Rose Mylett - Murder or Accidental Death?

[Debra Arif]

Hi Debs. With all that evidence, it's hard for me to understand why you think she died by accident. I also can't understand why you think it comes down to one single point of evidence. Cases rarely come down to one single point of evidence.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Hi Tom,
All what evidence, specifically? I do think it really is as simple as different interpretations of the neck wounds by duly qualified medical men of the time.

I haven't ever said I think Mylett's death was accidental either-people just assume that's what I'm saying.
I have always tried to approach the Mylett case by trying to understand if Dr Bond's suggestions were in some way wrong or 'out of kilter' with pathological knowledge of the time. This doesn't appear to be the case. Medical jurisprudence books of the time (which I've read many of over the years and find them fascinating) include cases studies of accidental asphyxia where a ligature mark was questioned. Dr Bond also received some support for his conclusions in the Lancet, Times etc. Other doctors were prompted to write in and share their experiences of similar cases-no one seemed to think Bond's conclusion,or the fact that it disagreed with other doctors opinions of he same set of circumstances was in any way abnormal procedure or anything other than his genuine, considered, professional opinion.

We have no official post mortem records and the inquest reports of the post mortem are at odds with each other depending on the newspaper source. We have no full, blow by blow account of what exactly was discussed at the inquest, what the significance of asking about a post in the yard etc. Just vague references. Several witnesses claimed Mylett regularly drank to the point of becoming 'legless' and we know she had been retching earlier.

The fact that Bond said the mark had faded or wasn't as prominent as he'd expect is seemingly supported by other evidence given at inquest when it appears that evidence that thug murderers could commit ligature strangulation without leaving a mark was discussed. This evidence could only have been given in support of Brownfield's claim of a homicidal ligature strangulation scenario and must have been for the reason Bond reported-the faintness of the mark? I can't think of any other reason.