Move to Murder: Who Killed Julia Wallace?

[ColdCaseJury]

I wish we had documented proof of when Joseph Wallace arrived back in England! Is it certain he returned for the purpose of Julia's funeral, and 'being there' for his brother?

According to his wife, he was out of the country when she gave her statement (21.1.31). According to Gannon, Joseph arrived in Liverpool "at the time of the murder" (this line might make you sit up, but I think he means after the murder itself) and rented a house at 31 Bentley Park, Princes Park (and his wife and son joined him there).

Over to you - and I look forward to hearing your theory.

[moste]

According to his wife, he was out of the country when she gave her statement (21.1.31). According to Gannon, Joseph arrived in Liverpool "at the time of the murder" (this line might make you sit up, but I think he means after the murder itself) and rented a house at 31 Bentley Park, Princes Park (and his wife and son joined him there).

Over to you - and I look forward to hearing your theory.

Yes I checked Joseph’s house and street on Google Earth. Much more up market than his older brothers it would seem, rented I know ,but still.(It’s surprising the houses and streets involved in this mystery that are still extant.
My suspicions of a ‘two brothers’
‘involvement go up in smoke if Joseph didn’t arrive until the day after the murder. Coincidence that he would make it back to his family from the Orient ,right on the time his sister in law was murdered. The police must have considered how alike the two brothers were ,and William possibly needing to be in two places at once, must have had the law officers scrambling for Joseph's passport surely.

[ColdCaseJury]

Yes I checked Joseph’s house and street on Google Earth. Much more up market than his older brothers it would seem, rented I know ,but still.(It’s surprising the houses and streets involved in this mystery that are still extant.
My suspicions of a ‘two brothers’
‘involvement go up in smoke if Joseph didn’t arrive until the day after the murder. Coincidence that he would make it back to his family from the Orient ,right on the time his sister in law was murdered. The police must have considered how alike the two brothers were ,and William possibly needing to be in two places at once, must have had the law officers scrambling for Joseph's passport surely.

Possible Matches From Ancestry UK.

Arrivals 1931

J Wallace, arr Liverpool

Mr J Wallace, arr Southampton

Joseph Wallace, arr Glasgow

Arrivals 1930

Mr J Wallace, arr London

Joseph E Wallace, Plymouth

Without going behind the paywall, I cannot reveal anymore. My firm hunch says the first one is our man (and a look at the record would confirm this - age, place embarked, exact date). Of course, the one you want is one of the latter two (the last with correct initial, BTW) sneaking into the country late in the year!

[Herlock Sholmes]

No one has tried a Wallace + the Johnston’s conspiracy yet?

[ColdCaseJury]

No one has tried a Wallace + the Johnston’s conspiracy yet?

Give it time....

[Graham]

Give it time....

More like a Wallace & Grommit conspiracy....

Graham

[ColdCaseJury]

More like a Wallace & Grommit conspiracy....

Graham

I'm sure there's some Wensleydale cheese on the kitchen table somewhere!

[Herlock Sholmes]

I'm sure there's some Wensleydale cheese on the kitchen table somewhere!

I bet you’re working on an updated edition as we speak Antony

[ColdCaseJury]

This Is The Date and Time

On this day in 1931, at the very time of this post, Wallace left his house at 29 Wolverton Street. A few minutes later someone walked into this telephone box in Anfield.

We all know what happened next...

[RodCrosby]

Parry and his Accomplice had both of Wallace's tram routes covered.
When they saw Wallace emerge from Richmond Park, turning left into Breck Road, Parry headed to the phone-box, while the Accomplice followed Wallace...

After the call, Parry made a flying visit to Lily Lloyd's, only three minutes drive away, along Townsend Lane.

He then headed off into the night again...

[RodCrosby]

At around 8pm, according to Lily Lloyd's later statement, Parry is now four miles away, in central Liverpool, close to the Chess Club...

He has of course arranged to rendezvous with the Accomplice, to check that Wallace has in fact entered the Chess Club - and perhaps even been seen/overheard receiving the message...

[RodCrosby]

Parry and the Accomplice go over the final preparations for Tuesday, as Parry drives them back to Clubmoor.

He drops the Accomplice off at his home, then heads back to Lily Lloyd's, arriving around 9pm.

Parry tells Lloyd where he has been, but offers no substantive explanation for his 8-mile round trip into central Liverpool.

