Latest news with #historicalcrime
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Dublin: Man charged with 79 counts of historical sexual offences
A man in his 70s has appeared in court in Dublin in connection with alleged historical sexual was arrested on Tuesday morning following his extradition from the man is accused of 79 offences - 78 counts of indecently assaulting four young girls aged between eight and 14 at the time, and one count of attempting to rape one of the offences are alleged to have taken place between 1971 and 1981 at various locations in south Dublin including Dun Laoghaire, Killiney, Blackrock, Deans grange and Foxrock. Forty-two of the charges relate to one of the girls and 34 to indecent assault charges relate to another of the girls, while one charge relates to the fourth alleged Superintendent Amy Kelly said she arrested the man at Dublin Airport before he was brought to Ballymun Garda appeared before the Dublin District Court in the Criminal Courts of Justice, and was remanded in custody.
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Man (70s) arrested after extradition from the US
A man in his 70s has been arrested following an extradition from the United States of America at the request of the Irish authorities. Gardaí arrested the man on Tuesday morning upon arrival at Dublin airport. Advertisement He is being brought before a sitting at the Criminal Courts of Justice on Tuesday morning. He is currently being detained at a Garda station in Dublin. He's facing charges of historical sexual abuse against a number of girls in the 1970's and 80's.
CTV News
14-06-2025
- CTV News
Reopening a 688-year-old murder case reveals a tangled web of adultery and extortion in medieval England
The Archbishop of Canterbury's 1332 letter accused Ela Fitzpayne, a wealthy aristocrat, of committing serial adultery "with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders." (Register of John de Stratford/Hampshire Archives/Hampshire County Council via CNN Newsource) The sun was setting on a busy London street on a May evening in 1337 when a group of men approached a priest named John Forde. They surrounded him in front of a church near Old St. Paul's Cathedral, stabbed him in the neck and stomach, and then fled. Witnesses identified his killers, but just one assailant went to prison. And the woman who might have ordered the brazen and shocking hit — Ela Fitzpayne, a wealthy and powerful aristocrat — was never brought to justice, according to historical records describing the case. Nearly 700 years later, new details have come to light about the events leading up to the brutal crime and the noblewoman who was likely behind it. Her criminal dealings included theft and extortion as well as the murder of Forde — who was also her former lover. Forde (his name also appeared in records as 'John de Forde') could have been part of a crime gang led by Fitzpayne, according to a recently discovered document. The group robbed a nearby French-controlled priory, taking advantage of England's deteriorating relationship with France to extort the church, researchers reported in a study published June 6 in the journal Criminal Law Forum. But the wayward priest may have then betrayed Fitzpayne to his religious superiors. The Archbishop of Canterbury penned a letter in 1332 that the new report also linked to Forde's murder. In the letter, the archbishop denounced Fitzpayne and accused her of committing serial adultery 'with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders.' The archbishop's letter named one of Fitzpayne's many paramours: Forde, who was rector of a parish church in a village on the Fitzpayne family's estate in Dorset. In the wake of this damning accusation, the church assigned Fitzpayne humiliating public penance. Years later, she exacted her revenge by having Forde assassinated, according to lead study author Dr. Manuel Eisner, a professor at the UK's University of Cambridge and director of its Institute of Criminology. This 688-year-old murder 'provides us with further evidence about the entanglement of the clergy in secular affairs — and the very active role of women in managing their affairs and their relationships,' Dr. Hannah Skoda, an associate professor of medieval history in St. John's College at the U.K.'s Oxford University, told CNN in an email. 'In this case, events dragged on for a very long time, with grudges being held, vengeance sought and emotions running high,' said Skoda, who was not involved in the research. The new clues about Forde's murder provide a window into the dynamics of medieval revenge killings, and how staging them in prestigious public spaces may have been a display of power, according to Eisner. Map of murder Eisner is a cocreator and project leader of Medieval Murder Maps, an interactive digital resource that collects cases of homicide and other sudden or suspicious deaths in 14th century London, Oxford and York. Launched by Cambridge in 2018, the project translates reports from coroners' rolls — records written by medieval coroners in Latin noting the details and motives of crimes, based on the deliberation of a local jury. Jurors would listen to witnesses, examine evidence and then name a suspect. In the case of Forde's murder, the coroner's roll stated that Fitzpayne and Forde had