Murder Most Foul – July 2018

whole truth. I have had many cases like
this. There was nothing unusual about
the death.’’
The police sergeant and the coroner
could only stare at each other, then
glare at the nurse’s uptilted chin.
When George Jones, the jury
foreman, led the 11 others back into
the court from their deliberations, he
told the coroner: “We are unanimously
of the opinion that the death of the
deceased, Mabel Greenwood, was
caused by acute arsenical poisoning,
as certified. And that the poison was
administered by Harold Greenwood!’’
The verdict was promptly applauded,
several people in court clapping.
Greenwood was arrested at his home
and charged, large crowds booing
and jeering him on his subsequent
appearances. But he was to wait over

four months in jail before the trial

could begin at Carmarthen Guild

Hall. Meanwhile his solicitor engaged

Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC, one of

the most notable advocates of his day.

Opposing Marshall Hall was another

renowned barrister, Sir Edward Marlay

Samson KC.

A

blanket of fog hung over the Welsh

valleys on November 2nd, 1920,

when Greenwood appeared before Mr.

Justice Shearman.

From the first day when Greenwood,

surrounded by mounted police,

was taken in a carriage the short

distance from the jail to the Guild

Hall, he became the object of further

expressions of hatred from the crowds.

But when the details of the

Greenwoods’ home life in Kidwelly

were bared for harsh scrutiny, it was

the prosecution who found that their

case was shaky. Only two witnesses

• Miss Griffiths, who had an axe to
  grind, and Miss Phillips, the “Kidwelly
  Postman” – were prepared to say that
  Greenwood’s first marriage had been
  anything other than harmonious, and
  their testimony was largely hearsay
  evidence.
  It also emerged that Greenwood had

been dependent on Mabel’s money to

keep Rumsey House in funds. His own

income from the law was chancy, even

in a good year. His dead wife, however,

had had between £700 and £800 a

year in her own right. This had enabled

Greenwood to live in the style to which

he had become accustomed. By her

death he had lost the major part of his

income since his wife had been only a

life tenant of her father’s estate. On her

death the income had passed in equal

shares to her children, whose trustees

controlled it. So, instead of Greenwood

having a motive for his wife’s murder,

he’d had a vested interest in preserving

her life.

Sir Edward Marlay Samson made a

request for all witnesses to be ordered

Greenwood with his second wife,

Gladys Jones, whom he married a

few months after Mabel’s death

Margaret Morris, the Greenwoods’

cook who prepared the meal with

which the Burgundy was served

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