Sir David Attenborough is a huge celebrity. But some years ago, he got headlines for a rather chilling reason. As he was refurbishing his home, the builders found a human skull. It helped solve a murder mystery more than a century old.
In 2009, legendary broadcaster and biologist Sir David Attenborough bought a home in Richmond, Southwest London. The property seemed peaceful, and the last thing you’d expect there would be some creepy crime or murder mysteries. However, that was exactly what would happen.
But in October 2010, when builders were doing backyard renovations at Attenborough’s home, they made a discovery that sent shivers down everyone’s spines. Suddenly, a human skull buried in the soil saw the light.
Police were called immediately to the house. And what they uncovered would turn a Victorian murder case into a story almost too strange to actually believe.
It turned out the skull belonged to Julia Martha Thomas, a widow who had been brutally murdered in 1879. The killer was own housemaid, Kate Webster, an Irish immigrant with a shady past.
Human skull found in David Attenborough’s garden ended a 131-year-old murder case
Thomas had hired Webster without asking too many questions, which was a huge mistake. It turned out that Kate Webster, a woman Julia trusted, had a history of crimes.
Tensions between the two quickly escalated. On March 2, 1879, after Thomas had stated how disappointed she was with Webster’s work, things got out ot hand quickly. Webster later admitted to killing her employer, saying she lost control during a struggle.
But the horror didn’t stop there. She dismembered the body, boiled parts of it, burned the bones in the fireplace, and — according to reports — may have even sold some of the body fat to neighbours and the local pub. The rest of the remains, including the head, were believed to have been dumped into the River Thames.
For more than 130 years, Thomas’ skull was missing. It sounds too crazy to be true, but it would appear in Sir David Attenborough’s backyard.
Modern forensic techniques, including radiocarbon dating and historical records, confirmed the identity of the skull. Alison Thompson, who examined the evidence, said it was clearly the remains of Julia Martha Thomas, who was in her 50s when she was murdered.
“This is a fascinating case,” Ch Supt Clive Chalk said at the time. “It shows how old-fashioned detective work, historical documents, and modern technology can combine to solve a mystery thought lost to history.”
The last piece of the puzzle
What makes the story even more eerie is the fact that for over a century, Thomas’ skull was lying beneath the soil, waiting to be discovered. Not in the river, as everyone believed, but in the backyard of one of Britain’s most beloved figures.
A mystery which haunted London for generations was finally solved – and it was so in the most unexpected of places.
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