Rex -v -Ruxton
Opened at Manchester Assizes 2nd March 1936 with huge public and Press interest, more than 100 journalists attended. It lasted 11 days
The Crown only brought the charge of Isabella’s murder:
Buck Ruxton, you are indicted and the charge against you is murder in that on a day between the 14th and 29th day of September 1935 at Lancaster, you murdered Isabella Ruxton. How say you, Buck Ruxton, are you guilty or not guilty?
- 213 Exhibits were produced in Court
- 106 Witnesses for the Prosecution and 1 Witness for the Defence.
The jury took just 1 hour to reach its verdict and Mr. Justice Singleton placed a black cap on his head and said:
Buck Ruxton, you have been convicted on evidence which can leave no doubt upon the mind of anyone. The law knows but one sentence for the terrible crime which you have committed. The sentence of the Court upon you is that you be taken from this place to a lawful prison and thence to a place of execution, and that you be there hanged by the neck until you are dead, and that your body be afterwards buried within the precincts of the prison in which you shall have been last confined before your execution; and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.
Buck Ruxton lodged an Appeal which was heard on 27th April 1936. The Lord Chief Justice saying:
There is nothing in it that can be said even faintly to resemble misdirection. On the contrary, as one reads it one is impressed by the care, thoroughness, patience and discernment which it shows. The judge at the trial has said that the appellant was convicted on evidence which could leave no doubt in the minds of anyone. That was a perfectly correct statement. The appeal must be dismissed.
Buck Ruxton was held at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, where he was executed on 12th May 1936.
