Richard Myers

Richard Myers and Lily Gambles were found dead at the house they lived in together with William Gambles who vanished and was never seen again.

Richard Myers was found dead in the kitchen with his head battered in whilst Lily Gambles had been strangled on the bed upstairs.

The sofa bed that Richard Myers slept on was over him and a blood-stained axe was found nearby.

The police found a book in the kitchen which was open at a page which read, 'Caught them together twice. I think it was enough'.

There were no finger marks around Lily Gambles's neck but it was thought that she had been strangled through a blanket or sheet which had prevented marks. The doctor said that pregnant women were more liable to collapse through shock.

It was believed locally that the murderer, possibly William Gambles, committed suicide by throwing himself down a disused coal shaft.

The dead bodies of Richard Myers and Lily Gambles were discovered on 8 July 1921 and William Gambles was never seen again. William Gambles was last seen by a collier around 12.20am on 8 July 1921 a quarter of a mile from his house heading towards Wigan. The day before, a cousin of William Gambles said that he had told him that his heart was broken.

Lily Gambles and William Gambles, who had been married for five days, lived at the home of Richard Myers for whom Lily Gambles kept house.

Lily Gambles mother said that on the night of her daughter's wedding to William Gambles, William Gambles had been drunk and after they had returned home was excitable and wild because his mother and sister had not attended his wedding and said that he would cut off their heads and added that he would also kill his father as he had pulled a cat in two a fortnight before.

A nephew of Richard Myers later produced a will which stated that Richard Myers had said that if Lily Gambles was still in service at the time of his death then she should have bought for her a good suit of black clothes.

The Coroner's jury returned a verdict of murder against William Gambles for both the murder of Richard Myers and Lily Gambles.