Cambridgeshire Murders by Alison Bruce

the day in a hay field sleeping off his hangover and had known nothing of the murder until his mother had told him when he returned home in the evening. He swore that he had invented the original story to protect himself from the villagers, who he was sure would try to blame him.
    Slade was arrested and very soon a body of largely circumstantial evidence began to accumulate against him. The first villager to come forward was Peter Sabey, an old man who lived in a cottage opposite the rectory. Sabey claimed that he had seen a person climbing over the rectory wall at about three in the morning, and, despite the darkness at the time, asserted that the man’s general appearance and distinctive gait led him to believe it was Joshua Slade.
    An examination of Slade’s clothes, revealed blood on the inside of the coat, and the shoes perfectly matched the footprints that had been found in the tunnel.
    Another local employee volunteered that he had heard Slade saying he would murder Waterhouse and that he had keys to the rectory. Further investigation revealed that a few weeks before his death Waterhouse had been robbed during his sleep, losing approximately £2 and a pocket watch. Waterhouse had immediately suspected Slade and his sister, who had been an employee at the time and whom he immediately dismissed: it was this event that had prompted Slade to threaten Waterhouse.
    Joshua Slade’s family was not held in high regard in the village and a warrant was issued allowing the search of his parents’ home. This was an attempt not only to prove Joshua’s guilt but also to see if there was any evidence that might implicate his parents. It was noted that the house boasted a range of foodstuffs inconsistent with the family’s lack of legitimate funds, but a far more interesting discovery was a cleaver stained with blood and matter that appeared to contain grey hairs. The magistrates arrested Slade’s mother and father. Probably prompted by this event Joshua’s brother John handed himself over to the police on the following day, admitting his robbing spree with Joshua and Heddings.
    A warrant was issued for Heddings’s arrest but he had already fled. On Monday 9 July 1827 a public examination took place in the Town Hall. Peter Sabey confirmed his statement that the person he had witnessed was Joshua Slade and the surgeon verified that he had found blood on the defendant’s clothing. On Thursday Mr and Mrs Slade and their sons, John and Joshua, were charged with a string of burglaries linked to the items found in their home. John and Joshua confessed to these crimes, stating that Heddings was an accomplice. They were committed for trial at the assizes, while their mother and father were charged with having received stolen goods.
    Late that same evening, Heddings, who had hidden in a hovel for the previous four days, handed himself in to the house of correction. He admitted burglary to Mr Sweeting and stated that Joshua Slade had confessed to him that he had murdered Joshua Waterhouse. Given Heddings’ known bad character it was decided that his statement should be heard in the council chamber and in the presence of Joshua Slade. At one o’clock on Monday afternoon, Heddings made the following statement :
    On Wednesday night after the murder, I saw Joshua Slade on the turnpike road in Little Stukeley, near nine o’clock. The inquest was then over. I jogged him on the elbow, and called him on one side, and asked him what he thought of this concern. He said, ‘I don’t know.’ I made answer, ‘Damn it, how came you to lay hands on him?’ He said, ‘I was forced; I was in the low kitchen, plundering; Mr. Waterhouse catched hold of me; I drew my knife, and began to stab him where I could; he then called out ‘murder’, and I got him down on the floor, and got a weapon, with which I hit him a hard blow on the face, and knocked him down; then I hit him several