Bio

Harold Loughans was born in 1895. By the 1940s, Loughans was known as a habitual criminal. He had a long criminal history and had spent many years in prison. He was also physically distinctive because his right hand was deformed, with only two complete fingers and several stumps.

In late 1943, Loughans came to police attention in London after officers stopped him while he was trying to sell a new pair of shoes in a café. During questioning, he confessed to several burglaries. He then surprised officers by also admitting that he had killed a woman at a public house in Hampshire.

The murder confession led police back to the unsolved killing of Rose Ada Robinson in Portsmouth. Loughans gave details that appeared to match the crime scene. However, by the time his case reached trial, he withdrew the confession and claimed that the police had put words into his mouth.

Murder Story

The murder happened on the night of November 28, 1943, at the John Barleycorn public house in Portsmouth, England. The pub was run by Rose Ada Robinson, a 63-year-old widow. That night, she emptied the cash registers as usual, the barman left, and she locked the premises for the night.

The next morning, Robinson was found dead in her bedroom. She had been strangled. The pub had been ransacked, and the previous night’s takings were missing. Investigators found that a rear window had been forced open. Near the building, police found a small black button.

About a month later, police in London stopped Harold Loughans in Waterloo Road. He was poorly dressed and trying to sell a new pair of shoes in a café. When questioned, he admitted several burglaries and then confessed to the Robinson murder. He told police he had entered the rooms above the John Barleycorn pub during a robbery and strangled Robinson after she screamed.

Police examined the coat Loughans said he had worn on the night of the murder. The buttons had been removed. Loughans said he pulled them off after realizing one button was missing after the killing. Fibres from the coat were also said to support his presence at the scene.

Loughans was charged with murder, but he later withdrew his confession. At his first trial at Winchester in March 1944, his defense produced witnesses who said they had seen him in London on the night of the murder. The jury could not agree on a verdict.

A retrial was held at the Old Bailey. The defense called Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the famous pathologist. Spilsbury argued that Loughans’s deformed right hand would not have had enough strength or reach to strangle Robinson. The jury accepted the defense argument, and Loughans was found not guilty of murder.

His acquittal did not keep him out of prison. He was arrested again on another charge, reported as attempted murder, and later spent more time in custody.

In 1960, The People newspaper published memoirs by prosecutor J. D. Casswell, who had worked on the murder case. Loughans sued the newspaper for libel, claiming it had called him a murderer despite his acquittal. In 1963, the libel trial became a second public review of the Robinson murder. The jury found for the newspaper, meaning it accepted the defense that the article was substantially true.

Because Loughans had already been acquitted, he could not be tried again for the same murder. After the libel case, he reportedly went to The People and confessed to killing Rose Robinson. He was already dying of cancer at the time. Harold Loughans died in 1965, aged about 69.