Who Killed Little Helen Chester? (1935) | Blackburn
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- #Blackburn #truecrime #cemetery
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Not since 1849 when Frederick and Maria Manning had been found guilty of murder, had a married couple been sentenced to death by the justice system. But 85 years later, on the 17th October 1935, James Henry Mills and his wife, Edith Mills would succumb to the very same fate after being sentenced at the Lancaster Assizes for a murder so brutal and ghoulish in nature, that what you are about to read and hear will ask more questions than it will give answers.
On Sunday, June 30th 1935, little Helen Chester, who was just three years old, had spent the early evening playing with other children near to her home at number 22 John Bright-street, Blackburn. But when she failed to return home, her worried parents, Phyllis and Charles, after searching for her themselves, informed the police and shortly after 8pm, Helen was officially reported as being missing.
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Just a theory, but just because the couple were friendly to children, they may have been something else. We don’t really know what they really did to these kids back then for those treats. Could Hellen have been killed accidentally during some other type of abuse? Children weren’t likely to talk about adults abuse back then and treats were not plenty. Bribery could be used for silence along with fear. Again, just a theory.
My Grandma lived across the road at 25. I have information from what I can remember about what happened. My Grandma was 13 at the time
Hi Donna, if your happy to, I'd be more than interested in knowing more for a follow up video. I don't think we did little Helen any justice when we filmed the story as the weather kind of hindered us that morning. If you wish to contact us, just so emails are being shown here, could you contact us from our website or Instagram or Twitter? Website is www.daysofhorror.com
Chris you said that her body was found without her legs, and the legs were burnt in the fire. Why burn the legs, unless that’s where the injury was. ?
I have just found your channel and am catching up. You and Vicky are doing a wonderful job bringing these poor people to life in telling their stories. Well done!
I live in Australia and I love people’s stories. Thank you for either answering my comments or hearting them. 🩵Love and light.
Thank you Sarah for your kind comments. I see what you mean about the legs... Hope weather lovely on Australia
What a tragic case 😱 the poor little girl. Your knowledge on these cases and research is top notch! Thankyou once again for a great episode 👏🏻
I cannot fathom how the husband literally got off scott free! At the end of the day, the facts show he was most certainly an accessory in disposing of the body. He may also have been the one who killed her? But most definately an accessory in someway. Its an interesting case for sure, but so odd how the solicitors and barristers defending the couple would argue in court that there was no proof as to who killed the young girl! I get that to a point, but considering the evidence found in nearly every room in their house that she was there and that something violent had occurred, plus the fact they found bones and other things, its hard to imagine how they could be let-off (to a point) when a murder took place in their own home.
@@DaysofHorror it’s beyond belief isn’t it! Crazy 😞💔
Just found you on you tube and finding these podcasts absolutely fascinating,thankyou , especially the one of the little girl Helen chester ,so sad and heartbreaking 😪
Hi Gill and thanks for being part of our little 'ol community! This, and all of the stories we have so far covered where little children have been involved is always hard to talk about. Researching them is also not easy most of the time, as having kids of our own I cant imagine how I'd cope if, well, you know what I'm going to say...
Myself and Vickie have grown close to another tale, that of Emily Holland, whose life was taken so early back in the 1870s, as this was the very first story we covered as part of our podcast series on our website, but since then we have come across many other stories of similar nature - Helen Chester being just one.
There are loads more stories coming this year, some we may also be returning too as we have come across more information since covering them last year, so watch this space :)
A fascinating story again thanks. Following on from what you said about James and Edith Mills, they did have two children. One died, I presume in infancy, and John Arthur. John would've been about 36 when Helen was murdered. He'd got married three years earlier leaving the couple, as he was in effect an only child, on their own in the house. Maybe that had some bearing on why they were keen to have children round at their house but it still doesn't make it any clearer as to why those tragic events transpired that day and what occurred afterwards.
Thanks for sharing info on the children. I just never came across their names or any indication they had children of their own.
Great story Chris and Vicky, Well researched and delivered. sad sad stoty
You are the only person covering this case.
We have found quite a lot stories in and around where we live that not many people have written or spoken about. And many of them made bug news back in the day, so it surprises us when we also see very little of them mentioned.
Only just found this channel and it's really good but I've noticed you seem to be in Blackburn a hell of a lot, it sounds there was more murders there than in the whole of England
We live just outside, 15 mins away from Blackburn and there are literally dozens of stories over there. We both work full time, so visiting places further afield has to be planned around work and finances etc We need to book hotels in advance, train tickets if need be, which none of it is cheap. But our aim is to visit other areas, such as Cheshire last weekend, and Cumbria next weekend. We were in London at the start of the year, so we do try to mix things up a bit.
