August Sangret

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August Sangret a French-Canadian soldier of Indian birth, who murdered Joan Wolfe in Surrey, England. This murder case is also known as The Wigwam Murder.

On October 7, 1942, two British soldiers saw a human arm sticking out of a pile of earth near Hankley Common, Surrey. When the woman's body was excavated, it had almost completely decomposed. The pathologist concluded the girl had been stabbed before receiving several blows to the head with a blunt object. The victim was identified as Joan Wolfe, a girl who had run away from home and lived in the woods near the army base. The area was scrutinized and a letter was found, written by Joan to a certain August Sangret. The letter informed Sangret that Wolfe was pregnant. On Sangret's clothes were found bloodstains, and his army knife was found soon after in a drainpipe. Sangret's trial began in February 1943. He was convicted for murder and hanged on April 29, 1943 in Wandsworth prison.

The Sangret case was dramatized on the BBC radio series The Black Museum in 1952 under the title of "The Sheath Knife".


[edit] References

  • J.H.H. Gaute and Robin Odell, The New Murderer's Who's Who, 1996, Harrap Books, London
  • Notable British Trials
  • Guy Bailey, The Fatal Chance, 1969, London
  • Edward Greeno, War on the Underworld, 1960, London

[edit] External links