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She murdered her employer. Then she DISMEMBERED and BOILED her body. But somehow, Kate Webster STILL wasn’t finished.
Because after killing Julia Martha Thomas, Kate moved into her home, wore her clothes, sold her belongings — and began pretending to BE HER.
In March 1879, wealthy widow Julia Martha Thomas lived alone at Vine Cottage in Richmond, London. After going through several servants, she hired 30-year-old Irish maid Kate Webster. The two women clashed almost immediately, and within weeks Julia had dismissed her. Kate was supposed to leave on 2 March 1879.
Instead, Julia returned home from church that evening — and never left Vine Cottage alive.
Kate attacked and killed her employer before dismembering her body inside the house. She burned some of Julia’s remains and boiled others in a huge copper laundry pot in the kitchen, before attempting to dispose of the evidence.
But rather than immediately fleeing, Kate stayed at Vine Cottage and effectively stepped into Julia’s life. She wore her clothes, dealt with tradesmen, attempted to sell her furniture and possessions and, at times, presented herself as Julia Martha Thomas.
Meanwhile, a box containing human remains was recovered from the River Thames near Barnes. The gruesome discovery triggered a sensational Victorian murder investigation that became known as the “Barnes Mystery” — but police initially had no idea who the victim was.
And there was something missing.
Her head.
As investigators began connecting the unidentified remains to the missing woman from Vine Cottage, Kate’s extraordinary deception started to unravel. By then, however, she had fled to Ireland.
Kate was eventually tracked down, arrested and returned to England, where she stood trial at the Old Bailey for Julia’s murder. She was convicted, sentenced to death and executed at Wandsworth Prison on 29 July 1879.
But one part of Julia was still missing.
Her skull wouldn’t be discovered for more than 130 years.
In 2010, construction work at a Richmond property once owned by Sir David Attenborough uncovered a human skull. The following year, a coroner concluded that it belonged to Julia Martha Thomas.
This is the disturbing true story of the Richmond Murder — one of Victorian Britain’s most bizarre solved true crime cases. A case involving a murdered employer, a dismembered and boiled body, unidentified remains in the River Thames, stolen belongings, impersonation, a dramatic escape to Ireland and a missing skull that resurfaced more than a century later.
Podcast: True Crime w/ Anna Templeton