Louisa May Merrifield

Louisa May Merrifield (3 December 1906 – 18 September 1953) was a British murderer and the third to last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom. She was executed by Albert Pierrepoint at Strangeways Prison in Manchester for poisoning her elderly employer. Notorious at the time as 'The Blackpool Poisoner',[1] today her case is largely forgotten.

Louisa May Merrifield in 1953

Marriages

Born in Wigan in Lancashire as Louisa May Highway, the youngest of five surviving daughters and two sons of Job Highway (1867–1945), an underground labourer in a coal mine, and Emma née Duncan (1863-1944),[2] by the time of her execution she had been married three times. She married her first husband, Joseph Ellison (1905-1949)[3] in 1931[4] and with him had six children, two of whom (Horace Ellison (1932–1933) and Ernest Ellison (1943–1944)) died in infancy. She lost custody of all four of her surviving two daughters and two sons when she was sent to prison for 84 days in 1946 having been found guilty of ration book fraud and refusing to pay the £10 fine.[5][6] Joseph Ellison died in 1949 aged 44 of sub-acute infective hepatitis following which she married 78 year-old Richard Weston on 6 February 1950[7] who died ten weeks later of a heart attack.[8][9] Two of her husbands were much older elderly men while she had been married three times in 10 months.[10]

Sarah Ricketts

339 Devonshire Road in Blackpool - the scene of the murder - photographed in 1953

From 1950 up to the time of the murder she had some 20 jobs working as a domestic helper and housekeeper from most of which she had been fired or forced to leave owing to her poor attitude to her work and her alleged pilfering.[11] On 22 August 1950[12] she married her third husband, 68 year-old widower Alfred Edward Merrifield (1882-1962), whose first wife Alice Whittle had died in 1949. He had abandoned her and their 10 children in 1928.[10] On 12 March 1953 the couple were employed as house-keeper, handyman and live-in companions to 79 year-old Sarah Ann Ricketts who lived in her bungalow at 339 Devonshire Road in Blackpool. Ricketts was a widow whose two husbands had both committed suicide by gassing themselves in the kitchen. Despite her diminutive height (she was only four feet eight inches tall) Ricketts was a difficult woman with a short temper who had a habit of changing her will whenever a beneficiary annoyed or upset her, which was often. Soon after the Merrifields took up their jobs Ricketts was complaining about their lack of care towards her, the shortage of food and that they were spending a lot of her money in the local public houses[13] where Louisa "drank excessively and habitually became severely inebriated".[10] A liar and a braggart who had a loose tongue when under the influence of alcohol, Louisa Merrifield preferred to spend her time in the pubs of Blackpool rather than take care of her employer. She began to brag that Mrs Ricketts was dead and had left her the bungalow even though the old woman was still very much alive.[8][11]

It was becoming apparent to Louisa Merrifield that her elderly husband would not be able to support her financially for much longer and by late March 1953 she had talked Mrs. Ricketts into writing a will which left the bungalow valued at £3,000 to £4,000 to her. On the complaint of Alfred Merrifield that he was not included in the will he was assigned half of the property.[8] On 9 April Louisa Merrifield got Mrs Ricketts' doctor Doctor Yule to certify that Ricketts was mentally competent to make a new will. Dr Yule later stated: "She [Merrifield] said the reason why she wanted me to go was that the old lady might die at any minute with a stroke or a disease and she wanted to keep herself all right with the relatives." On 13 April Dr Yule’s partner Doctor Albert Victor Wood was called out by Merrifield who stated that Ricketts was seriously ill whereas Wood merely diagnosed mild bronchitis. He later testified at Merrifield’s trial: "I remonstrated with Mrs Merrifield for calling me out, as I thought, under false pretences. She again said she was afraid of something happening during the night... Mrs Merrifield mentioned something about a will. I said I wasn't interested."[14] Although this evidence is only circumstantial it does lead to the conclusion that Merrifield was already trying to prove that the elderly Mrs Ricketts was dying of natural causes.[8][11]

A spoonful of jam and Rodine

Among her other rather odd eating habits Mrs. Ricketts enjoyed eating sweet jams straight from the jar by spoon which she took with either rum or a bottle of stout. To these jams Louisa Merrifield added Rodine, a phosphorus based rat poison, which she bought in a local chemist. On 12 April 1953 Merrifield told her friend Mrs Jessie Brewer that she had to return home to 'lay out' an old woman. On Mrs Brewer's inquiry as to who had died Merrifield said "She’s not dead yet, but she soon will be." Mrs Ricketts died on the evening of 14 April but Merrifield did not call for a doctor until the next morning claiming that as Mrs Ricketts was clearly dead she had not wished to call the doctor out late at night. Merrifield asked the local Salvation Army band to stand outside the bungalow playing ‘Abide with Me.’ Merrifield insisted that Mrs Ricketts be quickly cremated and that she did not want the old lady's family to know of her sudden death. Funeral director George Henry Jackson later stated that Merrifield did not want Ricketts’ "Two daughters to know she was dead or have anything to do with the funeral."[11] On reading of the death in the local newspaper Mrs. Brewer reported her conversation with Merrifield to the police who immediately ordered a post mortem which discovered that Ricketts had died of phosphorus poisoning probably from the rat poison Rodine. When the police searched the bungalow they didn't discover any poison but inquiries at a local chemist shop showed that Louisa Merrifield had recently purchased Rodine for which she was legally required to sign the poison register.[8][11]

