TRANSCRIPT - Thomas Parker: Publicly Hanged For Fatally Shooting Mother, Wounding Father

[Music] this podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting we begin at the end [Music] a cool dry morning in august a Wednesday a 29 year old man in the prime of his life stands on a scaffold the roar from the crowd arrayed below engulfs him like flood water buffeting and deafening him with abuse [Music] for the first but not the last time today tom parker tilts his head back and gasps for air he is surrounded by a sea of faces so many it's impossible to count them all some are contorted in rage and scorn some are giddy with excitement others turn away afraid to look upon the condemned man's face out of respect or superstition but then there are those men just like him or like he used to be full of drink leering and braying as if revelling in a day at the races pressed in a doorway a youth and a maid steal an unlikely embrace her bare breast hidden only by her lover's needing hand their passion inflamed by the bloodlust of those thronged before them some have been here all night keen to take a prime spot from which to enjoy the day's grisly spectacle i am the resurrection and the life saith the lord he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live the chaplains words are drowned out by another wave of impatient jeers a hush descends now though as the white hood is placed over the prisoner's head in the distance the barking of dogs and the striking of a clock it is eight o'clock parker's eyes are swimming his heart beating as though to break free from his rib cage a hot dark bloom spreads in his trousers betraying his terror [Music] those closest can see and smell his shame some hurl obscenities at him fanning the air melodramatically the dirty bastard shat himself i know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand on the latter day upon the earth parker mouths the verse almost in unison desperate to display his newly restored faith in the almighty the summer breeze fills the chaplain's surplus like a sail and snatches at the brittle leaves of the prayer book he had fretted that the expected rain would make the scaffold slick any slip up here would be greeted with a very public type of ridicule that he wished to avoid and though after my skin worms destroy this body parker shuts his eyes as the noose is slipped over his hooded head and tries to mouth the verse [Music] but a vision swims into view a familiar kindly face every detail is there from the carefully parted gray hair under the modest bonnet to the cameo brooch at her throat to his horror the vision distorts then revealing a bloated sightless eye and a skein of dried blood staining the pallid cheek man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery in tones the reverend howard he cometh up and he is cut down like a flower he flees as it were a shadow and never continueth in one stay parker screws up his eyes but still the apparition of his mother dances before him her lolling head now reveals a shaved pallid scalp peppered with birdshot he tries to scream but his tongue has swollen and his mouth fills once more with the brandy he'd sucked at breakfast in the midst of life we are in death the bolt is drawn with a terrible sound richard thomas parker dangles in agony on the scaffold his struggles lasting much longer than expected for a moment he imagines he is airborne gliding above the throng impervious to the sting of their insults their jeers finally silenced in ore but then the roar of the crowd crashes back in waves febrile animalistic they're chanting like peels of thunder an urgent response to the denial of the reverend's fervent prayers he died hard they will say thomas askin the executioner has a reputation for botched hangings parker convulses but the drop is too short to break his neck the noose draws tight the brass ring behind his ear trapping his last breath compressing the vagus nerve and in that instant as his consciousness evaporates he is briefly aware of an overpowering odor it is blood and pig [ __ ] and lilac blossoms [Music] when loved [Music] [Music] hello and welcome to the six o'clock knock the true crime podcast that takes a fresh look at murder i'm simon ford a journalist and writer and i'm jack morrell a former police homicide detective this week we examine a very different kind of murder the shooting of a mother by her son in a fit of drunken rage the so-called fiscal murder a sequence of events that was triggered by a national disaster but which would culminate in a very personal tragedy we're going to the village of fiskerton in nottinghamshire on the banks of the river trent a quiet place popular these days with dog walkers and anglers there's a village run shop and a busy family pub called the bromley at fisketon but 150 years ago this rural community was the scene of a murder that has been all but forgotten by locals and visitors alike the killing of elizabeth parker a farmer's wife by her son richard thomas parker we sought out an acknowledged expert on the fiscal murder a qc and judge called paul mann and i went to fiskerton and met with paul where he told me about the background to the case we're here in fiskerton on a glorious june afternoon and here to help us navigate these murky fast-moving waters on the banks of the river trent who better than a qc and expert on the fiscal murder paul mann paul has joined us on this case to make some sense of it all paul what's the background to the case well the story actually starts in the hills of south yorkshire at the dale dyke dam it was the first of a number being built to supply the sheffield steel industry and by march 1864 the dam was nearly full but just before midnight on the 11th the dam head breached allowing 690 million gallons of water to escape downstream created a tidal wave some 50 feet high and devastated everything in its path all the way to sheffield and beyond bodies were being pulled out of the water for days afterwards as far as doncaster and the national press called it the great inundation public interest was so great that excursions were organized to view the scene and one such trip was due to leave new at railway station on the 28th of march which was an easter monday tom parker was then staying with his parents uh in fiskerton and wanted to join the trip but his father samuel was against it he was relying on tom's help over the next few days to get his crops sewn but his mother elizabeth said he could go so long as he promised to be back