A Frenzied Attack at Oakhanger Common / Mary & Benjamin Mitchell
They Walk Among Us - UK True Crime
They Walk Among Us
4.5 • 6.8K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
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Summary
A labourer in his mid-forties contacts the police to report that he has killed someone with a hatchet. He refuses legal representation, insisting he is responsible. So why does a jury hesitate to convict him of murder, and how can a judge describe the defendant's actions as understandable?...
*** LISTENER CAUTION IS ADVISED ***
This episode was researched and written by Rosanna and Benjamin Fitton.
Edited by Joel Porter at Dot Dot Dot Productions.
Illustrations and production direction also by Rosanna Fitton
Narration, additional audio editing and mixing, and script editing by Benjamin Fitton.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode contains distressing themes and descriptions of violence. |
| 0:11.2 | This podcast is intended for a mature audience. |
| 0:15.8 | Listener caution is advised. |
| 0:21.8 | A labourer in his mid-forties contacts the police to report that he has killed someone with a hatchet. |
| 0:29.2 | He refuses legal representation insisting he is responsible. |
| 0:34.5 | So why does a jury hesitate to convict him of murder? |
| 0:38.4 | And how can a judge describe the defendant's actions as understandable? |
| 0:46.4 | Welcome to They Walk Among Us, a podcast dedicated to UK True Crime. |
| 0:53.5 | This is the 56th in a series of bonus episodes. |
| 1:04.8 | Heavy rain had put an end to an unusually dry autumn day. |
| 1:09.9 | On Tuesday, October 21st, 1952, many of the leaves in East |
| 1:15.0 | Hampshire clung to the ground after the downpour. It was on this grim night at 11 o'clock that |
| 1:22.5 | Mary Ann Mitchell was found 50 yards from the road, fighting for her life on Oak Hanger Common amongst |
| 1:29.2 | the sodden foliage. A fight than Mary was destined to lose. She was rushed to Farnham Hospital, |
| 1:37.0 | but sadly passed away early the next morning. Dr. Arthur Keith Mant, a pathologist from Guy's Hospital in London, examined Mary's bruised and battered body. |
| 1:50.1 | She had been found only a short distance from her home, Ivy Cottage. |
| 1:55.7 | Dr. Mant gently parted Mary's hair where pale skin was meant to be, and the doctor found many deep red |
| 2:02.7 | gashes, injuries inflicted by a blunt instrument. Mary had a fractured skull, and lacerations were |
| 2:11.2 | noted to her brain. It was eventually established that the 47-year-old had endured as many as 25 blows from a weapon that was most likely the hatch had found beside her. |
| 2:24.3 | The attack seemed frenzied and unrelenting, even though Mary's killer carried out this overzealous killing in a public place. |
| 2:33.8 | It was likely they knew Mary, and Mary knew them |
| 2:37.0 | well enough for her killer to be harboring a great rage towards her. The immediate questions, |
... |
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