Killing of Julia Wallace — the full case file

Julia Wallace was beaten to death after a hoax call lured her husband away. Julia Wallace was beaten to death in her Liverpool home in January 1931 after her husband William was lured away by a hoax phone call. He was convicted but the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the verdict months later, and the killing remains officially unsolved. In March 1914, William Herbert Wallace and Julia Dennis marry in Harrogate. In 1915, the Wallaces move to Liverpool, settling at 29 Wolverton Street, Anfield. On January 19, 1931, Wallace receives a telephone message at his chess club from a man calling himself 'R. M. Qualtrough' requesting a meeting the following evening. On January 20, 1931, Wallace searches for the nonexistent address 25 Menlove Gardens East; returns home to find Julia Wallace beaten to death. On April 22, 1931, Wallace's murder trial opens at Liverpool Assizes. On April 25, 1931, Wallace is found guilty by the jury and sentenced to death (exact date approximate, jury deliberated roughly one hour after trial). In May 1931, the Court of Criminal Appeal quashes Wallace's conviction, ruling the verdict unsupported by the evidence. On February 26, 1933, William Herbert Wallace dies of uraemia and pyelonephritis at Clatterbridge Hospital. In 1977, a mock trial conducted by the Merseyside Medico-Legal Society again finds Wallace not guilty. In 1981, Roger Wilkes broadcasts a radio investigation naming Richard Gordon Parry as a suspect. In 2001, James Murphy publishes The Murder of Julia Wallace, introducing new police statement evidence regarding Parry's alibi. The case remains unsolved. This case file is kept in memory of Julia Wallace. The full sourced case file, with every fact cited, is at casepin dot org.

Transcript from the video’s narration track. For every source, open the case file.