Age: 47
Sex: male
Date: 28 Sep 1923
Place: Weston Marsh, Spalding
David Stancer was found dead in a dyke at Moulton Marsh.
He was found drowned and had a severe wound to his head and his wallet and money were missing.
He had been a fen small holder.
His brother said that David Stancer had lived with him for some time but he had turned him out of the house the previous Tuesday and given him a cheque for £7 10s, in payment for money that he had been lent. The brother said that David Stancer would then have had about £20.
The night before he was killed he was seen in a local pub with a stranger who had later offered to accompany David Stancer home. However, after extensive inquiries the stranger could not be traced.
Whilst at the pub in the company of the stranger David Stancer was seen to have a roll of notes in his wallet. However, when he was found the wallet and the notes were gone.
When he was found he had 9s 4d in his pockets although 15 shillings was also found scattered about the road.
His bicycle was found standing up against some potato sacks on a light railway from which a trail of blood led about 80 yards down to a water course where his body was found.
His post mortem stated that his head wound alone was enough to have caused death but that his death was due to drowning.
The Coroner's jury heard that his death might have been due to a fall in which his bicycle step had penetrated his skull and the jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death By Drowning.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Friday 28 September 1923
see Leeds Mercury - Tuesday 25 September 1923