The Ilford Murder

The fatal fantasies of Edith Thompson

I am an avid collector of detective memoirs – I have several – and one of most interesting is that of Frederick Porter Wensley, who served in the Met for 41 years rising to the rank of chief constable of the CID. Towards the end of his career, Detective Wensley was involved in one of the most sensationalised and controversial cases of the early twentieth century, which led to the conviction of Edith Thompson, and her lover Frederick Bywaters, for the murder of her husband, Percy. A century later, this historical homicide is still being discussed and debated.