The Pottery Cottage murders were a series of murders committed in Eastmoor, Chesterfield, between 12 and 14 January 1977. The murders occurred after William Thomas Hughes escaped from custody whilst being transferred from prison to court to face charges of rape and grievous bodily harm. Hughes stabbed two prison officers during his escape before holding a family of five hostage at Pottery Cottage for over two days, ultimately murdering four members of the family.
Hughes was shot dead by police marksmen after a high-speed, multiple-vehicle pursuit on 14 January. He was the first person to be shot dead by Derbyshire Constabulary and the first prison escapee to be shot dead in the United Kingdom in modern times. Chief Inspector Peter Howse was later awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct for his role in apprehending Hughes and saving the life of the sole survivor.
Background
William Hughes
William Thomas Hughes was born on 8 August 1946 in Preston, Lancashire. He was the first of six children born to Thomas Hughes and his wife Mary. Hughes had little interest in his education; his academic performance was poor and he was prone to antisocial behaviour and petty criminality from a young age, being first arrested upon a charge of theft at the age of fourteen. He failed to hold down a job for any lasting duration after leaving school at age 15. Hughes' escalating criminal behaviour resulted in spells in approved school and, later, borstal. He received the first of multiple prison sentences in 1966. As the majority of his criminal offences involved violence, he gradually earned the nickname "Mad Billy".
In 1972, Hughes married his fiancée, Jean Nadin; a Blackpool native and mother-of-one whom he initially proposed to while incarcerated at HMP Walton. The couple initially resided close to Blackpool's Golden Mile and had one daughter, Nichola (b. 6 August 1972), although they frequently changed addresses, in part due to Hughes' reluctance to pay landlords' rent charges. Initially, the couple's relationship was harmonious, although their relationship gradually became beset with neglect, abuse, violence and infidelity, and his wife saw little of him. The following year, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment, having been convicted of four counts assault causing actual bodily harm for violently assaulting two police officers who had stopped his car and discovered a cache of drugs in the vehicle's boot, and assaulting two other officers as he violently resisted arrest following a brief chase. He was released from custody in early 1976.
Hughes abandoned his wife and child in March 1976; he later moved to Chesterfield with his girlfriend, Teresa O'Doherty. Five months later, on the night of 21 August, he followed a young couple whom he had met in a nightclub to a local park where he beat the man about the head with a brick, rendering him unconscious, before proceeding to drag his partner to a nearby riverbank where he raped her at knifepoint.
Following a public appeal, police received an anonymous tip-off and Hughes was duly arrested, charged and remanded to HMP Leicester on 27 August. He initially corresponded with O'Doherty on a frequent basis from this prison, although shortly after his incarceration, O'Doherty terminated their relationship and relocated to a separate address in Chesterfield. As such, subsequent letters penned by Hughes to O'Doherty were unanswered.
Despite his extensive history of violent behaviour, Hughes was categorized as a Category B inmate and allocated work in the prison kitchen from where, on 3 December 1976, he stole a seven-and-a-half-inch boning knife which he managed to keep concealed inside a small, fine tear he had carved in the base of his mattress despite subsequent searches for the utensil.
During his imprisonment at HMP Leicester, Hughes did not display any unusual behaviour or give any cause for concern. Although a report on Hughes was published which stated he was "of a violent nature" and may attempt to escape, this, along with the full record of Hughes' previous convictions, did not arrive at HMP Leicester until after his escape and the subsequent events to unfold.
Pottery Cottage family
Arthur Minton (b. 2 March 1904, Solihull) and his wife Doris Amy (née Aubrey; b. 28 July 1909, Chesterfield) had married in June 1931. The couple had two daughters, Barbara (b. 1936) and Gillian Ann. The Mintons ran a grocery shop in School Lane, Acocks Green until Arthur's retirement. Shortly after selling their business, the couple relocated from the West Midlands to Derbyshire, sharing a home with their younger daughter Gillian and her husband, Richard Moran. The two families lived in separate sections of the household separated by a sliding door.
Richard Moran (b. 19 May 1935, Kilmoganny, Ireland) was born to a single mother. As a baby, he was fostered by a local Catholic family, whom he remained close to for his entire life. Moran left school at the age of 14 and started his working life as a labourer. He later served in the Irish Army via voluntary National Service. Shortly thereafter, Moran followed his foster sister, Margaret Hawe, to Birmingham, where he initially worked in a factory whilst studying in the evenings, later securing a role as a sales clerk with a local building company.
Gillian Moran (née Minton, b. 24 March 1938, Birmingham) was raised in Acocks Green. Upon leaving school, she enrolled in a secretarial college before working as a typist and delivery driver. Via this role, she first encountered Richard Moran in June 1958; the two were engaged by the following autumn, and married on 21 September 1959. Upon discovering they were unable to conceive, the couple chose to adopt a baby girl in 1966; the adoption was completed on 14 April 1967. Richard and Gillian named their daughter (b. 20 September 1966) Sarah Bridget. The child was raised in a loving and considerate household.
At the time their paths crossed with William Hughes, Richard worked as a sales director for a Chesterfield-based plastics manufacturing firm named Brett Plastics; Gillian worked as a secretary for a firm of accountants (also in Chesterfield); and Sarah was a content child and excellent student at her local primary school. The Mintons were both retired, although Amy did perform cleaning work at a neighbouring home twice weekly to supplement the family income.
12 January 1977 Spouse threats Shortly after 7 a.m. on 12 January 1977, Hughes made a phone call to O'Doherty from the landing of HMP Leicester. In this phone call, he taunted his former lover by whispering "No-one with you, I hope" before alluding to her efforts to evade him by changing her address—sarcastically revealing he had duped a "directory enquiries lady" into providing him with her new address.
Despite this revelation, O'Doherty sternly informed Hughes their relationship was over. Although Hughes rebuffed her subsequent insistence he serve his potentially-imposed sentence and return to his wife and child, when O'Doherty refused to appear as a character witness to "put a word in" on his behalf at a scheduled court appearance later that day, he briefly pleaded with her, claiming she was "all [he had] in the world" before becoming enraged as she terminated the phone call, stating: "You fucking bitch! You'd better lock your fucking doors!" He then calmly entered the prison kitchen to perform his assigned work duty of washing cutlery.
Escape Later that morning, Hughes was driven from the prison to appear at Chesterfield Magistrates Court for a scheduled remand hearing. Hughes was transported to Chesterfield via taxi, accompanied by prison officers Donald Sprintall and Kenneth Simmonds; he was frisked, handcuffed to Simmonds and placed in the back seat of the taxicab, with Sprintall sitting in the front passenger seat. The method of handcuffing Hughes meant that, although he was handcuffed to another officer, he had one hand free.
General weather conditions were poor on this date: heavy snow had recently fallen and general traffic flow along the 55-mile route was hindered by the elements. Initially, Hughes engaged in small talk with the officers, although at a location between Junctions 25 and 26 of the M1 motorway, Hughes insisted that he needed to use the bathroom. The prison officers allowed the vehicle to pull into a service station, where Hughes used the opportunity to discreetly retrieve the stolen boning knife he had hidden on his person before allowing himself to again be handcuffed to Simmonds.
Shortly after the journey restarted, Hughes attacked both prison officers inside the vehicle. He first attacked Sprintall, stabbing him in the back of the neck and narrowly missing his spine, before turning his attention to Simmonds, whom he slashed across the jaw and hand. After incapacitating the prison officers and forcing Sprintall to provide the handcuffs as he held a knife to his throat, Hughes forced the taxi driver, David Reynolds, to continue driving at knifepoint along the A617 for a short distance before dumping him and the badly injured officers at the roadside and commandeering the vehicle.
Hughes proceeded to drive for only a short distance before crashing the car into a wall along the B5057 and fleeing on foot onto Beeley Moor. The vehicle was discovered abandoned close to Chatsworth House approximately one hour later.
Initial police search Police were notified of Hughes' escape at approximately 10 a.m.; the crashed taxi Hughes had been travelling in was located within the hour. The immediate search was led by Chief Inspector Peter Howse. At the scene, the police dogs were unable to pick up a scent, the heavy snowfall had already concealed any footprints and there were no witnesses to the crash itself as the roads were largely deserted due to the harsh climate. A search radius was immediately established to encompass isolated local properties, farms and outbuildings. Initial available resources were insufficient to thoroughly search every property in the area; as such, police focused on the most vulnerable, 256 of which were checked in the first few hours, to no avail.
Investigators believed the most likely scenario pertaining to Hughes' movements to be that he would continue towards Beeley, ultimately desiring to reach the A6, and unlikely that he would have headed onto the vast, open moors in such treacherous conditions. However, Hughes had done exactly that, making his way over four miles of exposed moorland amidst a fierce blizzard, heading north across frozen fells until—approximately two hours later—he reached Baslow Road, Eastmoor, close to the A619 road. One of the first residences he will have undoubtedly seen would have been Pottery Cottage.
Pottery Cottage Northend Farm was a converted 18th century pottery barn on the edge of the Peak District National Park in Eastmoor. The property had been converted into three homes, with the Moran and Minton families having moved into one end of the property in October 1969 from a more modern residence in the village of Old Tupton. The family converted the property into three living units and renamed the premises "Pottery Cottage". The other end of the property was occupied by two schoolteachers named Leonard and Joyce Newman. The central section was unoccupied.
The Mintons were at home at Pottery Cottage when Hughes walked in through the back door of the property, armed with two axes he had retrieved from their shed. He informed the retired couple that he was on the run from the police, having stabbed "two prison officers" and that he needed to lie low until nightfall. Hughes initially assured the Mintons that, if they cooperated, he would not harm them.