Episode 99 - Anne Naylor

This week on Twisted Britain Ali tells us the horrible tale of the death of Anne Naylor a 14 year old who died at the hands of her employer

Merry Christmas everyone!

thanks for listening

Episode Transcript

(00:31):
Hello, Welcome Towister Britain, apodcast on true crime in Britain with a
sprinkling the Weir the macab and yourhosts are me Bob Daiale and me Ali
Downey. Good evening, Alistair Downey. How are you, sir? I
am tired, tired. Yeah,Christmas in a toy shop is not a
great place to be. It's theadjective for the time of year, Alistair,
So tired, so tired. I'vegone through tired and out the other

(00:52):
side into manic. I was good. I was trying to think what out
the other side would be. Butyou're manic. I'll take that. At
least you're not preaching on the streetsyet, you'd be a manic street teacher.
It's all of god, Oh mygod. That's the level to expect
to night. Ladies and gentlemen.Set a low bar, there's no point
in sitting the high one really isthat it's true I didn't see you last

(01:15):
week. No, you were atpanto pantomime last week. Eight shows in
six days. It's bullshit. Surelyfucking hard work man. However, I
looked sick in my tights, sothat's the important thing here. If Grado
can do it. I feel likeanyone can do it. Did you just
compare my panto acting performance to Grado? I'm not sure I'm okay with that.

(01:40):
And if you don't know who Gradois, go look up and you'll
be national treasure. You'll understand whyI'm unhappy about this. It's a national
treasure. So, yes, wedid six shows. Poppy ended up doing
two of them. Nice. Shedid the first one on the Friday night,
the early one that we talked aboutbefore, and then she had so
much fun she was like, kindof do it tomorrow night as well?
Do you know what? One night? Absolutely gubbed what's the Yeah, I

(02:04):
might not and I'm surely the foewas afterwards, but there's a distinct height
difference between her and the rest ofthe cast that's quite quite hilarious. But
yeah, no, it was goodfun. We had fun. We had
full cast, full audience every night, and all the kids that were doing
it enjoyed it. That's the mainthing in it. So yeah, are
you gonna do it again next year? Let's not talk about that bit right
now. I'll still believe that tomaybe September next year, till we make

(02:27):
these sorts of decisions. Maybe Imake no promises, as told you you're
doing it next year. No,no, no, she I mean enjoys
when I go out the house.Yeah we know that, but no,
no, she's not bothered. Howwas your week? Just toy health,
toy hell, just toy health,toys, toys, toys, toys,

(02:49):
toys. Have you run out ofany like? Remember back in the day
when it was like buzz light Yearwas like the fucking mad thing. Yeah,
and then it was Elsa from FrozenYeah, yeah, snow Elsa here
so much? Is there any Isthere anything like that this year? No,
there's nothing like that's the big one. No, well that's probably good
because you're a run out of themby now I would have No, it's
it's squish mellows this year that hasbeen in my life, which are just

(03:12):
huge fluffy pillows. Yeah, wegot we've got a few. I hate
them so much, but you mustlike some of them. No, they're
come in big boxes and each oneis individually wrapped in its own ridiculous vacuum
packed plastic bag that I have toopen on the night shift. If you
can hear me, Squish Mellow,do better, Do better? Be more
eco friendly. That does not soundvery funly for the planet right there.

(03:37):
I'm sticking with do bear with whatdo better? Squish mellow to just do
better, do better. I thoughtyou were talking about another toy like do
Bear. Still my message to squishmallows fine, do better, squish mallow.
However, you'd like to sponsor thepodcast, do let us know and
we will accept ali not having toopen them as payment. Yeah, mob

(03:59):
can accept squish payment and I willaccept not having to open payment. So
the best way I supposed to getyour anger at squish mellows out is to
tell us a tale of horrible crime. It is, and it is a
sad, sad tale. This week, did you like my segue there?
Seamless? Thanks? Thanks very much. I've been working on them actually this

(04:19):
week. I don't know why it'smoving on from one scene to another.
I loved it. Would you likesome of my panel jokes before we get
started? Oh? Yes, doyou know what? When I was eight
I had a job digging holes forwater. It was well boring. Yep,
that's a panel joke right there.Yes, when I was ten I

(04:42):
got a job and a florist oneday. Michael J. Fox came in.
He had his back to the futures. Oh my god, I've got
one hundreds. Well I just droppedthem in randomly. Yeah. Long now
sorry, I'll get back to yourhorrible tale of crime Shall. It's pretty
horrible. It's a sad, sadtale. We got that far from a
happy happy time though, from ahappy happy time. I have a Christmas

(05:04):
crime, a Christmas crime, kindof Christmas season crime. Yeah, tis
the season. We'll mention Christmas atsome point. Is this like one of
your episodes where you mentioned Britain atone point? All right, Christmas is
coming, Christmas is coming, right, Okay, cool, Yeah, Christmas
is coming. This week. Iwant to cover a case of abuse and

(05:27):
murder from the old city of London. Okay, oldie London, all the
way back to mid eighteenth century Londonto be precise, which was a time
of expansion and relative prosperity for thecity. Saint Paul's Cathedral was finally completed
a few decades earlier. That's rightwhere crime con was. It was,
Yeah, it was wrecked in thefire. London, I think indeed a

(05:51):
lot of London was Yeah, andthe city was beginning to become more like
the vibrant, if grimy, socialand economic capital we would think of in
our head when we say London,Like it's about to become that Victorian London.
Yeah, that that kind of dark, shady streets, everything jumbled together,

(06:11):
exactly what else is going on?In the mid eighteenth one hundreds,
newspaper printing flourished after the lapsing ofthe Licensing Act in sixteen ninety five.
By the mid seventeen hundreds, tabloidsthat we would recognize today had already established
themselves in this new, up andcoming capital. Is that the birth of
the free press? Yeah, that'slike literally you were then allowed to print.

