[10] She soon found lodgings at 393 Seaside and is known to have written a letter to her mother that evening, informing her of her safe arrival in Eastbourne and of her intentions to purchase gifts for family members.

Munro then returned to her hotel for lunch, having agreed to meet the two men at a bus stop located opposite the Archery Taven, close to the village of Pevensey, that afternoon.

In response, Field struck Munro across her mouth with the metal ferrule of his walking stick, dislodging two of her teeth, loosening two others[20] and causing her to fall backwards and scream in pain as Gray shouted, "Shut up!"

"[21] In response to both Munro's screams and Field's panicked exclamation, Gray grabbed a section of ironstone brick weighing 32 lbs located close to where she had fallen.

[23] Another witness, Frederick Wells, informed Chief Inspector Mercer on 23 August he had also seen Munro walking in the direction of the Crumbles in the company of these men, the younger of whom he had often seen in Eastbourne in the fortnight prior to the murder, adding this individual often carried a yellow stick with a Bulldog's head upon the handle.

[45] The five labourers who had seen Munro walking along the light railway line failed to identify either Field or Gray from an identity parade, and both were initially released from custody on 26 August.

[49] On 30 August, a sailor named William Putland informed his commanding officer he had observed Munro—whose face he recognised from newspaper articles—as being in the company of two men while he had been on leave in Eastbourne.

Shown a number of hats and caps at the police station, Putnam pointed to a make identical to the one described by eyewitnesses as being the one the younger of the two men seen with Munro had worn on the day of her murder.

[50] No individuals could be found to corroborate the accounts both men gave to police regarding their movements on 19 August, with investigators also discovering Field and Gray had attempted to persuade a local servant girl to claim she had been in their company at the time of the murder.

Cadman stated that rigor mortis was so well established he was unable to move the limbs, adding his opinion the girl had been deceased for between twelve and twenty-four hours.

Upon cross-examination by Gray's defense counsel, Edward Marshall Hall, Cadman conceded his initial estimation implied the girl could not have been murdered prior to 11:00 p.m. on 19 August.

A servant girl named Hilda Maud Baxter then testified as to the efforts of both defendants—whom she had not known—to persuade her to construct a false alibi,[57] adding there was no truth in the claims of both men to have been in her company at Pevensey on the afternoon of the murder.

Cassels outlined the inaccuracies some witnesses had provided to investigators when describing the clothing of either the decedent or the men seen in her company, before inferring the murder must have been committed at or after dusk as opposed to in broad daylight, close to a railway hut.

Outlining Munro's character, Hall stressed that it would have been unlikely that a "ladylike, educated" young woman known to have been "fastidious as to her choice of company" would have sought the acquaintance of two unemployed, unambitious and heavy drinking individuals like the defendants.

Referring to the prosecution contention that the motive for the murder was robbery and the testimony from Dorothy Ducker that his client had promised her he and Field would "have more money" by the late afternoon of 19 August, Hall contended Munro was not worth robbing, and no evidence existed of premeditation.

Hall finished his closing argument by stating that if the jury could not accept the evidence put forward by the prosecution as conclusive, both Gray and Field were entitled to a verdict of not guilty.

Judge Avory also instructed the jury not to allow their decision to be influenced by any material pertaining to the murder they had read, stating: "I warn you only to bring in a verdict of guilty if satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt as to [the defendants'] guilt."

[71] In formally passing the death sentence against both men, Mr Justice Avory stated: "Jack Alfred Field and William Thomas Gray, you have been found guilty of a foul and brutal murder, and the defence you have [both] concocted has been demonstrated to be untrue.

[74][n 6] Neither held any inclination to actually work for a living, and shortly after the two had become acquainted in June 1920, both had developed a habit of committing opportunistic petty theft[76] and, in the fortnight prior to murdering Munro, of befriending and robbing tourists.

Field had struck Munro across the face when she had refused to release her handbag—containing approximately £2 10s[77]—after Gray attempted to steal the bag from her possession after the two had lured the girl to a secluded location.

[82] The Lord Chief Justice rejected these appeals on 18 January,[83] describing the renewed accounts of events by both men as desperate, last-ditch fabrications concocted to escape the consequences of their crime by placing blame upon the other.

[99] During an August 1923 visit to this firm, he encountered a 37-year-old unmarried woman named Emily Beilby Kaye,[103] who worked as a shorthand typist and private secretary to the father of author Ian Hay.

To recuperate, she travelled to the coastal resort town of Bournemouth, where she was soon joined by Mahon, who presented her with a diamond and sapphire cluster engagement ring he had earlier purchased from a Southampton jeweller's.

[110] Upon her return to work, Kaye informed friends and relatives she and Mahon would soon marry and emigrate to South Africa,[111] stating to the company secretary, "It's fixed, my dear — the [wedding] date!"

On 5 April, Kaye wrote a letter to her sister in which she stated Mahon had travelled to Langney to inspect a bungalow with a view to renting the property for several weeks as they finalised their plans to emigrate.

[111][n 10] Likely as a means of premeditation with regards to murdering Kaye, Mahon agreed to this proposal, and successfully convinced her to travel to an Eastbourne bungalow known as Officer's House, located alongside the Crumbles, which he had rented under the assumed name of Waller.

At his subsequent trial, he testified that upon their return to Officer's House on 15 April, he had brought the coal scuttle into the living room, then lit a fire as Kaye wrote a further letter to her friend.

"[95] Prosecutor Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett outlined the ample evidence of premeditation, stating the motive for Mahon embarking upon the affair had been to rob Kaye of her savings.

[163] However, anecdotal accounts suggest Mahon offered resistance upon the scaffold, apparently attempting to jump clear of the trap at the precise moment the lever was pulled.

According to Inspector Percy Savage, upon Sir Bernard Spilsbury's arrival at Officer's House on 4 May, he had been aghast at the lack of methods used by police to both preserve forensic evidence and prevent infection.