{"id":121341,"date":"2023-12-09T11:29:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T11:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogcamlodipine.com\/?p=121341"},"modified":"2023-12-09T11:29:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T11:29:29","slug":"skull-of-woman-fed-to-kids-by-maid-discovered-by-an-icon-of-tv-after-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogcamlodipine.com\/world-news\/skull-of-woman-fed-to-kids-by-maid-discovered-by-an-icon-of-tv-after-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"Skull of woman fed to kids by maid discovered by an icon of TV after killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The gruesome murder of a woman fed to children by her own housemaid was solved 131 years after the killing, with Sir David Attenborough being the one to crack the case.<\/p>\n

The national broadcasting treasure helped solve a murder known as the Barnes mystery \u2013 a grim story in which wealthy widow Julia Thomas was strangled, dismembered and fed to children by her servant Kate Webster back in 1879.<\/p>\n

Workmen discovered the skull as they carried out work in the back garden of his Sir David's Richmond, Surrey, home in 2010.<\/p>\n

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Police were called and forensic tests carried out with Professor Gordon Cook, of Edinburgh University, able to carbon-date the skull despite the killer having boiled it after cutting up her victim.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2011 a coroner ruled the skull was that of Julia Thomas and delivered a verdict of unlawful killing.<\/p>\n

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Julia had lived in a rented cottage near Attenborough's property when she employed Webster, who had previously been jailed for burglary, as a maid in January 1879.<\/p>\n

Killer housemaid Kate pushed Julia down the stairs, strangled her and then dismembered her body \u2013 disposing of most of it in the River Thames after boiling the flesh off the bones and feeding the dripping to local children.<\/p>\n

Kate assumed Julia's identity for a brief period after the killing before being discovered. <\/p>\n

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