Genealogy Chat

Ive just found out that we have a child murderer in the family history. He was called Ronnie Eastwood and apparantly he killed a/his child aged a couple of weeks. Ronnie was born in Sheffield and im trying to find out what records would be kept giving further details about this. All i know is that Ronnie was born around 1935ish and this happend around late 60's early 70's. He did go to prison but was out before he died. So far havnt found a death for him. Can anyone give me any guidance at all? Many Thanks, Claire

Hi Sue, Im not sure when capital punishment as abolished, he must have committed this crime not long after they got rid of it. It was my nan who suddenly remembered it, dont know how it has slipped her mind though, lol. Do local newspapers have websites or is it a case of calling or writing to them? Im actually suprised that he was let out before he died, wonder if he got life for it and served about 20 years or so, but then i tried putting R Eastwood in 1837 from 1983 onwards and nothing came up for him. Regards, Claire

From what I can remember, hanging must have been abolished around 1965/66. I'd have thought he'd have made the gallows for murdering a child so that could narrow the time frame down for you a little. I live where the Moors Murders happened and I remember reading that Hindley and Brady just escaped the gallows cos although they committed their crimes when hanging still existed, it had been abolished by the time they stood trial and they were jailed in 1966-ish! Ali

I have just done a search for Census records for prisons and I have come up with a site called people search http://(.)people(.)peoplesearch(.)com/ remove brackets. Maybe there maybe something in there to tell you what prison he was at. You never know. Nicola

Hi Last hangings in Britain took place August 1964. Christine

Claire Let us know if you find him! Ali

Thanks to all of you for the information you have provided and websites. I will certainly give them all a go. Just trying to find out what the local newspaper was out around the late 60's. Thanks again, Claire

Ali, Will certainly let you all know if find this guy and the child he killed. Regards, Claire

There were two categories of murder, some received a life sentence, some a death sentence. The "serious" murders were: killing a policeman, using a gun or poison, killing more than once; there were possibly more things that came into this category. Whether a murder was premeditated or not was a factor. Killing someone "while the balance of mind was disturbed" (or in present-day terms "diminished responsibility") would probably incur a conviction for manslaughter.

Thanks for the Geoff, something else for me to bear in mind. Ive tried both of these websites and i cant get the murderersearch one and the other one is for the USA. Ive sent an email to the Sheffield Star newspaper to see if they hold any info on this at all. Im googling away for other websites that could help me. Regards, Claire

Will do Sue, thank, Claire

Hi The site won't allow you to print anything with a dot followed by anyword starting with CO. the way round it is to put * between the dot and CO eg www.genesconnected.*co.uk Christine

Ha Ha Just realised they don't allow the WORD D*O*T either previous message should have read anything with * a* d*o*t* followed by Christine

Hi, this site is good but unfortunately it mainly covers murders in the 1800's and very early 1900's. Regards, Claire

Hi Claire. If you know the name of the child and around about the date the child died. I would almost definately order the death certificate. It will tell you if an inquest was held. Which is almost definate if the child was murdered. Also then once you have the district the death was registered in. You can then go to the records office of the district to look at the inquest and then look at the local papers for around about that date. No doubt there would of been a trial and this would of been covered. hope the above helps, regards, Siobhan

Hi Siobhan, I dont know the name of the child at the moment. My nan has only just remembered that her cousin murdered the child, lol. Will keep pressing her i think for more info. That is a very good idea about getting the childs death cert if can find them, will look at that option is nan can remember the childs name. Regards, Claire

Hi Claire There will be lots of people around who will remember this event, and for the child's family it will not seem as if it happened over thirty years ago. You don't know who the child was. It could be a family member and asking questions could be distressing for your family and yourself. Think of the publicity surrounding the Moors Murders and the grief and bitterness of the parents of those children. Please be very careful. Brenda

Hi Claire,just did a bit f research for you,not much really.RONALD EASTWOOD Born Sheffield 31 Aug 1935,d Sept 1991.Hope this helps at all. WIZZ

Hi Brenda and Wizz, From what my nan said to my aunt, she seems to think this child was his own child but its something that i will have to look into. I think it is going to end up with me going to the Sheffield Library sometime and going through all the local newspapers. Thank you Wizz for the info on Ronalds birth and death, that is very much appreciated. His parents were married in 1930 so this is very likely to be him. Best Regards to you all, Claire

Just a thought - which may or may not be less time consuming or perhaps give you a rough date. if it WAS his own child then couldn't you find his marriage in the GRO which would give you a wifes names and then find a birth for an Eastwood child with matching mothers names and from theri look for the death. Obviously - if you need to do this on 1837 it may take some time and money but if you have access to the gRO on fiche at a library it might be easier than trawling through years and years of newspapers. It might also be worth calling your local records office or the archive that holds local papers your after and seeing if they have an index of the names that appear in the paper and whether they could do a quick check for the name your wanting. Zoe