SON MURDERS HIS MOTHER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 24, 22 July 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

SON MURDERS HIS MOTHER.

CHILD'S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY IS NOTTINGHAM TENEMENT. The arrest took place in the early hours of a recent Saturday morning near Nottingham (England) of Samuel Oscroft, who was later in the day charged with the murder of his mother, Alice Oscroft, the wife of a boot repairer, of King's Yard, Barker Gate, Nottingham. > The accused man is about twenty years of age. During Friday morning the murdered woman's husband left the house with a younger son, and attended to some, business in the town, the child going on to school. The other son, Samuel, was left behind in the house. When the younger child returned frqm school he found his mother dead in an upper room with her throat so dreadfully coat that the head was nearly severed. Search for Samuel Oscroft was at once begun in and around Nottingham, but it was not until early on the Saturday morning that he was arrested. He was found by a policeman asleep in a country lane at West Bridgford, a suburb of the city. He is a weak looking lad. When charged with murdering his mother he said,. "What, dea.dt" and added, "My mind changes so since I have been away. I don't know what I did it for. I don't know what I have done with the razor. I cannot bring my mind to think." Oscroft was brought before the magistrates on Saturday and remanded. Joseph Oscroft told the court at the inquest that when he left home on the morning of the 10th his wife and two eldest sons, Samuel and Ellis, were in the house. When he returned he found his wife dead, with her throat cut. He described Samuel as being "one of the best sons in the world," and he never heard him say anything angrily to his mother.

Ellis Oacroft said there was a fight between him and Samuel on the morning of the tragedy, his mother stopping them. Samuel was quick-tcmptred, but never quarrelled with his mother. The jury returned a verdict of "murder against Samuel Oscroft.