The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane: The Story of the Carr's Hill Murder

Synopsis

A Victorian Murder. A Victorian Madman. A Modern Judgement. Gateshead, April 1866 Five-year-old Sarah Melvin Was Walking Along Split Crow Lane Looking For Her Father When She Disappeared. Later That Night A Couple Walking Home From The Pub Tripped Over Her Body. Sarah Was The Child Of Irish Immigrants Who Had Been Drawn To The North-east In Search Of Work. Poor, Perceived With Prejudice, They Quickly Came Under Suspicion Of Killing Their Own Child. The True Murderer Was A Misfit Whose Social Awkwardness Stopped Him Ever Rising Above Apprentice. He Would Eventually Make Clear Exactly Why He Killed Sarah - And The Reason Would Scandalise The Whole Country, Yet To Him Had A Dreadful Logic. Told Here For The First Time, This Is An Extraordinary Story Of Sexual Deviance And Murder, Offering A Chance To Reassess A Most Unexpected Judgement With New Insight. In Lively, Empathic Prose, Jane Housham Explores Psychiatry, The Justice System And The Media In Mid-victorian England To Reveal A Surprisingly Modern State Of Affairs.