On the 17th of January 1950, 23 year old Mary Victoria Longhurst and her four year old daughter, Patricia, moved into a bedsit at 26 King Street in North Shields. Mary seemed to have several boyfriends, the latest one being 23 year old George Finlay Brown whom she met in February 1950.
Brown lived with Mary for a few weeks, moving out in early March. Benjamin Hedley and his wife also rented a bedsit in the house, immediately below Mary’s and came to know Mary and Brown and got to recognise the sounds of his voice and footfall.
On the 9th of March Mary and Brown were arguing in the street but made up and Brown spent the night with her. On Friday the 10th of March a further argument broke out after Mary told Brown that she had a new boyfriend, Frank Dougal Boucher. Mary went to the police and lodged a complaint against Brown. Constable Gordon Cowie cautioned Brown and suggested that he stay away from Mary for good.
Around 10.50 pm, Benjamin Hedley heard footsteps on the stairs leading to Mary’s apartment followed by shouts and screams and then a person descending the stairs. He recognised the sounds as those of Mary and Brown. He called the police who broke down the door and found Mary dead from strangulation with twine and poor little Patricia cowering beside her mother’s body.
At 1.05 a.m. the following morning the police called at Brown’s mother’s house where he was asleep. Brown gave a statement as to his whereabouts on the Friday night but denied any involvement with the murder. Inspector Graham noticed a light coloured thread near the turn-up of Brown’s trousers and removed it for forensic examination. It was later found that this matched a sample from Mary’s bed quilt. Brown’s alibi for the Friday night could not be corroborated.
Brown was tried at Newcastle before Mr. Justice Morris on the 30th and 31st of May 1950. It took the jury just 30 minutes to reach a guilty verdict. His appeal before the Lord Chief Justice and justices Humphreys and Parker was dismissed on the 26th of June.
He was hanged at Durham on Tuesday the 11th of July 1950 by Albert Pierrepoint and Harry Kirk. The case records remain sealed until 2026.
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