psychiatric hospital. It did not escape Lisa’s notice that he had been found progressively worse after he had endured the shock therapy.
Lisa turned to a page marked “ Patients death ”. It stated that Gerald Jenkins died in 1960, three days after his assessment. It read that he died of a heart attack. Beneath there was a list of all the medication he was taking, prescribed by his psychiatric doctor, a one Dr. Arthur Hendry. There was a police report paper-clipped to the last page of the file reading that Gerald Jenkins’ death was sudden and unexpected. The officer who wrote the report, P.C. Higgins concluded that the patient had died of “natural causes”. Lisa was amazed that they were so reluctant to carry out post-mortems back in those days.
28
She put the file back and looked at the other files on the shelf and read off a few more names; “Alexander Holmes” , “Marcus Fairchild” , “Leyton Clifford” , “Margaret Reynolds” the files were endless. She reached for the file with the name Margaret Reynolds written on the yellowed front cover. Again the first page was titled “ Patients History ”. She found that Margaret was born to a builder and a house-wife in 1905. She was raised in Bristol by her parents and lived with them until she was nineteen years of age when she met her future husband, Stephen Reynolds. They married and moved in together within a few months of knowing each other. All was well for a couple of years. There was nothing in her medical records, and nothing from what her family and friends said about her to suggest that she had portrayed any sort of mental illness before, so it was a shock to Lisa to discover why she had ended up in a psychiatric home.
It was the night of 06 th September, 1929. The police were called by Margaret’s mother to the house that Margaret and Stephen shared. Again, there was a police report attached to the file so Lisa began reading it. When the police arrived at the house they were confronted by Margaret’s hysterical mother. On entering they found Stephen on the kitchen floor with several knife wounds to his chest, abdomen and neck. He was dead when they arrived. On further inspection of the house, the police found Margaret hiding in a cupboard, covered in blood, some of it her own.
It came to light that that night they had been out for a drink with friends when they had gotten into an argument. They went home where Margaret went to bed. Stephen had stayed up drinking. Later that night he went into their bedroom and dragged Margaret out of bed. He tried to force himself on her, and when she rejected his advances, he became very violent. Margaret told the police how her husband had started pushing her and slapping her across her face. When she still refused his sexual advances he punched her in the face and she fell to the floor. While she was on the floor he stamped on her stomach until he had forced all the wind out of her and she couldn’t move. He then lay on top of her, pinning her down beneath his weight and proceeded to rape her whilst still hitting her and strangling her, causing deep bruising and swelling. When the ordeal was over, Stephen went to bed. Margaret sat up not knowing what to do until eventually she realised the only way she could get out of the relationship. She told the police he had done it before on many occasions and her family verified the cuts and bruises they had so often seen her with because of him. It was also confirmed that there had been numerous times when the police were called out to the house for what was known as “a domestic”. She told the police she could not remember what had happened after Stephen had gone to bed. They put the pieces together and offered the Judge and Jury a horrific account of the night in question. It was suggested that after years of physical and mental abuse from her husband, she could not take it any longer, so she took a large carving knife from the
Lisa turned to a page marked “ Patients death ”. It stated that Gerald Jenkins died in 1960, three days after his assessment. It read that he died of a heart attack. Beneath there was a list of all the medication he was taking, prescribed by his psychiatric doctor, a one Dr. Arthur Hendry. There was a police report paper-clipped to the last page of the file reading that Gerald Jenkins’ death was sudden and unexpected. The officer who wrote the report, P.C. Higgins concluded that the patient had died of “natural causes”. Lisa was amazed that they were so reluctant to carry out post-mortems back in those days.
28
She put the file back and looked at the other files on the shelf and read off a few more names; “Alexander Holmes” , “Marcus Fairchild” , “Leyton Clifford” , “Margaret Reynolds” the files were endless. She reached for the file with the name Margaret Reynolds written on the yellowed front cover. Again the first page was titled “ Patients History ”. She found that Margaret was born to a builder and a house-wife in 1905. She was raised in Bristol by her parents and lived with them until she was nineteen years of age when she met her future husband, Stephen Reynolds. They married and moved in together within a few months of knowing each other. All was well for a couple of years. There was nothing in her medical records, and nothing from what her family and friends said about her to suggest that she had portrayed any sort of mental illness before, so it was a shock to Lisa to discover why she had ended up in a psychiatric home.
It was the night of 06 th September, 1929. The police were called by Margaret’s mother to the house that Margaret and Stephen shared. Again, there was a police report attached to the file so Lisa began reading it. When the police arrived at the house they were confronted by Margaret’s hysterical mother. On entering they found Stephen on the kitchen floor with several knife wounds to his chest, abdomen and neck. He was dead when they arrived. On further inspection of the house, the police found Margaret hiding in a cupboard, covered in blood, some of it her own.
It came to light that that night they had been out for a drink with friends when they had gotten into an argument. They went home where Margaret went to bed. Stephen had stayed up drinking. Later that night he went into their bedroom and dragged Margaret out of bed. He tried to force himself on her, and when she rejected his advances, he became very violent. Margaret told the police how her husband had started pushing her and slapping her across her face. When she still refused his sexual advances he punched her in the face and she fell to the floor. While she was on the floor he stamped on her stomach until he had forced all the wind out of her and she couldn’t move. He then lay on top of her, pinning her down beneath his weight and proceeded to rape her whilst still hitting her and strangling her, causing deep bruising and swelling. When the ordeal was over, Stephen went to bed. Margaret sat up not knowing what to do until eventually she realised the only way she could get out of the relationship. She told the police he had done it before on many occasions and her family verified the cuts and bruises they had so often seen her with because of him. It was also confirmed that there had been numerous times when the police were called out to the house for what was known as “a domestic”. She told the police she could not remember what had happened after Stephen had gone to bed. They put the pieces together and offered the Judge and Jury a horrific account of the night in question. It was suggested that after years of physical and mental abuse from her husband, she could not take it any longer, so she took a large carving knife from the
Similar Books
