Murder revisited: Man hammered to death by rogue thief

The story begins with the baffling disappearance of Wolf's Head oil company's Vivian Messiter whose premises were situated in Grove Street. 

Messiter had last been seen alive in October 1928 when he failed to return to his lodgings and his landlord, a former policeman, reported him missing.

A bit of a loner, with no real family or friends, Messiter's whereabouts went unsolved. It was widely accepted that 57-year-old Messiter had set off on one of his customary jaunts to faraway places.

Sooner or later the company realised that there had been no contact with him for weeks, as an ex-Fusilier and military man this was out of character for Messiter. 

Eventually a worker at the company managed to persuade the local police to bust open a door that had strangely been locked since Messiter's disappearance. 

Upon forcing open the garage door the police were shocked to find the badly beaten body of Messiter lying face down on the floor, hidden behind his car.

Curiously the car’s ignition was still on and the petrol tank was empty, suggesting the engine had been kept running, muffling the sound of the murder, until the fuel had been exhausted.

Having been there for some seven or eight weeks, the police assumed he had been shot due to the puncture wound on his forehead.

However, after a lengthy inspection of the grotesquely injured body by the world famous pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury it was realised that he had actually been bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

At 6.45pm on Saturday January 10, 1929, a telegram from the Chief Constable of Southampton was received at Scotland Yard.

It read: 'A case of murder has occurred here. A man has been found shot in a room the door of which was padlocked. The body was found today and has probably been in the room some eight or nine weeks. Will you please send an officer to investigate the matter.'

As a result, Scotland Yard sent its top crime busters Chief Inspector John Prothero and detective Hugh Young - who later became a distinguished police commander.

Also on the case was the Echo who helped to grip the nation as they hunted for the mysterious scar faced man and the elusive 'Golden-haired Lil'. 

The critical clue to catching the killer came from an investigation into the items found on Messiter's person. 

There was a letter from a 'W.F Thomas' who had supposedly applied for a vacancy as a salesman at the Wolf's Head. 

Intriguingly the same name was found on a screwed-up piece of paper found discarded in the garage. 

After reading about the mysterious case, a man named Mitchell from Downtown contacted Prothero about a mechanic he had recently hired.

The mechanic had introduced himself as Mr Thomas but shortly disappeared, stealing £143 of Mitchell's money in the process. 

Chief Inspector Prothero ran to the Echo newsroom to sift through all of the paper's previous advertisements and files, hunting for the enigma that was Mr Thomas. 

Tracking down the lodging house of Thomas, the inspector found a slip of paper that tied him to a car garage in Manchester.

The northern mechanics matched the description given by Prothero to one of their previous employees, a man named William Henry Podmore. 

That was it.

A nationwide manhunt was on, searching for Podmore and his blonde associate. 

Tracked down in London, Podmore was taken to Winchester Assizes and tried for the murder of Messiter. 

Confident of his acquittal, Podmore bragged to his fellow inmates saying: "The old farmers in Hampshire don't know how to try a man."

Alas the courts, led by Attorney General Sir Thomas Inskip, providing the jury with a clear motive for murder.  

It turned out that Messiter had confronted Podmore after being repeatedly tricked into paying commission on fake orders placed by the criminal. 

Already knowing he was sought after by Manchester Police for previous crimes it is said that Podmore panicked and attacked his employer with a hammer.

Almost immediately, he absconded from his lodgings with his mistress 'Golden-haired Lil'.

Within 83-minutes the jury found Podmore guilty of the crimes.

However, an outcry of national sympathy poured in for Podmore who many felt sympathy for and saw him as a petty-criminal rather than a murderer. 

Podmore launched a failed appeal and was later executed at Winchester Prison on April 22, 1930.

Do you know of any historic or unsolved murders from Southampton? Let us know in the comments below or email nicole.baddeley@newsquest.co.uk.