TWO WOMEN POISONED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20923, 13 July 1931, Page 9

TWO WOMEN POISONED.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER.

BODIES FOUND UNDER CEMENT. *— ■ j HUSBAND AFTERWARDS DROWNED j - : , The disappearance of a family from their Lome afc Belvedere, Kent, was followed on May 29 by a sensational development. The bodies of a woman and a girl were found buried in the garden of the house, under cement which formed the bed of a fishpond. They, were those of Mrs. Maud Clara Lewis, aged 50, and Miss Freda Maud Lewis, aged 20, the wife and adopted daughtef* of Mr. Charles Frederick Lewis, aged 58, a schoolmaster. For a few days no member of the family had been seen. The police were informed, and it was found that the house was unoccupied. A large number of detectives visited various places in search of the family, and when their., efforts failed attention was directed to an artificial fish and lily pond that all three— Mr., Mrs. and Miss Lewi3—had been observed digging shortly, before the two women disappeared. This had been cemented over. The police smashed through the cement, and then came upon some corrugated iron. This was torn up, and underneath it, lying side by side, were the two bodies, both clad in pyjamas. The fish pond was situated in the middle of a bed of flowers in one of the most beautiful parts of the garden.

At the inquest, Mr. Frank Hubert Brown, schoolmaster, and stepbrother of Mrs. Lewis, stated that Mr. Lewis was formerly a schoolmaster. Both women were healthy. The family had * lived at Erith more than thirty years at various addresses. Lewis and his wife were a happy and devoted couple. Letters he had received from the two women within the previous few months contained the ordinary family chat. The girl mentioned that to her mother's evident delight her father was making a fishpond in the garden. .

The Coroner: There was no concealment about that in any way ?—No; it had been mentioned ,by Mrs. Lewis in a previous letter to mo that she was asking her husband to make one, and he had consented to do it.

A detective described the finding of the bodies under the concrete covering about five or. six inches in depth. The concrete had been commenced two feet below the surface level, and the'bodies, which had beep covered under the concrete with three small sheets of corrugated iron, werei in a space about 17in. deep, with a concrete floor. The whole bad been covered over with a new tarpaulin sheet. Each body was wrapped in a bed sheet, completely covering the whole body, and wrapped again in a piece of carpet. The inquest was adjourned. When it was resumed later a doctor gave evidence that the women had been poisoned. Ths coroner said Lewis bought poison in April. The crime had beon premeditated for a

long time. Lewis boapded a Leith-bound steamer at Wapping on the night before the bodies were found. Next day he was seen on deck. A splash was heard early in the evening. An hour's search for the body was unavailing. ; His identity was established by laundry marks on his clothes.

A verdict of murder against Lewis was

returned, Miss Freda Lewis waa a student at a teachers' training college. Only a few in-: timate friends were aware of the fact that she was the" adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis.