Help with deciphering crime please

[Treetotal]

Oh nice one Veeblevort...there you go Caz....I have just read an interesting book called "The Rise and Fall of The Victorian Servant" and many very young servants concealed the birth and often death of their babies for fear of losing their position and ending up in the Workhouse...in many cases the Master of the house or another staff member were responsible for the girl's predicament.
One girl anonymously posted her dead infant to her Sister's house in a case.
Carol

[cazza59]

That's interesting VV, as I said earlier, there are two Betsey Christophers both born about the same time.   If you look at the journal entry avm228 so kindly posted for me, it says that "a verdict of wilful murder was declared against her", (which I take to mean a guilty verdict) so is it possible that the second Betsey was also charged with a similar crime but was acquitted? 

Can I ask where you obtained the details of the acquittal?

I cannot believe these poor girls were actually sent to prison....

[cazza59]

Carol the injustice of it makes my blood boil.   If you try and picture the circumstances of these poor servant girls, first being taken advantage of and not being able to do a thing about it for fear of losing their jobs, and then finding themselves pregnant and having to resort to all manner of horrors for the same reason i.e. fear of losing their employment.  Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. 

[Treetotal]

Me too...The youngest scullery maid in the book was found to be age 7 years  Bless.
Carol

[veeblevort]

....a verdict of wilful murder was declared against her....
....Can I ask where you obtained the details of the acquittal....

Ah no! The wilful murder verdict against Betsey was the verdict
of the Coroner's Inquest, whose sole function was to determine
the cause of death. The criminal trial did not take place until
March 15 1845. See the following amongst others:

Morning Chronicle 18 03 45
Reading Mercury 22 03 45
Salisbury and Winchester Journal 22 03 45

I viewed them via FindMyPast - no cost if you have a full subscription.
Note when searching, her name is spelled as 'Betsy'.

Coverage of the trial is almost non-existent except to say
Betsey was not defended. The circumstances of the case had
previously already been reported in the newspapers as a result
of the inquest. They are horrific.

According to the newspapers, This Betsey was one of a family of
twelve children if that helps to separate them.

vv.

[cazza59]

Thank you so much vv.  I've bought some credits and have downloaded a couple of the articles. 

Not sure I want to discover if Betsy is connected to me or not after reading them, as you say, horrific.  You can only guess at her mental state at the time.  I felt quite sick actually. 

I wish the identity of the father was known or discussed. 

Thank you to everyone that has helped out on this, it's amazing where a simply enquiry can take you.  Very much appreciated!

Caroline