Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Suffolk by Mark Mower

Author:Mark Mower
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783408450
Publisher: Wharncliffe
Published: 2013-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Report on the death of Sarah Flowers. Lowestoft Journal

Hannah Willingham’s testimony proved to be crucial to the conduct of the inquiry. The coroner’s inquest had pursued the theory that whatever violence had been inflicted on Sarah Flowers, this had occurred at night. The prosecution held that Willingham’s evidence made this assumption untenable and argued that the landlady was dead by six o’clock. Adopting this as probable, the surgeon, Edward Crowfoot, gave evidence that it was quite possible that the woman could have been dragged from the cellar to the chair on which she was sat, to die almost immediately in an upright position. However, he went on to state his belief that the injury to Mrs Flowers’s ribs was sustained before she was moved and she had later fallen off the chair and died on the floor.

When all the evidence had been presented, Mr Dowsett indicated that he had advised his client to reserve his defence entirely. This was principally because the prosecution had suggested a different time of death to that assumed by the coroner’s inquest. Having been duly cautioned, James Flowers was invited to speak. He said that he had urged his wife not to drink that day but she had been drunk that morning and had fallen down a number of times throughout the day. Mr R Dashwood, the chairman of the magistrates, then said that Flowers would be committed for trial and should reserve anything else he had to say. The prisoner responded by saying, ‘I hadn’t an angry word with her at all. She has been going on in this way for years and years – drunk day after day . . . I am innocent of that, so help me God . . . ’

James Flowers’s trial took place at the Suffolk Assizes in November 1880. Leading the prosecution was Mr Gates QC, with Mr Simms Reeve defending the prisoner. When asked how he wished to plead, Flowers said ‘Not guilty’ in a firm, clear voice. The Lowestoft Journal reported later that he ‘appeared perfectly calm and collected’.

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