The crime of intentionally causing the death of another human being, without lawful excuse. An an illegal death caused inintentionally, but by recklessness or negligence (or where there is some defense, such as diminished capacity), the crime committed is "manslaughter", which is considered to be less serious than murder.
A difficult issue in defining murder is whether an act causes the death of another. Because of the difficulty in establishing this, many common law jurisdictions apply the ancient "year and a day", providing culpability only if the victim of an act dies within a year and a day.
In certain circumstances, the law does not consider the killing of a human being as a criminal act. It is not murder to kill enemy combatants in time of war (but not after they surrendered), killing a person in self-defence - one who poses an immediate threat to the lives of oneself or others, and the execution of a person in carrying out a sentence of death pronounced by a court (in those jurisdictions which use capital punishment).
Sometimes extreme provocation or duress can be claimed as justification for killing another - justifiable homicide.
| 978.Mar.18 | | Murder of King Edward the Martyr at Corfe Castle (village) on the Isle of Purbeck by his step-mother, Queen Elfrida to make way for her own son Ethelred |
| BAAAGBYS BAAAGEEM BAAAGBSJ BAAAGCAN BAAAGEEN BAAAGEER BAAAGEES |
| 1002 | | Ealdorman Leofsy banished from Wessex by Ethelred II for the murder of the high steward Eafy (ASC) |
| BAAAGCBS BAAAGEEN |
| 1002.Nov.13 | | The Massacre of St Brices Day: King Ethelred II orders the murder of all Danes in England (ASC) |
| BAAAGEEN BAAAGDDL BAAAGDDN |
| 1012 | | Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury murdered |
| BAAAGEEN |
| 1064 | | Tostig meets with the thegns Gamel and Ulfwhocomplain of his heavy taxation and has them arested and executed
Later he arranges the murder of thenobleman Gospatric |
| BAAAGBIY |
| 1170.Dec.29 | | Murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral |
| BAAAGCBT |
| 1327 | | Murder of King Edward II, his 14-year-old son Edward III becomes King of England |
| BAAAGBWU BAAAGBXC |
| 1340 | | Abolition of Englishry
(the proof that a slain but unknown man was English for the hundred in which he was found to be exempt from fine for the murder) |
| BAAAGBWL BAAAGBXC |
| 1399.Aug.20 | | Richard II captured on his retunr from Ireland and imprisoned at Flint
Richard was sent to the Tower of London, then Pomfret (Pontefract) Castle, where he is said to have been murdered but nothing is certainly known of his end, and there are strong grounds for believing that he escaped to Scotland where he lived until 1417 or 1419.
|
| BAAAGBXD BAAAGEEV BAAAGDKN BAAAGEKC |
| 1399.Sep.30+ | | Deposition of Richard II, last Plantagenet king of England, by
Henry, Duke of Lancaster who ruled as Henry IV (-1413)
The imprisoned Richard was murdered, the first casualty of the Wars of the Roses |
| BAAAGBXD BAAAGEEV BAAAGCCV BAAAGDJC BAAAGEEW BAAAGEEX BAAAGEEY BAAAGDKP |
| 1400.Feb.14 | | Murder of King Richard II |
| BAAAGBXD BAAAGEEV |
| 1450.May.02 | | Suffolk murdered in a small boat in the Channel |
| BAAAGCRH |
| 1471.May | | Murder of King Henry VI, imprisoned in the Tower
Legend accuses Richard, Duke of Gloucester, of the murder but he was only 19 at the time |
| BAAAGCRH |
| circa 1483.Aug | | Edward, Prince of Wales, the uncrowned son of Edward IV, and his brother Richard seen for the last time in the the Tower of London (Jul-Sept)
The princes in the Tower thought to have been murdered by Richard III |
| BAAAGCQF BAAAGBKA BAAAGDKN BAAAGEHI |
| 1533.Aug.29 | | Murder of Atahualpa, last king of the Incas, and end of the Inca empire
The murder was ordered by the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro |
| |
| 1566.Mar.09 | | Murder of David Rizzio, private secretary and friend of Mary, Queen of Scots, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse while in conference with the Queen by Darnley and the rebel Scottish nobles |
| BAAAGCLM BAAAGEKT |
| 1567.Feb.10 | | Murder of Darnley at Kirk O Field, Scotland
An explosion occurred in the house, Darnley found dead in the garden, apparently strangled. Bothwell, generally believed to be guilty of the act, subjected to a mock trial but acquitted |
| BAAAGCLM BAAAGEKC |
| 1568.Oct | | Start of the enquiry (-Jan) ordered by Elizabeth I into the part of Mary, Queen of Scots\' part in the death of Darnley at York
Elizabeth I did not wish to convict Mary of murder |
| BAAAGEKT BAAAGCLM |
| 1584 | | Elizabeth II introduces the Bond of Association aimed at preventing any would-be successor from profiting from her murder
