The Box Office Hit

Monday 22 September, 9pm

A vicious attack in the Jewish part of London’s East End leaves cinema owner Dudley Horde dead and his wife Maisie unconscious with head injuries. It is August 1934.

The most obvious motive is the £90 missing from the office, but after the fingerprints from a bloody handprint left smeared on a wall prove to be the victim’s, other evidence is needed.

A witness saw someone running from the direction of the cinema and then dump something in a rubbish pile. Could this have been the murder weapon?

As investigations continue, suspects emerge aplenty: an employee at the cinema who left for holiday on the morning of the killing, a mysterious 'J' who signed a letter demanding money, found in Horde's pocket and a man Maisie seemed reluctant to identify in the identity parade. Against the violence of anti-Semitic extortion rackets common to the area and the dark shadow of the emerging fascist groups, the police had their work cut out.

On the trail of employee John Stockwell, it is discovered he has a conviction for violence and his address is ‘care-of the Salvation Army’.

But could the ‘J’ in Horde's note be Jack Spot, a notorious local racketeer of the time? No concrete link with the killing can be established.

A third J is James Bugle, another employee who Horde sacked for showing improper attentions to his wife. However apart from a grudge motive; it is difficult to show any link between him and the murder.

Or could Maisie have been in league with the killer?

An investigator finally uncovers a crucial fact about Stockwell. His landlady says that she cannot locate an axe that she had, which went missing at the time Stockwell left.

The search for Stockwell ends in Great Yarmouth. Dismissing an apparent suicide note found besides his clothes on the beach, the police go to a hotel where they believe he may be staying and a misspelt place name gives away one resident as using a false name.

Stockwell is revealed to be an unruly orphan who was dumped at the Salvation Army by an aunt. He killed Horde for the money and then ran away. Horde confessed and was hanged on 14 November 1934.

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