(06:33):
So that's the birth of what weconsider the free press. Yeah,
more or less. Never thought aboutthat before. That's cool. Yeah.
As we all know, though,the dark streets of London were not all
sunshine and rainbows. No, veryfew of them are actually no or unicorns.
No unicorns. It's National Animals Scotland. Why would it be in London?
So it is there, you go. I always forget that. It's

(06:54):
just a weird thing. I loveit. The rapid growth of the city
brought a rapid rise in crime,which would finally necessitate the establishment of one
of the first professional police forces inthe world with the Boro Street Runners in
nineteen in seventeen forty nine, Yes, they have nothing to do with our
case this week. Oh okay,fine, nice to meet you, Bow

(07:15):
Street Runners. Yeah, off thesepop Our case this week starts with a
young and very poor girl and Naylor, who was born in seventeen forty five
to a pair of workhouse workers.Okay, so like lower lower class,
lower lower class. The family,which included one older sister, lived in
the workhouse and both girls were workingfrom the age of ten. I think

(07:38):
we discussed this recently on an episodethat that was kind of we talked about
the oh god, was it inNew Lanark? The Anni McLoud experience?
Yeah, and that total like Woolencotton mill, wasn't it in New Lanark?
And the average age of the workerswere like ten or eleven or something
ridiculous like that. Yeah, shocking, now totally normal then, Yeah,

(08:01):
families literally couldn't afford dependence. Yeah, so that you literally you paid away,
Yeah, paid your digs. Probablyit's probably where that comes from.
It probably is, Yeah, thatmight be the etymology of that word.
Anyway, these workhouses were built andmaintained by local parishes, which we've gone
into more detail about before, butwhich basically act under the local authority as

(08:24):
a state provided form of welfare forthe poor. Yeah. We talked about
it in a couple episodes where thekind of parish had like a constable.
Yeah, they'd be like kind ofI don't want to say the word county
lines, but the parish area wouldhave been like your council areas or shit
like that. Yeah, and theywould have been nominated voluntary police forces before

(08:45):
the bullshoot runners anyway, Yeah,run by the parish. Yeah. They
controlled everything from authority and justice tofood handouts to cheap and temporary housing and
accommodation. They were the landlords ofeverything. Yeah. Right. Life would
have been hard in an eighteenth centuryworkhouse. Fuck, AND's parents would have
worked incredibly long hours for very littlepay, as withou Anne and her sister

(09:09):
from as soon as they were capable. It's such a shit life in it.
Yeah. But Anne and her sisterwould, however, at least have
been given a basic parish education.Okay, I mean every cloud in that.
Yeah. But would it have beena like a religion based education system.
It would have been the church wasteaching rather than like a separate educational

(09:31):
establishment. Yeah right, But therewere also opportunities to pull yourself up the
social and economic ladder, so tospeak, and one such opportunity would present
itself to Anne and her sister inseventeen fifty eight, when she would have
been thirteen years old. Both girlswere offered apprenticeships with a milliner. This

(09:52):
is Sarah Metyard, who made andsold hats, obviously from a living workshop
on Bruton Street in her Over Square. Okay, very much dotter than it
said Bruton. I wouldn't imagine verymany locals role there are, Like,
that's exactly how it said. That'sthe localized. Yeah, I've consulted locals

(10:16):
from where from Bruton? Bruton?Right? Okay, maass Bruton, that's
the least likely thing. It's morelikely to start with a h than a
Bert Okay, Bruton Street. I'mnot I enjoy it, carry on.
Good. Apprenticeships were another thing controlledby the local parish. It was a

(10:37):
way for the lower classes to betterthemselves by acquiring skills and becoming tradesmen and
women. They didn't invent them,obviously, skilled crafts women and men have
been choosing their own apprentices for hundredsof years. Master seamstresses and carpenters and
the like would select people they thoughthad talent. The local authorities just applied

(10:58):
the same system to new job opportunitieslike Milliner's, because suddenly everybody in London
wanted hats. Seems like hot weather. I love hats. I know you
love a hat. I love hatsso much. I nearly brought you my
Panto hat. I will do that. I saw a picture of it.
I'm a little bit jealous of it. Anyway, since we're talking about a
government, local authority, they obviouslyalso wrapped the whole idea up in needless

(11:18):
bureaucracy. Contracts were drawn up forthe length of the apprenticeships, which was
usually between three and seven years,okay, and the obligations of the employer
and the employee. Now these kindof apprenticeships where, for the most part,
I think a good thing. Iwas gonna say, that's kind of
the modern modern apprentice scheme that youwould go on. Now you would,

