James Smith (murderer)

He was hanged for the murder of Sarah Isabella Cross in her sweetshop at the corner of Hulme Hall Lane and Iron Street, Miles Platting, Manchester.

A total of 5 glass screw-top orangeade and cherryade bottles (made by Wild Bros of Heywood) were used to club the victim, each of which shattered to pieces as a result.

Forensic experts discovered Smith's fingerprint on a door frame which had been painted two days earlier by Cross's husband, a factory worker, and was still slightly tacky.

The broken glass bottles from the murder scene were sent to the North West Forensic Science Laboratory at Preston, where they were carefully reassembled using a tube of glue.

This verdict automatically resulted in him being sentenced to death because under the terms of the Homicide Act 1957, killing in the course or furtherance of theft or robbery was a capital offence.