by monday evening tom promised but didn't actually return until about 5 15 the next day hannah burden who was in service with the family was the first to see him and according to her he was drunk he was also in an agitated state so was his father when he saw the condition his son was in okay but as our research has revealed parker was no stranger to family rounds was he nor indeed to being in trouble with the law that's right tom was a troubled soul and a waster as an only child his parents had given him every opportunity they could even set him up in business as a butcher in a building opposite their home but he squandered his money on drink and gambling leading to him being declared bankrupt and in drink he could be argumentative and violent for which he spent nights in the subtle lock-up to sober up and he was particularly brutal towards his wife whom he attacked on the very night of their wedding in 1860 his parents tried to keep the couple together but in 1863 she finally left him taking their two young children with her to live with her father in newark a case of wife beating brought before the subtle quarter sessions was later settled by him agreeing to pay his wife maintenance and the costs of the hearing i suppose it's clear that although parker was a heavy drinker and a wife beater he was dealt with relatively lightly by the authorities of course today you'd like to think that things were different but what goes on behind closed doors is still a very personal thing the police and the courts may change their working practices charity and support services may develop new initiatives but family relationships remain very private affairs so for sure the police would deal with families like the parkers and they would try to offer the best solution to whatever was going wrong but yet it still comes down to the resolve of those involved even today to recognize their problems and to have the strength to get out of it and in any case on the evening of tuesday the 29th of march 1864 thomas parker had arrived here at his father's house in a state of drunken rage by all accounts tom had been drinking since he reached sheffield the day before on his return to newark he then decided to remain there drinking for the rest of the day following morning he hung around the cattle market topping up on drink and later got into an argument with his father-in-law who'd not let him see his children it was probably this that left him so particularly maddened on his return to fiskarton and so the scene is set for that inevitable and unavoidable showdown yes it has to be said that tom inherited some of his temper from his father who is not afraid of confronting his son when he stepped out of line and some of their arguments had led to them scrapping in the yard tuesday evening samuel laid into him verbally the moment he saw him tom quickly responded by raising his fists hannah burden fearing what would happen next fled next door to fetch mrs haynes who sometimes acted as a peacemaker tom's mother meanwhile stood between them trying to stop a fight breaking out but samuel accused tom of being a rogue a villain and a thief and ordered him out of the house a passerby then saw all three parkers tumble out of the house into the front yard pushing pulling each other elizabeth shouting tom you shall not fight your father and this was the moment that mrs haynes arrived she focused on samuel parker and talked him into moving away she also advised him to say no more but as he reached his stable block he said something to tom that caused tom to rush back into the house his mother followed after him but soon ran back out shouting he's got a gun and he's going to shoot tom's father kept a shotgun by the sideboard that he used for scaring sparrows off his crops on this occasion unfortunately it left it loaded tom took up the gun stood by the window and pointed the gun towards the yard he discharged the gun twice almost simultaneously he was aiming the gun towards the stable where his father was standing but it was his mother that he hit first she accidentally crossed the line of fire as she ran from the house across the yard the shot struck the top of her head and she fell to the ground some of the shot from the second firing hit samuel in the face and chest nearby locals rushed to the scene to help tom fled the house in panic as he ran down the yard mrs hayne shouted tom you've shot and killed your mother his father shouted what have you done that for tom shouted back you should not aggravate me so tom ran along the trent towpath and into the home of mrs birkett tom begged her to hide him saying don't split i've shot and killed my mother i shall be hanged mrs burkitt refused to help and so he left hannah burden meanwhile had fetch pc barksby who lived in fiskerton he together with the village blacksmith went in search they found tom stood on the river bank as they approached him tom said i know all about it i'll give myself up i've done it but it was pure accident before they took him away cornelius doncaster the publican at the spread eagle spoke with him don castro had split up some of tom's previous fights with his father and had taken some medicinal brandy round in case it would assist tom's mother to him elizabeth still seemed to be alive but close to death when he informed tom tom replied it was a pure accident he'd not realized the gun was loaded pc barksby wanted to walk tom to the lockup in suthell there were no such things as police cars in those days but tom cut up rough and a cart was borrowed to take him and so with parker in custody and his mother mortally wounded our story shifts 15 miles away to the bustling industrial town of nottingham [Music] remarkably elizabeth parker lingered on until the 16th of may when she suffered a catastrophic stroke but the surgeon who conducted the postmortem was satisfied that she died from the gunshots that had penetrated her skull and aggravated her brain after a number of preliminary hearings at the sutherl petty sessions and the coroner's court tom was sent for trial at the next court of the size charged with the murder of his mother and shooting with intent to kill his father the hearing was held at the shire hall on high pavement in nottingham tom awaited trial in the county jail that was situated underneath the shire hall there was no such thing as legal aid in those days but the parker family raised the funds to pay for a new ex-solicitor to prepare tom's defense which was conducted at trial by sergeant