The Challenge: week three

The Strangler in the Copse

The question was, did Ruby have another man?

As Ruby’s passions for Stone cooled, other admirers were quick to take advantage. There followed a fling with a local postman and not insignificant flirting with several keen, young bachelors. However, there was one who stood out from the rest: a local policeman named Fred Moore. Ruby started meeting him at local pubs, and they took occasional trips into London’s West End to see films and meet friends.

Soon, Stone had been completely forgotten and in 1936 after several months Ruby and Moore became engaged. Much as she had done with the forgotten Stone, Ruby made plans for the future. Despite this, she was still friendly to other men, even to the extent of the occasional flirtation.

Ruby carried on her job at the local factory, but was increasingly distracted by romance. Some of her workmates gossiped behind her back that she was not pulling her weight and that if she did not buck up her ideas she may lose her job. However it was not she that lost her job, but Moore.

Moore’s sergeant, Sidney Green, said it was 'due to tough conditions all round. I’m sure you’ll find something else,' he told Moore, patronisingly. But Moore was suspicious of the motives. After all, no one else had been fired and he had always been conscientious.

Before Ruby had met him she had a short fling with Green, who had lost his wife to TB, and Moore wondered whether his boss’s attitudes had been affected by the relationship.

Moore was driven to challenge his fiancée about her relationship with Green. In an ugly scene he asked her repeatedly: 'Are you still seeing him? Is that why you have gone cold on me over the last few weeks?'

Ruby told him that nothing had happened once she had met him, but it was true she had gone cold on Moore. The reason was simple. She liked fun and since he had lost his job he had been miserable and broke.

After a few weeks, Moore was lucky. The local police sergeant changed and he was back on the beat. Suddenly he was king of the castle again, but suspicions about Ruby tugged at the back of his mind.

What question would you ask now?

Where was Fred Moore at the time of the killing?

Was Ruby liked at work?

What plans did Ruby and Fred make for their marriage?

Who was Fred’s new boss?

Find out which is the right question to ask

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