R v Wallace

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R v Wallace
Wallace received a telephone message at his chess club requesting he attend a meeting on the night of his wife's murder
Court	Court of Appeal (England and Wales)
Decided	1931
Citation	23 Cr App R 32
Case history
Prior action	Conviction in the Crown Court (Circuit Assizes) at Liverpool
Keywords
murder mere suspicion verdict unreasonable or verdict cannot be supported regard to the evidence

R v Wallace (1931) 23 Cr App R 32 is a leading English criminal case, the first time a conviction for murder was overturned on the ground that the verdict "cannot be supported, having regard to the evidence", as provided for by Section 4(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1907. The headnote states: "The Court will quash a conviction founded on mere suspicion".

William Herbert Wallace, a 52-year-old insurance agent, had been convicted at the Liverpool Assizes in 1931 of the brutal murder of his wife, Julia Wallace, and sentenced to death.