Charles Walton (murder victim)
Charles Walton (1870–1945) was found murdered on the evening of 14 February 1945, (St Valentine’s Day), at The Firs farm on the slopes of Meon Hill, Lower Quinton in Warwickshire, England. The case is notable as the foremost police detective of the era, Chief Inspector Robert Fabian, led the investigation into Walton's death. The chief suspect for the murder was the manager of The Firs, Alfred John Potter, for whom Walton was working on the day he died. However, there was insufficient evidence to convict Potter and the case is currently the oldest unsolved murder in the Warwickshire Constabulary records. The case has earned some notoriety in popular culture due to its supposed connection with the local belief in witchcraft.
Charles Walton (murder victim)
Alfred Potter was forty years old at the time of the murder and managed The Firs for L. L. Potter & Co. which was a company owned by his father. Robert Fabian concluded that Alfred Potter was the likely killer of Charles Walton.The key for the police was establishing Potter's movements between 12 noon, when he parted company from Joseph Stanley at the College Arms, and 12.40 pm when Charles Batchelor said he saw him at The Firs. Despite Potter changing his story in various ways, Fabian concluded that there was "no real evidence to connect him with the murder itself, and no reasonable motive can be found for his committing it". Fabian found that there was no evidence that Potter was violent or that he and Walton had ever quarrelled. He described Potter as morose and sullen at his interviews although, even when "closely interrogated", he "never lost his temper" and was civil. He wrote that Potter was "unkempt" and "on the surface dull witted" although "I am convinced he is far from that". Indeed, Fabian believed Potter to be a "man of considerable strength" and an "extremely cunning individual".