Episode 129: The Unsolved Murder of Julia Wallace

On a foggy January evening in 1931, the city of Liverpool became the stage for one of Britain’s most perplexing murder mysteries — the killing of Julia Wallace. A quiet, unassuming insurance agent named William Herbert Wallace returned home to a scene straight out of a nightmare: his wife brutally bludgeoned to death inside their locked home. The crime was shocking not only for its violence but for the baffling puzzle it left behind — a locked door, no clear motive, and a husband with an alibi so strange it seemed almost impossible.

William Herbert Wallace was not the kind of man you’d expect to be at the center of such a grim case. Born in 1878, Wallace lived a quiet, diligent life. He had traveled extensively early on, working in Calcutta and Shanghai before returning to England due to health problems. Settling in Liverpool, he worked as a collections agent and enjoyed a variety of hobbies including chess and music. His marriage to Julia Dennis was, by many accounts, a strained and loveless one, marked by distance and quiet mistrust.

The evening of the murder began with a mysterious phone call at the Liverpool Central Chess Club. A man with a gruff voice asked for Wallace and left a message for him to meet a “Mr. Qualtrough” at a fictitious address the next evening. Wallace’s puzzling journey to find this non-existent location was his alibi, one that would become central to the case. After failing to find Menlove Gardens East, Wallace returned home to discover the horrific crime.

What followed was a complex and highly publicized investigation. Police quickly focused on Wallace, convinced that the bizarre circumstances of the call and the locked-room nature of the murder pointed to him. The prosecution painted a picture of a man who had meticulously planned the murder and crafted an elaborate alibi. Yet the evidence was circumstantial, and many aspects of the timeline and physical evidence simply didn’t add up. No blood was found on Wallace’s clothes, and witness accounts placed Julia alive later than the prosecution claimed.

Wallace’s trial was swift, and despite his calm denials and the lack of direct evidence, the jury found him guilty. He was sentenced to death. But in a remarkable turn of events, less than a month later, his conviction was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal — the first time in British history a death sentence was overturned on the grounds that the evidence did not support the verdict.

The murder of Julia Wallace remains officially unsolved. Over the years, alternative suspects and theories have emerged. Crime writer Jonathan Goodman’s investigations in the 1960s brought attention to a junior Prudential employee, Richard Gordon Parry, who had a murky past involving theft and a suspicious presence on the night of the murder. Journalist Roger Wilkes uncovered evidence suggesting Parry had blood on his clothes and a motive tied to robbery or revenge. Others have speculated that Wallace may have hired someone to commit the murder, adding layers to the mystery.

Even decades later, the case continues to fascinate true crime enthusiasts, historians, and legal scholars. It is a story of quiet lives upended by violence, a legal system tested by complexity, and a mystery that defies easy answers. The murder of Julia Wallace is not just a tale of a locked room and a chilling crime — it is a mirror reflecting the limits of truth and justice in a case where every answer seems to raise more questions.

If you’re drawn to puzzles that linger in the shadows and stories that challenge what we think we know about justice, this episode will take you deep into one of history’s most confounding mysteries. Join us as we unravel the story of Herbert and Julia Wallace — a murder that still refuses to be solved.