Ratcliff Highway Murders - The Suspect

The Suspect

The public demanded the perpetrators be caught immediately, and despite having no real police force, the crimes did appear to be quickly solved, although through very circumstantial evidence.

A principal suspect in the murders, John Williams (also known as John Murphy), was a 27 year old Irish or Scottish seaman, and a lodger at the nearby Pear Tree public house on Cinnamon Street off the Highway, in Old Wapping. His roommate had noticed that he had returned after midnight on the night of tavern murders. De Quincey claimed Williams had been an acquaintance of Timothy Marr's, and described him as: "a man of middle stature, slenderly built, rather thin but wiry, tolerably muscular, and clear of all superfluous flesh. His hair was of the most extraordinary and vivid color, viz., a bright yellow, something between an orange and a yellow colour." The Times was more specific: he was five-foot-nine, slender, had a "pleasing countenance," and did not limp. He had nursed a grievance against Marr from when they were shipmates, but the subsequent murders at the Kings Arms remain unexplained.

The Shadwell Police office examined him as well as several other suspects. He had two pawn tickets on his person, some silver, and a pound note. His last voyage had been on the Roxburgh Castle, an East India Company trading ship, where he had narrowly escaped being part of a failed mutiny attempt. He was educated and had a reputation for being honest, as that he always paid for his rooms, and was popular with women. Williams had been seen drinking with at least one other man at the King's Arms shortly before the murders, so he was subjected to an intense interrogation. Williams was of medium height and slight build, his description in no way matched Turner's description a large man in a flushing coat of dark colour. Williams said he had never denied being at the Kings Arms that evening, but that the Williamsons considered him a family friend; Mrs. Williamson had even touched his face that night in a motherly gesture. What aroused suspicion was his earlier mention that he had no money, but that after the murders he was seen to have some.

Williams claimed this was because he had pawned articles of clothing afterwards, the pawn tickets were proof of this. After he'd left the tavern that evening, he claimed to have had consulted a surgeon about an old wound, as well as a woman with some knowledge of medicine. No one investigated his alibi, or checked the dates on the pawn tickets.

Despite his insistence he was innocent, Williams was remanded to Coldbath Fields Prison, also known as the Clerkenwell Gaol, where another suspect was also incarcerated. The police were still not sure how many men were involved, and confined both men, even going so far as to round up yet a third suspect as well.