(11:39):
it's the birth of it. Youwould sit for three or four or five
years to become an electrician or whatever. Isn't I don't know the specifics,
but you have to finish it toget your funding. You have to finish
it to get your qualification. AndI suppose it's that's the kind of sort
of thing that we're talking about.It is, and a lot of people
gain killing almost yeah, I can't. Yeah, never gonna be one that

(12:00):
goes out there and says the churchbecause is a good thing. But like
the parish isn't just the church,is it? No, It's that whole.
And I just want to get thatclear because in my head when you
say parish, I think ruled bythe church. Yeah, has a church
at its center, yes, andmaybe a board of trustees around about it?
Yes? Or am I just totallymaking that up. They were closely
linked to churches in the area,but they were more like a force just

(12:26):
under the local authority, right,They were more like the council. Okay,
so like right, the regulating ofapprenticeships or something. I know this
is a waffle, but I wasjust thinking out loud that would then allow
maybe more kind of I don't knowwhat I'm trying to say, like the
quality would be similar across all ofthem, kind of more standardization, yes,
rather than when you're saying that theyused to select people on their talent

(12:50):
just pretty much do what you wantthat way, can you Yeah? And
you know, craftsmen would keep secrets. Ah yeah, okay. This was
also the start of standardizing what hadto be learned and kind of industrial both
of the Industrial Revolution type. Yeah. But the sheer number of apprenticeships and
apprentices meant that the system was verydifficult to monitor in any meaningful way,

(13:11):
and abuses were not uncommon anyway.An Naylor and her sister went to stay
at the workshop on Bruton Street Street, where Missus Sarah Metyard ran her successful
miller's business with the help of herdaughter, Miss Sarah Metyard Solid, who

(13:31):
thankfully, to avoid confusion to everybody, was known as Sally. Oh how
many times have we done cases wherethere's John John and John? Yeah,
so many times now. Missus MethyardSenior was a forty year old widow who'd
lost her husband many years ago andraised her daughter Sally with the help of
servants. Her milliner was doing verywell and her hats were both beautiful and

(13:52):
in demand, hence the apprenticeships.Why just fashion? Fashion? Yeah right,
Fashion was now a thing. Sheand Sally were well thought of in
the community, attending various charity eventsand middle class social events like church fairs
and such. Missus Methyard appeared likea good, respectable, honorable widow with

(14:16):
a good business. The problem withappearances is that they are well, someone
or something appears to be not whatthey are, and in this case,
behind the closed doors of her ownhousehold, Missus Sarah Metyard had always been
a strict disciplinarian, verging on tyrannicalwith her servants, and now she had
a whole new focus for her tyrannyapprentice workers. You've talked about people that

(14:43):
were horrible to their apprentices before.I can't remember the case. It'll come
to me, but I remember youtalking about somebody that was horrible to their
apprentices. I'm going to look backthe list that the Wonderful Sarah made for
us. I can't because we're ona because she's on the Wonderful says on

(15:03):
my phone, So I can't fuckinglook, can I? Ah? Now?
Anne Naylor was one of a groupof five young girls working off apprenticeships
with Missus Methyard. The hours forall the girls were long, with early
rises and domestic chores on top oftheir worktime. Okay. Unfortunately Anne was
not a strong girl. Do youneed to be to make hats? No,

(15:26):
but her lifelong poor diet and theenvironment of the workhouse had weakened her
body considerably. Oh so she wasa fragile girl. Yeah, or she
may have had an underlying medical condition. She was always said to have been
the poorly sort okay, the weakone, yes, whatever the cause.
An Naylor was unable to work ashard or as long as the other girls.

(15:50):
Almost from the first day Missus SarahMetyard had singled and nailer out for
what would be a steadily increasing levelof abuse. Now it's impossible to convey
the effect of months of punishments fornot meeting Missus Metyard's high standards, and
was often beaten by both Missus Metyardand Sally. The allowance that Missus Metyard
was meant to pay. Anne wasdeducted for not working fast or hard enough.

(16:14):
She was berated and bullied as anexample and as the threat to the
other girls who were told that ifthey didn't work hard enough, they'll get
the same treatment as poor Anne,and was frequently confined to an upper attic
room in the house alone. Anothercommon punishment was basic food, which meant
across the bread and a cup ofwater. It's not pleasant. And these

(16:36):
conditions would just have weakened Don furtherand led to further abuses. She was
treated as the run of the letter. Yeah, pretty much, And after
and during months of physical and mentaltorture, and decided she had to get
out and planned a simple escape.And if a history as told as anything
else, their putting an ann inthe attic is not a good thing.
We know that it is now.Her escape was simple, but it could

(16:59):
be said it was two simple inthe very early hours one morning before anyone
else got up, and just wentdownstairs and slipped out the front door onto
Bruton Street. She cheesed it.She cheesed it now. She'd been driven
to this, but clearly she hadn'tplanned it in advance, or if she
had, then she hadn't counted onthe harsh reality of surviving on this treats

(17:19):
of London with no money, noplace to stay, and no idea where
your next meal is actually coming from. When you're thirteen, when you're thirteen,
week yeah, fuck. She pleadedfor help from a milk carrier called
mister Brown, telling him that shehad fled Missus Metyard's workshop and if she
was taken back, she's sure herlife would be in danger. Mister Brown,

