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Trainee footman Harold Winstanley gunned down four people in a deadly rampage through Knowsley Hall with a machinegunHarold Winstanley at Prescot Magistrates Court on 10th October 1952At the stately home of Knowsley Hall on the night of October 9 1952, Lady Isabel Milles-Lade, the Countess of Derby, was having dinner in front of the television when she was confronted by a gunman with “staring eyes”. What followed was a scene of carnage, leaving two men dead on the floor and the lady of the house feigning death with a bullet in the back of her neck.The shooter, Harold Winstanley, was a 19-year-old trainee footman employed at the Hall. One day before the deadly assault, he received a MP 40 sub-machine gun, commonly known as a Schmeisser, from a friend in exchange for £3 and a pair of trousers, and smuggled the firearm onto the estate.After test-firing the weapon, oiling and cleaning it, his rampage began. Lady Derby, 32, butler Walter Stallard, 40, under-butler Douglas Stuart, 29, and valet William Sullivan were gunned down one after another – with Stallard and Stuart dying of their wounds.As Winstanley stood trial for murder at Manchester Assizes in December 1952, the Liverpool ECHO covered the case in detail. Winstanley pleaded not guilty on grounds of insanity, while the Crown aimed to prove the footman was of sound mind at the time of the shooting.The jury was told Winstanley had been a trainee footman at Knowsley for some 10 months, and there was “no evidence to indicate that there was any ill feeling of any kind” within the mansion. In fact, Winstanley had a good reputation in the household, being described as “a very nice fellow” and “very charming and very kind in every way”.That all changed on October 9 1952, when Winstanley produced a gun to one of the housemaids and said he was going to sell it for double the price he had paid.Harold Winstanley at Prescot Magistrates Court on 10th October 1952At around 7pm that day, the staff were having supper in the steward’s room. Both victims, Walter Stallard and Douglas Stuart, were present, along with valet William Sullivan, Lady Derby’s personal maid Miss Doxford, head housemaid Miss Campbell, and maids Iris Cain and Anne Mitchell. Winstanley was also there.At around 8.15pm, Mr Sullivan and Ms Mitchell were at work in Lord Derby’s room when they heard bangs coming from the smoking room below, where Lady Derby was dining,Mr Sullivan went downstairs to the inner hall, while Ms Mitchell and Ms Cain looked over the bannisters to see Winstanley standing by the library door with a gun in his hand.Mr Sullivan asked him: “What are you doing with a gun?”Winstanley replied: “I’ll tell you when the girls come down.” Someone asked where Lady Derby was, and Winstanley nodded towards the smoking room and said: “In there.”Mr Sullivan began making his way to the basement with the aim of fetching the butler to deal with the situation, and Winstanley followed him down the stairs. Ms Mitchell and Ms Cain made their way towards the lift, and as they did they heard several more bangs.The women went with the head housemaid, Ms Campbell, to the basement, where they found bloodstains on the floor and Winstanley standing with the gun in his hand.The housekeeper Mrs Turley and Miss Doxford appeared, and Winstanley told them not to be frightened. He said: “I am not going to hurt you girls. There are three of them dead in the smoke room: Mr Douglas, Mr Stallard and Lady Derby.”Walter Stallard, a butler who was killed in a mass shooting at Knowsley Hall on October 9 1952(Image: Liverpool Echo)Giving evidence, Ms Campbell said she was watching TV with Mrs Turley in the housekeeper’s room at around 8.25pm when the smoking room buzzer sounded three times, indicating someone was wanted.She went out and saw Walter Stallard going along the passage, presumably to answer the buzzer. She went back inside, but about 10 minutes later she came out again and saw Winstanley chasing Mr Sullivan down the basement floor corridor.He fired the gun at Mr Sullivan several times, striking him twice in the hand and hip. Mr Sullivan was heard shouting “stop it Harry” before collapsing outside the lift door. Fortunately, he survived.Mrs Turley was praised for her courage as she rushed out to help Mr Sullivan, risking her own life as she