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Richard Michael Frost

Age: 21

Sex: male

Date: 16 Mar 1934

Place: Frankley, Worcestershire

Richard Michael Frost was found dead in his garden.

He was the son of the rector of Frankley in Worcestershire.

An attic window, 30 feet above the ground was found to be open and it was thought that he might have fallen through that.

He was found when the rector got home at about 8.45pm, huddled up in the garden in his nightclothes. He had a broken radio aerial lead-in wire round his legs.

Richard Frost had been taken sick shortly after dinner but had soon recovered and had then gone into a room where his sister was and joked about it, after which he then returned to his work. Just before tea he went out to return some books to some friends and then came back for tea as usual.

His father, mother and sister then left the rectory where he lived at about 5pm, leaving him alone in the house.

It was noted that if he had not been sick that he would have gone to a class in Birmingham. However, his mother suggested that he should go to bed instead of the class although Richard Frost had said that he would sit up and listen to the wireless instead.

When the family returned at about 8.45pm, they saw him as they drove up the drive, lying on the garden path underneath the dining-room window in his pyjamas, apparently dead. They said that he was lying in the terrible pool of blood.

They then carried him into the house and telephoned for a doctor and the police.

His father said that Richard Frost's bedroom window was closed at the top and that it was obvious that he had not fallen through that, however, the narrow window of the attic over the bedroom was wide open.

He said that Richard Frost had a lead in wire from the aerial round his legs and the aerial itself was torn down. He also said that the aerial would ordinarily have been on the level with the attic window but not within reach of it. When the Coroner asked Richard Frost's father if he could have reached the aerial with a stick, the father said that he was confident that Richard Frost had not used a stick.

The Coroner then said that if the wire was not within reach of the attic window, it was most difficult to see how anyone could fall from the window and come in contact with it. However, the father said that that was easily explained as the lead-in passed from the aerial into the top of the dining-room window, and he would strike the bottom of the lead-in as he fell.

The Coroner asked the father if Richard Frost would have been in the habit of going into the attic for any purpose and his father said not to his knowledge.

The father said that there was a bed in the attic and that the foot of it was turned to the window whilst the head of it was in its proper position.

He said that as far as he knew, Richard Frost had no worry at all, finanicial or otherwise. However, he did say that he had been subject to fainting fits when he was at school.

No note of any sort was found.

The father said that when he got home there were no lights on and the house was in darkness.

A doctor that examined Richard Frost's body said that he had fractures to the vault of the base of his skull and lacerations to his brain.

A policeman that took measurements of the attic window said that the window was 3ft 10in from the floor of the room and 2 ft wide. He said that the lower sash would move sufficiently to leave an opening 14in deep.

The Coroner said that ordinarily, when a person went up into a room that they were unaccustomed to go into in their pyjamas, one explanation offered itself, however, he said that he could not help feeling that he might be wrong, and an open verdict was returned.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Western Gazette - Friday 16 March 1934

see Hull Daily Mail - Wednesday 07 March 1934

see Gloucestershire Echo - Wednesday 07 March 1934

see Coventry Evening Telegraph - Wednesday 07 March 1934

see Birmingham Daily Gazette - Saturday 10 March 1934