Fingerprint evidence led to probably the only case in which two brothers, jointly convicted of murder, were executed by two other brothers.
In 1905, Alfred and Albert Stratton were accused of murdering an elderly couple who were battered to death above their shop in London.
Lying on the floor next to the bodies was an emptied cashbox in which the couple had kept their takings. On the box’s metal tray, fingerprint officers found the impression of a sweaty or oily thumbprint which did not match those of the dead couple – or that of the first police officer at the scene.
Suspicion fell upon the Strattons, both known housebreakers. They were arrested and tried at the Old Bailey. The thumbprint was the main piece of evidence.
Bothe men were found guilty and sentenced to death. They were hanged together by the brothers John William Billington, the public executioners, on May 23, 1905.
‘Mr Fingerprints’
The comparison of fingerprints for catching criminals was first developed in the 1890s by Edward Henry, the British inspector-general of the Indian police in Bengal.
Previously, the usual method of registering the characteristics of criminals was the anthropometric system, developed by Alphonse Bertillon, a French criminologist. It involved measuring the criminal’s arms and legs, and taking photographs from the front and sides.
Edward Henry became interested in fingerprints which had previously been used to study racial characteristics and evolution. He instructed his police officers to take impressions of criminals’ left thumbs in the belief that as most people were right-handed the ridges on the left thumb would be less worn. He then went on to devise a system based on the patterns of prints which was adopted in India.
His revolutionary ideas attracted interest in England, and in 1901 he was put in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard. He set up the first Fingerprint Branch which made more than 100 successful identifications within six months.
Henry later became Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. He retired and was made a baronet in 1918, but was always known as ‘Mr Fingerprints’.
Picture Credit : Google