This unsolved, brutal murder happened in a sleepy, secretive village hidden in the heart of rural England. Apparently motiveless, folklore and legend have linked the killing of Charles Walton to witchcraft and satanism. His body was found lying – some say ritually posed – in the shadow of Meon Hill, an Iron Age fort. As detective Jacques Morrell and reporter Simon Ford discover, an area cloaked in the supernatural, mixed with a deep-seated mistrust of outsiders.

The Six O’clock Knock is a Psycho Killer production.

Transcript
[Music] This podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting on valentine's day in 1945 a brutal murder took place which remains unsolved 75 years on now this murder isn't some gangland killing where people are afraid to speak out and it isn't a domestic crime of passion where the suspect got off on a legal technicality no it's not a tragic death where the actual case is in doubt or open to interpretation it is a savage and brutal murder with no apparent motive not only that it occurred in a sleepy village in the heart of England if that isn't enough to get you interested then let's throw in some local folklore and superstition with stories of witchcraft all right let's find out some more about the location lower Quinton is a small and unassuming Warwickshire village just six miles from Stratford-upon-Avon according to the 2011 census the population of the two villages in the parish was under two thousand it lies on the heart of England way a long distance walk of around 160 kilometres through the midlands of England sounds like a beautiful setting to visit spend a few hours doesn't it well it is actually yeah but it does have as we will find out Jacques a sinister episode in its past indeed English villages like this aren't complete with at least one ancient pub oh yes and a medieval church and we're outside since St Swithin’s right now if you visit Lower Quinton you will notice the imposing plateau of Meon hill Meon hill is 190 meters above sea level and is visible above the farms and villages in the area while it's not that high and has fields and hedgerows on the slopes it has an odd look that makes it stand out so anyway that's the ancient history if you like let's talk about the more recent and more sinister history of lower quinton Jacques tell me a bit more about this spooky place yeah thanks Simon having learned the introduction and the history of this uh this area let's bring ourselves more up-to-date to 1945 and the events that took place at fern's farm on the slopes of Meon hill it's a case that's even baffled the former Scotland Yard detective of the era chief inspector Robert Fabian so Wednesday the 14th of February 1945 the second world war had been raging for over five years and the war had obviously taken its toll on the country even in quiet farming communities like lower quinton the farms were providing essential food for the people but farm workers were obviously in short supply most young men were serving in the armed forces and women were taking on the roles usually done by men Edith Walton was 33 years old and lived in a small cottage with a 74 year old uncle named Charles Walton Charles was an agricultural worker and that lived at lower quinton all of his life in fact he'd occupied the cottage at 15 lower Quinton since world war one he was a widower his wife had died in 1927 and they had adopted Edith from the age of three after her mother had died Edith’s father Charles’s brother was still alive and lived at 30 Henley street in nearby Stratford Charles Walton would give Edith one pound per week housekeeping he also paid the three shillings per week rent on the cottage as well as buying their coal and meat he received an old age pension of 10 shillings a week but also took him some casual farm work for a local farmer named Alfred Potter at furs farm okay Jacques you've asked me to drive you to the top of me on hill and here we are as near as we can get in the car what's all this about on the day of the murder Edith Walter and she'd been working as a printer's assembler for the royal society of arts which strangely enough had relocated during the war to the area Edith returned home about 6 p.m. on a normal routine expected her uncle Charles to be already at home from his work on the farm this is valentine's day it's February obviously things that it's dark now Edith went to see her next door neighbour an agricultural worker by the name of Harry Beasley and together they made their way to first farm to alert Alfred Potter the farm manager that Charles was missing had not come home Potter said he'd seen Charles earlier in the day slashing hedges in a part of the farm named hill ground which is just on the slope up towards Meon hill where we are now the three of them set out in the semi darkness to check the location where Charles had last been seen working when they reached hill ground Edith was completely unprepared for what she discovered she was immediately overcome with grief shock began to scream loudly Harry Beasley tried to pacify her and bring her away from the appalling scene that was before them so what on earth had she discovered well Charles Walton’s body was clearly dead and lying near to a hedgerow wow like all corpses it takes the fighter a few seconds to realize what is before them that's in your experience as a as a detective yeah it's there's something surreal about a lifeless person as opposed to somebody lying down even bodies that have no obvious injuries can appear strangely unreal the position of their lifeless limbs can make them not quite look human and the position of Charles Walton's body was certainly odd and the injuries what was before them told those present that this was a murder and a savage one not just he died so Edith clearly needs to be taken away so what had happened then what had happened to Charles Walton Charles had been beaten repeatedly over the head with his own walking stick and he'd also received horrific injuries from the tools and the implements that he'd been using for his work his neck had been cut open with the slash hook this is the implement that's used for cutting the wood in the hedge that the stems in the head yeah correct yeah like an extendable lopper I suppose we would call them there yeah it's a big iron sharp heavy iron implement yeah even more sort of horrific was the fact that he'd been pinned to the ground the prongs of his own pitchfork had been driven either side of his neck and into the earth to hold him there so this is a classic pitchfork has a long handle and it has two horseshoe shaped tines at the bottom doesn't it and that had been pushed over his through his neck over his neck into the ground basically pinning him to the ground so quite a savage attack on you know his poor man and this is a 72 year old man who's okay he's still working on the farm he's probably reasonably fit for his age but he's uh you know he's not a slider he's not a young guy yeah I mean clearly Charles Walton was not meant to survive this attack his killer or his killers had surely made sure of that okay so we're gonna go somewhere else now we're gonna go and try and get a little bit closer to where this happened and you can tell me a little bit more about this because the more you tell me the more fascinating this becomes yeah sure Jacques do you think these hedges would have been pretty typical of the ones that Charles Walton was working on I mean they're it's thorny stuff isn't it this that's uh that's definitely hawthorne uh wild roses and uh ivy and it's dense

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