William Herbert Wallace - The Investigation

The Investigation

Arrested two weeks later, Wallace was questioned at some length. The police had discovered that the telephone box used by "Qualtrough" to make his call to the chess club was just four hundred yards from Wallace's home, although the person in the cafe who took the call was quite certain it was not Wallace on the other end of the line. Nevertheless, the Police began to suspect that "Qualtrough" was in fact William Herbert Wallace.

The police were also convinced that it would have been possible for Wallace to murder his wife and still have time to arrive at the spot where he boarded his tram. This they attempted to prove by having a fit young detective go through the motions of the murder and then sprint all the way to the tram stop, something an ailing 52-year-old Wallace could probably not have accomplished.

Forensic examination of the crime scene had revealed that Julia Wallace's attacker was likely to have been heavily contaminated with her blood, given the brutal and frenzied nature of the assault. Wallace's suit, which he had been wearing on the night of the murder, was examined closely but no trace of bloodstaining was found. The Police formed the theory that a mackintosh, which was unexplainedly found under Julia's corpse, had in fact been used by a naked Wallace to shield himself from blood spatter while committing the crime. Examination of the bath and drains revealed that they had not been recently used, and there was no trace of blood there either, apart from a single tiny clot in the toilet pan, the origin of which could not be established.