o'brien in those days the a sergeant as he was called was a very senior barrister similar to a qc the trial was listed before the honourable mr justice blackburn and started on the morning of the 25th of july 1864. at trial the most important witness with the prosecution was mrs haines who said she had seen tom at the window taking aim at his mother this had not been her original account to the police she like other witnesses had claimed only to hear the gunshots not see who had fired them right up to her death tom's mother denied any knowledge of a shooting and claimed she hurt her head falling down stairs tom's father also claimed not to know how he'd come by his injuries and he wasn't a witness at trial the prosecution did have evidence of tom's admissions to others of having shot his mother but only accidentally it was only after mrs parker's death mrs haines changed her account to that of seeing tom deliberately shoot at his parents what most people will not realize is that at the time of tom's trial the accused was not allowed to give sworn evidence in his own defense often this was a blessing as the mostly uneducated defendants would have struggled to deal with cross-examination and the innocent were at risk of saying something they did not mean that ended up convicting them but the defendant was allowed to give what was called an unsworn statement from the dock this could be prepared in advance read by him to the jury without the prosecution being able to question him about it and i would certainly have expected tom to take that opportunity but he didn't instead he relied on his barrister to make the argument for him in his closing speech that the jury could not be sure that the gunner gone off other than accidentally and that at worst tom was guilty of manslaughter rather than murder the jury was out for only 40 minutes they returned guilty verdicts in respect of both charges after assuming the black cap mr justice blackburn asked tom if there was anything he wished to say before sentence was passed tom said i am not guilty of willful murder i had no intention to do it i never saw either of them when i fired the shot what a shame he'd not said that to the jury the judge proceeded to sentence tom to death tom's father who was present in court threatened to kill himself if the sentence was executed [Music] until 1907 there was no call to criminal appeal the only available avenue was to petition the crown for clemency if successful this would commute this sentence to life imprisonment the procedure was to apply to the home secretary who would advise the crown appropriately this was the course that tom's solicitor followed in seeking clemency he chiefly relied on the fact that when the jury returned his verdicts it added a recommendation for clemency based on the fact of the prisoner having been in liquor mr ashley the solicitor also included petitions raised in sutherl fisketon and newark in support of the appeal on the 6th of august the home secretary sir george gray stated that he could find no grounds for advising clemency in tom's case tom solista made further efforts asking for a personal deputation with the home secretary and that was turned down the fact of the matter is that sir george gray was already deeply unpopular for having allowed such a petition in the case of another man george townley convicted of murder at nottingham the previous autumn on the day of tom's eventual execution parts of the crowd were still shouting for townley to be hung as tom was gasping his last breaths tom was executed outside the shire hall on the 10th of august 1864. it proved to be the last public hanging in nottinghamshire [Music] we're in rollerston now barely a half mile from fiskerton where the murder took place and we're in the churchyard of holy trinity and just over there is the grave of elizabeth parker a simple modest marker that belies the circumstances of her violent demise and we're joined now rather miraculously i've got to say by an actual living relative of richard thomas parker emmeline7 welcome to the six o'clock knock hello thank you for asking me here just tell me a little bit about how you came to discover your familial connection with tom parker well i started to research my family history and when i got to the parker branch my dear old mum said oh my dad told me that somebody you know one of the parkers murdered somebody i think it was an argument over money and so of course that was it we've got to delve deeper and that's when i i discovered that you know he was my first cousin four times removed and this story had been passed through the parkside of my family through the generations down to my mum and then now to me and oh i just found it so fascinating i just had to to put all together and piece the actual story i went to the archives and the manuscripts and special collections where there was newspapers held and other documents and i just felt it was a story that needed putting out there what was it like the moment you realized that one of your relatives a distant relative had murdered his mother because it's such a distant relation it didn't really sort of hit as oh my god to start off with it was more a fascination for it people have got a black sheep in the family but wow this is a good one kind of thing i'm afraid it was that kind of a response until i started to research it and found out what really happened to promises parker in the full story so when did it really hit home the reality of what had happened and how dreadful it was i think the postmortem brought it home and then the sadness of the fact that you know his mother and father weren't blaming him for what happened and they wanted him to come home like it could all be forgotten about and i just found that quite you know it's sad and quite disturbing really that you could forget that your son has shot your wife and yourself the love must have been very strong but because they spoiled him so much they ruined him really what could have been a a close loving family was ruined by by them spoiling him too much and over indulging him and just forgiving him for every wrong deed that he did turned him into this monster really it could have also been just a drunken rage maybe he didn't really intend to murder and he certainly wasn't shooting at his mother he was shooting at his father and promises parker just got in the way what do you think about the trial do you think he got a fair trial in 1864 it would have been considered as a reasonably fair trial.