(17:41):
though, had his rounds to doand told Anne Naylor to go back
to the place she belonged, orgo back to the workhouse. What a
what a mister Brown. Mister Brownwas and that is exactly the thing Anne
would be forced to do, andexactly the worst thing she probably could have
done. Because the workhouses were overseenby the parish, who also controlled the
apprenticeships, they would inform Missus Metyardthat Ann Naylor was at the workhouse and

(18:03):
send the young girl back into thecustody of her tormentors, literally sent her
back to her prison. Yeah,and now Missus Sarah Metyard was furious at
Anne's escape attempt. Oh yeah,she's already piste. Yeah and this anger
sparked an immediate escalation in the abuseand was taken straight to a second floor

(18:25):
room. Once inside, Sally grabbedher around the neck and flung her violently
across the room onto a bed.Sally tied Anne's hands and feet, and
then she and missus methyard beat andwith a handle of a broom. Fuck.
Oh yeah, I was gonna saysomething else, but just the fuck.
It gets worse. After the twowomen had beaten the still weak and

(18:45):
probably ill young girl, she wastaken to another different second floor room.
Here, a length of thick cordwas used first to tie Anne's hands behind
her back, then wound tightly aroundher waist, and she was secured to
the door handle in a way thatmade it impossible to lie down or sit
or kneel on the floor. It'sjust the fucking script of saw could be.

(19:07):
Anne was shut in the room withnothing to do but stand. In
fact, due to her tight bonds, all she could do was stand until
bedtime, when she was allowed tolie down to sleep for six hours.
That's like er, well, theydo hostages when they take them like the
prone positions and that. Yep,she's like just being absolute bodies wreck.
Yeah, she's been going to animalbad, she's been going tamo. Yeah.

(19:30):
And the next day it was rightback on the door handle for and
right back on the door handle.Yeah. She got one glass of water
a day around lunchtime, but nofood. I should be fucked, man,
three days. Yeah, that's notgood. Unsurprisingly, they already weak
and poorly, and Naylor became evenmore weak and frail, deprived of any
nourishment, and mentally and physically tortured. After three days, she no longer

(19:52):
had the strength to climb the stairsto her actic room, and that night
resorted to crawling up to her bed. I bet they beat her for it,
it did. Now. The roomon the second floor where Anne was
tied was next to a room wherethe other apprentices were working, and they
could hear her cries every day.They saw her torment and the abuses that
she endured. But missus Sarah Metyardhad them all sufficiently terrified that if they

(20:18):
mentioned any of this to anyone,they would receive the same treatment. There
was no escape after all, andhad run off, but she was brought
right back again. Yep. Ohthen literally what they'd all been threatened by
whatever happens to you if you fuckup what happened to anle happened to you
and and got brought back. Solike point proven almost Yeah, So the

(20:40):
girls kept their heads down, lookthe other way, and thank God or
the blind forces of chance that itwasn't them beaten and tied to a door
or in an attic without any food. Yeah, missus Metyard had also forbidden
the girls to help or interact withAnne in any way while she was being
punished. So she who's literally justbeen used as this, like, I

(21:03):
don't know, how would you putit? Literally just a whipping whipping stick
as an example, she was literallyjust brought out of the room to be
beaten in front of the others togo don't fuck about or this is you?
Yeah, and then hung on thedoor and starved. I mean,
that's the most This might be someof the most horrific things you've ever told
me, Alistair. During the fourthday of this cruel regime, the girls

(21:26):
heard Anne's cries grow quieter and fainteras they progressed. At some point,
they stopped altogether, and after sometime, one of the girls, maybe
Anne's sister, who was still apprenticedat the milliner, plucked up the courage
to stick her head out the doorand check on Anne. She was swinging

(21:48):
from the door handle of the adjoiningroom. She was deathly pale, and
her legs were clearly not supporting herweight as she dangled like a puppet with
its strings cut. Still alive,no, no, already dead. Panicking,
The girls immediately called for Miss SallieMethyard, yelling, mister Saally,
Mistress Sally, something's wrong with Anne. She's not moving and there was something

(22:11):
wrong. But Miss Sallie Metyard ranup the two flights of stairs and along
the corridor to the door where Annewas suspended. Taking off her shoe,
she shouted at the girls, ifshe doesn't move herself, then I'll make
her move, and Sally walked andviolently across the head with the heel of
her shoe. Sally's a fucking asshole. Yeah, Sally's a wrong one too.

