Age: 55
Sex: female
Date: 30 Dec 1930
Place: Queens Terrace, Isleworth
Annie Lawes was found dead in the bedroom of her flat with her neck broken.
It was thought that she had been dead for two days and had not been seen since Christmas morning.
Her neighbour, who occupied the ground floor of the house, said that he last saw Annie Lawes on Christmas Eve when he helped her to the foot of the stairs because she was drunk adding that she had crawled up on her hands and knees. He said that the next morning he heard her give a sort of drunken groan but didn't think much of it because he had often heard such noises.
The neighbour said that later on he heard the man that she was living with come home and then heard him ask Annie Lawes if she was going to get up but didn't hear a reply. He said then that the man went about the house playing the gramophone as usual. He said that he heard nothing more until Boxing Day when the police arrived and Annie Lawes and the man she lived with were removed.
The neighbour added that the man seemed to be going off of his head during the past few weeks.
The police said that when they went to Queens Terrace at 5.20pm on Boxing Day and that at first they could not get no reply but that the man, who was playing the gramophone, later came down and let them in. The police then asked the man where his wife was and he said 'She is upstairs. She is dead and has been for two days.'. A policeman said that he went upstairs and found Annie Lawes in a sitting position on the floor leaning against a chest of drawers.
The man said that she had come home drunk and fallen down the stairs and that he had sent for a doctor but he had not come.
The Coroner said that there was no evidence to show how her death was caused and an open verdict was returned. He added that he was otherwise quite prepared to accept the view advanced by the Divisional Detective Inspector that she might have fallen onto the chest of drawers when getting into bed.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail - Tuesday 30 December 1930
see Nottingham Evening Post - Tuesday 30 December 1930