Albert Milsom and Henry Fowler murdered Henry Smith, a 79-year-old wealthy retired engineer, on Valentine's Day, 1896, at his house in Muswell Hill, London.

Smith had been bound with shreds of blankets and had sustained several head wounds. Two pocket knives and a toy lantern were found next to the body. Smith's safe had been cracked. The day before the murder Milsom and Fowler had been seen near the house. Milsom's brother-in-law, Henry Miller, identified the lantern as his own.

Both men were eventually arrested in Bath. Fowler denied knowing anything about the murder, but Milsom soon cracked under the strain and confessed to robbing the old man, but said his partner had done the killing. Their trial was held in the Old Bailey. While there, Fowler tried to strangle Milsom. They were hanged at Newgate Prison on July 6th, 1896.

References

• J.H.H. Gaute and Robin Odell , The New Murderer's Who's Who, 1996, Harrap Books, London
• Old Days at Old Bailey
• George Dilnot , Celebrated Crimes, 1925, London
• Triumphs of Detection, 1929, London
• Seymour Hicks , Not Guilty, M'Lord, 1939, London
• Arthur Lambton , Echoes of Causes Célèbres, London
• W.H. Speer, The Secret History of Crimes, 1929, London
• H.W. Twyman, The Best Laid Schemes..., 1931, London