placed herself between Winstanley and the injured man.Mrs Hilda Turley, housekeeper at Knowsley Hall, arrives at Manchester AssizesLater, Mr Sullivan said he saw Winstanley outside the library with the gun, and was on his way to find Walter Stallard when Winstanley fired on him.The prosecutor, Henry Ince Nelson QC, said: “The accused came and stood over him with the gun and Mrs Turley stood between them and attempted to pacify Winstanley.”Ms Campbell ran upstairs, and Winstanley briefly pursued her before giving up, giving Mr Sullivan the chance to escape and alert the night watchman.Returning to the basement floor with the maids, Winstanley confessed to Ms Doxford: “I have shot Lady Derby. I am sorry, Miss Doxford. I did not mean to hurt her.”Ms Doxford went to the smoking room, where she discovered the bodies of Walter Stallard and Douglas Stuart, and Isabel Derby, who was injured but still alive.During the trial, the countess recalled the terrifying moment she was confronted by Winstanley. Dressed in a light grey tweed suit and wearing a small red hat, she said she was dining alone in the smoking room, watching TV, when she heard the door click open.The Countess of Derby arrives at Manchester Assizes for the sentencing of Harold Winstanley
Picture taken 16th December 1952.She said: “When I did turn round I saw Winstanley. He had a cigarette in his mouth and that aroused my suspicions at once. I then saw that he was carrying some kind of gun.”He told me to get up. I stood up and he then told me to turn round. I turned round at once and then he shot me. I think I was turned roughly in the direction of the television set when that happened. The shot caused me to fall to the ground. I felt a lot of blood over my head. I remained perfectly still on the floor.”While I lay there perfectly still I could not say whether or not the accused was still in the room. I could not look up. I realised someone was still there. After an interval I heard the voice of Stallard I just heard him say one word: ‘Harold.’”Following that I heard a burst of fire and then I heard the fall apparently of a body.”Subsequently I heard further movement in the room. l am not quite sure whether I actually heard it or whether I just got the idea, but I was conscious that someone was apparently moving about.”I then heard Stuart’s voice. He said: ‘No, don’t.’ I heard further firing and I heard what appeared to be the fall of another body. The next thing I remember was being attended to by Miss Doxford.”Lady Derby denied ringing the buzzer for the butler, and it was the Crown’s case that Winstanley had rung the buzzer himself, after shooting Lady Derby, to summon others to the scene. When Stallard and Stuart arrived, they too were shot.Douglas Stuart, who was killed in a mass shooting at Knowsley Hall on October 9 1952. (Image: Liverpool Echo)After killing Walter Stallard and Douglas Stuart and injuring Lady Derby and Mr Sullivan, Winstanley reportedly went to his room to collect his coat. On his way, he encountered the chef, Monsieur Dupuy, who tried to reason with him and attempted to take his gun. Winstanley attacked him, hitting him with the weapon and causing it to fire into the wall.The shooting sparked a massive investigation, with 18 police cars racing to Knowsley Hall. Lady Derby was taken to Royal Liverpool Hospital as more than 200 Lancashire Police officers commenced a frantic search, aided by detectives from Liverpool City Police.Police investigating a double murder at Knowsley Hall in 1952Winstanley, meanwhile, was enjoying a pint of beer in the Copplehouse Pub in Fazakerley. He then caught a bus to Liverpool city centre, where he called 999 from a public telephone box on North John Street and turned himself in.Upon his arrest, he said: “I don’t know why I did it.” In an alleged statement given to police, he said: “When I first went in the room I meant to ask Lady Derby to help me get rid of the gun and when she looked at me I was frightened. I said to her, ‘turn round’ because I didn’t want to shoot her when she was looking at me.”As she turned half towards the television I pulled the trigger and the bullet must have hit her as she fell down and moaned something. She looked dead to me and I went out into the first library.”Then Mr Stallard came. I got scared and pulled the trigger and fired a burst at him. He flopped down and looked dead to me.”Then Douglas Stuart came. He said: ‘Harry, I’ll do anything for you and I’ll not tell anybody what I’ve seen.’ He crouched down behind the settee and I pulled the trigger. A few bullets came out. They didn’t hit him. He said ‘My wife. my wife.’ I said ‘l’ll look after your wife.’ I pulled the trigger again and gave him, I think, two short bursts. He fell down and stopped there against the door.”Winstanley was defended by barrister Rose Heilbron, one of the first women ever appointed King’s Counsel in England. She argued Winstanley was mentally confused due to “a rapidly advancing psychotic manifestation of the schizophrenic type”.She said: “This normally pleasant young man had become a man with staring eyes. He had become completely changed. The manner of the shooting indicates that this man went berserk with the gun.”You remember how he ran amok with the gun and you may think it is fantastic and inconceivable that any normal man could have behaved as he did that night. Then, after the shooting, he went to the police and gave himself up and poured out all the details, and… displayed no normal emotion.”The gun used by footman Harold Winstanley to shoot three people, including Lady Derby, at Knowsley Hall in 1952Doctors supported the opinion that Winstanley was suffering from an attack of schizophrenia at the time, and that he had experienced similar attacks on “four or five other occasions”.On December 16 1952, the ECHO reported the jury’s verdict: Winstanley was guilty of murder – but insane, and did not know what he was doing at the time. He was committed to Broadmoor high-security hospital.In another very Liverpudlian link, it was Rex Makin, Liverpool’s famous legal eagle, who represented Winstanley at Prescot Magistrates Court before his trial. Mr Makin was the family solicitor to former Beatles manager Brian Epstein, and has been credited with inventing the term “Beatlemania”.

People were spotted queuing in Queen Square in Liverpool city centre this morning13:12, 30 May 2026Updated 13:13, 30 May 2026Angelina Feetenby, 44, from Birkenhead had been queuing since 9.15am(Image: Liverpool ECHO)People were spotted queuing in Queen Square in Liverpool city centre this morning, Saturday, May 30. The queue was pictured at around 9am as customers waited to get their hands on a free jacket potato from SpudBros.SpudBros Express, located in Queens Square in Liverpool city centre, opened in September last year after the TikTok sensation, created by Preston-born brothers Jacob Nelson and Harvey Nelson, achieved international fame on social media from their mobile shop – affectionately known as their tram – where they whip up jacket potatoes.The store was giving away 100 free potatoes to celebrate International Day of the Potato.Angelina Feetenby, 44, from Birkenhead, took her son and his friends to secure a free spud and was one of the first in the queue.She told the ECHO she’d been queuing since 9.15am after hearing about the giveaway on social media and was hoping to get her hands on a tuna, cheese, coleslaw jacket potato with crispy onions, tram sauce, and garlic butter.She said: “We’ve had quite a few, probably about five or six times now. I just love jacket potatoes, and I think, with all the hype and stuff and following them, I really wanted to try them, and since I tried them, I just loved them.“I think what they’re doing is absolutely brilliant. Especially with half terms and the children being off. It’s really good.”The one-day giveaway also took place across London, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Wakefield and Barnstaple.Each location serves the brand’s cult-favourite menu items, from the Tram Classic loaded with garlic butter, the signature three-cheese mix, beans, crispy onions and world-famous tram sauce, to the Spudfather topped with chilli con carne, tuna coleslaw and bolognese, alongside the build-your-own option.Jacob Nelson, co-founder of SpudBros, said: “It’s crazy to think something as simple as a jacket potato has built this kind of community.“International Day of the Potato felt like the perfect excuse to give something back to the people who queue up, support us online and have helped turn SpudBros into what it is today.“We can’t wait to see everyone in store and celebrate properly with free spuds across the country.”