The Killers Trilogy

by Martin McGregor

  Children who wet the bed were beaten and placed on half rations. If this failed, then they were placed in the stocks, especially designed for children. One child who was three and a half had been taken from his mother. The food made his stomach upset and he messed his bed repeatedly. McDougal thrashed the child with his cane, his force was so severe that he broke the cane on the child’s back.

  The McDougal’s began stealing the provisions for themselves, including the milk that was meant for the children. They also stole alcohol that was meant to be used for medical purposed for the elderly. A twenty year old new mother was placed in the workhouse, her own child was taken way, but she was given two other babies to feed. One of the men who only had one leg, was found to have chewed on candles to calm his hunger.

  Sometimes more than half a dozen girls were stripped naked, just so McDougal could inflict cruel floggings. Other times they were asked to uncover the top parts of their bodies, so the McDougal could strike them with a birch rod on their bare shoulders and waists. He would show no remorse at all for his actions.

  McDougal had scant regard for the dead or the living. An infant child’s body was buried with an old man’s corpse, to save the cost of a coffin. Children born in the workhouse were rarely baptised to avoid the cost Any that then died in infancy were declared to have been stillborn to avoid any further questions arising about their lack of baptism.

  Hannah Joyce, was an unmarried mother. The McDougal’s knew had previously been accused of child murder. While at the workhouse, her five-month child died suddenly. Medical evidence suggested that this was apparently from natural causes. However, a few days afterwards, the McDougal’s presented Hannah with her baby's coffin and forced to carry it a mile on her own to the churchyard for the burial.

  One of the inmates once stole a horse’s leg from the pile of bones in the kitchen. He removed the hair, and then proceeded to eat the flesh raw. It was not long before rumours started to circulate about the cruel acts that were happening in the workhouse. Mr Hugh Munday, whom was one of the guardians of the workhouse, contacted the local M.P who raised the matter in the house of commons.

  The Home Secretary thought the stories to be totally untrue and asked the Poor Law Commission to send an Assistant Commissioner to investigate. This investigation was farcical and botched. In January 1846 Ralph Etwall again raised the matter in the House of Commons and asked for a Select Committee Inquiry. The Andover workhouse had received masses of publicity in The Times newspaper the request was granted and all of the rumours were found to be true.

  Henry Parker, the Assistant Poor Law Commissioner responsible for the Andover union was despatched in order to establish the facts of the rumours. He found the stories to be true. McDougal resigned from his position, for his heinous treatment of the poor, he faced no further punishment.

  Parker recommended the former master of the Oxford workhouse as a replacement for McDougal. When it arose that the man had previously been dismissed for misconduct, parker then became the scapegoat. He was asked to resign by the poor law commission.

  Parker however did not go quietly. He published a pamphlet in his defence, and his cause was taken up by a group of anti-poor law M.Ps. He also found support from William Day, a recently dismissed assistant commissioner, and Edwin Chadwick, who was secretary to the poor law commissioners.

  On the 8th of November 1845, the commissioners accepted the outcry against bone crushing and forbade its further use.

  The Andover workhouse still remains in Junction Road. Today, it has been converted into blocks of flats. At the time, it was described as a place of horror. Some people believed that to be poor was in itself a crime, and that vagrants should be discouraged, by making them work hard. The workhouse was known locally as “The Spike”

  Michael Gifford-Hull

  When Kirsi Pihlajamaki the daughter of Juhani and Leena Pihlajamaki married her husband, Michael Gifford-Hull, they thought it was to be the start of a long and happy life together in England. A stormy 19 years later, it would end in cold blooded murder.

  The couple had two children aged nine and twelve. The relationship had turned sour, and Gifford-Hull had been having sex with two prostitutes. Kirsi found out about this and the couple rowed. They tired marriage guidance, but while undergoing the counselling, Gifford-Hull made a new contact through a dating website.

  Mrs McGeachey told the court how the couple had arranged to meet in the woods, two months before his wife was murdered. Gifford-Hull told her that he was enduring a bad time at home. They went to a seclude spot, and the couple then had sex. His wife had called him on the telephone, and she could hear his wife shouting and swearing. He had previously taken his son to the spot and they had camped there together.

  Kirsi then just disappeared.

  He told the couple’s children that their mother had walked out on the family, and then he reported her missing to the police. He later took part in a televised appeal, begging for the safe return of his wife. He cried ‘crocodile tears’ during the appeal. A dog walker came across the decomposing body of his wife, and he was then arrested.

  The day after the alleged murder he sent an email that read. "Hi babe, well my weekend hasn't been boring. Friday evening went rather badly. We had a big row – it was a discussion about where our marriage is going.She slept the night on the sofa and I went to bed. In the morning she was gone. She's got her phone and quite a lot of money. I don't know what tomorrow will bring."

