William John Maynard earned a good living as a rabbit trapper in his home town of Poundstock, Cornwall. His traps (over a thousand) were in place in most of the farms in the area and he needed two assistants to run the business.

A few miles from Poundstock lived an old recluse, Richard Francis Roadley (84), who occupied a cottage at Titson. Although he lived in terribly squalid circumstances, it was a popular rumour that the old man was an eccentric sitting on a tidy sum.

On Sunday afternoon, 19 February, the old man was found battered about the head in his cottage, and he died before he could be taken to hospital. The house had been rifled and the contents of the drawers strewn across the floor.

Maynard was interviewed as part of the routine inquiries and denied any involvement. There was nothing to suggest he was not telling the truth and the officers left.

The next day, he made another statement and admitted that on the night of the murder he had called at the house with an accomplice. Maynard claimed that he had waited outside while his friend went in to see what he could thieve. When the old man offered resistance, the accomplice beat him to death.

Maynard then told police where they could find two stolen watches. The man Maynard blamed for the murder was able to satisfy the police that he was in no way involved.

As a result of his efforts to shift the blame, Maynard found himself before Mr Justice Swift at the June sitting of Bodmin Assizes. He reiterated his statement that the accomplice committed the crime but the man's alibi was strong and the jury took only a short time to return a guilty verdict.

Maynard was duly hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint and Thomas Phillips for a crime attributed to 'elemental avarice.'

  

William John Maynard

It was rumoured that 84-year-old Richard Francis Roadley kept a hoard of money in his isolated cottage in the hamlet of Titson, near Marhamchurch, Bude, Cornwall.

Maynard was a 36-year-old rabbit trapper and, on 18th February 1928, he broke into Richard Roadley's squalid cottage and battered the old man prior to stealing anything of any value. Roadley buried his gains on his father's nearby farm.

He was soon apprehended by police and attempted to blame another man who he claimed was his partner for the break-in. The other man, Harris, had an alibi and Maynard faced a charge of murder on his own. He was found guilty and was hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint and Thomas Phillips at Exeter Prison on 27th July 1928.

Murder-UK.com