Well, now she has. I’m off to Sheffield.
I’ll be back tonight.”
“But you never go out during the
day,” said his daughter.
“Well, I am today,” he said, and left.
Mrs. Hart inquired after Irene at
the shop and was told she had not
been in that day. At 1 p.m. the Harts
searched the house for anything which
might indicate her whereabouts. All
her clothes were still there, all her
possessions were in their usual places,
and a tin containing a few shillings was
still on her bedside table.
Mrs. Hart was about to leave Irene’s
bedroom when she saw that the attic
trap-door was slightly open. Her
husband climbed up and found Irene’s
favourite red dress, a glove and her
handbag. A number of toys that were
normally kept in a green tin trunk
under Irene’s bed were scattered on the
attic’s floor.
Back in the bedroom, Walter Hart
found the tin trunk was in its normal
position. But as he dragged it out to the
middle of the floor he noticed that itseemed very heavy. His wife raised the
lid. A leg flopped out of the trunk and
hung lifelessly over the side. Mrs. Hart
fainted.
The police arrived and Dr. C.F.
Collinson examined the still-warm
corpse. Irene had been strangled with a
rope which was still around her neck.
Part of a Sunday newspaper had been
rolled up and stuffed in her mouth, her
dress and underclothes were missing,
and the doctor said that she’d had
sexual intercourse shortly before her
death.
A hunt was launched for Andrew
Bagley, and Detective Chief Inspector
Thompson and a detective sergeant
arrived from Scotland Yard to lead the
investigation.M
eanwhile Bagley had gone to
Liverpool where he took lodgings
in the name of Arthur Wilson.
On October 6th he moved on to
Manchester, staying there at a mission
hall until October 17th when he left for
Nottingham.
Four days later he was arrested just
a few hundred yards from his brother’s
home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.
The capture was described by
Detective Inspector Healy of the
Hucknall Police in a statement released
to the press: “At 12.40 p.m. today,
October 23rd, 1936, a civilian was in
the public library at Hucknall when
he saw a man there who resembled
Andrew Bagley.“He kept him under observation for
half an hour and then informed Police
Constable Fineham, who was on traffic
duty in the High Street. The constable
went to the library, saw that the man
resembled Bagley, and asked him to
accompany him to Hucknall police
station.
“I saw Bagley at Hucknall, and
I informed him he answered the
description of Andrew Bagley, whoThe Illustrated Police News report
on the discovery of Irene’s body;
right, Armley Gaol, Leeds where
Bagley was taken