The Mysterious Murder of Mary Jane Bennett

In Victorian England, the press were never shy of calling a crime the “sensation of the century” or a murder, “the most astonishing the world had ever seen.” When the body of a young woman showed up on the beach of a popular seaside resort town, no-one would have imagined it would provoke just such proclamations. As the story unravelled, and the winding, and at times, explosive court case drew on, however, it became clear that not only would it provoke such headlines, but it would also be entirely worthy of many of them.
SOURCES

Majoribanks, Edward (1929) The Life of Sir Edward Marshall Hall. Victor Gollanz Ltd. London, UK.

Donovan, Kim (2024) The Mysterious Mrs Hood. Seven Dials Publishing, London, UK.

Hulme, Mike (2010) ‘Telling a different tale’ literary, historical and meteorological readings of a Norfolk heatwave. Climactic Change, UK.

Dade, Richard (2007) Photographs and information about Great Yarmouth Rows. Retrieved March 12, 2024, from http://www.ourgreatyarmouth.org.uk/page_id__54.aspx

Eastern evening News (1900) Terrible Crime At Yarmouth. Eastern Evening News, Mon 24 Sep, 1900. P3. Norfolk, UK.

Eastern evening News (1900) Yarmouth Beach Tragedy. Eastern Evening News, Tues 25 Sep, 1900. P3. Norfolk, UK.

Eastern evening News (1900) Yarmouth Beach Tragedy. Eastern Evening News, Wed 26 Sep, 1900. P3. Norfolk, UK.

Eastern evening News (1900) Yarmouth Beach Tragedy. Eastern Evening News, Thurs 27 Sep, 1900. P3. Norfolk, UK.

Eastern evening News (1900) The Tragedy On Yarmouth Sands. Eastern Evening News, Fri 28 Sep, 1900. P3. Norfolk, UK.

East Anglian Times (1900) Funeral Of The Victim. East Anglian Times, Sat 29 Sep, 1900. P3. Norfolk, UK.

Weekly Dispatch (1900) Yarmouth Murder Mystery. Weekly Dispatch, Sun 30 Sep, 1900. P11. London, UK.

Evening Star (1900) Yarmouth Denes Murder. Evening Star, Thurs 8 Nov, 1900. P2. London, UK.

Sleaford Gazette (1900) The Yarmouth Tragedy. Sleaford Gazette, Sat 24 Nov, 1900. P7. UK.

Echo (1900) Yarmouth Mystery. Echo, Sat 10 Nov 1900, P2. London, UK.

Liverpool Echo (1901) The Yarmouth Murder. Mon 25 Feb, 1901, P3. Liverpool, UK.

Echo (1901) Bennett Trial. Echo, Tues 26 Feb 1901, P3. London, UK.

Echo (1901) Bennett On Trial. Echo, Fri 1 Mar 1901, P3. London, UK.

Echo (1901) Bennett’s Sentence. Echo, Mon 4 Mar 1901, P2. London, UK.

Norfolk News (1901) Bennett At The Old Bailey. Norfolk News, Sat 2 Mar, 1901, P6. Norfolk, UK.

Norfolk News (1901) The Convict Bennett. Norfolk News, Sat 9 Mar, 1901, P13. Norfolk, UK.

-------

For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com

Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories

The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories

Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9

Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast

Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories

& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/

Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected]

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf

The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices