James William Essex (Jail)

James Essex was convicted of two seperate manslaughters.

On 18 May 1942 he was convicted for the manslaughter of James Bolitho Harvey 17 who he killed during a robbery and sentenced for 3 years

On 15 March 1945 he was convicted for the manslaughter of William Wilson Lawson 24 who he stabbed in the abdomen with a butchers knife in Leeds Prison.

In 1942 he and John Dobbs and Charles Ransford had followed James Harvey from a coffee stall into a deserted street in the blackout and attempted to rob him. There was a struggle and James Harvey was hit in the face and fell and hit his head on the pavement causing a skull fracture from which he later died.

James Harvey and his brother had been travelling between Oxford Street and Brixton and had stopped at the Elephant and Castle at 10.45pm and went to a coffee stall for refreshment.

After he was resealed from prison on licence on 16 June 1944 he joined the army but in October 1944 he was convicted of housebreaking and sentenced to 12 months hard labour and his licence was forfeited. Whilst serving that sentence he killed William Lawson.

On the afternoon of 28 November 1944 James Essex, William Lawson and several other men after having returned from dinner were in the workshop in the prison. They were in what was known as Instructor Adams' top shop where mail bags were made and boot repair took place. They were working on a table cutting canvas for mail bags. Another man was the cutter and had a knife similar to a butchers knife with a 6.5 inch blade and 4 inch handle. There was a slot at the end of the table over which the canvas was placed and held in position by James Essex and William Lawson. There were several other people nearby including some men cutting leather, others whipping rope ends and a Discipline Officer who was 25 paces away.

About 2.50pm the prisoner with the knife complained that they were not holding the canvas properly and it was causing the canvas to be cut unevenly. James Essex complained that it was William Lawson's fault saying that he was holding the canvas on the top line when it should have been held on the bottom line. That annoyed William Lawson who pushed the canvas to the side in a temper and pulled off his jacket which he threw on the floor and using foul langauge offered to fight James Essex.

At that point several other people turned to watch what was happening and the other prisoner who had been doing the cutting put the knife on the table, took off his jacket and started to move towards James Essex. Then James Essex moved round and took the knife and was seen to stab William Lawson in the abdomen.

When the Discipline Officer came over and asked who had done it James Essex said 'It was me'.

William Lawson was taken to the Prison Hospital and then to the Leeds General Infirmary where he was operated on but he died the next day.