Trial

Alfred Merrifield is arrested

Following the police investigation the Merrifields were arrested and were jointly charged with murder before being committed to the Manchester Assizes for trial. The couple were tried before Mr. Justice Glynn-Jones between 20 and 31 July 1953 with Attorney General Sir Lionel Heald QC leading for the prosecution and Mr. Jack Messoud Eric Di Victor Nahum QC (1906–59) for the defence. Louisa Merrifield did not give a good impression with her photograph being on the front page of newspapers as she arrived at court every day in a taxi smiling and waving to the photographers and crowds outside the court. During the trial the largely deaf Alfred Merrifield appeared to be confused by the proceedings while his wife, who was confident she would be acquitted, seemed to be revelling in the attention. Three doctors testified against Louisa Merrifield as did several of her friends who recalled her boasts of an inheritance. To one of her many previous employers Merrifield had written "I got a nice job nursing an old lady and she left me a lovely littl [sic] Bundlow [sic] and thank God for it, so you see love all come right in the end."[15] Unfortunately for Merrifield's case the letter was dated two weeks before Ricketts had actually died. Merrifield's friend Mrs Jessie Brewer testified that three days before Ricketts died Merrifield had told her "We are landed. We went to live with an old lady and she died and she's left me a bungalow worth £4,000 ... It was all left to me, until that old bugger got talking to her and then it was left to us jointly ... I made everything all right. It cost me £2. 2. 0d to get a Doctor to prove she was in her right mind."[11] Under cross examination Brewer was adamant that these conversations had placed the death of Ricketts in the past tense.[16]

Elizabeth Barraclough who "was a complete stranger" to Louisa testified that while waiting in a bus queue Louisa had told her that "she was very worried because she was looking after an old lady who was very ill" and after returning the previous day had found "her husband in bed with the old lady, and was messing about with her and this had got her vexed". She is quoted as having said "If this goes on again, I'll poison the old bugger and him as well... She's leaving me the bungalow between me and my husband, but he's so greedy he wants it all on his own."[17]

Professor J. N. Webster was called as an expert witness on behalf of the Merrifields and he stated that in his opinion Mrs. Ricketts had not died from poisoning but from the necrosis of the liver. However, the damage was already done and after deliberating for just six hours the jury found Louisa Merrifield guilty of murder. The judge described her crime "as wicked and cruel a murder as I ever heard tell of." The jury were unable to reach a verdict on Alfred Merrifield who the judge described as a "tragic simpleton"[18] and he was acquitted and eventually released from prison.[8]

The evidence against the Merrifields was largely circumstantial but what little there was had been exacerbated by Louisa's actions and her boasts of an inheritance while Ricketts was still living. It had been Louisa who had called the doctor to verify that Ricketts was well enough to sign a new will and it was she who had called the doctors out claiming Ricketts was near to death when she was actually just unwell. When Louisa accused Ricketts of bedding Alfred the judge called her "a vulgar and stupid woman with a very dirty mind." If the accusation is true it is more likely that Alfred Merrifield was sexually abusing Ricketts.[18] These incidences were used to demonstrate her guilt but Alfred's innocence. However, Alfred Merrifield had the same motives and opportunities as his wife: it may have been Alfred who had bought the Rodine, it was Alfred who refused to contact the solicitor when Ricketts wanted to write the Merrifields out of her will saying it "was too far for him", and Alfred who refused the doctor admittance to attend on the ailing Ricketts by pushing the dining table against the sick-bed while he ate his lunch.[10]

The anti-death penalty campaigner Violet Van der Elst petitioned the Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe by letter to commute Louisa's death sentence to life in prison. She wrote:

The husband ... posed as a kindly and simple old man, never spoke - and it seemed as if this old man had been made use of by his wife and had been made to do things under her stronger will. This was not true, he was a cunning old man acting a part in court, but if one could judge of the two people, I would consider that the old man was the most guilty ... He never troubles about his wife being condemned to death. He thinks, to look well he will take her a few flowers, but she can see through him and refused to see him.[19]

Days before her execution Louisa and Alfred were reconciled and she was visited in the condemned cell by her husband to whom she said, "Goodbye Alfie. Look after yourself and God Bless."[19][20]

