Did Margaret Livesey Murder Her Son?

Or was her case a terrible miscarriage of justice?

Did Margaret Livesey kill her 14-year-old son Alan in 1979? A jury thought she did, and she served a life sentence, being released on parole in 1989. She always protested her innocence, although she had not received a pardon before she died from cancer in 2001.

It was alleged that Margaret Livesey arrived home from the local pub on Thursday, 22 February 1979, between approximately 10.55 and 11:10 pm. She then became embroiled in a fierce argument with her son, grabbed a knife and stabbed him 10 times, six times the great force and four as minor pinpricks.

She placed two socks over the neck wounds, bound his body and wrists with an elaborate series of knots, washed the knife with exceptional thoroughness, then walked the long way round the housing estate to give the appearance of not having being home at all, arriving at the house of a neighbor, Mrs. Matthews, in a perfectly composed state.

Margaret Livesey lived at 41 The Crescent, Bamber Bridge, Lancashire. The Crescent is in the shape of a square, with terraced and semi-detached houses on both the outside and the inside. Number 41 is at one corner of the square, on the outside.

According to the prosecution, Margaret was given a lift to the entrance to The Crescent by her friend Frank Bamber, having spent some time at the Queens Hotel. On arriving home she found that Alan was dressed in his cadet uniform, which he had not been wearing earlier in the evening and it was not a cadet night.

Relations between mother and son had been strained for some time, and following an earlier disagreement that evening she had forbidden him from going out. It was clear to her that he had disobeyed him. She lost her temper and there was a violent row. She grabbed a knife — which she had used earlier to peel potatoes, stabbed him as he lay on the floor watching television, and then again after he stood up to try to protect himself.

After he was dead, she tied him up to make it look as though he had been attacked by an intruder. She then washed the knife, put it back in the kitchen drawer, and left the house. She then walked the long way round The Crescent until she got to number 63. Outside the…

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