It was 31st May 1902 when a torrential thunderstorm battered the quiet Suffolk village of Peasenhall. Under cover of a violent storm, a killer struck. The result was two trials which left no one convicted of the crime.
Many historians believe that the murderer was fortunate to escape prosecution; others have offered an alternative theory that exonerates William Gardiner. If not guilty, Gardiner lived with the stigma of a murder he had nothing to do with. If guilty, we can only hope Gardiner was haunted by his actions.
Whatever the truth, an innocent woman died, and this case remains one of the most sensational unsolved crimes in Edwardian England.
