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This month, we look back on a brutal murder over Christmas in St. Ouen, which gripped the island and led to intrigue, accusation and blackmail.
In December 1894, at a time when people should have been celebrating and enjoying the Christmas festivities, an incident took place that shocked the island and became known as the ‘St. Ouen’s Murder Case’.
On the evening of 22 December that year, 26-year-old John Francis, of St. Ouen, was making his way home to L’Etacq from Pooley’s Hotel at Grève de Lecq. He had been socialising with some acquaintances before setting off for home.
Initially, he walked with his nephew – another John Francis – Edward Le Cornu and two Frenchmen named Ferchat and Maletroit. Nephew Francis and Le Cornu separated from the ill-fated Francis and the two Frenchmen at Douet and then Francis was left on his own when he parted ways with Ferchat and Maletroit at the Carrefour des Cinq Verges.
Pictured: A crime-scene photo of the junction of Mont Pinel and Le Vier Mont in St. Ouen.
Francis went down Rue de Mahaut before descending Mont Pinel towards his house. Partway down the hill, he was assaulted with a blunt instrument and left unconscious.
His body was found the following morning about 200 paces away from home by Jacques Tanguy, who fetched Vingtenier Jacques Philip Hamon. It was suggested that the young man may have been assailed with his own walking stick.
Francis was carried to Jacques Tanguy’s house but none of the witnesses initially recognised him because of the severity of the injuries, even though they knew him well.
Hamon reported that it looked as if there were traces of a scuffle in the blood found at the scene and as if more than one man’s footmarks had been trodden through the blood stains but that he couldn’t be certain.
Francis was later transported to his father’s house and despite going in and out of consciousness was not able to identify who attacked him.
His father claimed that Francis had said he had been attacked by people who got down from a carriage, but no one else corroborated this. Francis finally succumbed to his injuries and died at 5 am on Christmas Eve.
People living in the area were in a state of shock because Francis was a quiet man with a very good reputation.
Pictured: A police photo of the Ernest Leonard's home.
He was always sober and no one knew of any arguments that he had with anybody. He was also a blacksmith and a man of great strength so for him to have been beaten so horribly was a shocking.
The doctors who undertook the post-mortem, Dr Bentliff and Dr Falla, were of the opinion that the attack may have been carried out by more than one assailant.
Their report stated: “The deceased, in our opinion, must have been attacked with great violence by probably more than one person, otherwise being a strong muscular man, he would have been able to defend himself.”
On 5 January 1895, Ernest Leonard, a Frenchman, was charged with his murder.
He faced trial in the Royal Court. The prosecution alleged that Leonard’s motive for the crime was jealousy – John Francis had been a family friend of the girl that Leonard had been engaged to marry. Her parents had forbidden her to marry Leonard and the engagement had been broken off.
Leonard admitted that he was in the area between 2 am and 3.40 am but was simply picking up flotsam. He admitted that he passed by where Francis was found at 3.30 am but said he did not see him there.
The case was a sensation in the Island and covered in forensic detail by the local newspapers.
The court proceedings concluded on Thursday 11 July with the Bailiff summing up the case.
Pictured: The police records of Augustin Le Vaillaint Villio and Jean Rene Eon, who were convicted of blackmail by the Royal Court.
The jury retired to consider their verdict at 11.50, whilst Leonard was removed to an ante room with a turnkey.
The jury returned just over an hour later to deliver their verdict. The foreman, T W Le Blancq, revealed that the jurors were divided in their opinion but that there was a more than sufficient number to find the accused not guilty. No one else was ever tried for the crime.
However, almost 20 years later, the case came back into the public consciousness.
By this time, Leonard had married Eliza Le Brocq and had become a mariner, often being away from the Island at sea. In March 1912, whilst Leonard was sailing to Rio in Brazil, Eliza was approached by two Frenchmen, Augustin Le Vaillaint Villio and Jean Rene Eon.
After telling them that her husband was away, the Frenchmen vowed to return.
They did so eight days later, telling Mrs Leonard that they knew her husband very well and had a piece of paper signed by him admitting to the murder of John Francis.
They told her that if she didn’t pay them a lot of money, they would take the paper to the police.
They made a number of visits to her and she paid them £4. They said they had burned the piece of paper that they claimed contained the confession.
However, Mrs Leonard contacted the police and Villio and Eon were arrested and tried.
Le Villio was tried for blackmail and was sentenced to four months hard labour and five years' banishment, and Eon was sentenced to six months hard labour and five years' banishment.
Whether a confession was written on the paper and who murdered John Francis remains a mystery.
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