English Article - The Murder of the Vicarage

Intricately-planned murder at the Vicarage

The Vicar of Townsville Church came home horrified to find his study turned upside down, and that right in front of the study table, lay the corpse of Colonel Protheroe, slumped over the desk. It was between 6 to 7 in the evening when the vicar reached home. The police was then notified of the murder immediately by the vicar, and appeal for witnesses started within the first hour of the discovery of Protheroe’s corpse.

There were no witnesses as to how Colonel Protheroe was shot. However, Dr. Haydock, who lives next to the vicar and checked on the body at six thirty in the evening, suspected that the gun that had been used to kill Colonel Protheroe, was a pistol of small calibre, probably a Mauser .25, a gun which was owned by both the vicar and Lawrence Redding, Mrs Protheroe’s lover, which the vicar claimed to have lost two days ago, and was used at close range. After checking on the body, Dr Haydock came to the conclusion that Colonel Protheroe had already been killed for at least half an hour.

According to Miss Jane Marple, a retired old lady, Mrs Protheroe and Colonel Protheroe had come by her garden on the way to the vicarage where Mrs Protheroe and her had a friendly chat and she left at six fifteen. She also observed that Colonel Protheroe was carrying a notebook and a pen while Mrs Protheroe had nothing with her at all. Following that, she then had a call from the vicar, and they spoke for about ten minutes.

The maid of the vicarage claimed that Lawrence Redding, Mrs Protheroe’s lover, had come by the vicarage in the afternoon to speak with the vicar the day before the day of the murder but came by again the next day, without entering the house and waiting in the garden since six in the evening. Colonel Protheroe and Mrs Protheroe had also come by at six fifteen. The maid had heard Mrs Protheroe and Lawrence speaking with each other in the studio after that, and then heard a loud gunshot at about six thirty that evening.

The vicar witnessed that Lawrence Redding, Mrs Protheroe’s lover, seemed like a mad man at the vicarage gate when he approached the gate at six forty five that day, and also where they met, with Lawrence saying, “ I’ve got to get away ---- to think. I’ve got to think. I must think.”

Lawrence has already went to the police station, claiming that he was the one who had killed Colonel Protheroe, as he had tried to convince Mrs Protheroe to run away with him and leave Colonel Protheroe.

Despite this, Mrs Protheroe had said that Lawrence was with her from six thirty until about six forty-five, and could not have carried out the murder. She had claimed that she had heard a loud sound, thinking it was something that broke in the house. Also, it was discovered that not even a bullet had been fired from Lawrence’s gun.

However, investigations are still ongoing to find out whether Lawrence had really carried out the murder.

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