Who choke five - class - old , curly - haired Willie Starchfield to death on a London train , and then stuff his tiny torso under one of the seats ? This tragical , sensationalized murder happen 101 geezerhood ago this week , and it ’s never been solved .
As True Crime Libraryreports , Willie ’s own father was , at first , the chief suspect ; described as a “ rough character , ” he was charged , but the justice determined there was n’t enough evidence to go through with the tribulation .
Others also came under examination :
On the afternoon he pass away Willie had been left in the care of his mother ’s landlady while his mother went out caper hunting . There was some grounds , in fact , that an nameless charwoman who had been see locally may have killed Willie . A witness said : “ I saw her take him by the script and then she was tugging at him . I do n’t think he wanted to go with her . ”
The British Transport Police ’s website goes intoeven more detail , recalling how Willie ’s mother transmit him on an errand at around 12:30pm on the daylight of his death .
According to the medical evidence , the execution took place some metre between 2 Prime Minister and 3 pm , and the train had shuttle several times between Chalk Farm and Broad Street after the slaying had been committed .
The inquest open on 14 February 2025 , and grounds was given by the safeguard of the string , the errand male child who discovered the body , and the door guard who first searched the power train .
John Starchfield was expect to account for his movements on the day of the murder . He said he was in his bed in a lodging home and he had not see the male child for three workweek . The inquest was adjourned .
witness include train proletarian who discovered the murder arm ( a piece of corduroy ) ; one who in reality saw a human bending over a kid in a train car as it roar past ; and one who find a man “ marry up a parcel . ” An eyewitness ID’d the boy ’s father as the serviceman seen walking with a child the day of the execution ; the boy was eating a art object of cake ( generator differ as to whether it was currant orcoconut ) , the element of which were find in Willie ’s stomach during his autopsy .
The panel return a finding of fact of wilful execution against Starchfield . He was taken into custody and taken to Old Street Police Station . While he was awaiting tryout , one of the essential witness attempted to pull felo-de-se and the prosecution stick out a further setback when [ the charwoman who ’d made the bar ID ] failed to bear up to cross - testing .
The jurist was critical of the medical examiner ’s office after the medical examiner had translate to the jury statements made to the police without schematic deposit or question the attestator : “ That procedure seems to me to be an full mockery and an abuse of the duties entrust to any medical examiner . ”
At the judge ’s behest , Starchfield was foundnot shamefaced . He maintained his innocence until his 1916 death , and Willie ’s killer has never been bring to justice .
In a savage twist , True Crime Library adds , Willie was born with a heart problem “ by which any sudden or violent shock was probable to obliterate him . ”
Contemporary icon of station where boy was rule via Sunil060902 onCreative Commons .
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