  After their visit to the woods he sent one asking: "How is my forest nymph?"

  In another email he said that he was worried that his wife may have found out about the mobile phone he was exclusively using to contact Mrs McGeachey. He referred to his wife as ‘The Gestapo’, and that if he was caught, he would be shot.

  Gifford-Hull had in fact strangled his wife. He had then thrown her body from the window, and had then hidden her body in the family garage. Later he removed the body and buried it in shallow grave in woodland at Micheldever.

  Gifford-Hull soon admitted the killing, and admitted he had made up the story about her disappearance. He was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court, a day after the jury had spent ten hours deliberating, and then had found him guilty of murder.

  As the majority verdict of 10 to 2 was read out, Gifford-Hull showed no emotion at all. There were cries of joy with shouts of ‘yes’ from the public gallery. Judge Guy Boney QC sentenced Michael Gifford-Hull to life and that he would spend a minimum of 15 years and 332 days behind bars.

  Juhani and Leena Pihlajamaki fought back tears as they finally saw justice for their youngest daughter. As the jury in the six-week trial delivered their verdict on Gifford-Hull, the couple clasped hands, and said: "There is justice."

  They said: "As long as we live we will never forgive the man who took our daughter from us."

  John Bodey

  In 1762, the marriage of the prisoner Jean Drouett to Elizabeth Adkins, would lead to one of the darker moments in English history. For it would lead to the birth of John Bodey, a man who would become a postmaster in France, and would deny Queen Elizabeth 1st as head of the church. He would pay the ultimate price for his denial.

  After studying at Winchester college, and then becoming a fellow at New College Oxford in1568 he then converted to Catholicism . He then studied civil law in France in 1576, deciding to return to England in 1578. It is possible that he married around this time.

  He was arrested in 1580 and he was kept in Winchester gaol shackled in irons.

  In April of 1583, he was condemned along with a schoolmaster named John Slade, the charge was of maintaining the old religion and denying the Royal Supremacy. The act of supremacy was passed in November of 1534. It was an act of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII. He had declared that he himself was

  “The only supreme head on Earth of the Church in England” And that the English Crown shall enjoy

  "All honours, dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authoriti
es, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity.”

  The wording of the act made it quite clear, that parliament were not granting the title to the King, and therefore they would later have the right to remove the title, but rather that it was stated as a recognised fact.

  In 1521, Henry was declared Defender of the faith by Pope Leo X, after he had accused Martin Luther (a German priest), of heresy. Parliament conferred the title to Henry in 1544. The English reformation act was made official in 1534, allowing Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled.

  King Henry VIII had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, but Pope Clement VII was still refusing to grant the annulment, because of Catherine’s relationship with the Holy Roman Emperor. The treason act was then issued vowing that to disavow the Act of Supremacy and to deprive the monarch of his dignity, title, or name, was to be considered as an act of treason.

  There was strong feeling that the original condemnation of John Bodey, was both unjust and illegal. While in gaol, he communicated with Lawrence Humphrey the Dean of Winchester. A second trial took place in Andover in August 1583, and once again he was condemned on the same charge.

  Whilst awaiting his fate in gaol, he wrote to Dr. Humphrey Ely. He already seemed to have accepted his fate when he wrote

  "We consider that iron for this cause borne on earth shall surmount gold and, precious stones in Heaven. That is our mark, that is our desire. In the mean season we are threatened daily, and do look still when the hurdle shall be brought to the door. I beseech you, for God's sake, that we want not the good prayers of you all for our strength, our joy, and our perseverance unto the end. From our school of patience the 16th September, 1583."

  Bodey’s sentence, was barbaric, he was to be hung drawn and quartered in the 2nd of November 1583. This sentence, is far more horrific then it sounds, although there are numerous different explanations of this sentence, it involved numerous painful acts.

  The prisoner was dragged to the place of hanging. They were then hanged by the neck for a short period of time, not long enough for the body to expire. The prisoner then had organs and the bowels removed, also the genitalia and entrails were removed and burned before the unfortunate victim’s eyes.

  The victim was then beheaded, and the body was then cut into four quarters. The body parts would then commonly be displayed in different parts of the town. This barbaric act was not abolished until 1870.

  When faced with his executioners, Bodey kissed the halter, he exclaimed:

  “O blessed chain, the sweetest chain and richest that ever came about any man's neck"

  He was then told he died for treason, to which he replied:

  "You may make the hearing of a blessed Mass treason, or the saying of Ave Maria treason, but I have committed no treason, although, indeed, I suffer the punishment due to treason"

  He begged those present, to obey Queen Elizabeth and his last words were:

  "Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus”

  (Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, be to me Jesus).

  Upon his death, his mother made a great feast. She exclaimed that her son’s death was a happy death. She asked them to rejoice as that now his soul was now happily and eternally espoused to the Lamb.

