Editing Leah Charlton (section)

==Child murders==
On 8 May 1890, Leah Charlton's husband Charles returned home and found his wife with her throat cut. Despite her injuries she was able to answer the door for him before collapsing. Mr. Charlton called for his neighbour Jane Roberts to help him, saying "I believe she has cut her throat". Doctors on the scene were able to bandage the wound, saving her life, but found that her vocal cords were almost severed.

On further examination, a more horrific discovery was made. Two of the three Charlton children, four-year-old William Robert and two-year-old Dorothy, were found dead upstairs with their throats slit. A police sergeant was called and passed Leah Charlton a note reading "Did you kill the two children?". Charlton took his pencil, crossed out "two" and wrote "three". The body of one-year-old Barbara Charlton was found upstairs a few minutes later, also with her throat cut. Charlton then wrote a rambling note in which she stated that she was "afraid of the mob, they are all against us, we are strangers. Keys of cashbox, moneybox in the bed where my boy lies". She also wrote that the so-called Wavertree mob "think I am a spy". Charlton eventually confessed in her writings that she had killed all three children before slitting her own throat.

An inquest into the murders was held while Charlton was recovering in hospital. A verdict of wilful murder in all three cases was returned against Leah Charlton. She was charged with three counts of murder, with the defence arguing she was insane. Several medical experts were produced who testified that Charlton was suffering from a "state of melancholia" and was not responsible for her actions. Ultimately, in August 1890, the jury pronounced Leah Charlton guilty but insane. The judge ordered her indefinitely detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure.
[[Category:List]]
[[Category:Female]]
[[Category:Early Modern Villains]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Fate unknown]]
[[Category:Murderer]]
[[Category:Remorseful]]
[[Category:Mentally Ill]]
[[Category:Family of Victim]]
[[Category:Misopedists]]
[[Category:Paranoid]]
[[Category:Suicidal]]