Henry Manning

Unsolved Murders

Age: 19

Sex: male

Date: 29 Mar 1984

Place: A1, Wyboston

Henry Manning died from a single gunshot wound.

However, his inquest concluded that it might never be known whether he had been attacked, shot himself by accident, or committed suicide.

He was found dead at a winter fairground off the A1 at Wyboston on 29 March 1984. He had been a cousin of the wife of the fairground owner. Henry Manning had been a fairground operator.

The fairground owner, who had lived in Sun street, Biggleswade, closed the funfair down for a day as a mark of respect for him.

His body was found by his father.

A single shot had been fired at close range which had entered just under the rib cage and then gone through his body.

A double barrel shotgun was found about 21 yards away in the bottom of a trench. There was a pool of blood nearby. The shotgun had belonged to his father.

A detective noted that there was more blood smeared against the sides of lorries parked in the yard. he said:

It looked as though he had either staggered or crawled to the point where his body was found.

Henry Manning's mother said that the last time she saw her son was the night before when he had come into her caravan for a wash. She said that she thought that he must have gone into their bedroom and then dropped the gun out of the window before coming back into the kitchen.

She noted that Henry Manning had had a row with his father earlier in the day, but stated tat it wasn't serious.

She said:

He had moods but he wasn't depressed. He had everything to live for. He was so full of plans and had so many hopes. I don't think he would take his own life, never.

She said that Henry Manning had never been in interested in guns, but thought that he might have taken it to let off steam.

She added:

I think he might have decided to take the gun and go for a shoot-up. He wasn't the kind of boy who would know how to carry a gun and in the half-light he might have stumbled into the trench.

Henry Manning's father said:

I walked up the yard and I saw the gun case lying over a lorry tyre. I feared the worse. Then I saw the gun in the trench and then found Henry.

When he was asked about the row the day before, he said:

It was something over work. We rowed daily but it was never serious.

The pathologist said:

I cannot rule out that the gun was being carried and he was holding the muzzle against himself, but it seems unlikely. If he was lying or sitting on the ground then the wound could have been caused by a third party firing the gun. I have never seen a self-inflicted wound such as this although colleagues say it is well recognised.

The Coroner said:

There is no way I can be absolutely certain what happened. It is clear that he lost consciousness pretty quickly.

An open verdict was returned at his inquest.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Biggleswade Chronicle - Friday 07 September 1984