Thirty eight year old John Owen, otherwise known as  John Jones was a Wolverhampton born drifter convicted of mass murder, claiming Emmanuel Marshall and six members of his family at Denham village, Middlesex, as his victims. Marshall was the village blacksmith and had previously employed Owen as a casual worker.

On 22 May he gained entry into the house and systematically beat to death each member of the family before stealing Marshall's best suit, then after smashing up a portrait of the man he crept out into the night. Owen was seen leaving the house and soon arrested.

The motive for the murders was a grudge he bore against the blacksmith believing that he was being paid an unfair wage. After being sentenced to death he asked to spend the last two nights of his life in the coffin which he was to be buried in, and on the morning of his execution he threatened to punch Calcraft in the mouth for not having the courtesy of visiting him in the cell on the previous day. He was hanged by William Calcraft on the 8th August 1870 in Aylesbury.

Real-Crime.co.uk