96 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

A look back at how The Sunday Post reported the world through the years. This week: October 4, 1925. Skeleton find causes mystery and scandal; aircraft crash during secret run and top boxer heads for home

Mystery of the unidentified skeleton in old Mr Colbourne’s back garden

With a headline like “New Revelations In Skeleton Mystery” and “Weird Midnight Scenes”, this Post story promises much.

It continued: “The skeleton found buried in a Swindon garden is deepened in the most sinister manner by revelations of extraordinary midnight happenings in this particular garden some years ago. The body is believed to be that of a handsome, unknown woman who was in the habit of coming from London to visit an old Swindon resident, Mr Colbourne, who died two years ago. A neighbour describes strange scenes in Mr Colbourne’s garden when the majority of people were asleep.

“‘I remember coming home one night at midnight and found Mr Colbourne in his garden carrying a candle. I said to Mr Colbourne, ‘It is rather late for you to be out, isn’t it?’ He replied: ‘Yes. I am looking for cats’.”

The story continued: “Four problems remain – first, the woman’s identity; second, the mode of her death; third, how the body came to be buried in the garden in view of the road.”

Revelations came out that Mr Colbourne was living a double life and had kept a mistress in a hut in his garden. However, no identity was found and a coroner’s jury recorded an open verdict.