Location: Blenheim Park, Oxfordshire, England

Year: 1885

In August 1885, "a brutal murder was committed in Blenheim Park, near Oxford".

The victim was identified as William Beckley - the keeper of nearby Water Meadow Lodge. During the inquest, it transpired that the deceased had been "tasked with tarring some rails at Spring Lock", along with another man called George Boddington.

Boddington left at around 1pm that afternoon in order to have his dinner, leaving Beckley enjoying a smoke break close to the spot where they were working. According to Boddington, he returned at around 2pm in order to resume his duties, only to find William Beckley lying dead on the ground.

He raised the alarm, saying only that he'd discovered Beckley lying dead beneath a tree in Blenheim Park. Because William Beckley had recently been under the care of a local physician due to diarrhoea and heart disease, the doctor was happy enough to issue the death certificate there and then, without viewing the body, which was subsequently removed from the park in a cart, and transported to the deceased man's residence at Water Lodge.

Later that day, a local policeman happened to be passing by the Lodge, when he was greeted by Beckley's daughter; she told the policeman - named as Inspector Oakley - that she wished for him to come and take a look at her father's corpse. Oakley obliged, and as soon as he did so, he knew immediately that this was no natural death!

Oakley recognised at once that "the man had met with a violent death, his skull having been battered in, apparently with a spade." Oakley then sealed the room in which Beckley's body was being kept, and sent for reenforcements.

Much to his dismay, George Boddington was straightaway arrested on suspicion of the murder of William Beckley, on account of it being well known that the two men "frequently quarrelled".

Whilst awaiting his trial at Oxford Castle, boddington confessed to killing Beckley with a pickaxe. The trial was held at nearby Woodstock, with Boddington initially receiving a death sentence for his crime; however, the judge was clearly feeling merciful, as this "was soon commuted to one of penal servitude for life."

Upon hearing the news that he'd narrowly escaped the hangman's noose, George Boddington fell to his knees, overwhelmed with relief. Boddington then signed a document in which he "formally admitted having committed the crime in consequence of a quarrel which had arisen between himself and the deceased." The judge's change of heart was more than likely due to the prisoner's history of mental illness being made known; Boddington had spent several stints in the Littlemore Asylum, Oxford, due to "hereditary insanity". Boddington's daughter also confirmed that her father suffered from "delusions, memory loss, and violent behaviour". 

It would appear that the amended sentence of transportation was also not carried out - George Boddington died in custody, presumably in Oxford, two years later. 

I can only imagine that the doctor who very nearly allowed Boddington to get away with murder was a LOT more vigilant after that!

(Image below shows Spring Lock Lodge, situated very close to the scene of the crime, courtesy of Geograph).