(22:33):
Now. Anne, being already dead, didn't react to the blow at
all, except for her head snappingback and forward with the force of the
strike, and Sally became worried andcalled for her mother, who quickly joined
her on the second floor corridor.Missus Sarah Methyard had the ropes holding Anne's
body cut and with the corpse acrossher knee. She said one of the

(22:53):
girls for heart's horn drops. What'sthat? I had to look up what
they were? Actually like a snakeoil? No heartshorn drops? Also known
as baker's ammonium, where a levelingagent used in cakes and baking before we
got baking soda and baking powder.It's like an active agent. In the

(23:14):
eighteenth century, they were obtained bygrinding deer horn. Fuck. It produces
a pungent odor when baked, andit does very small quantities. They're not
just hair, no bone, deerhorn, not keratin. Yeah, so
hair and nail stinking. Yeah.And here, of course Missus Metyard is

(23:37):
using them as a sort of smellingsalt in the hopes of reviving an nailer.
I mean, you can't revive thedead no matter what you burn,
that's true. The other girls weresent downstairs, and when Anne failed to
react to the heartshorn drops, itbecame apparent to Missus Metyard and Sally that
an Naylor had died under the strainof their abuse. After some discussion,

(24:00):
Anne's body was carried up to theattic room where she slept. Missus Methyard
told the other girls that Anne hadsuffered a fit, but the heart's horn
drops had brought her out of itand she was recovering in her room.
I don't worry about her she's allright, it's fine. Sally even took
a plate of meat upstairs that evening, saying that it was for Anne's dinner
to help her recover. The nextday, while the girls worked, Missus

(24:22):
Metyard and Sally stuffed the body ofAnne Naylor into a chest and pushed it
into a corner of the attic.Like some of this is the worst thing
you've ever read out loud. Youknow that it's not gonna get any better.
In fact, it's gonna get worse. Now. The body may have
been taken care of in the shortterm at least, but Anne's immediate disappearance
would also raise questions and so requirean explanation. Yeah, fuck of course

(24:48):
it does. The next day,which was the fourth since Anne Naylor's death,
Missus Methyard left the door to theattic open and unlocked, and the
front door ajar. At dinner time, she told one of the girls to
fetch Anne down for dinner, asshe'd been feeling much stronger that morning,
and also to tell her that shepromised to behave she could sleep in the
bedroom again with the rest of thegirls and not locked in the attic.

(25:12):
This is like a fucking horrible,like mix of home alone and saw and
I'm not alright with it, justlike she's comedy run away while she's dead.
Yeah, and don't forget Christmas iscoming. Christmas, fuck off Christmas,
stay away. Bess, the youngapprentice girl came back and told Missus

(25:37):
Sarah Methyard that Anne wasn't in herroom and that the front door was wide
open. Oh, she clearly runaway. Yeah. A perfunctory search of
the property was done by the girlsat the command of Missus Metyard, but
after every room was looked in,she quickly announced that Anne had always possessed
an unruly nature. She must haverun away again. Obviously. The girls

(25:57):
were told not to speak about andsudden escape. I was gonna say,
these are like, actually, thesegirls like I feel very sorry for them.
Obviously they had nowhere to go toreport anything, because there was no
fucking like social services or anything.Yeah, but they know fine, well,
Anne's dead. They know that they'renot being fucking fooled. They've watched

(26:18):
her being beaten for what a yearnow, six months at least, right,
So, the girls were told notto speak about Anne's sudden escape or
even mention her name. Until missusmettyard was sure she wasn't coming back again,
And for two months, life andwork went on as if nothing happened.

(26:42):
Were they other girls beaten? Youmight have covered that earlier, But
were they they? It was justAnne, It was just and to begin
with, she would move on toAnn's sister, whose name I never found.
Okay, but the other girls,what did you say? There was
like five of them, five girls, and the only two who were violently
violently abused were Anne and her sisterfucking, but the other three were very

(27:07):
aware that if they fucked up,they might get yes, fucked up,
the other four actually other four becauseat this point we're not Onto and sister,
So missus metcal Calf wasn't She wassingularly beating, Like I just I
just think on the weakest in thegroup, right, Okay, And I
just I just find it she wasn'tobviously nice to the other ones, No,

(27:33):
and she was probably using a fuckingbelt or the back of the hand
or whatever it was. Anyway,Well, I just found it so weird
when you're thinking about this, thatit was just a singular It was a
target Yeah, an absolutely targeted targetedbullying and torture. Torture. Yeah,
sorry, man, I just Ijust like that's fine. I just find

(27:56):
that weird in my head, Likenot that it's any better that it was
all of them, but you couldgo or she was fucking mad if it
was all of them. But thatis like calculated, it is what It's
really horrible. So for two monthslife went on as if nothing had happened.
Now, there was admittedly an oddsmell coming from the attic by this

(28:18):
point, funny that which had beenlocked and sealed since the crime of running
away. Most importantly, though,nobody was asking any questions about Anne's disappearance,
so missus Mettyard felt safe enough tofinally dispose of the remains. I
suppose there was nobody to ask questionslike they heard. You know, anybody
who would have been in a guardianroll to her would have just assumed she

(28:42):
was there, and the people thatwere there thought she'd run away or thought
she'd run away. Yeah, sothere's nobody to ask that question, really,
is there? What a ship placeto be? Now? The opportunity
to begin disposal of the body cameon the twenty fifth of December seventeen fifty

(29:06):
eight, day the world the savehere. Yes, we're going to dispose
of the body. They are.While the apprentice girls were off visiting their
families for Christmas, right missus mettYard and they got they got some holidays.
Yeah, they've got a day off. She's not a cycle. Yes,

(29:30):
she may have murdered someone, butshe respects public holidays. Of course
who doesn't. So while the girlswere all off at their family's houses,
Sally and her mother began chopping upand Naylor's body into manageable, transportable sized
pieces. That is the quickest havegone from Carol's to cutting up a body,
I know. The hands, limbs, and feet were bundled together in

(29:53):
white cloth from the Milliner workshop,and the torso and head were wrapped separately.
The plan was to dump the headand torsau and a sewer and then
burn the rest, presumably in thefurnace hot kitchen fire they had. That
is so backwards with what we know, even like all the time period,
can't think off the top of myhead, you'd want to destroy the head

(30:17):
rather than the body, like juststop the body in the Thames. Loads
of bodies in the Thames, Marlo'sbodies and the Thames right now. The
head's the bit that's gonna identify you. Why drop that down a drain?
That's I just that's backwards thinking.To me, it is an odd one.
But that was the plan. Itwouldn't go down quite that way.

