WOMANS BODY FOUND
May 12th 1958: The partly clothed body of Veronica Ryan,aged 25, a nursing orderly
at the Three Counties mental hospital,near Bedfordshire, was found beside the road
near the hospital early yesterday by Mr.J.Bendick, a male nurse at the establishment.
Miss Ryan's home was at St .Vincent Street, Cork.
Plain clothes police with dogs searched
the ditches and thick undergrowth on each side the road while other officers made
inquiries at the Three Counties Hospital and Fairfield's Hospital, it's annexe and
at the adjoining London chest Hospital. Dr. F. E. Camps, the home office pathologist,
made a preliminary investigation before the body was removed. It was believed that
death was from strangulation.
Miss Ryan had been at the hospital for about a year
and had living quarters in the Fairfield annexe.
It is believed that on Sunday night
she cycled into Letchworth and that on returning to the hospital she was walking,
pushing her cycle, when she was attacked.
REMANDED ON
MURDER CHARGE
MAY 23 rd 1958: Lyndon Emrys Mydrum Nott, of Bedford Road Letchworth, made a brief appearance at Biggleswade on Wednesday in connection with a charge of murdering Veronica Ryan ,a ward orderly, of Three Counties Hospital, Stotfold, on May 10.
He was further remanded in custody for a week. Dep-
CHARGED WITH
MURDER
JUNE 20th 1958: A charge of murder was preferred against Lyndon Emrys Mydrum Nott,
Aged 25, of Bedford Road, Letchworth, at Biggleswade magistrates court on Friday,
Nott was accused of murdering Miss Veronica Ryan, a ward orderly at Three Counties
hospital, at a spot beside the Hitchin Road, Stotfold, on May 10.Through his counsel,
Nott pleaded "Not Guilty" and reserved his defence. In response to an application
from his counsel, he was granted a defence certificate for two counsel at his trail
at Bedfordshire Assizes in October, and remanded in custody.
Evidence of statements
alleged to have been made by the accused man was taken by camera.
FOUL MURDER IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF
SAVAGE FEROCITY
OCTOBER 10th 1958: Accused at Bedfordshire Assizes on Wednesday of what the judge
described as "foul murder in circumstances of savage ferocity"Lyndon Emrys Nott,
{25} of Bedford, Road, Letchworth, was found guilty but insane and ordered to be
detained in Her Majesty's pleasure.
evidence was given that shortly before Nott stabbed
Miss Veronica Ryan, a 28 year-
Before he stabbed
Miss Ryan, however, Nott strangled her, although she was still alive when he plunged
the knife into her her body. The motorist, thinking he had seen a courting couple,
and unwilling to be a Peeping Tom, doused his torch and went on his way.Mr Graham
Swannick, Q.C. told the jury that he had to unfold to them a tragic and ugly story,
When
cycling home to the Three Counties mental Hospital at about 10.15 p.m. on May 10
miss Ryan had reached a spot within a few hundred yards of her destination, She passed
a public-
"He came up from behind her and pushed her and
her bicycle into a ditch about three feet deep at the side of that unlighted road.
He then got on top of her. He punched her heavily on the jaw and in the face. There
were at least two heavy blows. He put one hand over her mouth, presumably to stop
her cries, and with the other hand he proceeded to strangle her with considerable
violence so much so as to fracture the bones of her throat.”
POIGNANT ASPECT
"Then at the bottom of that ditch he raped her and, not content with
that, he drew from inside his jacket a sheath knife which he used at his work place
at a slaughter-
After that continued Mr Swannick, Nott took steps to
conceal the weapon he had used and the jacket he wore. It is perhaps one of the most
poignant aspects of this tragedy that so nearly was the final culminating act averted,
because along that road at this time there passed a car driven by Mr Tucker. " He
noticed that the wheel of the cycle belonging to the prisoner was projecting from
the verge into the road, so he pulled back and went back to the vicinity taking with
him the only torch he had.
