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Evelyn Ulla

Age: 37

Sex: female

Date: 8 Jun 1957

Place: Wheatsheaf Public House, 2225 Coventry Road, Sheldon, Coventry

Evelyn Ulla was found dead on some waste ground behind the Wheatsheaf public house at Sheldon on Whitt Monday, 10 June 1957.

A 31-year-old Irish man was charged with her murder and tried for her manslaughter but acquitted. However, a year later he was convicted of another murder and sentenced to death and executed.

Evelyn Ulla was found dead on the waste ground near to the Coventry Road beneath an oak tree.

It was said that Evelyn Ulla, who was separated from her husband, had been going out with the Irishman and that the Irishman had been very fond of her. However, it was heard at the trial that he had been heard to threaten what he would do if she went out with other men.

Evelyn Ulla was last seen alive on Whit Saturday, 8 June 1957 and on Whit Monday, 10 June 1957 the Irishman telephoned the police and told them that he had killed Evelyn Ulla. He then took the police to the place on the waste ground where they then found her body.

When a doctor examined her body he said that from its condition that it was evident that she had died, 'many hours previously'.

He said that they had been out on the waste ground and that Evelyn Ulla had complained of being cold and that he had then suggested that she should tighten her scarf and said that he then pulled her scarf up tight and she collapsed.

When the police had gone out to examine Evelyn Ulla's body after they were informed of her death they found that her scarf was lying across her neck but that it was not pulled tight.

It was also heard that the Irishman had later gone back to where her body had been after she had initially died.

The pathologist that carried out the post mortem at Solihull Hospital mortuary on the Monday evening said that Evelyn Ulla died from vagus inhibition, which it was noted was a condition associated with compression of the neck. The pathologist agreed with the defence at the trial that the condition could be caused by an emotional reaction as well as a slight touch, and added that there was nothing inconsistent with the Irishman's story that Evelyn Ulla had died suddenly after he had pulled her scarf tighter.

When he was later asked by the Coroner to explain vagal inhibition, the pathologist said, 'that her death was through 'sudden arrest of the heart's action, due to pressure on vital structures deep in the tissues of the neck'. He added that Evelyn Ulla had not been strangled, but that a nerve in her neck had been crushed when the scarf had suddenly been pulled tight and that that had caused her sudden death.

The Irishman said that they had visited four public houses and that he had had ten pints of beer and had later gone on to the waste ground where Evelyn Ulla complained of being cold. He said, 'I took hold of the scarf she was wearing. I just took hold of it and pulled it tight. She just went out like a light. I stayed with her for 10 minutes calling her name and slapping her face but she just did not answer'. He said that he went back on the Sunday to see her body which he said was still there and decided to give himself up to the police the following day.

When the prosecution addressed the court they noted that the Irishman's defence was that Evelyn Ulla's death was an accident, however, they said, 'If this was true we would have expected him to have gone for help instead of leaving the body there for two days'.

After the Irishman was discharged he said, 'The police would not have been doing their duty if they had not brought this case to be fully investigated'.

However, when the Irishman was later tried for the murder of a man that he had been lodging with, it was noted that the fellow lodger had also been strangled and that the Irishman had suggested that he too had died from vagus inhibition.

The Irishman had been a factory worker and power press operator and had lived in Charles Road, Small Heath, Birmingham.

After the Irishman was acquitted, Evelyn Ulla's inquest, which concluded on Friday 30 August 1957, returned an open verdict.

Evelyn Ulla was formerly of Balsall Heath and had had married an Indian man in 1944 with whom she had lived in Longmore Street, Balsall. However, her husband said, 'She was not living with me at the time of her death. The last time I saw her was about three weeks ago. I do not know where she was living'. At the time of her death Evelyn Ulla was described as being of no fixed abode.

She was also known as Evelyn Williams.

It was noted on Friday 28 June 1957, the day after the Irishman was charged with murder, that the defence had been unable to obtain a copy of the post mortem. Following the remand of the Irishman his solicitor said that whilst he did not object to the remand, he said to 'make it quite clear', that if he did not have a copy of the post mortem examination by the following week that he would be seeking another remand. He said, 'The medical evidence will be of considerable importance. From my own knowledge and from information given me by medical men it is absolutely essential that we should have a copy of the report'. He added that he had unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a copy from the Coroner as well as the prosecution and didn't know why that was and added that he felt that it was 'unfair' that the report had been made available to the prosecution and not the defence.

Although the Irishman had been initially charged with the  murder of Evelyn Ulla, the magistrates had refused to commit on that charge and so he was committed on the charge of manslaughter.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Daily Mirror - Friday 04 July 1958

see Northern Whig - Wednesday 12 June 1957

see Birmingham Daily Post - Friday 28 June 1957

see Birmingham Daily Post - Friday 30 August 1957

see Coventry Evening Telegraph - Thursday 04 July 1957

see Birmingham Daily Post - Thursday 25 July 1957