Littlehampton libels

As a result, Gooding's case came to the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Archibald Bodkin, who thought that there had been a miscarriage of justice.

In 2023 a film about the events, Wicked Little Letters, was released; it stars Olivia Colman as Swan and Jessie Buckley as Gooding.

A similar case of libellous letters being sent over several years was reported in 2024, in the village of Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire; parallels were observed with the events at Littlehampton.

Bill was from Kent and had met Rose when he worked on barges on Sussex's River Ouse between Newhaven harbour and Lewes.

They lived in Western Road with Rose's sister, Ruth Russell and her children, Gertrude, William and Albert.

[5][6] Although Ruth's children had been born out of wedlock and she never married, she called herself "Mrs Russell", and she and Rose told people that her husband had died in the war.

She was also known to swear frequently and was thought to be an odd character by several neighbours; she was described by a Littlehampton police constable as "rather an eccentric woman".

Rejecting the accusation, the investigator reported that he "found the home to be spotlessly clean and the children in a perfect state in every way".

[22][23] A letter was also sent to Boxall in Mesopotamia, stating that Constable Russell—who lived at 49 Western Road—had "gone away with Miss Swan who was expecting a baby by him".

Despite Gooding's persistent statements of innocence, the jury found her guilty and she was sentenced to fourteen days' imprisonment in Portsmouth.

For two weeks Bill, the children and Russell conducted a charade of pretending Rose was in the house to try and trick the Swans into thinking she was still in Littlehampton.

The family would call out to Rose, the children said goodbye to her as they left for school, and any delivery men were told that she was upstairs with a headache.

When the jury retired to consider a verdict, they returned after eight minutes to request a sample of Gooding's handwriting; Avory said they would not be able to obtain one at this stage of the case.

Bill Gooding wrote several times to the Home Secretary requesting that the case be reopened and Rose protested to the prison governor that she was innocent.

[45] Bodkin passed the file on Gooding's case to the Home Office lawyer Sir Ernley Blackwell, who noted "I have very little doubt that this woman has twice been wrongly convicted".

[46] In June 1921 Peel reported to Williams that: I have made enquiries respecting the character of Miss Swan and find that she bears a very good character, She is a very hard working woman, and what I have seen of her I do not think that she would write such things about herself and send them through the post on post cards for every one to see, Mrs Gooding and her sister ... have both had illegitimate children.

[50] Nicholls later described Swan as "not only a peculiar woman in appearance and behaviour, but would seem to have a remarkable memory—especially for filthy phrases—for she has apparently got these letters by heart and is enabled to reel them off without any hesitation".

One of these contained the word "Local" in the same handwriting as the libels; when Nicholls asked Swan about it, she said that Gooding and Russell had both borrowed blotting-paper from her.

Nicholls reported back to Bodkin that neither Gooding's handwriting or spelling was similar to that in the libels; he stopped short of suggesting Swan should be charged.

Moss went to the police station; ten minutes later Swan arrived and changed her story, saying she picked it up, saw the writing and threw it down again.

[64] Swan's committal hearing was heard on 27 October at Arundel Town Hall; she was committed to trial at the Lewes assizes on 8 December 1921 with Sir Clement Bailhache as the judge; Humphreys was the prosecuting barrister.

[65][66] Part of Swan's defence was that Moss only had a limited view of the area from her hiding place, and it was possible that a third party could have thrown the paper into the courtyard.

[71][74][75][j] Frederick Peel, the former superintendent, but by then the deputy chief constable of West Sussex, was present at the case and Bill Gooding overheard him saying that he still believed Rose was responsible for the letters.

They marked stamps with invisible ink, which they supplied to the local sub-post office; the owners were instructed to only sell these to Swan, which they did on 23 June.

[78][79][80] On 4 July 1923 Peel and Thomas went to Swan's house and charged her under Section 63 of the Post Office Act with "attempting to send a postal packet which had thereon words of an indecent, obscene, and grossly offensive character".

Avory's thirty-minute summary was in Swan's favour, and he noted that she was a clean and upright woman, but the jury found her guilty.

Neat and tidy in appearance, polite and respectful in her answer, with just that twinge of feeling to be expected in a person who knows herself to be a victim of circumstances ... She completely took in three juries and two judges.

[87] Hilliard observes that the small matter of insulting letters being sent in Littlehampton resulted in four trials and two appeals, and involved the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Lord Chief Justice.

[91][92] In August 1975 many of the houses on Western Road—including numbers 45, 47 and 49—were designated Grade II listed buildings,[93][94] providing the properties with protection from unauthorised demolition or unsympathetic modification.

[96] In 2024 it was reported that a similar case of anonymously sent offensive or obscene letters was experienced by some residents of Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire; parallels were drawn with the events in Littlehampton.