Book Description
In March 1932 Miss Sushannah Emberton, the 55-year-old housekeeper of Mr Ells Dagnall, was attacked in a semi-detached house in Addiscombe Road, East Croydon. She received such severe injuries that she died within two days of the assault.
By the time the police arrived, the perpetrator(s) had fled, leaving a majority of their booty behind. What followed was the biggest manhunt in the history of crime in Croydon, involving over one hundred police officers.
The investigations spread throughout Croydon, into some of the more seedy areas of central London and even to Dumbarton and Glasgow, but to no avail.
Until this very day the crime remains unsolved.
The author of The Addiscombe Mystery has supplied the reader with all the details of the murder reported in the local press. He has also included details of two similar crimes that were committed in the same area within two years of the demise of Miss Emberton. As an added bonus, he has retrieved, from the National Archives at Kew, all the statements taken by the police and included these for the reader’s consideration.
Even though the trail now may be a little cold, there should still be enough clues to assist the reader in determining where the responsibilities lie. Was it “Bottles” Philpot and “The Masher”, or were the identities of the perpetrators to be found elsewhere? Perhaps the reader would like to continue the work of “The Sedgemore Sleuths”.
Should you, the reader, believe that, after having read this book, you can succeed where the Croydon Constabulary failed and identify the villain(s) responsible for this most heinous of crimes, then perhaps you should consider contacting the Metropolitan Police at New Scotland Yard and inform them of your findings.
There are still many unanswered questions, even though a significant number of individuals were apprehended and then released when insufficient evidence was found against them. Why was Sushannah Emberton buried in the same grave as an ex-army major, fifteen years her senior? Why did she return from a shopping expedition empty-handed just before being attacked? Why did Mr Ells Dagnall lie to the police when giving evidence about his train journey from London to the scene of the crime, and why did the police not take more notice of this anomaly?
If you can answer any, or all, of these questions, then you may have solved The Addiscombe Mystery.
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