Unfortunate it was a small one and rather dim.
I AM THE BLOKE
He saw by the light of his torch that there were not one but two cycles, one lying
on the verge and one in the ditch. He looked into the ditch and there he saw a couple,
the man, as he thought, put up his hand to try to shield their faces from inspection."Mr
Tucker jumped to the natural conclusion that this was a courting couple, and, not
wanting to play the Peeping Tom he went back to his motor-
UNKNOWN TO NOTT
Mr Richard John Ryan, the dead woman's brother, said that his sister had been visiting
him and his and his wife at there home in Bedford Road, Letchworth, and he saw her
leave to cycle back to the Hospital at about 10.15 p.m. That was the last time he
saw her alive.Answering Mr Joseph Grieves, Q.C. defending Mr Ryan said that so far
as he knew his sister was completely unknown to Nott.
Mr Charles Alfred James Tucker
of High Street Stotfold said he had been to the cinema at Letchworth with his wife,
and when returning on the night of May 10 he saw part of a cycle on the verge. He
stopped his car and got out. " I had a small torch, not very bright" he said "I saw
one cycle and another one further back into the grass verge. Then i saw what thought
was a courting couple in the ditch.
The man appeared to be partly over the woman."
GREAT VIOLENCE
Mr John Francis Bentick, Mullway, Letchworth Described how he found the body in the ditch when on his way to the Hospital at 6.30 a.m. on May 11. Dr Jack Davies The Chase, Arlesey, described Injuries he saw on the body and said they were consistent with great violence being used and also probably with great haste. Insp, William V. Mitchell, Plymouth City police told the court that Nott walked into Plymouth City police station on May 13 and said: "I am the bloke they are looking for."
At the same time he produced a copy of the Daily Mirror and pointed to a report of the murder.
Accused Statement
Dept. Supt. John MacIver of Scotland Yard, said that Nott made a statement at Plymouth on May 13. He then read the statement:
" I want to tell you all I can remember of how I killed the girl on Stotfold Road on Saturday night last week. I was cycling along the road near the Two Chimneys public house. It was about the time the pubs were turning out. I was cycling towards Three Counties Hospital, I saw a girl walking with a bicycle in front of me. I got off my bicycle and followed her. I think she got on her bike but not before then,I pushed her off the bike and she fell Inwards into the ditch, I got off my bike and got on top of her and hit her on the jaw with my fist.
That is how I got the scratches on my knuckles.I then put one hand over her mouth and strangled her with the other hand.”
THUMB BROKEN
"My left thumb is broken, I think I did it when i got off my bike and got on top of her.I did not notice it until afterwards, While she was lying in the ditch I assaulted her..... I stabbed her. I think twice in the breast.
It was with a sheath knife I had in my inside jacket pocket. I don't know why i did
this. Before I stabbed her a motor-
"I pulled the girl's bicycle into
the ditch.,my bike was on the edge of the road and part of it was sticking into the
road... I didn’t recognise the girl, but have since read in the newspapers that the
girl was Veronica Ryan and I remember having seen her at Three Counties Hospital.
After I stabbed her I got on my bike and went home.
I WAS FED UP
" I went to work on Monday and gave my notice in, but did not stay. I caught a train at 7.42 from Letchworth to London. At 1.10 a.m. this morning I caught a train from Waterloo to Atavistic. I caught a train from Tavistock to Plymouth and the gave myself up to the police for murder.”
BARNADO'S BOY
Cross-
He also had certain convictions for dishonesty. He was last released from prison in February 1957. On march 21,1957, he entered Three Counties Hospital, Arlesey, as a voluntary patient.
He left there in July 1957, and three weeks later he was placed on probation after attempting suicide, in consequence, he entered another mental hospital and remained there until September 1957, within a fortnight of his release from that hospital he again attempted suicide.
At the end of October he was sent to prison for an offence of dishonesty and released on December 10 last. He then obtained employment which he was following at the time of the offence.
