ODD MAN OUT - A Motiveless Murder? by Denise Beddows
In 1948 the Lancashire mill town of Rawtenstall was rocked by its first ever murder. An elderly woman, described by her own family as 'abnormal', was found brutally beaten to death. Just three days later, a suspect - also deemed 'abnormal' - was arrested. This is the true and tragic story of transgendered bus conductress Margaret 'Bill' Allen, who barely knew the victim, and who, despite desperate campaigning by her loving friend Annie, was hanged for an apparently motiveless murder. Did she do it? If so, why did she do it? If not, then who did it? Seventy years on, the author uncovers evidence which was suppressed at the time and asks whether society's treatment of 'Bill' would be very much different today.