The Murder of PC John Starkins
PC John Starkins, St Michael’s Church St
Albans
(N51 45.187 W000 21.387)
Hertfordshire
County Constabulary was formed in April 1841. It would only be a
few years before the force suffered its first casualty, PC John
Starkins, murdered at Norton Green,
Stevenage in 1857.
Constable
Starkins, a St Albans man, was 25 years
old and had been stationed at Stevenage from 17th
September 1857. On 21st October PC Starkins received instructions from Inspector
Hawkes to keep an eye on Jeremiah
Carpenter, a labourer at Norton Green Farm, and to stop and search
him if possible. Carpeneter was
suspected of stealing from his employer, Mr Edward Horn.
Inspector
Hawkes last saw Starkins at 1pm on Friday 30th October
when he gave him instructions to patrol the area of Norton Green
and to report back at 9pm. When Starkins did not appear Hawkes inquired with the constable’s
landlady, who had not seen Starkins
since 5pm. A witness, Thomas Cooper, had seen a policeman he
thought to be Starkins at Six Hills
railway bridge at 5.25 pm. When
Starkins had not re-appeared the
following morning Stevenage officers, with the aid of volunteers
and dogs, started a search that lasted over the weekend. By Monday
morning extra Officers were drafted in from Hitchin under the
command of Inspector Capron.
At about 11am on
Monday November 2nd PC William Isgate (later Superintendent Isgate at Watford) made the gruesome discover of PC
Starkin’s body in a field known
as Cooper’s Braches. Isgate found
a foot protruding from a pond and below the surface he could see a
hand. He and Constable Wilson pulled the body from the
pond. Its throat had
been cut to the extent that the head was nearly severed from the
body.
Suspicion
immediately fell on Carpenter. At the murder scene there was a lot
of blood, there were signs of a struggle and PC Starkin’s handcuffs and stick were found
nearby. Carpenter denied being in the vicinity and that he had been
at home from 5.30 pm. One of his neighbours, William Shepherd, who
also worked at Norton Green Farm, seemed to think that Carpenter
came home at about 6.10 pm from the direction of Cooper’s
Braches. Further, after Carpenter came home, Mrs Carpenter asked Mr
Shepherd to help get a tree root off Carpenter’s leg which
had fallen whilst he was chopping wood causing Carpenter to limp.
Shepherd was surprised that Carpenter was now in his Sunday best
clothes. William Shepherd’s son pointed out that Carpenter
had had a limp when he came home.
The police now had
a case. Carpenter’s alibi did not hold water and it was
believed that Carpenter’s injuries were inflicted in a fight
with PC Starkins, who caught Carpenter
stealing turnips in the field. Carpenter’s work smock was
later found with several panels cut out. One or two of the panels
were later found with bloodstains, and blood was found under the
handle of the knife.
Carpenter was sent
for trial on 5th March 1858 at Hertford Assizes.
Forensic and medical evidence was given and witnesses were
questioned. At the end of the day the case was circumstantial and
hung in the balance until a PC Quint
took the stand. Quint claimed to have
overheard Carpenter confessing to the murder to a fellow prisoner
whilst being transported in the prison van. The defence refuted
this account, which wasn’t helped by Quint fainting in the witness box, and other
witnesses testifying that the two prisoners were not adjacent in
the prison van. Overall the jury were not sufficiently convinced
and, whilst the foreman expressed the jury’s opinion that
there was great ground for suspicion, a verdict of not guilty was
returned. No one was subsequently charged or convicted of the
murder of PC Starkins.
PC Starkins is buried in St Michael’s churchyard
in St Albans and is commemorated with a headstone.
The Cache
Some degree of
uncertainty exists as to where the pond was. Our Source –
Crime in Hertfordshire
Volume 2 by Simon Walker- has it
at Cooper’s Braches, which we think is correct. On the other
hand a sign board by Stevenage Borough Council places the pond
opposite Norton Green Farm. There is certainly a pond in the
undergrowth, which can still be seen, but it would have been
directly in view of the farmhouse. If Simon Walker is correct the
scene of crime is probably under the industrial estates that border
the A1(M). Norton Green Farm does still
exist and is a listed building.
In view of the
inaccessibility of the crime scene, we have instead placed the
cache on the route that PC Starkins
would have taken from Six Hills to Norton Green on that
fateful night.
In order to locate
the cache you need to answer some simple questions at Norton Green
Farm and a Stevenage Borough Council notice board in Norton
Green.
Norton Green Farm
(N51 53.639 W000 12.882).
There are
A vertical slats on the farmhouse gate.
If you face away from the farm house you will see a pond and a
telegraph pole in the undergrowth opposite. The number of the
telegraph pole is B.
On the way to clue 2 you may like to log the
Painted House waymark.
Stevenage Borough Council Notice Board (N51
53.718 W000 12.871)
There is a
telephone number on the sign, whose digits add up to CD. The number
of times the word “green” appears on the board under
“The Common” on the left is E.
The sum (A+B+C+D+E)
should equal 28. The cache can now be found at
N51 53.(A-B)(A)(D-2*C) W000
12.(A)(E-3*B)(C+B)