On Tuesday 29th June 1852 a Sawley woman was battered to death in her home by a stranger. John and Sarah Walters lived in Thompsons Barns, a solitary group of three 2-storey buildings around a farmyard on the lane to Church Wilne, about ¼ mile before Wilne Mills. The left building (looking from the road) was their house, the other buildings being sheds. The buildings were owned by Richard Thompson, a Draycott farmer. John Walters was a farm labourer for Mr Thompson. The Murder On Tuesday 29th June 1852, two days after Sarah’s 58th birthday, John was out hoeing turnips in the fields. Sarah left home around 11am, stopping to see the sexton in Wilne before walking to Draycott to do some shopping. She mentioned seeing ‘a bad looking fellow’ sitting in the lane near the cottage and being glad to get past him. On her return she found the man inside her house and left her shopping on the doorstep. Her husband described her as a courageous and spirited woman and the man later claimed she hit him first. But he beat her to death with a hatchet, which was later found in the yard. It was customary for […]