Rex v Edith Thompson

On 3 October 1922, as Thompson and her husband Percy were walking home from the theatre, a man sprang out of the bushes and stabbed Percy to death. The assailant was Bywaters. Believing herself to be a witness, rather than an accomplice, Edith gave the police details of her association with Bywaters, then found herself arrested as his accomplice. Her love letters to Bywaters, read out at the ensuing trial, sealed Edith's fate. She and Bywaters were hanged for the murder in January 1923.

But was Edith really guilty? And what role did the contemporary media play in her conviction? Laura Thompson investigates what a disturbing case tells us about perceptions of women in early twentieth-century Britain.

La 3 octombrie 1922, in timp ce Thompson si sotul ei Percy mergeau acasa de la teatru, un barbat a iesit din tufisuri si l-a injunghiat pe Percy pana la moarte. Atacatorul a fost Bywaters.