THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — the Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and contain great stories from her home village of FINDON, West Sussex, U.K.    Everyday tales about real people...... in fact, a potted history of the village.

    THE MURDER OF THE FINDON DUCHESS

Copyright Valerie Martin

Click to enlarge all of the photographs

Here are the facts I have discovered about the tragic killing of Sheila Atkins Gregg.  

Not much is known about her early life in Eire except that she was the youngest daughter of Richard Gregg and his wife Violet....

She had an older brother and sister, May and Tony....

On Tuesday 2nd November 1954, Sheila gave birth to a son and he was named Timothy Stephen.   He was given up for adoption that year and mother and child lost contact.  

Timothy Stephen Gregg grew up with his new name of David Mathias.  

         
Homewood in Findon

At the age of 66, Sheila Atkins Gregg rented a cottage named "Evol" in Homewood in Findon and perhaps because of her demeanour was nicknamed The Duchess by the local villagers.   She is described as having worn fine jewellery of "real gold chains".   The more sceptical villagers describe them as only imitation gold.  

Anecdotes are scant and I am unable add much to my narrative to but she did own a bicycle and this she used for trips to collect firewood..... and also visits to the pub (presumably The Village House?) for half a Guinness.  

Her closest friends in the village at this time were George Collins and a neighbour, Sarah Langridge.   Otherwise she was described as rather eccentric and not much was known about her and I have had difficulty in ferreting out stories of her tenure in the village.   Unfortunately she was trusting to the point of leaving her front door wide open and this was to lead to her eventual undoing.  

X marks the spot of The Village House pub in The Square in Findon Village and the close proximity of Homewood.  

David Edwards has been described to me as a ne'er-do-well — a known drifter or rolling stone and destined for infamy and, unfortunately, he was in Findon.   He was taken on as a transient unskilled odd-job man at the Village House public house in The Square but was sacked from this position by the barman, Bill Thompson, for stealing the whisky.   To fill in his time, Edwards also did a few gardening jobs "here and there" in the village.

Five years before I moved to live in Findon, the Duchess was brutally killed in her home.   The date was Tuesday, 10th May 1988.  I am told that the villagers were shocked by the news.  After her body was discovered, the police arrested Edwards for the crime.   It was said at the time that he had the mistaken idea that she was well to do...... perhaps something to do with the thought of the gold chains.    He was eventually tried and convicted for her murder and received a life sentence.   It is said that he committed suicide in prison.

It was not until the spring of 2011, after 36 years of residing in the Canadian City of Red Deer in Alberta, that David Mathias (nee Timothy Stephen Gregg) discovered too late any details of his real mother.   He was horrified to learn of her untimely demise in Findon Village in West Sussex.... and it was then that I heard from him and pieced together the story of the murder of the Findon Duchess.

Continue if you would like to read about Fugitives Find Findon Hideaway.