The Case of William York
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1809 |
| Date | 01 January 1809 |
| Court | Court of the King's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 168 E.R. 35
THE COURT OF KING'S BENCH
Infants liable to capital punishments
the case of william york. (Infante liable to capital punishments ) At Bury Summer-assizes 1748, Wilham York, a boy of ten years of age, was comvicted beiore Lord Chief-Justice Wilks for the murder of a girl of about five yews of age^ and received sentence of death : but the Chief-Justice, out of regard to the temder yeais of the prisoner, respited execution, till he should have an opportunity of taking the opmioB^of the reit of the judges, whether it was proper to execute him or not,, upon the special circumstances of the case , which he reported to the judges at Serjeants-inn in Michaelmas term following. The boy and girl were parish children, put under the care of a parishioner, at whose house they were lodged and maintained; on the day the murder happened, the man of the house and his wife went out to their work early in the morning, and left the children in bed together ; when they returned from work, the girl was missing ; and the boy being asked what waa become of her answered, that he had helped her up and pmt om her cloaths, and that she was gone he knew not whither. Upon this, strict seaich was made in the ditches and pools of water near the house, from an apprehension that the child might have fallen into the water. During this search, tke man, under whose care the children were, observed, that a heap of dung near the house had been newly turned up ; and upon removing the upper part of the heap,, he found the body oi the child |71] about a foot's depth under the surface, cut and mangled in a most barbaroms and Lornd manner Ñpom. this discovery, the boy, who waa the only person capable of committing the fact that waa left at home with the child, was charged with the fact, which he stiffly denied. 36 THE CASE OF WDLLIAM YORK FOSI. 72. When the coroner's jury met, the boy was again charged, but persisted still to deny the fact. At length, being closely interrogated, he fell to crying, and said he wotild teS the whole truth He then said, that the child had been used to foul hpfseK in bed ; that she did so that morning (which was not true, for the bed was searched amd foufid to be clean) , that thereupon he took her out of the bed, and carried her te the dung heap; and with a large knife, which he found about the house, cut ler in the manner the body appeared to be mangled, and buried her in the dung-heap ; placing the...
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