quarreled, and that she persuaded four men — her brother, two servants and a chaplain — to kill him. On that fateful evening, as the chaplain approached Forde in the street and distracted him with conversation, his accomplices struck. Fitzpayne's brother slit his throat, and the servants stabbed Forde in the belly. Only one of the assailants, a servant named Hugh Colne, was charged in the case and imprisoned at Newgate in 1342. Medieval Priest Murder Revenge The Medieval Murder Maps project collects cases of homicide and other sudden or suspicious deaths in 14th century London, Oxford and York, including the location of the killing of John Forde, a priest. (Medieval Murder Maps/University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology/Historic Towns Trust via CNN Newsource) 'I was initially fascinated by the text in the coroner's record,' Eisner told CNN in an email, describing the events as 'a dream-like scene that we can see through hundreds of years.' The report left Eisner wanting to learn more. 'One would love to know what the members of the investigative jury discussed,' he said. 'One wonders about how and why 'Ela' convinces four men to kill a priest, and what the nature of this old quarrel between her and John Forde might have been. That's what led me to examine this further.' 'Thirst for revenge' Eisner tracked down the archbishop's letter in a 2013 dissertation by medieval historian and author Helen Matthews. The archbishop's accusation assigned severe punishments and public penance to Fitzpayne, such as donating large sums of money to the poor, abstaining from wearing gold or precious gems, and walking in her bare feet down the length of Salisbury Cathedral toward the altar, carrying a wax candle that weighed about four pounds. She was ordered to perform this so-called walk of shame every fall for seven years. Though she seemingly defied the archbishop and never performed the penance, the humiliation 'may have triggered her thirst for revenge,' the study authors wrote. The second clue that Eisner unearthed was a decade older than the letter: a 1322 investigation of Forde and Fitzpayne by a royal commission, following a complaint filed by a French Benedictine priory near the Fitzpayne castle. The report was translated and published in 1897 but had not yet been connected to Forde's murder at that point. According to the 1322 indictment, Fitzpayne's crew — which included Forde and her husband, Sir Robert, a knight of the realm — smashed gates and buildings at the priory and stole roughly 200 sheep and lambs, 30 pigs and 18 oxen, driving them back to the castle and holding them for ransom. Eisner said he was astonished to find that Fitzpayne, her husband and Forde were mentioned in a case of cattle rustling during a time of rising political tensions with France. 'That moment was quite exciting,' he said. 'I would never have expected to see these three as members of a group involved in low-level warfare against a French Priory.' 'Violence experts' During this time in British history, city dwellers were no strangers to violence. In Oxford alone, homicide rates during the late medieval period were about 60 to 75 deaths per 100,000 people, a rate about 50 times higher than what is currently seen in English cities. One Oxford record describes 'scholars on a rampage with bows, swords, bucklers, slings and stones.' Another mentions an altercation that began as an argument in a tavern, then escalated to a mass street brawl involving blades and battle-axes. But even though medieval England was a violent period, 'this absolutely does NOT mean that people did not care about violence,' Skoda said. 'In a legal context, in a political context, and in communities more widely, people were really concerned and distressed about high levels of violence.' The Medieval Murder Maps project 'provides fascinating insights into the ways in which people carried out violence, but also into the ways in which people worried about it,' Skoda said. 'They reported, investigated and prosecuted, and really relied on law.' Fitzpayne's tangled web of adultery, extortion and assassination also reveals that despite social constraints, some women in late medieval London still had agency — especially where murder was concerned. 'Ela was not the only woman who would recruit men to kill, to help her protect her reputation,' Eisner said. 'We see a violent event that arises from a world where members of the upper classes were violence experts, willing and able to kill as a way to maintain power.' Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine. She is the author of 'Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control' (Hopkins Press). Mindy Weisberger, CNN
CNN
13-06-2025
- CNN
Reopening a 688-year-old murder case reveals a tangled web of adultery and extortion in medieval England
