Ginter Wiora

Status and sentencing

Ginter Wiora was found guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment in July 1957 and was later removed to Broadmoor the following year.

Background

Mrs Doreen Dally was awoken at 8am on Saturday 4th May 1957 by a loud banging noise followed by a woman crying out "No, Peter! No! Oh, Peter, please."

Shirley Marguerite Allen was 24 years old and had lived with 24-year-old Polish art student Ginter Wiora for the previous six months. Shirley called herself Mrs Wiora. Wiora had often accused her of having affairs and of posing for pornographic pictures. He was described as an extremely jealous man and jealousy was associated with the belief that she had been posing for pornographic pictures.

The offence

When Mrs Dally looked out of her basement flat she saw the figure of Shirley Marguerite Allen start to emerge from the basement flat opposite her own. Shirley wore a red dressing gown and blood streamed from a head wound. After that came a scream.

Mrs Dally saw Shirley tried to leave the flat but was held back. Shirley called out "Oh, Mrs Dally - help me, please. Peter's gone mad." Mrs Dally grabbed the girl's arm and managed to pull her into the hallway. She pushed the girl into her own flat and told her to lock the door.

Mrs Dally went to climb the stairs to the telephone when Wiora came out into the hall. Wiora held, crossed on his chest, a Samurai sword. He lunged at Mrs Dally and stabbed the sword into her left breast.

Mrs Dally managed to run upstairs and, rousing the occupant of another flat, telephoned for the police.

Investigation and police response

The police arrived, in the form of DC Drown and PC Tennyson, and they ascertained from Mrs Dally what had happened. When they descended into the basement they found the door to Mrs Dally's flat open and Shirley Allen lying dead on the floor.

Shirley Allen had died from a stab wound to the chest. The sword, now badly bent, lay on the floor nearby. The door to Wiora's flat was locked.

When the policemen listened they could hear the sound of a radio and a low moaning. They could also smell gas. The policemen broke down the door and turned off the gas.

Wiora lay on a bed where he was bleeding from a chest wound and from cuts to his wrists. He was taken to hospital.

Trial

Wiora was tried at the Old Bailey on 25th July 1957. He put forward a defence of diminished responsibility.

The jury found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Outcome

He was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment. He was later removed to Broadmoor.