QSR1895/2/5/2

Depositions of Ethel Dunkley of Kempston, Thomas Henry Thornton, upholsterer of Bedford, Sarah Dunkley, wife of Richard Dunkley of Kempston, William Tatman, police sergeant of Kempston and George Butters, surgeon of Kempston. In the case of John Holley, accused of unlawful and indecent assault on Ethel Dunkley

9 March 1895

From: 1895 To: 1895

Ethel Dunkley: at 7pm on Thursday she was playing with some more girls. The prisoner came and spoke to her. He asked her where Mrs Brown lived. She said that she would show him. She went as far as the bottom of Elstow Road and there the prisoner took hold of her hand and pulled her up Elstow Road to the allotment gate. The prisoner pushed her down and laid on top of her. He gave her a sixpence and told her to give it to her mother. A gentleman came and told the prisoner to get up and he took the prisoner to the bottom of Elstow Road. The gentleman told her to follow and wait while someone fetched her mother. Thomas Henry Thornton: an upholsterer living at 25, Howard Street. At about 7.45pm Thursday 7th March he walked around Elstow Springfield and Kempston in the evening. He heard a noise in the ditch on the side of the road from Springfield to Kemspton. He went down the slope and saw a child on her back and a man. The child as crying and he went down to ask what the matter was. The prisoner replied that it was all right. He said that, “it was not all right” and told the man to get up. They went into the road and he asked the prisoner again what he was doing with the child. The prisoner replied, “nothing, it is all right Sir”. He asked the prisoner if he was related to the child and the prisoner replied, “Yes I am her uncle”. He noticed the child’s linen when she was on the grass. He noticed the motion of the prisoner’s hand to the fly of his trousers. They continued on the road when the prisoner told the child to go home and tried to leave. He told the child to remain with him and stopped the prisoner from leaving. They arrived at Kempston and met a man called Curtis who did not recognise the prisoner but identified the child’s name as Dunkley. Curtis left and returned with the child’s father and was followed shortly after by the police sergeant who took the prisoner into custody. [Cross-Examined] When he first heard the noise he could not see from whom or where it had come from. The evening was not dark but the prisoner and the child where in the shade. He could not distinctly see the prisoner until he rose on one knee. Sarah Dunkley: wife of Richard Dunkley and living at Up End, Kempston. When she heard what had occurred on the evening of Thursday 7th March, she went up the street to find her daughter with Mr. Thornton and the prisoner. Her daughter gave her a sixpence. She took her daughter to Mrs. Mayes and found no marks on her linen. The child was 8 years old last February. William Tatman: a police sergeant stationed at Kempston. On the evening of the 7th March he took the prisoner into custody and charged him with attempting to have carnal knowledge with a child under the age of 11 years. The prisoner replied that he has not done anything yet. The prisoner was sober when taken into custody. George Butters: a medical man practising at Kempston. He examined Ethel Dunkley on 7th March and found no marks upon her body. John Holley: “I am not guilty Sir”

item

Dunkley, Ethel,
Thornton, Thomas Henry,
Dunkley, Sarah,
Dunkley, Richard,
Tatman, William,
Butters, George,
Holley, John

KEMPSTON, BEDFORD, upholsterer, surgeon, police sergeant, assault