Bio

Albert Edward Matheson was born in 1905 in the United Kingdom. Little verified information about his early life was publicly recorded, but later court proceedings revealed a long history of mental and behavioral problems.

Doctors testified that he had been diagnosed as a psychopathic personality in 1943 and had repeatedly injured himself during the years before that diagnosis. In September 1957, shortly before the murder case, he was admitted voluntarily to a mental hospital.

Medical experts told the court that Matheson had severe intellectual limitations, describing his mental age as lower than that of a ten-year-old child. They said his understanding of right and wrong was very basic.

By the late 1950s, Matheson was working as a handyman at a hall in Newcastle that housed a boxing ring. There he became acquainted with 15-year-old Gordon Lockhart. Their association later became an important part of the murder investigation and trial.

Murder Story

On November 18, 1957, 15-year-old Gordon Lockhart was murdered in Newcastle, England. Prosecutors said Albert Edward Matheson attacked the teenager with a bottle and a hammer, causing fatal injuries.

After the killing, Lockhart’s body was hidden in a sump beneath the boxing ring of the hall where Matheson worked as a handyman. Reports also stated that the body had been mutilated, which brought major public attention to the case.

Matheson surrendered to police five days later. Investigators said he admitted taking £35 from the victim’s pocket, leading prosecutors to charge him with capital murder committed during theft.

At trial in January 1958, the defence argued that Matheson suffered from a serious mental abnormality and should be convicted of manslaughter instead of murder. Several doctors supported that claim.

The jury rejected the defence after about 65 minutes of deliberation and found him guilty of capital murder. On January 30, 1958, Albert Edward Matheson was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.