Florence Ransom

Case record: Florence Ransom

Florence Ransom was a middle-aged woman who was described as physically beautiful and had red hair. She was having an affair with Lawrence Fisher of Piddington, near Bicester.

Background

Lawrence Fisher lived at Twickenham, and he and his wife, Dorothy, fell out. Fisher went openly to live at a cottage he took at Matfield, near Tonbridge, Kent, and his mistress, Florence Ransom, stayed there at weekends earlier in the period described.

Fisher’s wife, Dorothy, and their daughter, nineteen-year-old Freda, became tenants of the Kent cottage. They were on good terms with one another, and Fisher provided money so that a housekeeper could be engaged. Fisher travelled down to the cottage to assure himself that all was well after the blitz started.

The jealousy of Florence Ransom was described as being connected to Fisher’s relationship with Dorothy and Freda and to Fisher travelling to the cottage.

The offence

On the afternoon of 9th July, Florence Ransom carried a shotgun wrapped in brown paper, went to the cottage where her lover’s family lived, and enticed Dorothy and Freda into the garden. Ransom shot them both.

As Ransom reloaded the shotgun, the maid, Charlotte Saunders, ran into the garden and was also shot by the woman.

As Ransom fled, she dropped one of her leather gloves. A witness had noticed a woman behaving suspiciously outside the cottage. The stranger had later caught the 4.25pm train to London.

A more detailed description of the attack was included: during the time death struck the cottage, shots went unnoticed because the area was crammed with troops manning the first defence lines and training continually. The time of the attack remained unknown beyond a vague estimate obtainable from examination of the corpses later on.

When the victims were attacked, Mrs. Fisher and her daughter had been shot in the back while preparing tea for four people. The housekeeper had half her skull blown off while standing or fleeing through an adjacent coppice. The house was in terrific disorder, but nothing of value was missing.

It was also stated that the assailant had contrived to load and reload several times while still managing to kill the victims by shots from the rear, despite being on friendly terms suggested by the evidence of the tea things.

Investigation

The most valuable clue left in the cottage of death was a woman’s white leather glove. It was proved to be the property of Mrs. Ransom.

It was further stated that Ransom was soon traced through her dropped glove.

A railway porter made an identification of her leaving Tonbridge Station from which a bus could be taken to Matfield. A taxi driver thought he saw her taking the London train late in the afternoon. No one knew exactly what her movements were from the time she got on the train at Aylesbury until she arrived back at the farm late the same night, except for the porter identification of leaving Tonbridge Station and the taxi driver’s impression of her taking the London train.

Trial

At her trial at the Old Bailey in November 1940, Florence Ransom appeared charged with three counts of murder. She was found guilty and was sentenced to death.

Her defence at the Old Bailey trial in November 1940 was that for the whole of the day of the crime her mind had been a complete bknk.

It was stated that Florence Ransom had a record of mental instability and had been a voluntary patient on a number of occasions. Her appearance in the dock confirmed this view. She endured hours of cross-examination without turning a hair.

Mr. Justice Tucker, in the absence of medical evidence proving her insanity, had to sentence her to death.

Sentencing

Florence Ransom was sentenced to death.

Outcome

Florence Ransom was later adjudged to be insane and was transferred to Broadmoor.

Other details

Florence Ransom borrowed a gun from her brother on July 8, ostensibly to shoot rabbits. On the afternoon of 9th July she went to the cottage carrying the shotgun wrapped in brown paper.

She was later described in relation to the case as having “a strange brooding look in her eyes that betokened madness,” and as a physically beautiful woman with red hair.