Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 2, 2012



The murder of Julia Martha Thomas was one of the most notorious crimes in Britain in the late 19th century. Thomas, a widow who lived in Richmond in west London, was killed on 2 March 1879 by Kate Webster, her Irish maid (pictured). Webster dismembered the body, boiled the flesh off the bones, and threw most of it into the River Thames, allegedly offering the fat to neighbours as dripping and lard. Part of Thomas's remains were soon recovered but her severed head was only found in October 2010 during building works being carried out for the naturalist Sir David Attenborough. After the murder, Webster posed as Thomas for two weeks but was exposed and fled to her family home at Killanne, Ireland. She was arrested on 29 March and stood trial in London at the Old Bailey in July 1879, where she was convicted and sentenced to death. She confessed to the murder the night before she was hanged on 29 July at Wandsworth Prison. The case attracted considerable interest from the public and press in Great Britain and Ireland. (more...)

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