Blackpool Sandhills and a Murder
Today I visited an old playground of mine at Southern end of Blackpool.It is difficult to apprehend the size of theses hills from photo,s I have taken,however, they go back a long way and are full of steep valleys as a young person hide n seek was a regular game and as we grew older a bit of a kiss and cuddle would be the order of the day from what we thought was away from public viewing.The flat beach leading from the hills is used for world class sand yacht racing and is fairly solid and goes for miles without bumps etc.Piers were common in the earlier years of Blackpool history and a dip in the Ocean (Irish Sea) was thought to be very therapeutic,sadly St Annes piers are in decline and the once mighty jetty has been permanently separated from the pier (illustrated) Whilst researching the Dunes history I came across a murder that was committed in 1919 and makes for an interesting read and I have plagiarized the below story
On Christmas Eve 1919, what the Lytham Times referred to as “The fashionably attired body of a beautiful woman” was found by John Edward Gillett who was walking on the shore on the Sandhills about two hundred yards north of the Manchester Convalescent Home off North Drive.
This was the body of Kathleen Elsie Breaks (see picture from the St Annes Express) of Bradford – the face and head werecovered in blood and there were signs of a struggle. Subsequent to the discovery of the body two children stumbled across a revolver in the dunes which contained four spent cartridges and two unused bullets. Although it was initially thought that the victims’ wounds were caused by stabbing further investigation showed that they were in fact gunshot wounds and one bullet was found in the body.
Frederick Rothwell Holt from Fairhaven, a former lieutenant in the Lytham Company of the 4th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, Territorials , was arrested late on Christmas Eve and charged with the murder by Acting Detective Inspector John Sherlock on Christmas Day. After the breakdown in Mrs Breaks marriage she had formed a relationship with Frederick Holt having
first met him as a member of a party visiting a Blackpool hydro where Holt was being treated for injuries sustained whilst serving in the Army.
The trial attracted a great deal of media attention locally, nationally and internationally. Holt was defended by the mercurial and occasionally brilliant Sir Edward Marshall Hall who had made a career out of cases such as this, indeed the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography claims that “few sensational cases seemed complete without him”. Sir Gordon Hewart, the Attorney-General at the time, acted for the crown.
The court proceedings lasted for five days and the court heard of the passionate letters exchanged between Holt and Mrs Breaks, the claims of Holt’s insanity and details of wills and life insurance policies. On 28th February 1920 a huge crowd assembled outside the Manchester Assize Court on in the hope of gaining
admittance to the final stages of the proceedings of the trial of Rex v Holt. Ultimately Holt was sentenced to death and a subsequent appeal failed.
Holt was hanged at Strangeways Prison Manchester on 13th April 1920 by the public hangman John Ellis. A crowd of 1,000 assembled outside the jail many of whom appeared to sympathise with Holt. The Evening Chronicle of the day commented that, Judging by the expressions in the crowd , the sentiment of all that hushed throng was one of pity for the doomed man”. Commenting on Holt himself, the paper said that, “…….he walked calmly to his death ; he lived almost unperturbed the last few days of his life, eating and sleeping well…………………….he died making no confession of his guilt”
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