Blackburn and Darwen do have alot we still have to cover, but as Chris said, we have other places scheduled to visit by the end of this year too and instead of using our holidays abroad next year, holding one back to do a road trip of filming for our channel 😊 Thanks Linda for watching and commenting 😊
Such a sad story 😢 always so sad when a child so young is murdered. Plenty of evidence, hammer was found, there was a hole in her skull. Blood in the room. I agree with you both they were both guilty of this atrocious crime. A lot of investigative work done, wonderful story brought to life, thanks for sharing. 👍👍
Her conscious was probably driving her insane, so she dies before Justice was done.
Once again a good story.
Thanks Shirley, horrific story 😢
Another great story. Probably watched around ten episodes today. IM your greatest fan, yet I won't break your legs.
🤣 thanks Dave. Glad you enjoy the videos. We try to mix them up a bit as you can tell, but we have absolutley loads more from Victorian and early 1900s to come 👍😃
Vicki is brill she has lots of great points. The way you tell thses stories is so fitting.
Yes, we do make a good team. Thanks for watching
❤
Imagine the parents of Helen having no explanation as to how or why this happened!
I know, that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. 😢
Poor liitle innocent child. Her family must have lived with grief all they lives. I do not understand with all the evidence how the couple got away with murder. It is disgraceful. Thank you and Vicky for remembering the victims and their families.
I just wish we both knew more about the law and how it all works. A lot of these stories leave us both stumped and with a lot of questions.
Awful isn't it. 😢
If there were always children about why didn’t the police ask them if they had seen or heard anything it’s just strange .
Yes, again nothing documented so can only go off what we found upon researching. Thanks for watching Hannah 😊
I wonder what people would say today about a couple encouraging children to go into their house, especially without firstly telling their parents where they are. Maybe she threatened to tell someone something. As for did they have children hopefully someone who has access to the census can tell us.
Hi, thanks for commenting Bee! From all accounts they did have a son who was not living at home at the time. Would be interesting to know if he maybe passed down the story to his family or if it was kept quiet to prevent future family members from suffering any kind of abuse etc from people.
Yes, it would seem suspect now. I was born in 1973 and it was still normal to go into the homes of other people. I lived on a housing estate when I was 6 and my sibling and I visited lots of elderly couples and a young childless couple. We were welcomed in with tea, squash, biscuits, sweets or cake. It was all very innocent. We also visited people with dogs because we loved dogs. All our friends did the same.
I really don't know what to say about this case, it intrigues me, very strange and suspect.
It certainly is intriguing. I think thats what makes these stories interesting, despite them being a little morbid and disturbing.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome!
I don't really care if it was 100 years ago or today, children shouldn't be encouraged to go into someone's house! I find it weird! Adults entertaining children in their home 🤦 Who knows what was going on! No one has ever invited neighbours children in! It has always been taboo! Unless they had children themselves..
The wife is probably innocent, the husband could be a creep! This little baby could have threatened to tell her mummy! Botched investigation is a given! Cover up is possible! They didn't like child abuse in those days!
The police found her blood splatter in both Edith & James bedrooms, that there would indicate why children were lured to play at their house. Poor baby girl.
Horrific 😢
This little girl was my step grandmothers daughter
Thanks for contacting us. It's such a sad case and one that I guess will always be something of an enigma. What really happened? Who caused her death? Was it accidently? Was it murder? Loads of questions will possibly remain unanswered.
If Helen had been playing with other children just 5 minutes previously why were there no appeals for those children to come forward to see if she had definitely entered the house? There is no evidence that Edith was home alone, she may have declined the walk because she was expecting a visitor? If Helen had an accident surely she would have cried out in pain? Or was Helen lured into the house? As you said there are more questions than answers.
Its a remarkable case and I guess we will never get to the truth. I've read countless newspaper reports from the time, and loads that were written by the reporters who were in court, so a lot was written verbatim from actual witness testimonies etc. Its just so strange that both Edith and James accepted kids into their home but on this occasion, something terrible occurred.
Poor Helen didn't get justice.
😢
I wonder if another child had done it, or she fell and banged her head, children have brittle skulls. Hammers and Mallets aren't the same so the fact they say it could be either tells me the hole doesn't match one or the other so it might have also been neither.
Plausible
❤😢😮 Sir u r 100 💯right they should have been in jail for life and ever it was a accident they cut the body up. They wrapped it in the newspaper in a blanket. Two legs were cut off besides the death sentence you should’ve got handled in a cop is another friends. What was the mother and father saying and all this they should’ve been screaming yelling that they both were guilty. I don’t understand. What did they say in the newspapers everybody in the town feels bad for them because they’re are old people and what did the parents think about this I would have been screaming 😱 guilty guilty guilty rip little girl ❤ 20/24 USA 🇺🇸
Really bezerk. Just seems like a friend of a friend of a friend cover up. Family and police just wanted to sweep it under the table. 🤔
Total agree with your comments Sonia. Horrific story 😢
Their solicitors must have thought it wouldn't do them any favours to go on the stand themselves.
