To Slip One's Wind: Murder of Frances Levin

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Murder of Frances Levin

Photo of the Crime Scene

On the afternoon of July 19, 1933, 61-year-old Frances Levin was at home her home at Cheetham Hill Rd. in Manchester, England, with her maid Ms. Phillips. Frances was reading a novelette in the living room and her maid went to sew her bedroom around 2:30 p.m. Before going upstairs she opened the back door to let fresh air in. There was no one else in the home at the time. When the maid saw a man walking along the side passage of the house she figured it was the same man asking about the chickens Frances's brother kept behind the house.

Ms. Phillips knew something was wrong when she came down around 4:20. She would go downstairs to the kitchen and see the poker on the hearthrug. There was blood on it and then she saw a bloodied cricket shirt on the table. Instead of staying investigating she left the home to an electrician, Samuel Woodcock, working on a car next door. He would find Frances in the living room on the settee. She had been bludgeoned but was still alive at the time. When Samuel tried to speak to her she would open her eyes and move her head, but nothing else. She would later die that evening.

Frances was a wealthy widow. Just before her death, she counted 9 shillings in her purse in front of her solicitor. Someone likely saw the door open and took the opportunity to rob the place. There was no evidence of a fight over her purse, but the money was gone. It could have been that she spooked the intruder and they killed her in surprise or fear of being caught. The man was described as of average height and weight.

Hundreds of people were Police would come upon a suspect who matched the subscription that the maid had given. 47-year-old William Burtoft. He had one eye, a stocky build, and was white-haired. He was an unemployed seaman with no fixed address. He had a history of theft, in 1924 he attacked a woman during a robbery. He was an alcoholic and was addicted to meth.

They detained him in Hyde a town about 7 miles away. William was questioned for many hours in the third degree. At one point police offer would allegedly offer a bottle of whisky to him in order to ease a confession. Police would deny that they had done this. William will give a confession as follows:

"I admit being the murderer of Mrs. Levin. Owing to drinking methylated spirit and also to the maid being where she was the old lady lost her life. I was cool, calm, and collected. Of course, when I got in the front room there the old lady got up and asked who was this. And I went back and get the poker off the fire range and struck her repeatedly.

I was not three minutes or so in the house. I was selling discharged soldiers' cards. Big Bertha will tell you I left her to sell some. I had no intention to do it, but—well I did it. I was sorry when I thought about it after. After I did it I took the poker back into the kitchen and wiped it on a shirt to remove any fingerprints""

There was an identification parade for her to pick out who she thought had done the crime. She had to do it by the way the walked because she did not see the man's face. She did not pick William and picked someone else.

On November 12, 1933, William went on trial and plead not guilty. The trial would last for two days and he was found guilty. The police used the "voluntary statement" from him in court, and William was never called up to give evidence to defend himself. This lonely and what today would be considered incompetent evidence condemned him. He was set to be executed by hanging. After he was convicted he protested from his cell that it was a false confession and even wrote to Home Security for help. His appeal on December 4th was rejected. On December 19, 1933, William was hanged at the Strangeway Goals in Manchester.

It's unknown if William had done the crime, but it's known that he did not get a fair trial. On March 6, 2018, the show Murder, Mystery, and My Family looked at the case. Using a present-day analysis the confession was deemed to have been manufactured by the police and was written in a style as if it was a story. It was unethical for William to be offered an alcohol incentive and unethical for the Judge to direct the jury and praise the police for the confession showing bias.