When refurbishing his London home, Sir David Attenborough’s builders made a chilling discovery: a human skull buried in the backyard. The find, made in October 2010 shortly after Attenborough bought the property in 2009, unexpectedly solved a Victorian-era murder mystery.
Police investigations confirmed the skull belonged to Julia Martha Thomas, a woman murdered in 1879 by her housemaid, Kate Webster, in what became known as the “Barnes mystery.” The coroner ruled the death as unlawful killing, caused by asphyxiation and head trauma.
Thomas had employed Webster, an Irish immigrant with a record of minor thefts, as a domestic servant. Within weeks, tensions arose. On March 2, 1879, after being challenged for her poor work, Webster strangled Thomas and disposed of her body. While some reports suggested she turned parts of the body into lard, she admitted to dismembering, boiling, and incinerating the remains.
The skull, long thought lost to the River Thames, was instead buried in the garden of Attenborough’s Richmond home. Its discovery more than 130 years later brought closure to one of London’s most notorious historical crimes.
