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George Bernard Malvin

Age: 70

Sex: male

Date: 24 Sep 1961

Place: Dudley Street, Walsall

George Bernard Malvin died following a car accident, however, the car involved drove off and was never traced.

He was found lying in Dudley Street, Walsall with severe injuries around 10.25pm after which he was taken to the Manor Hospital in Walsall where he died.

George Malvin was a retired bricklayer's labourer and a widower and had lived with his son in Wednesbury Road in Walsall.

George Malvin's son said that on the night of 24 September 1961 that he had been in the Green Man public house with George Malvin but that when he looked for him at about 10.25pm to accompany him home that he couldn't find him.

He said that he went home alone but that shortly after he arrived home a friend told him that George Malvin had been found lying in Dudley Street injured.

A woman that had lived in Windsor Street in Walsall said that she had been walking along Dudley Street at about 10.25pm when she saw a man lying in the gutter. She said that she then stopped the driver of a car and George Malvin was taken to hospital.

A man that had been with the woman said that George Malvin had been very unsteady on his feet and had suffered from chest trouble.

A woman who lived at 79 Dudley Street, Walsall, said that she had been in her house when she heard a bump and then the sound of a car moving off.

The driver of the car that the woman had stopped, a fruiterer and grocer  that had lived in Riders Hayes Lane in Pelsall, said that George Malvin had been lying in an unlit part of the road and said that if the woman had not stopped him that he would have driven over George Malvin.

He added that when he approached the woman and George Malvin that he saw brake lights ahead of him at the 'Halt' line at the junction of Dudley Street and Caldmore Road as he approached.

A forensic scientist that examined the man's car said that he was satisfied that it was not the car that had struck George Malvin.

The pathologist that examined George Malvin's body said that he died as a result of shock following severe injuries to his chest and right arm. He added that George Malvin had many abrasions and fractures to different parts of his body, including eight broken ribs and added that tests showed that George Malvin had drunk the equivalent of seven pints of beer.

He said that his injuries were consistent with him having been hit by a car an noted that a rip in the back of George Malvin's jacket suggested that he had been dragged by the vehicle because of a protruding part of the vehicles underside.

When the Coroner summed up he described the case as an unfortunate and difficult one, noting that an extensive police inquiry and radio appeal had failed to bring to light any new information and that the driver of the car was still unknown.

He said, 'All the facts suggest that he was knocked down by a car while crossing the road, but in what circumstances we do not know’. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death and said, 'We are satisfied that Mr Malvin received his injuries as a result of a car accident, but there is insufficient evidence to determine how'.

The jury also suggested that an extra street lamp should be sited in Dudley Street in such a position as to illuminate the large dark area in which Mr Malvin sustained his fatal injuries.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle - Friday 08 December 1961