Execution

Louisa Merrifield appealed against her verdict but this was dismissed by the Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe and she was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint assisted by Robert Leslie Stewart at Strangeways Prison in Manchester on the morning of 18 September 1953.[11] On the gallows she refused to remove her glasses when requested. A crowd of several hundred gathered outside the prison to read the official notice of her death. Pierrepoint later stated that the hanging "went very well. She said goodbye to the death cell officers - much better than I imagined."[8] Louisa May Merrifield was the fourth and last woman to be executed at Strangeways Prison[21][22] and the third to last woman to be hanged in the UK.[8] As was the practice, her body was buried in an unmarked grave alongside other executed felons within the prison walls of Strangeways.[20] During rebuilding work at the prison in 1991 following a recent riot the remains of 63 executed prisoners (of which 45 were identifiable including Merrifield) were exhumed from the prison cemetery and cremated at Blackley Crematorium in Manchester. The cremated remains were re-interred in two graves (plot C2710 and C2711) in the adjoining cemetery.[23] In her will she left £45 13s 9d to her son Oswald Ellison, a brickworks labourer.[24]

Following his wife's execution, the "tragic simpleton" Alfred Merrifield suddenly became very astute and continued to live at the bungalow while he fought a legal battle with Ricketts' daughters for a share of its value, gaining one sixth in 1956. He then lived in a caravan and became a regular attraction at Blackpool’s Golden Mile beachfront side-shows billed as ‘The Murderess’s Husband’ talking about his wife and the murder of Mrs Ricketts.[25] He donated some of her clothes to Louis Tussauds Blackpool Chamber of Horrors[1] and was paid £200 for his own waxwork to stand beside hers.[26][27] Alfred Merrifield died in 1962 aged 80.[11] He always maintained he was unaware of his wife's activities and told crime writer Richard Whittington-Egan that "the old bugger" would have poisoned him next for his share of the bungalow.[25]

Her case featured in the television true-crime documentary series Murder by the Sea.[28]

References

1. The chilling stories of the women who were executed at Strangeways - Manchester Evening News 8 October 2017
2. 1911 England Census for Louisa May Highway, Lancashire, pg. 41
3. 1939 England and Wales Register for Louisa May Ellison
4. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 for Louisa Highway (1931)
5. Anette Ballinger, 'Dead Woman Walking: Executed Women in England & Wales 1900 - 1955', PhD Thesis (1997), Faculty of Law, University of Sheffield
6. HO291/330 (p. 22) Public Record Office, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU
7. England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005
8. Louisa May Merrifield - The Blackpool Poisoner - capitalpunishment.org
9. HO29/229 XC2573 Blackpool County Borough Police Antecedents. With respect to her second husband, Louisa had claimed "that she had set the bed so that when he got into it, it would collapse; it did so and the shock killed [him]". Certain newspapers appeared eager to insinuate that these deaths were suspicious. For example the Daily Mirror wrote with respect to Louisa's first husband that "a coroner said it was difficult to determine the cause of death but after a month of laboratory tests, decided his death was due to natural causes." (1 August 1953)
10. David Whyte, David Scott et al, Expanding the Criminological Imagination: Critical Readings in Criminology, Routledge (2007) - Google Books pgs. 81-83
11. On This Day in 1953 – Louisa Merrifield, the Blackpool Poisoner - Crime Scribe website
12. England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005
13. ASSI 52/785 - Statement of George Forjan 28 May 1953. That Sarah had had no food recently was confirmed by the testimony by Dr George Bernard Manning (29 May 1953) who carried out the post mortem and stated that "there did not appear to me to be any food in the stomach"
14. ASSI 52/785 - Statement of Dr Albert Victor Wood 16 May 1953
15. HO291/230 27359. Original letter included in file
16. ASSI 52/785 - Statement of Jessie Brewer 28 May 1953
17. ASSI 52/785 - Statement of Elizabeth Barraclough 28 May 1953
18. HO291/230 Trial Transcript Vol. 11, pg. 12
19. HO29/229 XC2573 Original letter to Home Secretary from Mrs Van der Elst 8th September 1953. Louisa had refused to see Alfred on two occasions. Unperturbed, he told newspapers: "I shall continue to do what I can for her, and I shall write her a cheery letter every day. " (Liverpool Daily Post 10th September 1953).
20. Phillip Jones, Quickly to Her Fate, Google Books, Chapter 25
21. Eddleston, John J., The Encyclopaedia of Executions, Blake (2004) pg. 839
22. http://www.stephen-stratford.com/merrifield.htm
23. Strangeways Manchester: As A Place Of Execution
24. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Louisa Merrifield
25. 'Undone by her Boasts' - People 25 May 2017
26. Lizzie Seal, Capital Punishment in Twentieth-Century Britain: Audience, Justice, Memory, Routledge (2014) - Google Books pg. 69
27. 'Mr Merrifield is Among the Horrors' - Daily Express 2 October 1953
28. Louisa May Merrifield - Murder by the Sea Series 3 Episode 6 - Radio Times