Mot leagally binding, it was signed by thousands, including Mary, Queen of Scots |
| BAAAGCLM BAAAGEKT |
| 1628 | | Murder of the Duke of Buckingham |
| BAAAGCLK |
| 1696 | | The Treasons Act provided some protection for the accused as many trials for treason had been judicial murders |
| BAAAGBZE |
| 1705.Mar.21 | | 13,000 people gather at Maumbury Rings, Dorchester to witness the burning of murderess Mary Channings |
| BAAAGBYS BAAAGBUC |
| 1751.Aug.24 | | Hanging of chimney-sweep Thomas Colley for murder (as ringleader) after Ruth Osborne is floated, suspected of witchcraft, and drowns at Tring, Hertfordshire |
| BAAAGCQN |
| 1817 | | Trial by Wager of Battle strangely revived in a murder case |
| BAAAGCPV BAAAGEFP BAAAGEFQ |
| 1840.Apr.13 | | Execution of the Lightfoot brothers at Bodmin jail, Cornwall for the murder of Mr Neville Norway
Specialexcursion trains were run from Wadebridge carrying 1,100 spectators |
| BAAAGCEK BAAAGDZX BAAAGBGP BAAAGDZZ BAAAGBHZ |
| 1884 | | John Babbacombe Lee unsuccessfully hanged three times for the murder of Mrs Keyes
|
| BAAAGBAV |
| 1890.Aug.06 | | Convicted murderer William
Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in the electric chair
He
was executed Auburn State Prison, New York |
| |
| 1935.May.27 | | Trial at the Old Bailey of Alma rattenbury and George Stoner for the murder Alma\'s elderly husband, Francis |
| BAAAGBHL |
| 1963.Nov.24 | | Murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of US pres. JF Kennedy |
| |
| 1975.Nov.27 | | Murder of TV presenter and co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, Ross McWhirter, by an IRA gunman outside his Middlesex home |
| |
| 1978.Nov.20 | | Former Liberal Party leader, Jeremy Thorpe, accused of plotting the murder of his former homosexual lover |
| |
| 1981.Aug.24 | | Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for the murder of rock star John Lennon |
| |
| 1983.Oct.24 | | Trial of civil servant Dennis Nilsen, accused of six murders and two attempted murders, commences at the Central Criminal Court |
| |
| 1994.Mar.01 | | Mass murderer Fred West charged with two additional murders after human remains were discovered buried in his back garden |
| |
| 1995.Nov.22 | | Rosemary West sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 10 women and girls |
| |
| 1997.Oct.31 | | US jury in Boston find 19-year-old British au pair Louise Woodward guilty of second degree murder for killing the baby in her care after 26 hours of deliberation |
| |
| 1998.Aug.05 | | Marie Noe
of Philadelphia arrested and charged with first-degree murder - accused of
smothering eight of her children to death between 1949 and 1968
She
later received 20 years probation |
| |
| 1998.Oct.23 | | Murder of Dr Barnett Slepian in Buffalo, NY
Dr Slepian who performed legal abortions, shot at home through the kitchen window by a sniper |
| BAAAGBKS |
| 1999.Dec.08 | | A lawsuit filed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s family, a Memphis Tennessee jury finds that the civil rights leader had been the victim of a vast murder conspiracy, not a lone assassin |
| |
| 2002.Nov | | death of the notorious Moors murderer, Myra Hindley, in prison |
| |
| 2003.Oct.14 | | The body of murdered 25-year-old vice-girl mother-of-two Nadine Hillier found by fisherman in a lake in Eastville Park, Bristol |
| BAAAGDEZ BAAAGEDZ |
| 2003.Oct.22 | | Man arrested in connection with the murder of prostitute Nadine Hillier |
| |
| 2003.Nov.02 | | BBC Panorama programme claims S Wales police fabricated evidence in the
claims South Wales Police made up evidence in the Clydach murders of 1999, infamous for their brutality |
| BAAAGBKA |
| 2004.Apr.09 | | Suspicious disappearance of 21-year-old nursery nurse, Amanda Edwards, from Purton in Wilts.
She disappeared after dropping her boyfriend off in Calne, her car was discovered by her family abandoned in a car park at Asda later in the day. Fears for her safety grew when it was found that her mobile telephone was switched off and her bank account had not been touched |
| BAAAGEGB BAAAGCMT BAAAGCMS BAAAGEDT BAAAGCDL BAAAGCFQ BAAAGGAG BAAAGega |
| 2004.Apr.09 | | Ian Cortis arrested by police and questioned regarding the disappearnce of Swindon nursery nurse, Amanda Edwards |
| BAAAGEGB BAAAGCMT BAAAGCMS BAAAGEDT BAAAGCFQ BAAAGGAG BAAAGega |
| 2004.Apr.16 | | Doscovery of the body of missing Wilts. nursery nurse, Amanda Edwards on a building site at The Knoll in Malmesbury
Police also discover the body of 48-year-old Ian Cortis, her murderer, released from custody after questioning the previous day |
| BAAAGEGB BAAAGCMT BAAAGCMS BAAAGEDT BAAAGCDL BAAAGCFQ BAAAGGAG BAAAGega |
