James Faraday Judge

James Faraday Judge was found dead in a cloakroom cubicle at Newcastle Railway Station on Wednesday 26 October 1955.

The pathologist that carried out his post mortem said that his death was due to his lungs filling with fluid, but said that there was nothing to explain the fluid. The Coroner returned an open verdict stating that, 'The cause of death was fluid in the lungs and I have insufficient evidence to show what caused it'.

A policeman that saw his body shortly after he was found said that James Faraday had been fully dressed and that there were no signs of any box, package or bottle in the cubicle to indicate that he had taken any drugs.

He said that there were indications that James Judge might have taken a toxic substance, but added that the evidence about that was not sufficient for him to say that that was the case.

James Judge was an engineering inspector and a trade unionist and had lived in Sandringham Avenue in Benton, Newcastle.

Although James Judge had not been to see a doctor, his inquest heard that James Judge had recently been suffering from what was understood to have been a heart condition and shortness of breath if he ran.

It was also heard that James Judge had left home for work on the Monday and Tuesday and later returned on each respective night, but it was later found out that he had not in fact gone to work. However, it was not known what he had done on those days and an appeal was made for anyone that might know to come forward.

His wife said that on the Monday they had overslept but that James Faraday had left home after lunch leaving her to think that he had gone off to work.

She said that on the Tuesday morning James Faraday had told her that he was going to Blyth, saying that she understood that to mean that he was going there on his employer's business. She added that when he later got home on the Tuesday night that he had seemed quite happy.

His inquest heard that there was nothing to cause him any worry, either at home or at work.

However, his immediate superior at work, the chief inspector, said that James Faraday failed to arrive for work on the Monday, Tuesday and the Wednesday and no messages were received from him on the matter. The chief supervisor said that James Faraday was not often absent from work and was ordinarily of a happy disposition. He described him as an efficient worker and an active trade unionist.

James Faraday's superior noted that he had not sent James Judge to Blyth on the Tuesday.

The Coroner said, 'It is a mystery where Judge was on Monday and Tuesday and the whole thing strikes me as being a little bit odd. We would like to know where he was and what he was doing on those two days when to all intents and purposes he was missing. There must be people who were in contact with him somewhere. If there was anyone who was in his company at any time during those two days I would like them to come forward'.