In the first of a two part series, we take a look back on the life and crimes of Archibald Thompson Hall, aka Roy Hall, aka Roy Fontaine, the monster butler. Roy was born to a working class family in Glasgow, and from an early age wanted to live an extravagant lifestyle. One that he could not (or would not) achieve through hard work and graft. Roy preferred to take what he could. He became a thief and spent many years in and out of prison. In between these stints, he worked as a butler, to be close to the status he desired, and the belongs that went this, that he could steal. How did this supposed high flying and often hapless thief turn murderer?
Our podcast Promo this week is from our friends over at The Unseen Podcast! This is a wonderful UK podcast has covered some very interesting crimes and mysteries. Go check it out today!
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Theme Music:
Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Sources:
Roy Archibald Hall, The Wicked Mr Hall: The memoirs of the butler who loved to kill (London: John Blake Press, 2011) Purchase Here
James Copeland, The Butler (London: Granada Publishing, 1981)
Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 “New Rules on Reporting Restrictions” from Scottish Civil Justice Council http://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/new-rules/2015/03/17/new-rules-on-reporting-restrictions (17 March 2015)
“Contempt and reporting restrictions” from BBC Academy https://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/en/articles/art20130702112133630 (19 September 2017)
PA Media Lawyer, “Scottish Daily Record fined £80,000 for contempt over two stories including one showing 'dramatic' arrest pic with 'GOT HIM' caption” in Press Gazette https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/scottish-daily-record-fined-for-contempt-over-two-stories-including-one-showing-dramatic-arrest-pic-with-got-him-caption/ (6 June 2018)
Stirling v Associated Newspapers 1990 JC 5 HM
Advocate v Caledonian Newspapers Ltd ([1995] SLT 926)
Douglass Waddell, “Hold the presses: contempt of court” from brodies.com https://brodies.com/blog/public-law/hold-the-presses-contempt-of-court/ (18 June 2018)
“Archibald Hall & Michael Kitto” from murderuk.com http://www.murderuk.com/serial_archibald_hall.html (undated)
“The Murderous Butler” in The Watford Observer https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/nostalgia/crimelibrary/archibaldthomsonhall/themurderousbutler/ (undated)
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