Out Of The Shadows

This is the fourth and final episode of our series examining the 1860 Road Hill House murder, the case that gave birth to modern detective fiction. Previous episodes covered the murder of three-year-old Francis Saville Kent, Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher's groundbreaking investigation, and the five years of cold case torment that preceded Constance Kent's confession.The gallery was packed to suffocation. July 21, 1865. Five years they'd waited for this moment. Five years since Francis Saville Kent was found with his throat cut in the family privy. Five years since Inspector Whicher accused Constance Kent of murdering her baby brother—and was destroyed for saying so. When the clerk asked how she pleaded, Constance spoke one word: "Guilty." No mitigation. No excuse. No insanity defense that might have saved her from prison.When Constance Kent stood in the prisoner's dock at Devizes Assizes on July 21, 1865, she refused the insanity defense her counsel had carefully prepared. Inste