(30:41):
But that night, the night ofChristmas Day, after the girls had returned
and retired to bed, Missus Methyardsat on a stool in her kitchen with
her daughter, in front of thewell stocked fire, and as she tossed
the left hand into the flames,she said, mostly to herself, the
fire tells no tales the worst ChristmasDay ever. Now, it's not a

(31:06):
great saying either. It may betrue if you have access to a crematorium,
yeah, or some other industrial furnace, But as I'm sure a lot
of our listeners will know, it'snot true if all you have is a
coal fed cookfire. Burn's hot,but not that hot. Yeah, missus

(31:27):
Sarah Metyard had to quickly revise herplan and retrieve the hand which had begun
to cook in the kitchen fire whenthe smell of burnt person pervaded the entire
kitchen. Ah, no, no, so she couldn't take her whole house
out with burnt person. Oh yeah, she's not an animal. No,

(31:48):
so missus Metyard and Sally would dumpall the remains and they would do it
that very night. They carried thebundles to the gully hole on Chick Lane,
which is an open sewer access.Okay, is that a gully hole?
Is just that's what it's called.They had wanted to throw the bundles
over a wall and into the openstore, but they couldn't get close enough

(32:08):
discreetly, so they left them inthe mud and the film that accumulated at
the grate to the sewer. Thisis just fucking ridiculous, man, I
know, this sounds like one ofthe worst places to hide body parts on
Christmas Day And it was noe.That's the worst sentence you've ever said.

(32:28):
A watchman stumbled across a bundle justafter midnight and he alerted a constable,
who had the remains taken to awatchhouse for investigation. Both of them took
the Christmas Day shift because they thoughtit was going to be easy. Yeah,
it was. The next day thecorner arrived, mister Umfraville. What
was that? The next day thecorner arrived, mister Umfraville Umphavill Umphraville.

(32:55):
Now, after hearing how the remainswere discovered from the watchman and the constable,
and after inspecting them, and fromthe lack of any apparent cause of
death i e. Trauma and fromthe quality of the cloth that the remains
were found in, he concluded thatthese were probably remains procured from a corpse

(33:16):
that had been illegally dug up froma graveyard for medical purposes, a body
snatching. As a result, misterUmfraville decided not to summon a jury for
the crime. Fuck Meanwhile, atthe workshop on Bruton Street, life went

(33:37):
on, and work went on almostas if nothing had happened, Almost exactly
as if nothing had happened, actually, because a few months after, and
sister, who was still apprenticed toMissus Mettyard, mentioned to a lodger that
she didn't think Anne would have runoff without taking her few belongings. The
last time when she'd fled, shetook her stuff, but this time everything

(33:58):
she owned was still there because she'sin a gully hole. But when Missus
Methyard learned of this, it predictablyled to the girl being the new target
for Missus Methyard's tyranny, a similarcycle of abuse began, which would end
with her actually running off two yearslater. And sister, Yeah, she
ran away. She got ye,she got away. That's what I feel

(34:21):
better about. That not great now. Ann Naylor's disappearance was never questioned,
and nor were Missus Metyard or Sallyat any time investigated for claims of abuse
because there were no claims. Twogirls had run off, but that happened
enough that it didn't even merit lookinginto. It's just part of the course.

(34:42):
For four years, Missus Sarah Metyardand miss Sally Metyard got away with
murder. However, during that time, Missus Metyard began to direct her abusive
behavior towards her daughter now that theapprentices were gone. This led to a
increased friction between the two women.Now, when a lodger at the property

(35:04):
and mister Ruker witnessed and was horrifiedby Sally's treatment by her mother, he
offered her employment and lodging with him, which she immediately accepted, moving in
with him and before long becoming hislover. I'm a millner, Get me
the fuck out here. Yeah,but this infuriated her mother Missus Metyard.
She frequently came to mister Ruker's houseto shout at his windows that he'd stolen

(35:27):
her daughter, and the two womenhad loud arguments in the townhouse whenever Missus
Medyard was allowed inside. I've justgot this image of her shouting at the
windows, not through them. Thewindow. During one of these arguments,
things were said in front of misterRuker about the crime, which made him
question his lover. Sally told himthe whole story, and on his advice,

(35:51):
she went the next day to theauthorities to confess her part in Ann
Naylor's death. Both Sarah's were arrestedSally and Sarah. Oh, yes,
Sally and Sarah. That's how I'mseparating them in my head, and mother
and daughter were given adjoining cells withinthe bleak walls of Newgate Prison. On
the fourteenth of July seventeen sixty two, Missus Sarah Metyard and Miss Sarah Metyard

