Now! Then! With her life at stake, Kathleen Mumford of Middleton tells a Leeds court that she gassed her severely handicapped son to spare him

25 March 1938: With her life at stake, Kathleen Mumford of Middleton tells a Leeds court that she gassed her severely handicapped son to spare him

Times. 1938/03/26. Murder of Imbecile Son. London. Get it:

Excerpt

No evidence was called for the defence, and Mr H.B.H. Hylton-Foster, addressing the jury, said: “I am not instructed by Mrs Mumford to say she has any regrets for what she has done. What she says is this: ‘There was no cure whatsoever for the child. He would never be normal with his hands, therefore what was the child to live for? All the days of his life he would have been an imbecile. Was it right that such a child should have to live like that? Therefore, I ended his sufferings. I thought everything I did was in the interests of the child, and as God would not take him away I thought it my duty to help. If it were possible to have the boy back as he was, and me to have my freedom, I should say no.’” Mr Justice Wrottesley, summing up, pointed out that there was nothing in law that could justify Mrs Mumford in taking the life of her son. The jury, having found Mrs Mumford guilty, entered their “very strongest recommendation to mercy.” [Reprieved.]

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

She was reprieved. More here.

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Original

MURDER OF IMBECILE SON. MOTHER SENTENCED TO DEATH
Mrs. Kathleen Mumford, 40, formerly of Throstle Grove, Middleton, Leeds, was at Leeds Assizes yesterday sentenced to death for the murder of her five-year-old imbecile son, Derek, who died from gas poisoning.
No evidence was called for the defence, and Mr. H. B. H. HYLTON-FOSTER, addressing the jury, said: I am not instructed by Mrs. Mumford to say she has any regrets for what she has done. What she says is this: “There was no cure whatsoever for the child. He would never be normal with his hands, therefore what was the child to live for? All the days of his life he would have been an imbecile. Was it right that such a child should have to live like that? Therefore, I ended his sufferings. I thought everything I did was in the interests of the child, and as God would not take him away I thought it my duty to help. If it were possible to have the boy back as he was, and me to have my freedom, I should say ‘No.'”
MR. JUSTICE WROTTESLEY, summing up, pointed out that there was nothing in law that could justify Mrs. Mumford in taking the life of her son.
The jury, having found Mrs. Mumford Guilty, entered their “very strongest recommendation to mercy.”

228 words.