Wednesday 4th June 2025

South Lawn Hotel. Milford Road, Milford on Sea, SO41 0RF

Monthly Meeting

Paul Stickler is a retired detective who has indulged his passion for history and his interest in murder investigations to explore the detail behind some of the most fascinating cases in criminal history.  Paul is a graduate of the FBI Academy, Quantico Virginia and has degrees in history, social sciences and criminology.  He also holds a PhD in Law and history from the University of Essex.  His thesis examined the legal basis of murder investigations in the inter-war years, 1919 - 1939.

The case Paul is presenting today is the case of Elizabeth Ridgeley who on the morning of 27January 1919 was found together with her dog by the police. Both had been battered about the head and the shop in her converted front room was ransacked and heavily blood-stained. However within the next 24 hours the local superintendant of police concluded Mrs Ridgely had died as the result of a tragic accident.  Paul will give us the facts and ask us for our conclusions.