On this day in 1965
Man sentenced to hang for murder
“Anthony Oliver Lynch… was sentenced to death yesterday at a brief sitting of the Jersey full court after pleading Guilty to the murder by stabbing of Madeleine Mabel Fox, aged 26, in Stafford Lane, St Helier, on March 18,” reported The Times on 11 August 1965.
Lynch’s advocate, Terence Sowden, had entered a guilty plea on his client’s behalf on 6 August. This therefore left the court with no choice over the penalty imposed on the 27-year-old Dubliner when he appeared before it on 10 August, since the statutory punishment for murder was death.
On 3 September, the home secretary, Sir Frank Soskice, recommended that his sentence be commuted. The Queen consented, as was customary at the time.
...and on this day in 2001
Jersey-set film The Others is released
Starring Nicole Kidman and directed by Alejandro Amenábar, The Others is a psychological horror film set in Jersey. It was the first English-language film containing no Spanish at all to win the Best Film category in Spain’s national film awards, the Goyas.
The film is set in a remote farmhouse, just after the occupation, in which Kidman’s character, Grace Stewart, lives with her photosensitive son and daughter. Their condition means they can be disfigured by exposure to bright light and sunlight, which naturally means there are opportunities for gloomy scenes aplenty, which climax with a shocking twist.
Although set in Jersey, none of the file was made there, with scenes instead shot in Kent and Spain.
Yesterday…
The first Earl of Jersey to live in Jersey dies in Jersey
The Ninth Earl of Jersey inherited his title in 1923, when he was 13, but didn’t move to the island until the late 1940s.
The first Battle of Flowers takes place
Jersey staged its first ever Battle of Flowers in 1902, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria.
Tomorrow…
A man and his wife killed their dinner guest and buried his remains under the kitchen floor, before the husband fled to Jersey.