The sun was setting on a busy London street on a May evening in 1337 when a group of men approached a priest named John Forde. They surrounded him in front of a church near Old St. Paul's Cathedral, stabbed him in the neck and stomach, and then fled. Witnesses identified his killers, but just one assailant went to prison. And the woman who might have ordered the brazen and shocking hit — Ela Fitzpayne, a wealthy and powerful aristocrat — was never brought to justice, according to historical records describing the case. Nearly 700 years later, new details have come to light about the events leading up to the brutal crime and the noblewoman who was likely behind it. Her criminal dealings included theft and extortion as well as the murder of Forde — who was also her former lover. Forde (his name also appeared in records as 'John de Forde') could have been part of a crime gang led by Fitzpayne, according to a recently discovered document. The group robbed a nearby French-controlled priory, taking advantage of England's deteriorating relationship with France to extort the church, researchers reported in a study published June 6 in the journal Criminal Law Forum. But the wayward priest may have then betrayed Fitzpayne to his religious superiors. The Archbishop of Canterbury penned a letter in 1332 that the new report also linked to Forde's murder. In the letter, the archbishop denounced Fitzpayne and accused her of committing serial adultery 'with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders.' The archbishop's letter named one of Fitzpayne's many paramours: Forde, who was rector of a parish church in a village on the Fitzpayne family's estate in Dorset. In the wake of this damning accusation, the church assigned Fitzpayne humiliating public penance. Years later, she exacted her revenge by having Forde assassinated, according to lead study author Dr. Manuel Eisner, a professor at the UK's University of Cambridge and director of its Institute of Criminology. This 688-year-old murder 'provides us with further evidence about the entanglement of the clergy in secular affairs — and the very active role of women in managing their affairs and their relationships,' Dr. Hannah Skoda, an associate professor of medieval history in St. John's College at the UK's Oxford University, told CNN in an email. 'In this case, events dragged on for a very long time, with grudges being held, vengeance sought and emotions running high,' said Skoda, who was not involved in the research. The new clues about Forde's murder provide a window into the dynamics of medieval revenge killings, and how staging them in prestigious public spaces may have been a display of power, according to Eisner. Eisner is a cocreator and project leader of Medieval Murder Maps, an interactive digital resource that collects cases of homicide and other sudden or suspicious deaths in 14th century London, Oxford and York. Launched by Cambridge in 2018, the project translates reports from coroners' rolls — records written by medieval coroners in Latin noting the details and motives of crimes, based on the deliberation of a local jury. Jurors would listen to witnesses, examine evidence and then name a suspect. In the case of Forde's murder, the coroner's roll stated that Fitzpayne and Forde had quarreled, and that she persuaded four men — her brother, two servants and a chaplain — to kill him. On that fateful evening, as the chaplain approached Forde in the street and distracted him with conversation, his accomplices struck. Fitzpayne's brother slit his throat, and the servants stabbed Forde in the belly. Only one of the assailants, a servant named Hugh Colne, was charged in the case and imprisoned at Newgate in 1342. 'I was initially fascinated by the text in the coroner's record,' Eisner told CNN in an email, describing the events as 'a dream-like scene that we can see through hundreds of years.' The report left Eisner wanting to learn more. 'One would love to know what the members of the investigative jury discussed,' he said. 'One wonders about how and why 'Ela' convinces four men to kill a priest, and what the nature of this old quarrel between her and John Forde might have been. That's what led me to examine this further.' Eisner tracked down the archbishop's letter in a 2013 dissertation by medieval historian and author Helen Matthews. The archbishop's accusation assigned severe punishments and public penance to Fitzpayne, such as donating large sums of money to the poor, abstaining from wearing gold or precious gems, and walking in her bare feet down the length of Salisbury Cathedral toward the altar, carrying a wax candle that weighed about four pounds. She was ordered to perform this so-called walk of shame every fall for seven years. Though she seemingly defied the archbishop and never performed the penance, the humiliation 'may have triggered her thirst for revenge,' the study authors wrote. The second clue that Eisner unearthed was a decade older than the letter: a 1322 investigation of Forde and Fitzpayne by a royal commission, following a complaint filed by a French Benedictine priory near the Fitzpayne castle. The report was translated and published in 1897 but had not yet been connected to Forde's murder at that point. According to the 1322 indictment, Fitzpayne's crew — which included Forde and her husband, Sir Robert, a knight of the realm — smashed gates and buildings at the priory and stole roughly 200 sheep and lambs, 30 pigs and 18 oxen, driving them back to the castle and holding them for ransom. Eisner said he was astonished to find that Fitzpayne, her husband and Forde were mentioned in a case of cattle rustling during a time of rising political tensions with France. 'That moment was quite exciting,' he said. 