Sarah Annie Child

Sarah Annie Child was found dead on the stairs at her house.

Her husband, who was described as a heavy drinker said that on the Friday night they had gone out shopping together and that whilst out had had a couple of drinks and that on their return he had gone to bed leaving his wife downstairs. He said that when he awoke at about 5.45am that he noticed that Sarah Child was not in bed but that some of her clothes were there and said that when he went out to look for her he found her half-dressed lying huddled up on the middle of the stairs.

He said that he then immediately summoned a constable, but he pronounced her dead when he arrived.

When her body was examined, she was found to have two wounds to the back of her head and the doctor said that they could have been caused by a heavy fall downstairs.

Her neighbour said that she heard Sarah Child and her husband quarrelling on the Friday night and Saturday morning, but her husband denied that they had been quarrelling.

The neighbour said that she heard Sarah Child cry out, 'Lord help me'.

It was also noted that another woman that lived in the neighbour’s house also said that she heard quarrelling.

Her husband was a bricklayer.

An open verdict was returned after the coroner described the evidence as contradictory.