The Road House Mystery was a murder that occurred in Wiltshire in 1860 in which four-year old Francis Savile Kent disappeared from his cot during the night and was found the next day in an outside privy - where his body had been thrown down the toilet but had caught on a splash board and so not disappeared into the cess pit beneath - with his throat cut and a stab wound to the heart. The case was investigated by detectives Jonathan Whicher and Adolphus Williamson of the Metropolitan Police. The police concluded that the murderer was the boy's sixteen-year old step-sister, Constance, but with insufficient evidence she was never convicted. She later confessed to the murder to a priest. Research Road House Mystery
Jonathan 'Jack' Whicher was an English detective. He was born in 1814 at Camberwell, London and died in 1881. After working as a labourer he joined the Metropolitan Police in 1837. He rose to the rank of Detective Inspector and was renowned for his investigations. His failure to solve the 1860 'Road House Mystery', damaged his reputation, though it is very likely he knew the culprit and she later confessed, there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. Research Jonathan Whicher
Sophy Weller was an English prostitute. In 1837 she was spotted in a Gray's Inn Road brothel in London wearing a stolen featherboa, by PCJonathan Whicher, who promptly arrested her and she was subsequently tried and convicted for the theft, being transported as a consequence. Research Sophy Weller
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Road House Mystery