(36:16):
were both indicted for the wilful murderof Miss Ann Naylor by assaulting her,
beating her, and starving her todeath. Good As they waited for trial,
the animosity between the two women increaseduntil they had to be moved to
cells on opposite sides of the prisonto stop their bickering and shouting as each
was blaming the other. It wasme, yeah, exactly, it was

(36:39):
hard. It was me, Itwas hard. Yeah. The story Sally
told the authorities was not the wholetruth, and unsurprisingly left her guilty of
little more than being present for theabuses that her mother dished out and for
concealing the crime afterwards. But thiswas far from the truth, and witnesses
at the trial would make Sally's partin and death clear. One of the

(37:00):
girls who had been an apprentice atthe time of the crime, Missed Philadelphia
Dowley, gave evidence of the ongoingabuse from both women. Mister Brown,
the milkman, testified about his encounterwith Anne during her brief escape. Oh
yes, And the trial concluded onSaturday, the seventeenth of July. Right,

(37:23):
that's not important. Carry on.So it's like, no, it's
like seven months after the fact.Yeah, but three day a three day
trial, A three day trial,seven months after the fact. Yeah.
Yeah. When the trial concluded,Missus Sarah Metyard and her daughter, Miss
Sarah Metyard were both found guilty ofthe murder of Anne Naylor. The judge

(37:45):
sentenced both women to death, thesentence to be carried out two days later
on the nineteenth. Okay, onthe day of the executions, Missus Methyard
Senior was only semi conscious and shehad to be carried and placed on the
cart for the journey to the gallows, and subsequently also had to have her
head placed in the hanging noose.Well, she's fucked up. Yeah,

(38:09):
Sally, her daughter was distraught andupset and cried her way to the gallows.
Ah. After four hours hanging,the bodies were taken down and placed
in surgeon's hall for public viewing fora price. I Mean, we've talked

(38:29):
about like the viewing of crime scenesand stuff like that, but surgeon's halls
them like they put it on display. Yeah, that's not just like seeing
crime scenes. That's making a decisionto take these two women to be yep,
a public spectacle. Yeah, Imean there were absolute bell ends of
human beings. I'm not sure I'mall right with the using them as public

(38:51):
spectacle though. And once they hadtheir use, they were moved on and
used for medical dissection. That I'mokay with, absolutely fine. With amusing.
They used a lot of them,it was all they did. Yeah,
mainly murderers and stuff that they usedin Burking' well, I can't remember
the name of the doctor was inbirk and Heir, now, oh that's
gonna annoy me. But he specificallyit was it Dr Stephenson. That's just

(39:15):
come to my head anyway. Hegenerally just used people that have been hanged,
but only murderers for a while untilwell Burkinghir started just bring him anyone.
So that's what happened to Missus Methyardand Sally Methyard. As for Anne
Naylor, yes, her ghost outlivedher torturers, good haunting the grounds on

(39:42):
which her earthly remains had been unceremoniouslydumped, and urban legends to this day
have it that her cries can stillbe heard by commuters taking the underground from
Farringdon station. I mean, youknow how much I love ghost stories here
alistairs, it's not one for me, but carry on. That's it.
That's it. She just goes fora walk, goes for a walk and
screams down the three tracks. Reallyshit ghost. Look, she had a

(40:08):
tough time of it. I didn'tsay that horrible life, horrible life.
She was a wonderful woman, wonderfulyoung girl. Shit ghost. See,
I was panicking for a good portionof that that you were going to tell

(40:28):
me that they did not try forit. Yeah, I was really,
really worried that we weren't going toget to a trial and a decision and
a hanging that they clearly fucking deserved, or the trial they deserved. I'm
not going to stand by whether theydeserve to be hanged or not, but
they deserve to be found guilty,agreed, and they deserve to be punished
for their crime to whatever extent thelaw at the time. How fucking democratic

(40:52):
of you tonight, Alice that Iknow, riding that horse right out of
here. On you if that's whatthey allowed at the time, I think
you'll find I'm on the fence.On the fence, thank you. It's
not a sharp fins. What ahorrific tale, I know, A horrific
Christmas killing. Merry Christmas, well, Christmas cutting up. Although they killed

(41:20):
her, yeah I know they did, but they didn't carpital Christmas. They
killed her in October. I wasgoing to make a joke about carving,
but I just don't think it's okay, No, it's not. We would
just leave that alone and move on. Absolutely, I'd like to go back
to something I said twenty odd minutesago about the regulating of apprenticeships. Very

(41:42):
good thing that they decided to makethis a kind of wider thing and allow
more people to train and everything.Blah blah blah blah. Great. Really
unregulated and not just by people likemissus Metyard. No, absolutely, also
by just unscrupulous employers as well,probably taking a cut from somewhere, taking

(42:05):
a cup from somewhere, over workingtheir apprentices. It's mad because, like
we've spoken about, remember the caseI talked about with the River police in
it, Yes, and he wasnot a tailor, but he was a
material trades has been I can't rememberthe name for it now, And they
did very very well from themselves becausethe well, I mean he might have

(42:28):
been buying on the side down bythe docks or whatever, but you know,
material trade would have been massive.So I would imagine a milner,
especially if it was kind of thefashion of the time to have a hat.
Yeah, she'd have been well offshe was, and capable of not
having to live a life where youbring in essentially slave labor and then beat

