Post by challispearce on Oct 28, 2015 23:08:15 GMT
In reference to the following page:-
www.blackkalendar.nl/index.php?time=1446069440
I am a descendant of Florence Gladys Pearce and her husband John Pearce and would like to provide the following detail:-
Florence and John Pearce had 4 children at the time of the murder - aged 4 years, 3 years, 2 years and only 3 months. After the murder, these children went to live with a maternal Aunt and Uncle.
After being convicted of being 'Guilty of Murder, but insane', John Pearce spent approximately 10 years at Broadmoor Psychiatric Prison.
I do not have the court transcripts and statements in front of me, but I have viewed them in the past. John Pearce had been quite ill in the weeks prior to his paranoia starting...but I think it is interesting to note that the main thing that sparked off John Pearce's paranoia was the fact that his wife, Florence, had not had her menstrual cycle return since the birth of their youngest child. Considering Florence and John had not been intimate since the birth of their youngest child and considering that Florence always fell pregnant "at the drop of a hat", John started to wonder whether Florence was pregnant to someone else. The court documents show that Florence even went to see a doctor in regards to the fact that her menstrual cycle had not returned and was told that she possibly had a prolapsed womb. John Pearce did not believe that the doctor had the time or equipment to examine Florence and therefore decided that Florence must be hiding something. This made his paranoia worse and this is when he began looking for other signs.
Based on John Pearce's accusations of an affair, Police tried to find proof that there was another man as they wanted to find John Pearce Guilty of Pre-Meditated Murder. A witness to it all told me that the "Police wanted him (John Pearce) to swing". (Hanging was still around at the time). Try as they may, they could not find any sign of there having been an affair...and the autopsy showed that Florence was not pregnant at all. She did have a prolapsed womb after having 4 children in only 4 years.
Florence did not die at the scene, but later on in the hospital. Relatives said that her dying words were "Don't let them hurt him - We really did love each other", before asking that her children be taken care of.
Florence's Brother testified that John Pearce had changed since being ill and that even his way of talking had altered, with his speech becoming much slower. He did not believe that John Pearce was himself at the time of the murder.
The court records state that John Pearce's Father and Brother also had psychiatric issues and the Judge said that John Pearce was of "bad blood", or rather unfortunate genetics.
All in all, this whole situation was a tragic one, which caused many issues and struggles for all of those who were related to both Florence and John.
Florence's sister-in-law (who was at the house at the time of the murder) was only 27 years of age at the time of the murder and had 1 child of her own. She was never offered any counselling after the murder and the family were left to clean up the murder scene themselves. She and her husband took on the care of 3 of the 4 children, raising them as their own, along with their own child. Florence's brother worked multiple jobs to be able to afford to keep the children.
The youngest of the 4 children was raised by Florence's sister, along with her own children.
These children not only lost their mother that day, they lost their father too. Then, cousins became siblings and siblings became cousins, etc...
Some relatives felt such guilt at not being able to have stopped the situation that they pulled away from their family.
Yes, the situation was indeed tragic... but how blessed we all are to have had relatives who loved the children enough to keep them as their own.
