The Pretty Windows: Nottingham's Unsolved Murder Mystery

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More than 50 years have passed since the fatal stabbing of publican George Wilson in Nottingham and his family members are still seeking closure. The pub was called the Fox and Grapes, but local folk knew it by another name, the Pretty Windows, on account of its ornate stained glass. It was late one Saturday night in 1963. George Wilson locked up and took his dog for a walk. The next time his wife saw him he was lying on a pool of blood, the victim of a frenzied knife attack. Who killed George Wilson and why? Simon Ford and ex major-crime detective Jacques Morrell investigate.

The Six O’clock Knock is a Psycho Killer production.

Transcript
[Music] This podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Hello and welcome to The Six O’clock Knock with me Simon Ford and me Jacques morrell and for the first time we're coming to you from the National Justice Museum in Nottingham the museum is housed in a former Victorian courtroom jail and police station it's where you'd have been arrested tried sentenced and back in the day executed you can learn more at nationaljusticemuseum.org and once we've settled in we'll have a housewarming episode of The Six O’clock Knock where we show you around and introduce you to some of the other inmates but for now to business an unsolved murder that took place a stone's throw from where we are now [Music] it had been a typical Saturday night for George and Betty Wilson George had been to the football match in the afternoon his local team Nottingham Forest had beaten Wolverhampton wanderers 3 nil during the evening everyone had been in good spirits the children were in bed asleep probably looking forward to doing something exciting on the Sunday the schools had just gone back after the summer holiday the family had been in their new home for over a year and they settled into life in Nottingham George and Betty got a night cap for their three guests they sat down in the lounge with their drinks at about midnight two of the friends headed home and George arranged a taxi for the last of the guests when it arrived about 15 minutes later George decided to take Blackie the family dog for his regular evening walk so he left at the same time as the taxi collected his friend he locked the door as he left Betty remained indoors and retired to the bedroom approximately 30 minutes later Betty heard Blackie barking outside she went to check and opened the door where Blackie was standing he was behaving differently Betty looked out into the night there seemed to be no one around and no sign of her husband something made her glance down at the ground there was something there lying motionless it was George he was barely alive and unable to speak lying on the floor next to him were his keys suggesting he was at the point of returning home and there was blood a lot of it too Betty knew one thing her husband needed an ambulance so she called for one the life had drained from him before the ambulance arrived George had been ferociously attacked he had 14 knife wounds to his face neck and back one wound was nine centimetres deep for 57 years the local community have asked the question why the date is Saturday the 7th of September 1963. George Wilson was the landlord of a Nottingham public house his killer has never been found the motive for his death is unclear despite the involvement of Scotland Yard detectives no one has been charged with his murder it remains one of Nottingham's most talked about cases today we'll not only be returning to the location of the crime but also to the swinging sixties the case was actually suggested to us by a listener there's a lot of material online about it including several forums where theories are discussed however we've concentrated on a blog post by a chap called Scott who writes under the title Nottinghamasm he provides a good summary of the case and the various theories and rumours that are still circulating the pub where George Wilson was murdered is called the fox and grapes however the locals refer to it as the pretty windows and the case is known as the pretty windows murder we have also been hearing from people including former police officers it's one of those cases where if you're not careful you end up putting two and two together to make five hopefully we can cut through the fanciful and the speculative and give you the listener some clarity now this case occurred in an area of Nottingham called Sneinton market it's now part of the new creative quarter a cultural hub for the creative industry a lot of the area is now student accommodation as well which gives the place a young vibrancy but back in the day it was a significant open marketplace as well as a wholesale market it even gets a mention in a novel by D. H. Lawrence no less I’ll just cut in there did you also know that Jacques has written a novel no well he has in addition to his 30 years as a police detective dealing with facts he also likes a good story thanks for the plug Simon but please don't embarrass me by naming me in the same breath as D. H. Lawrence one of the finest English writers of all time okay fair dues we'll stick to your investigative skills for now in Lawrence’s 1920 story Women In Love he describes Sneinton market as follows the old market square was not very large a mere bare patch of granite sets usually with a few fruit stores under a wall it was in a poor quarter of the town meagre houses stood down one side there was a hosiery factory a great blank with myriad oblong windows at the end a street of little shops with a flagstone pavement down the other side and for a crowning monument the public baths of new red brick with a clock tower the people who moved about seemed stumpy and sordid the air seemed to smell rather dirty there was a sense of many mean streets ramifying off into warrens of meanness now and again a great chocolate and yellow tram car ground round a difficult bend under the hosiery factory since Lawrence wrote about it more of those mean streets he described were demolished and the wholesale market was built supplying the city with fresh produce the current layout of the old wholesale market area is relatively unchanged double rows of covered stalls with open avenues for the vehicles to collect fruit and veg for the shops it was opened in 1938 it was about this time when the pretty windows pub was granted a marketing affairs license this meant that it could open at 5am and serve alcohol to both market traders and general customers the pretty windows provided a convenient watering hole for anyone desperate for an early morning pint or for late night revellers and other dodgy characters who hadn't made it home yet that's right Jacques this case has captured the imagination of many people since here's what the blogger Nottingham says to set the scene fictitious tales of cold cases and unsolved crimes of yesteryear are incredibly popular in tv

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