In 1881, dangerous prisoner Giles Hutchings was apprehended near Newport after being at large for 2 years – incarcerated in the police station he helped build.
In November 1876, policeman Nathaniel Cox was killed by 4 poachers in the West Country. He had been kicked to death.
George Hutchings and his sons Giles and Peter went into hiding following the fatality and were not arrested until January the following year. In March 1878, all 3 were sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for manslaughter as it had been impossible to determine who had struck the fatal blow.
A year later, Giles Hutchings – who was reported to be a troublesome prisoner – escaped from a Chatham Prison working party.
Hutchings then turned up on the Isle of Wight. He was said to have led a strange and mysterious life in a small hut under a down in Niton. He apparently found work as a labourer and had even been employed for the building of a new police station in Newport.
After having been captured by the Police, Hutchings is said to have escaped on the way to Newport and swam across a stream. However, 1 of the constables followed him through the water and over the fields before recapturing him after an exciting chase.
Hutchings’ identity was confirmed by unique identifying marks on his body from his official description and by several persons. He was detained in the county police station he had helped to build before being returned to Chatham Prison in Kent to complete his sentence.
Look how big the policemen were back then, one of them could throw a just stop oil protester clear across a road….
Just what I was thinking, SWS. Not an overweight pony-tail shorty in sight. And looking very intimidating. The gendarmes in France are trained to be unfriendly with those members of the public they encounter, deliberately to maintain respect…and a little fear.
fascinating piece of history.
Thank you Island Echo.
We love local tales like this.
As now a rope would have saved cost, and risk to prison wardens and the public if or when escaped or released
As we now have even more people in the world and are clearly not becoming an endangered species, even more sense to string up the vile or persistent law breakers.
Wow we could afford Police when we only had to jail our own criminals not the worlds as well.