  Bodey’s death was not in vain. After his death he became a martyr and he was subsequently beatified in 1929. He remains one of Andover’s most famous, yet commonly unknown victims.

  So we come to the end of the book. As you can see, Andover and its surrounding villages hold many dark tales of murder most foul. It now sends a shiver down my spine as I walk down some of these roads. I have walked them since I was 7 years old. I never knew the horrors that lay beneath the surface, as they were not spoken of.

  Most of these murders are still not spoken about today. Whether it is a conspiracy to hide these horrors from young ones ears, or a deliberate attempt to gloss over the blood spilt, and keep the Towns image untainted.

  Maybe it is just something to do with the name of the town? I did find doing this research, that time and time again, the mention of murder and Andover went hand in hand. The strange thing is, there is also another town called Andover.

  Andover is situated in Ohio, America. It has experienced numerous cases of recent murders, especially amongst the young. Andover in Hampshire has a population of 52,000, Andover Ohio, has a population of 31,247.

  Andover in Ohio, is also famous for the Salem witch trials, where two courts convicted 29 people for the capital crime of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused, fourteen women and five men, were hanged. One man, name Giles Corey, refused to enter a plea. He was crushed to death under heavy stones while attempting him to force a plea.

  Both are considered safes places to live with low crime rates.

  I have tried to be sensitive to the families of the deceased, as some of these murders were very recent. If in my attempt to uncover the truth I have offended anyone living or dead, I can only offer my sincere apologies, and my prayers for forgiveness for those who took the lives of others, and offer my deepest sympathies for your losses.

  There may be the odd inaccuracy with some of the dates or spellings of names, these records do fade over time, so it isn’t always easy to find the information that you need.

  The Curse Of New Hampshire, And The Salem Witch Trials.

  In August 2010 I published my first non fiction book. It was called The Town that God Forgot (it is still available on smashbooks). It was during the research for this book I noticed, that time and time again another place called New Hampshire kept popping up ( I did hint at this at the end of the last book). Well I decided that this was worth some further investigation.

  So, here I am on a Saturday afternoon, when I should be resting from my day job, about to embark on a new journey. The path seems to have been trodden a few times before, but this is a new journey of discovery for me. The main attraction for me, was a little place called Salem.

  If you a child of the 80’s like me, then the word Salem may conjure images of vampires, largely thanks to the efforts of Stephen King. In fact it is better known for the Salem witch trials of 1692. This is where I shall begin my journey, but my account of Murders in Andover, Massachusetts. This is another Hampshire. I have been left thinking to myself, Is the name of this place cursed? There certainly seems to be echoes of the Devil hard at work here.

  Thanks to: Google, Wikipedia, Maine Sunday Telegram, Peace for the missing, Facebook, Smashbooks. Smithsonian Magazine, Boston News, IMDB.com, wbztv.com, unionleader.com, activemostwanted.com, coldcasecenter.com, Yahoo, Altavista, The Andover Advertiser.

  Contents

  The Salem Witch Trials

  Alexander Stolte

  The Dartmouth Murders

  Melanie Melanson

  Pamela Smart

  Kathy Gloddy

  The Murder of Dr. William Dean

  The Connecticut River Valley Killer

  Sivaguru

  Middle School Animal Cruelty Case

  Kimberley Cates

  This second of the three books is dedicated to my four sons,

  Nicholas, Christian, Jordan and Owen.

  I love you all.

  Follow your dreams, always do everything to the best standard that you can love your wives and children for they are what make you whole.

  Never let the zeroes bring you down.

  Love you always, Dad x.

  A special thank you also to: My long suffering wife Sarah, Mum, Brother Wayne John Proudfoot, Michelle, Stuart, Katie, All at Le Creuset for their continued suppot. All those who bought the first two books, Alan ‘Baggy’ Batchelor, Rebecca, Steve, Karl, all those who have supported me on Facebook. To the other loves of my life Liverpool F.C.and Duran Duran. To anyone I may have forgotten, the memory fades with time so please accept this as my apology.

  I would also like to thank those who got me into this in the first place. A special thank you to:

  Stephen King

  James Herbert

  Shaun Hutson />
  Dean R Koontz

  Sam Raimi

  John Carpenter

  Anthony Hopkins

  Thanks for the nightmares, you have made my life a little more tense, but I wouldn’t have given you up for the world.

  The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

  The story begins in June 1692. It ends with one of the most unjust and inhumane mass killings in American history. Nineteen people would meet their deaths by hanging. Another would be mercilessly killed, in an even more barbaric manner.

  John Putnam was one of the most influential elders of the village of Salem. He invited a man named Samuel Parris, to preach in the village church. Parris was a successful farmer and merchant in Barbados. It took a year of strong negotiations, but after deciding on his salary, Parris relented and accepted the role as the village minister.