Bertha Nesbit

Margaret Ingram, Bertha Nesbit and Ethel Nesbit were murdered at their home in Byker.

Their throats had been cut.

Margaret Ingram's husband was arrested for their murders but died in prison after throwing himself down some stairs.

The discovery of their bodies was made by Margaret Ingram's husband who was a barman when he returned home with his brother. He had spent the night at his mother's. They had only been married for twelve months.

Margaret Ingram was found with a great gash in her throat lying in a bed in her nightdress whilst Bertha Nesbit and Ethel Nesbit were found in bed in an adjoining room with their throats cut from ear to ear. The children had been in bed lying face down partly covered by the bed clothes.

Margaret Ingram's larynx had been divided and all the blood vessels of the neck had been severed.

The police surgeon that carried out the post mortem said that he saw their bodies at 12.15pm on the Thursday and that he thought that they had probably all died about 12 hours previously.

He said that it would not have been impossible for her to have inflicted the wound herself, but said that it would have been impossible for her to have done so and to have then positioned herself in the position in bed in which she was found, noting that he believed that she had been sleeping at the time she was murdered.

Bertha Nesbit and Ethel Nesbit were Margaret Ingram's children from a former marriage.

Another man was initially detained by the police on suspicion of murder but Margaret Ingram's husband was soon after charged but he committed suicide in prison by leaping down some stairs in a diving position, fracturing his skull.

They were described as occupying a house in a respectable part of Welbeck Road, living in rooms situated to the rear of a shop where they carried on a fish and chip business, the management of which Margaret Ingram was chiefly responsible.

Margaret Ingram's husband was charged with having murdered them between 10.30pm on 4 October and 11am on 5 October 1911. When he was charged, he said, 'That is wrong. That is serious. I was never in the house. I came in at 10.30 this morning and found they were all dead. I saw my wife at 12 midnight. We had a tiff about her extravagance on housekeeping, and I went to my mother's house and stopped the night'.

Whilst on remand he had been taking his exercise under the supervision of a jail warder but afterwards suddenly broke loose and after what was described as a desperate struggle he threw himself down a steel flight of steps into the hall below. When he was picked up his skull was found to be fractured and he died soon after. It was heard that he had been on one of the top corridors with a warder in charge and had asked the warder to be allowed to write a letter to his mother. His request was said to have been complied with and that on leaving the cell to go to the room where the writing materials were he suddenly made a dash for the railing with his hands together in a diving fashion. It was said that the warder had tried to get to him in time but that he had fallen beforehand into the hall below. He died a quarter of an hour later.

The murder weapon was not found.