(42:49):
them to death or hang them ontheir door for ntial death, whichever you
choose to do. Yeah, she'sa really like I don't know, I
hate using the word, do youknow, Ever since we spoke to Shahan
about anything, Since the first timeI spoke to Shaham, I can't say
I think they're a bit like psychoticbecause I don't now know, not no

(43:09):
sure what that means, because hetells me things and I don't understand them.
But I would go, there's fullpsychosis in that she didn't need I
could understand bringing in the apprentices ifyou were doing it to do good,
but she was doing it to dobad. Essentially, she didn't need the

(43:30):
work or the workers or the moneythat came with it. Probably she can
easily afforded to employee workers, butshe just brought in a troop of young
girls and tanked two of them.Yeah, because it was cheaper, but
it's not even the cheap, Andlike there's got to be something in that
that she probably her and her daughtermust have I not gonna say gotten off

(43:52):
on what they were doing, butlike the power trip, Yeah, they
absolutely stand over you do this orI'll beat you up like we've done to
this girl to the point of murder, and and no remorse. No,
that's that's neither women showed any remorse. That's the scariest part about that.
You know. I don't know ifwe've ever talked about a case where somebody

(44:14):
shows remorse, but like, that'sso evident that they had time to live
their crime, if you know whatI mean. It's not been a moment
of passion or fury or money orthat's that's almost just been just pure nastiness
who they are. It's really horrible, man, isn't it very Christmas?

(44:37):
Yeah, birthday. I have toput this one out after Christmas till everybody's
joy just simmerin a bit before werelease that wonderfully told As always, I
was just thank you very much forthat. I'm not going to say I
enjoyed that story. Sorry, youenjoy that one. You endure it that

(44:59):
one, that one you get itthrough, You get through the one I
have for you next week has Ithink the best male protagonist's name not protagonist
victim, sorry's name better? I'mfrovilleCharles Bravo. Oh, I'm going to
tell you the case of Charles Bravonext week, and I only tell you

(45:22):
this as good as Max Egle.It's good, isn't it. I really
enjoyed Charles Bravo when I was readingabout it. I employ you not to
look it up before next week,because it's a nice story and I think
it's a good one that I thinkyou'll enjoy. And the only reason I
bring up at the end of yearepisode is because I've had the name Charles
Bravo in my head for like aweek now and I haven't been able to
tell you about it. So theyare thank you, pleasure good one that

(45:46):
managed to fit it into my nightshift schedule, and I appreciate that,
and I'm sure our listeners do too. I appreciate it mastervely because I was
in Pantoa last week and I hadno chance. I didn't leave it to
the last minute or anything not atall. Right at this morning, I
know it's cool. I will comeat five o'clock yesterday evening. She replies

(46:07):
the messages you don't I did replytoday. I text your last Tuesday,
last fucking Tuesday, Alistair. Okay, that's probably true. I've been doing
the advent of crime or no adventof weird tales. I'm going with We're

(46:30):
up today twelve. Now I hadeleven written. I thought i'd come up
with more twisted tis ran out twistedtales. This episode will come out before
Christmas. So if you have anytwisted tales or from your local area that
you think I should stick in theadvoct candor, hit me up and I
can put them out. I'm gonnaask Alistair to have a lot to look

(46:53):
for a couple in the next coupleof days, text me a few and
I think the only other thing I'vegot to say is yeah, cheers Alistair.
I joyed that this evening I will. I don't have anything else much
to say to you. No,there's a happy Easter to everyone. Happy
Easter, everyone, Thanks very muchfor joining us on continuity. Hannakkah.

(47:16):
Name another religious vegetable and your vegetablename a religious vegetable. Alist Kwansa is
not a vegetable. Follows on socialmedia is if you want more of this
absolute fucking nonsense. Yeah, goingto give it to you, X is
going to give it to you.And Twitter and no no excesses instead of
Twitter of absolutely broken brokenum he followson Twitter. No you can't. He

(47:43):
follow us on x, Instagram orFacebook padling up Twister Britain. Can find
us on Twisted Britain for the TwistingBritain discussion. Groute by looking for such
a thing and you'll find it.We are doing our advent of Chris Crime
for Christmas or weird Tales. Pleasecheck it out. It's been a bit
of fun. Review subscribe stars allthat ship because apparently it works. You

(48:07):
resorted to single words now, yeah, absolutely, review stars Algorithm. It's
my favorite joke I've ever done that. You just did. You looked at
me as if I died inside.I want you to because of al Gore's
dancing. You did not like algorithm, but never mind. Do you want
one more pantol joke before we goaway? Yes? Because I didn't drop

(48:28):
them in because it was such ahorrific tale. You can't fucking panto that
up, can you? There's nopanto in that. It was a Tree's
favorite shape tree angle. No,no, no, not good for that
one. You quite like that one? Which Tree said? Can you give
a high five? I don't know, Palm Tree. I've got literally about

(48:52):
fifteen two jokes I'll not do themall there. Yeah, enough of my
nonsense, enough of your nonsense.Thank you, love you bye, Thank
you love you bye, Thank youFewbye, arena hear yourself. Thankcose you Bye