Builders left in shock after a human skull was found on the property of legendary British presenter and naturalist Sir David Attenborough. It turned out that it belonged to a woman murdered at the end of the 19th century. , thanks to an unexpected discovery, the police finally managed to close the case.
- A human skull belonging to a woman from the 19th century was found on Sir David Attenborough’s property.
- The skull belonged to a woman named Julia Martha Thomas, who was murdered by her maid, Kate Webster.
- The discovery allowed police to close a nearly 150-year-old murder case.
- An investigation confirmed that the cause of death was suffocation and head injuries.
The naturalist bought a house in London in 2009 and had big plans to renovate it. However, during the ongoing work, the builders they came across a human skull that led to the reopening of a nearly 150-year-old case.
A police investigation revealed that the skull belonged to a woman named Julia Martha Thomas, who had been murdered by her maid. The former owner of the house hired Irish immigrant Kate Webster, who had experience in petty theft. She met her after working as a cleaner for a woman living nearby.
Thomas probably had no idea about her new maid’s criminal past, but after only a few weeks, problems arose. This caused the owner of the house to fire her less than a month after starting her new job.
Webster managed to convince her mistress to give her three more days, but it was this decision that proved fatal. In early March 1879, Thomas confronted a maid for a job poorly done, leading to her death. After finding the skull investigators concluded that the cause of death was suffocation and head trauma.
The maid did not deny that she killed her employer. “She fell hard and I panicked. Instead of helping her, I lost control. I wanted to stop her from screaming so I wouldn’t get into trouble, so I grabbed her throat. She choked during the match and I threw her to the ground,” she said during the interrogation.
How did the skull get into the British presenter’s garden?
There are several theories about what Webster did with the homeowner’s body. Some people believe that the maid sold the fat to the local tavern and neighbors, passing it off as lard. Although the maid never confessed to the crime, police discovered that she had cut the body up, cooked it in the laundry room in a copper cauldron, and burned the bones in the fireplace. It was also believed that she dumped the remains in the Thames. The discovery finally confirmed that the skull did not end up in the river, but was buried in Sir David Attenborough’s garden.
