Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around Chesterfield by Geoffrey Sadler

Author:Geoffrey Sadler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRUE CRIME / General
ISBN: 9781473828681
Publisher: Wharncliffe
Published: 2013-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The Sanguinary Conflict 1870

In the rural areas of North Derbyshire, sheepstealing was a constant problem to local farmers, and to the police officers investigating the thefts. Regarded as a serious crime, it still carried the penalty of a severe prison term, but this did not diminish the activities of the thieves. Usually local men, their knowledge of the country was often better than that of their pursuers, and the threat of prison made them more likely to resist arrest. Efforts to apprehend sheepstealers led to frequent scuffles, and sometimes the violence got out of hand. An incident close to the Cliffe Wheel Dam at Sothall, near Beighton, involved one of the leading figures of the Derbyshire Constabulary, and almost cost him his life.

During the winter of 1869-70, the area around Eckington was hit by a major outbreak of sheepstealing, and the widespread nature of the thefts suggested that the whole operation was being run by an organised gang. The local police did their best to track down the culprits, but up to February 1870 had not had much success.

The officer in charge was Dennis Gorman, Superintendent of the Eckington Division. As a sergeant, Gorman had investigated the Ashover murder in 1857, and although no conviction was secured, he evidently impressed his superiors. In the years that followed he had risen to Inspector at Clay Cross, and after a brief period of service at Chester had returned to take on senior rank in Derbyshire once again. Intelligent, well-read and articulate, devoutly religious, Gorman was also determined and thorough, with a fearless, combative nature. If any fault could be held against him, it was that sometimes he was too brave for his own good. On the morning of Tuesday, 22 February 1870, the butchered carcass of a sheep, whole but for a few missing joints, was found under some bushes near the Cliffe Wheel Dam at Sothall, a hamlet just south of Beighton. This area is now in South Yorkshire, but up until the 1960s was part of Derbyshire, and came within Superintendent Gorman’s Eckington Division. On hearing of the discovery, he attended the crime scene in person, accompanied by several other officers. Having studied the ground and the carcass, Gorman decided that the thief would probably be coming back before long to collect his ‘kill’. He detailed the other officers to search the area for the poacher or the missing joints of meat, and hid himself in a nearby wood, waiting for his quarry to return.

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