A 20-year-old London prostitute Nora (sometimes reported as Norah or Norma) Upchurch was found murdered on October 2nd 1931, in an abandoned shop on Shaftsbury Avenue. Her body was found lying under several newspapers by a contractor, Douglas Bartrum, who entered the premises with employee Frederick Field to remove some advertising signs owned by Bartrum’s company. Nora Upchurch had been strangled, her clothing was disarranged and her purse was missing.
Police had several suspects in the case. One was Nora’s fiancé, a sea-man in the Royal navy who was later exonerated by police. Another was a one-time cricket star who had hired Upchurch for sex on the night of September 28th, thus becoming the last known person to see her alive. He too was cleared after police interrogation. A third suspect, identified by Frederick Field, was Peter Webb. Field told police that Webb had borrowed Field’s keys to the abandoned shop and had never returned them – an accusation which Webb staunchly denied, supported by an iron-clad alibi for the night of the murder.
The fourth suspect, favoured by detectives, was Frederick Field himself. Honourably discharged from the Royal Air Force after six years of service, Field was married and lived with his wife in Sutton. Police began focusing their attention on Field after determining that his accusation against Webb was untrue. However, due to lack of any concrete evidence linking him to the crime he wasn’t charged.
The case slipped from public memory until 1933 when Field shockingly confessed the crime to a London newspaper. In his confession Field claimed he had bargained for sex with Upchurch and took her to the abandoned shop where she agreed to perform fellatio but refused intercourse. After strangling Upchurch in a rage, he left with her purse which he discarded in a drainage ditch near Sutton and took the subway home to his wife. However when reporters searched the ditch they found no trace of Nora’s purse.
In a shocking turn of events, during his trial Field recanted his confession, claiming that he had only confessed in order to clear his name in a public court. The judge was so impressed with field’s testimony that he advised the jury to acquit him of the charges, which they duly did.
Following his acquittal Field rejoined the royal Air Force before deserting in 1936. While arrested on a charge of larceny he shocked police by confessing to the murder of 51 year prostitute Bernice Sutton at her home in Clapham. Once again, once in court Field recanted his confession but this time Field wasn’t so lucky – detectives had obtained from Field detailed information regarding Ms Sutton’s injuries and her apartment demonstrating his presence at the crime scene. This time jurors found him guilty and he was sentenced to hang, he mounted the gallows on June 30th 1936.
Reporters and police are still divided in their opinions on whether Field did indeed murder Nora Upchurch and the case remains officially unsolved till this day.
