Murder of Mona Tinsley
| Mona Lilian Tinsley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 November 1926 Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Died | 6 January 1937 (aged 10) Hayton, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Cause of death | Ligature strangulation |
| Body discovered | River Idle, 6 June 1937 |
| Resting place | Newark Cemetery |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Guildhall Street Methodist School, Newark |
| Known for | Murder victim |
| Home town | Newark-on-Trent |
| Parent(s) | Wilfred and Lilian Tinsley |
The murder of Mona Tinsley is a British child murder case from 1937. On 5 January 1937, 10-year-old Mona Lilian Tinsley disappeared after leaving her Newark-on-Trent school. A former lodger of Mona's parents, Frederick Nodder, became the prime suspect in her abduction. However, despite the fact both strong physical and circumstantial evidence existed attesting to his guilt, because no body could be found, Nodder could not be tried for her murder, but was instead convicted of Mona's abduction and sentenced to seven years in gaol.
On 6 June, Mona's strangled body was recovered from the River Idle, and Nodder was subsequently charged with her murder. He was found guilty of Mona's murder and hanged at Lincoln Prison on 30 December 1937.
The murder of Mona Tinsley was a prime case study cited in English law as leading to the abolition of the no body, no murder principle. This principle was abolished in 1954. As such, a murder conviction can now be obtained based on circumstantial evidence, should this evidence be sufficiently compelling and convincing.
On the afternoon of 5 January 1937, 10-year-old Mona Tinsley disappeared after leaving her school in Newark-on-Trent. Her distraught parents reported her missing to the police that same evening. The police immediately launched an intense manhunt for the child. This search involved canals and rivers being dragged, and empty properties being searched. The police search was assisted by hundreds of local volunteers.
In response to extensive police appeals, two eyewitnesses came forward on 6 January to say they had seen the girl at a bus station in the company of a middle-aged man. One of these individuals was able to identify this man as a former lodger of the Tinsleys. A neighbor of the Tinsley family also informed the police that she had seen this former lodger of the theirs standing alone, loitering on a street corner close to Mona's school, staring in the direction of the entrance to the premises on the afternoon of her abduction. Later that day, a bus conductor named Charles Reville confirmed to police that the previous day, a young girl matching Mona's description had indeed boarded his 4:45 p.m. bus from Newark to Retford in the company of a middle-aged man, and the pair had alighted his bus at Grove Street, Retford. Reville ominously added that this man had purchased a return ticket for himself, but only a single ticket for the girl. Reville's claims were independently substantiated by a passenger on the bus named Stanley Betts, who also claimed to have seen a middle-aged man travelling between Newark and Retford with a girl matching Mona's description.
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