Caroline Mary Luard
[1] Born in the last quarter of 1850, Caroline was the youngest daughter of Thomas Hartley JP (1802−1855) and Georgianna Elizabeth Rimington (1814–1878) of Gillfoot, Egremont, Cumberland.Accordingly, having walked about a mile from their home, along the road that passed close to St Lawrence's Church and the associated school, at 3.00 pm they parted ways at a wicket gate.Three shots were heard at about that time by two witnesses – Annie Wickham, a long-standing local resident and wife of a coachman, and Daniel Kettel, a gardener.Scotland Yard was immediately involved in the investigation and two bloodhounds, named Sceptre and Solferino, owned by a Major Richardson of Stratford-upon-Avon, were brought in to sniff out the route by which the killer had made his escape.Dr Mansfield, who had carried out the post-mortem examination of the body, reported that Caroline had initially been hit on the back of the head and that the blow had been of sufficient force to knock her to the ground, where she had vomited.[4] The police hoped that the pocket that had been ripped off the dress would lead them to her murderer; however, it was found at Ightham Knoll, on the day before the funeral, by a maid who was shaking out the sheet in which the body had been carried back to the house from 'La Casa'.Charles Luard was again questioned and was asked by the coroner if he was aware of 'any incident in the life of the deceased or yourself which in your opinion would cause any person to entertain any feelings of revenge or jealousy towards either of you?'In the meantime, he was aware that his son Charles, having learnt of his mother's death, was returning from South Africa to be with him and would be arriving in Southampton on 18 September.[10] The idea that the murderer was a gypsy, hop-picker or itinerant with a revolver in his pocket, who was prepared to perpetrate a random killing for the sake of a few rings (of which he would have been unaware until he tore the glove from the victim's dead hand) was generally dismissed.The police seem to have believed that the killer was known to Caroline, that the crime was planned, and that the theft of the rings was an attempt to mislead them about the motive for the murder.Dickman's conviction was considered unsafe by a number of people, including five of the jury that found him guilty and who later signed a petition calling for him to be reprieved.Dickman had subsequently forged this cheque - presumably by changing the amount - and when Caroline discovered this, she contacted him and arranged to meet him without her husband's knowledge.