Percy Lefroy Mapleton

Percy Lefroy Mapleton (also known as Percy Mapleton Lefroy; 23 February 1860 – 29 November 1881) was a British journalist and murderer. He was the British "railway murderer" of 1881. He is important in the history of forensics and policing as being the subject of the first police composite picture to appear on a "wanted" poster and in a newspaper.

The murder On the afternoon of 27 June 1881, 64-year-old Isaac Frederick Gold, a retired bakery manager, was murdered on the express train going from London Bridge Station to his home in Brighton. Gold had entered a first-class smoking compartment in the third carriage, and was later joined in the compartment by 21-year-old Percy Lefroy Mapleton. When the train arrived at Preston Park Station, Mapleton was observed getting out of the carriage in a distressed state and covered in blood. He had lost his hat, collar and tie, and had a gold watch-chain hanging from his shoe.

Giving a card which carried the name 'Arthur Lefroy', Mapleton complained that he had been attacked during the journey by two men, who had hit him on the head, knocking him out.

More importantly, however, The Daily Telegraph published an artist's impression of Mapleton created from a description provided by someone who knew him. This was the first time that a composite picture was used in this way by a newspaper. It created enormous public interest, and resulted in erroneous Mapleton sightings all over the country. (who was later involved as a coroner during the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888) opened the inquest on Isaac Gold on 29 June 1881. The inquest lasted several days, during which Detective Sergeant Holmes and other officers involved in the case's preliminary stages were mauled in the witness box for inefficiency. A verdict of willful murder against 'Lefroy' was returned. The Railway Company then offered a substantial reward for information leading to his arrest. He had kept the blinds down in his room all day and gone out only at night to avoid detection. The police found his still-bloodstained clothing in the room. He was also found to have exchanged some counterfeit coins and pawned a revolver.

When arrested by Met Detective Inspector Donald Swanson, Mapleton said, "I am not obliged to say anything and I think it better not to make any answer." Swanson wrote this down in his notebook and read it back to Mapleton, who added, "I will qualify that by saying I am not guilty."

Trial and execution Mapleton in the dock. "It was curious to note the change that took place in [Mapleton's] bearing and demeanour whenever he caught sight of an artist from one of the illustrated papers in the act of sketching him. He suddenly brightened up, and, if I am not mistaken, assumed a studied pose for the occasion." Mapleton was tried at Maidstone Assizes before Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, with Montagu Williams acting for his defence. The jury found him guilty after retiring for only ten minutes.

According to psychiatrist L. Forbes Winslow, who was present during the trial on behalf of Mapleton's family, Lord Coleridge, in pronouncing sentence, remarked, "You have been convicted on the clearest evidence of a most ferocious murder, a murder perpetrated on a harmless old man, who had done you no wrong; he was perhaps unknown to you. You have been rightly convicted, and it is right and just that you should die." Mapleton replied, " The day will come when you will know that you have murdered me."

While awaiting execution, Mapleton confessed to the murder of Lieutenant Percy Roper R.E., who was shot in his room in the Army's Brompton Barracks near Chatham Dockyard in February 1881; he later withdrew the confession. Mapleton was hanged at HM Prison Lewes on 29 November 1881 by executioner William Marwood. The coroner at Mapleton's inquest was Wynne Edwin Baxter, who had previously presided at Isaac Gold's inquest.

After his execution, Mapleton's waxwork was exhibited in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds. In 2021, the case was the subject of Episode 2 of Railway Murders. According to the programme, Mapleton was obsessed with the actress Violet Cameron. Cameron said that she did not know Mapleton.