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)
Potter stated that he had been in the College Arms with Joseph Stanley, a farmer of White Cross Farm, until noon that day. He had gone straight across to a small field adjoining Hillground and saw Walton working about 500–600 yards away. He said he noticed that Walton had about 6–10 yards of hedge left to cut and that, when he found his body later that day, about four additional yards of hedge had been cut, which would be about half-an-hour's work.