ALIVE WHEN STABBED
Det. Insp Donald R. Upchurch described how he found certain property at Nott's home
and later went to a house in High Avenue, Letchworth, the home of Mrs Hustable, and
found a commando-
Dr Francis E. Camps said he had examined
the body of Miss Ryan and in his opinion death was caused by a stab wound in the
chest which penetrated the heart and also he had to include strangulation.
ATTACKED MOTHER
Dr Camps was asked by Mr Grieves “Do you think if she had not been stabbed the strangulation would have killed her anyway?" He replied. " I think that probably she would have died from strangulation unless very immediate medical treatment could have been given". At this stage Mr Grieves told the jury that he would call evidence to show Nott was a mad man in the layman's sense of the word."
and he would invite them to find that Nott was insane in law.
He then called Dr.
Leslie Ford medical superintendent of Three Counties Hospital, who said he believed
that Nott knew what he was doing at the time of the offence, but that he could not
distinguish between right and wrong by reason of a disorder of the mind, namely,
schizophrenia.He said that when Nott was 20 he had two brainstorms. During one he
attacked his mother with a pair of scissors and in the other he had to be held down
by seven policemen.
SUSTAINED PURPOSE
Cross-
Mr Swannick then told the jury that he would put forward that this was a case of diminished responsibility rather than insanity. Dr. Francis Brisby principal medical officer of Brixton prison , said he believed Nott was not a schizophrenic, but a psychopath.
This was a person who had impulses which he was often unable to control but he would
know he was doing wrong. He was of the opinion that at the material time Nott was
suffering from abnormality of the mind which would impair his mental responsibility
for his acts.
Dr. John Batt. medical superintendent of a mental hospital at Epsom,
said he also thought that Nott was a psychopath. He said the crime showed an element
of sustained purpose which took it out of the category of a schizophrenic attack.The
hearing was then adjourned until Wednesday mourning.
TWO POSSIBLE VERDICTS
Summing up to the jury on Wednesday in what he described as a case of very foul murder
in circumstances of savage ferocity, the judge said there were two possible verdicts.
The
jury can say he said, “That this man is guilty of murder but insane at the time he
did it.
That is what is called a special verdict of Guilty but insane and that is the verdict
which the defence have been contending is correct.”
“The other verdict which you can
give is one of Not Guilty of murder but Guilty of manslaughter and you would return
that verdict If you came to the conclusion that he was not responsible for what he
did in the full sense, that his responsibility was diminished by reason of his mental
condition".
"So it is a question for you to decide to what extent he was answerable
for what he did.
If he was unanswerable, not responsible at all for what he did because he was insane at the time, you will find him not Guilty but insane. "
“If you think he was partly responsible, Knew partly what he was doing but that his responsibility for his action was diminished then you will find him Not Guilty of murder but Guilty of manslaughter.”
The Murder Of Nurse Orderly
Miss Veronica Ryan.
The Front Page Of The Daily Mirror
Dated May 12th 1958
Please Click On The Front Page To See More News Paper Articles
Lyndon Emerys Mydrum Nott
We believe Being Led Away From Biggleswade Court
Please Click On The Picture For more Details About Lyndon Nott
Veronica Ryan was laid to rest in a Hertfordshire cemetery
This is her grave as it stands today in January 2015
Still tendered and cared for by her loved ones
NOTT FOUND GUILTY BUT INSANE
JURY OUT 15 MINUTES: Later the judge said "In the state of the evidence I think it is right to direct you that Dr. Ford's evidence that this crime was committed during a schizophrenic seizure is an opinion which you ought to accept because neither of the other two doctors will say that it is wrong.. "The fact that they don't share Dr. Fords opinion is neither here nor there.
They go a long way towards actual agreement although they won't go the whole way."
After 15 minuets retirement the jury found Nott Guilty but insane and Mr. Justice
Elwes ordered that he be detained until Her Majesty's pleasure be known.
After the hearing Lyndon Nott was taken to Broadmoor high-