Investigators determined that at least three people were poisoned to death by Amelia Winters, possibly with the assistance of her daughter, Elizabeth Frost.
[1][2] The victims in the murder cases were Sidney Bolton, aged 11, the son of a niece living with Winters; William Sutton, the elderly father of another relative; and Elizabeth Frost, the mother-in-law of the daughter Elizabeth Frost.
Investigators determined that Winters had insured the lives of 22 persons for a total of £240 with the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society.
At an inquest held at the Breakspear Hotel, Brockley, in July 1889, Mrs. Amelia Winters and her daughter Elizabeth Frost (née Winters) were found guilty of wilful murder and the coroner committed them for trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Evidence of motive was presented showing that between July 1886 and February 1889 five people insured by Mrs. Winters had died and she had claimed and received payment against the policies she held for Sutton and Bolton.
She was tried at the Old Bailey in July 1889 on charges of forging a document for the payment of money, with intent to defraud and was found guilty.
[12] The coroner for Surrey, Athelstan Braxton Hicks, had written a letter to The Times on 14 February 1889 listing eleven proposals for combating the dangers of child life insurance.