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Maid Kills Her Employer After Being Fired
Not happy with being fired, Kate Webster killed and dismembered her employer Mrs Julia Martha Thomas. A case that moved the whole of England.
Background
Kate Webster, originally born Catherine Lawler, was an Irish woman during the Victorian era. She worked as a domestic worker in Richmond, London, for a popular middle-class lady named Julia Martha Thomas.
Webster was identified as a problematic kid within the neighbourhood and the police department during her teenage years. She was an excellent liar and had a very jealous heart. Born in a low-income family, her parents could not financially afford to shower her with every gift she wanted or envied from her mates. As a result, she considered stealing as the only source to obtain what her heart desired. This brought pain and shame to her family -though poor-were respected in the community.
Beginning Of Her Criminal Life
At the age of 15, Kate was arrested in her home town Killane, for stealing. After a few weeks, she was released, but days behind bars didn’t teach her anything. Catherine continued to steal until she raised enough money for a train ticket to Liverpool in 1867 in search of a better life.
While in Liverpool, she claimed to have fallen in love and wedded a sea captain named Webster and together had four kids. When asked about his whereabouts, she would burst into tears claiming that poor Webster and their kids died in a fatal accident. Still, given her reputation for being a liar, many people doubted her or that Webster ever existed.
While in Liverpool, she couldn’t keep out of trouble. It appears stealing was her DNA and jail her second home. She was arrested in 1868 and remained behind bars for four good years.
In January 1872, she got released and continued her journey to London, searching for greener pastures. Luckily for Kate, the wait wasn’t too long for her. Few days after settling in, she got a job as a cleaner in a local boarding school but secretly rented out some boarding rooms, traded any property for cash and fled before getting caught.
In May 1875, while working as an escort, she was arrested and prosecuted with 36 different counts of stealing and…