Have you watched that film, or show, I can't remember which it was now, with David Tenent as a vicar? It sounds like a case like this.
He tried to protect his son and it got further and further out of hand.
I wonder if this is how James became involved with the death of Helen? I think it was all the fault of Edith.
I agree it’s bizarre that they didn’t answer for what happened, someone’s child died. Someone knew what happened, they will no doubt answer to a much higher power at the end of their lives. I do believe in divine retribution and I believe that Helen would now be safe in the arms of Jesus.
You're very right, Linda. She is safe with Jesus.
Xxx
I am really fascinated by your emotive reaction to justice being done. Yes she died. From what I can see there was enough to create a doubt if they killed her. The evidence was that he was not there at the time. So he cannot be guilty of assisting his wife. He could only at the very most have assisted in the unlawful disposal of the body. It is rare for murder appeals to be successful so there must be so
Etching you have e missed. Have you read the trial transcripts. Remember the penalty then was death. Therefore there has to be certainty and not emotion and there clearly was not.
As you can tell, we are no knowledge of the law and how the legal system works. We just go off our feelings when doing the videos. But this is what is great about this community, people can explain to us in more detail.
Just came across this story and channel, what a extraordinary sad story.. from what I gathered, my opinion,.. I don't feel like that elderly woman did this crime alone..as u said,a accident occurred, possibly left the little girl unconscious,or after the accident,the woman panicked and smoldered the little girl, waiting for her husband return on what to do.I don't think she would have done the extreme results to the little girl's death, such as the blow, burning,legs being cut off, that was done I feel by her husband.. thank u for sharing, and remembering the victims
Thanks Lisa and welcome on board. It's a strange one, as are many of the stories we've covered. And I honestly don't know what to think regarding who did what and when. I guess we will never know.
Thanks for watching. 😊
I find your channel intriguing and have enjoyed each one. Just one thing ...your quote of Reverend Sober is actually straight out of the bible! Jesus said it first! You should have included that! Matthew 18:6&7
Thanks for mentioning this. Neither of us are religeous so we wouldn't have picked up on that, unfortunately.
Nice One Guy,s
Thanks Jon for watching 😊
It’s seems to upset you that the man and wife were not made to explain. You have to remember that they were innocent until proved guilty. No defendant is required to defend themselves before a court it is up to the prosecution to prove the case. In addition they probably had nothing to do g to say which would have helped their case. It’s very common even today in murder cases for the defendant not to give evidence and to leave it to his counsel to try and create some doubt because that is all that is needed.
I have a bit of a left field theory. What if it was another person who killed her and the couple kept quiet to protect them? If they knew they were innocent maybe they thought they wouldn't be charged if they didn't speak about it. I know they had implements in the shed that may have caused her injury but without there being any evidence on them you can't be sure they were used. I don't necessarily think James being quiet so as not to incriminate his wife means he thought she was guilty but maybe because he didn't actually know so thought it better not to speak just in case. Could debate this for a long time and come up with many different theories. A really perplexing case.
No one gets off free ultimately. All face the perfect and righteous judgement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Xxx
The defendant's are not required to give evidence, they jave the right to remain silent, it's up to the prosecution to prove guilt, the defendant's have to prove nothing. From the evidence you have supplied, there is no evidence to prove guilt of the hubby, not for murder, anyway. If he says, I wasn't there, then the prosecution has to prove that he we was there. It wasn't necessarily a bungled police investigation, it would seem to me that the evidence just wasn't there. It doesn't matter who much evidence you jave, if you can't link that evidence to the defendant, and from what you have said on the video, that link wasn't there imo. I'm sure he was guilty, but thats the justice system.
Good read/comments.
Thanks for watching 😊
'An old couple 62 years of age'!? Not old these days!
I agree! 62 is no age I guess now and people that age are just as healthy as a thirty or forty year-old.
Honestly 62 yes is no age these days, but was back then. As they say you are only as old as you feel. Have a great weekend 😊
Back then, the husband was to be believed and the woman was crazy. He could have spun a tale enough to let her live, they wouldn't hang a crazy person. So sad
It's is, awful what the husbands could get away with. Thanks for watching Deirdre
Beyond sad covered with real respect and thought fullness Big thank you to the both of you.
Thanks for watching and commenting Chris, have a good week from Vickie & Chris 😀
Could it be that they did have a child who had mental problems maybe visiting them who killed Helen and the parents covered up for their own, obviously adult, child. You did say you didn’t know if they had children.
Like where you are coming from with this... 😊