manchester, England; her skull was crushed with a hammer left at the scene.
• December 1946 — Walter Graham Rowland was tried at Manchester Assizes and found guilty, then sentenced to death.
• 27 February 1947 — Walter Graham Rowland was hanged at Strangeways prison on February 27, 1947.
• 1951 — David John Ware was confined to an asylum after trying to murder another woman.
• 10 July 1951 — David Ware bought a hammer and tried to kill a woman, Phyllis Fuidge, in Bristol.
• 16 November 1951 — David Ware was found guilty but insane and sent to Broadmoor.
• 1 April 1954 — David Ware hanged himself there in Broadmoor.

Background

Walter Graham Rowland was a 39-year-old labourer from Mellor in Derbyshire. He was described as a labourer who was twice convicted of murder.

Rowland had a prior conviction for murder of a child. The prior murder was described as the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Mavis Agnes, in 1934. He was sentenced to death for that earlier murder but had been reprieved. Another statement also described Rowland as twice convicted of murder and as having been previously convicted of the murder of a child and reprieved.

The offence

On 20 October 1946, the body of Olive Balchin, described as a forty-year-old prostitute from Birmingham, was discovered on a bomb site in Manchester, England.

The murder weapon was a bloodstained leather-beater's hammer that lay nearby at the scene. The skull was crushed with a hammer left at the scene.

The location of discovery was given as:

• a World War II bomb site in Manchester, and
• Cumberland Street, Deansgate, Manchester, and
• a bomb site in Manchester.

Investigation

Descriptions of a suspect seen with Olive Balchin on the night of her death led police to interview Rowland.

Rowland admitted that he knew the woman but denied killing her.

A shopkeeper identified the purchaser of the hammer:

• Edward MacDonald, the shopkeeper who sold it, described the purchaser.

Forensic examination of Rowland’s clothes found:

• bloodstains matching the blood group of Olive Balchin, and
• particles of dust that had come from the bomb-site.

Arrest

Rowland was interviewed by police based on the suspect descriptions and the hammer purchase details.

Trial

Rowland was tried at Manchester Assizes in December 1946 and was found guilty. He was sentenced to death.

While Rowland awaited his appointment with the gallows for the Balchin killing, David John Ware, an inmate at Walton Jail, Liverpool, confessed to Olive Balchin's murder.

Rowland appealed but the appeal was dismissed.

Sentencing

Rowland was sentenced to die after being found guilty at Manchester Assizes in December 1946.

Appeals

Rowland’s appeal was dismissed.

After Ware’s confession, the matter was subject to a Home Office inquiry. Ware admitted that his confession had been false, and the original sentence was confirmed.

Outcome

Walter Graham Rowland was executed by hanging at Strangeways prison on February 27, 1947. The execution was carried out by Albert Pierrepoint.

Aftermath

David John Ware later tried to murder another woman in a hammer attack. In 1951, Ware was confined to an asylum after trying to murder another woman.

Details of Ware’s later attack included:

• 10 July 1951 — Ware bought a hammer and tried to kill Phyllis Fuidge in Bristol. Ware told police:

  "I don't know what is the matter with me. I keep having an urge to hit women on the head."

• 16 November 1951 — Ware was found guilty but insane and sent to Broadmoor.
• 1 April 1954 — Ware hanged himself in his cell at Broadmoor.

One statement also described an alibi involving a police sergeant and two of his officers who were drinking in the same pub with Rowland at the same time as the murder, and the landlord of the place Rowland was staying, including a signing-in book detailing when Rowland got home.

Other details

A hammer attack was associated with Olive Balchin’s murder, with her skull crushed using a bloodstained leather-beater's hammer.

Walter Graham Rowland was described as having been convicted of killing his daughter, Mavis Agnes, in 1934, and then later was convicted in the Olive Balchin case.

Ware’s later hammer attack was described as an attack on Phyllis Fuidge in Bristol.

The record also described that Walter Graham Rowland’s case was not re-opened.