Edith Collett

The body of Edith Collett was found on the railway line near Queen's Park Station in Kilburn.

At first it was thought that she had thrown herself in front of the train but later examination found two wounds to her neck which were thought to have been the cause of death that had started at the back and extended to the front of the throat.

She had lived on Salisbury Road and was the wife of a labourer.

Her throat had been cut but she had died from a fractured skull after being hit by a train.

It was thought that she might have cut her own throat in the garden and then climbed over a railing and gone onto the line. Her husband’s razor was found in the garden. Her husband said that she had been depressed because he had been out of work and that she had been suffering from bad health.

Her husband said that he had gone out that day looking for work and had come home to find Edith Collett missing. He said he went to make enquiries on the Thursday with relatives and then later went to the police station. Whilst there he gave the police a description of his wife which just happened to match the description of the body of a woman that the police had received there that day in the mortuary. Although Edith Collett was much disfigured he recognised her without hesitation.

The Coroner's jury returned a verdict of Suicide While Temporarily Insane.