Later, after the murder, Parry lies completely to the Police about all his Monday night movements...

[OneRound]

Hi folks,

A few posts atm speculating that Parry was responsible along with an accomplice.

I feel a lot more educated on this case having read all the posts over the last year or so (and will invest in CCJ's book in the New Year) but am still no nearer to concluding who done it. However, if we are going to speculate about the involvement of an accomplice, I feel we should consider the possibility of that scenario where Wallace is guilty. If Wallace did the planning but not the physical killing of Julia, it would tick a few boxes for me:

* Wallace's odd behaviour on the way to and in the vicinity of the Menlove Gardens area as he refused to take ''no such place'' as the answer for the whereabouts of MGE and possibly sought to establish an alibi for himself at the time of the killing.

* The question as to ''what Wallace did with the murder weapon'' falls away as he never had it. Pre and post murder it was always in the possession of the accomplice in this scenario.

* The absence of blood stains on Wallace.

As always as it seems though in this case, I'll freely acknowledge that the above raises other questions:

1. Who was the accomplice? I note reference to the possibility of Wallace's sister-in-law in a recent post. I'm in no position to comment on that but if the killer was someone calling at the house, there is a decent chance that he (? she) was known to Julia and/or expected that evening rather than a stranger having to knock and explain himself. That would go some way to explaining the neighbours not hearing the visitor arrive.

2. Why would the accomplice kill Julia? Was murder always intended or did she perhaps disturb him taking the insurance money in ''a gas meter job'' set up by Wallace?

As always here, more questions than answers and with that I'll wish all a merry Christmas and happy New Year,

One Round.

Hi folks - I see a few recent posts raising the possibility of Wallace being responsible for his wife's murder in conjunction with an associate. This was something I flagged just before Christmas. I'm not championing the scenario, let alone going to die in a ditch for it. However, I think it's worth considering.

Nothing really comes close to tieing Wallace to the physical killing of his wife. Indeed, timings available - whether by chance or carefully calculated - and other evidence (or, more particularly, lack of it - eg, blood stains) suggest he didn't do it.

However, Wallace's behaviour is odd to many and suspicious to some before the murder (eg, not properly checking where he would be going on the fateful night), around the time of the murder (eg, continually asking as to the whereabouts of MGE and refusing to take ''no such place'' as an answer) and after the murder (eg, all the business with the keys).

Might the above point towards Wallace being not the killer but a party to the killing of Julia?

Another thing. One reason often given against a stranger calling himself ''Qualtrough'' being the killer is that Julia wouldn't have admitted him to the house and/or the neighbours would have heard some of the conversation. I get that. A further possibility though - entirely speculative but despite commendable research and investigation by others, some here, too much still has to be - is that Wallace had set up Julia to possibly expect a visitor unconnected to Qualtrough. ''I should be back well before he arrives but please keep an eye out for him, dear, and show him into the front room if he is early.'' Wallace could have used a variety of excuses for someone she didn't know, such as the visitor being a work colleague or a fellow musician. Keeping moste in the game , the visitor and killer could even have been someone known to Julia, such as a relative of Wallace.

Even if this isn't all dismissed out of hand, we obviously have no real pointers at this stage as to the identity of Wallace's partner in crime. Is that a weakness? Yes, certainly has to be the answer. However, that doesn't totally invalidate it. IF Wallace was involved in any way with Julia's death as some here believe just as others elsewhere have over the years, it has to be recognised that much about the man remains unknown - in particular, why did he want his wife to die?

Best regards,
OneRound

[RodCrosby]

a) Why does Wallace rely on the suspicious "wild-goose-chase" alibi, when he could have arranged for his wife to be killed on the Monday, when he was surrounded by a dozen people, while cogitating the Knight's Move?

b) We know there was no visitor expected on the Tuesday. Julia invited Amy Wallace to stay for tea, told her about WHW's appointment, yet mentioned no visitor.

c) There was no reason for Wallace to want his wife to die. Certainly no objective reason, and his diaries all before the murder, and even more so after the murder right up his own death reveal his devastation at her loss..

[Herlock Sholmes]

Parry’s ‘plan’ relies on Wallace mentioning the name Qualtrough to Julia.

He could have no possible reason to suspect that Wallace might mention this.

Therefore this is not really a ‘plan.’

It’s a hope for a random pease of luck.

So it can be dismissed as a plan that anyone but an utter moron might consider.


Time to move on.