THE Chairman Val Hamblin welcomed us to our Friday, May 8 meeting held in the Friends Meeting House, Cowl Street and introduced Bill Hannis from Shipston-on-Stour who gave us a talk on "Warwickshire Murders". He had been a career detective becoming a Chief Superintendent of the West Midlands Police and was now retired.

He gave us details about several local murders over the years, some solved and some unsolved with some amusing anecdotes. He said that in the years after the war local police forces called in Scotland Yard as the local forces were not experienced in solving murders.

The one that fascinated us was "The Pitchfork" or "witchcraft" murder on Meon Hill near Mickleton when the famous Chief Inspector " Fabian of the Yard" was called in to find out who brutally murdered 74 year-old Charles Walton, a farm labourer who had always lived in Lower Quinton, on Valentine's night February14, 1945. He was killed with a billhook and pinned to the ground with a pitchfork and a large cross was carved into his chest. Fabian was unable to solve the mystery as no-one locally appeared to have any knowledge of what happened that night. Walton was well-liked in the village, being a real country man but with strange ways. Some villagers thought he might have been involved with witchcraft because of the age-old manner of his death. The area is full of legends of witchcraft over the centuries with sacrificial killings and the Walton case still continues to fascinate and has itself gone into legend.

Mr Hannis said that if today's DNA technology could have been used it is highly likely the culprit would have been found.

Our next meeting will be on Friday May 22 when we will be entertained by Anne Blaggdon who will demonstrate "Belly Dance for the Home"

JACKIE HALE

Evesham Area Ladies Probus