Frome’s most infamous murder – The Awful Killing of Sarah Watts

A book containing the first ever full-length account of Frome’s most infamous murder has just been published.

‘The Awful Killing of Sarah Watts: A Story of Confessions, Acquittals and Jailbreaks’ by local authors Mick Davis and David Lassman, is published by Pen & Sword True Crime.

The murder of 14-year-old Sarah Watts on a farmhouse at West Woodlands, in September 1851, both appalled and enthralled Victorian society in equal measure.

The government of the day offered a substantial reward for information, which was doubled by Longleat’s Lord Bath, and a detective from Scotland Yard was sent to investigate.

This, however, was just the start of an incredible series of events that has marked this case out as one of the most compelling and intriguing in the annals of crime history.

Co-author David Lassman said, “Although it was a brutal crime and one which still retains the power to shock readers today, the story surrounding it is absolutely fascinating.

“It was originally going to be in an anthology, but the more we researched, the more it demanded a book of its own and thankfully our publisher agreed.

“Without giving too much away, it contains numerous twists and turns, and a larger than life cast of characters, which any fiction writer would be proud to have created.”

The book is already being compared to The Suspicions of Mr Whicher – which chronicled the infamous 1860 Road Hill House murder – and is even seen as a worthy successor.

David added, “We’re pleased it is being associated with such a best-selling book and television series, as there are, after all, a number of similarities between the two crimes.

“Not least the fact that the detective who investigated the Watts’ murder, was one of Whicher’s oldest and closest colleagues in Scotland Yard’s Detective Branch.”

The book’s launch will be accompanied by events in collaboration with organisations such as Frome Writers’ Collective, Frome Family History Group and Frome Festival.

Although ‘The Awful Killing of Sarah Watts’ is the first collaboration between the two authors, both have separately written other books on the town’s illustrious history.

These include ‘The Historic Inns of Frome’ published by Akeman Press and ‘Frome in the Great War’, published by Pen & Sword Military.

The pair met through a local history course run by Frome Community Education. Their next collaboration is to be ‘Foul Deeds and Suspicious Death in and Around Frome’, also published by Pen & Sword True Crime, which will be available to buy from July.

• www.pen-and-sword.co. uk/The-Awful-Killing-of-Sarah-Watts-Hardback/ p/14487