'I would never have expected to see these three as members of a group involved in low-level warfare against a French Priory.' During this time in British history, city dwellers were no strangers to violence. In Oxford alone, homicide rates during the late medieval period were about 60 to 75 deaths per 100,000 people, a rate about 50 times higher than what is currently seen in English cities. One Oxford record describes 'scholars on a rampage with bows, swords, bucklers, slings and stones.' Another mentions an altercation that began as an argument in a tavern, then escalated to a mass street brawl involving blades and battle-axes. But even though medieval England was a violent period, 'this absolutely does NOT mean that people did not care about violence,' Skoda said. 'In a legal context, in a political context, and in communities more widely, people were really concerned and distressed about high levels of violence.' The Medieval Murder Maps project 'provides fascinating insights into the ways in which people carried out violence, but also into the ways in which people worried about it,' Skoda said. 'They reported, investigated and prosecuted, and really relied on law.' Fitzpayne's tangled web of adultery, extortion and assassination also reveals that despite social constraints, some women in late medieval London still had agency — especially where murder was concerned. 'Ela was not the only woman who would recruit men to kill, to help her protect her reputation,' Eisner said. 'We see a violent event that arises from a world where members of the upper classes were violence experts, willing and able to kill as a way to maintain power.'
The Guardian
06-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Noblewoman may have ordered brazen murder of priest outside St Paul's in 1337
Almost 700 years ago, in a busy London street in the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral, a priest called John Ford was brazenly stabbed to death in a crime notable both for its public nature and its ferocity. It was early evening, just after vespers on 4 May 1337, and the street in Westcheap would have been bustling with passersby. In full view of them all, one man sliced Ford's throat with an anelace, a foot-long dagger, while two others used long knives to stab him in the belly. Was someone trying to make a very public example of the victim? An investigation quickly named the killers and the person who ordered the slaying – a wealthy noblewoman called Ela FitzPayne, whose husband had appointed the dead priest to his village parish in Dorset. No explanation was offered, however, and only one man, a former servant of FitzPayne's, was ever convicted of the crime. Seven centuries later, documents unearthed by a leading Cambridge university academic have pointed to what he believes is a likely motive. According to Prof Manuel Eisner, director of the university's Institute of Criminology, the records suggest the murder was a revenge killing ordered by the noblewoman on the man who had once been her lover and her collaborator in an earlier violent raid on a Benedictine priory. A letter found by the academic shows that FitzPayne had been denounced to the archbishop of Canterbury for multiple acts of adultery, including with Ford, and ordered to perform years of humiliating penance – an instruction she flagrantly ignored. Eisner believes the document implies Ford was the informant – and the murder was her revenge. 'The record suggests a tale of shakedowns, sex and vengeance that expose tensions between the church and England's elites,' says Eisner. The murder, he believes, was 'a mafia-style assassination of a fallen man of God by a gang of medieval hitmen' that FitzPayne may have intended as a brutal show of strength against both Ford and the clerical establishment. The Ford case is one of hundreds of 14th-century murders in London, York and Oxford that have been collated by Eisner into an online resource called Medieval Murder Maps. A new paper, co-authored by Eisner and published on Friday in the journal Criminal Law Forum, highlights the crime hotspots of the three medieval cities. For the academic, who also works on present-day crime prevention strategies, there are similarities to modern crime patterns and important differences. 'Violent hotspots tend to concentrate around the crossroads and arteries of public activities, both in medieval cities 700 years ago and in modern cities. Where there are lots of people in taverns or bars, there is lots of potential for conflict.' That hasn't changed, he says, but one thing has. While modern crime hotspots are disproportionately found in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, in medieval times it was the richer neighbourhoods where violent crime was more likely to happen. In some cases, Eisner says, the prestige of the address itself appears to have been central to the crime's purpose. 'These are theatrical acts, where the revenge isn't just [a crime] against the individual victim. The revenge is something that people are intended to see. And I think that's exactly what is happening in the case of Ela FitzPayne.' As a medieval woman who raided priories, openly defied the clerical authorities and ordered the assassination of a priest, 'Ela FitzPayne appears to have been many things, including an extraordinary person,' he said.
