AS part of our weekly Crime Files series, we are taking a look back at the archives to bring you stories from Herefordshire's history.

The following story dates from 1869.

A CARPENTER shot his ex-fiancee after she left him for another man in a Herefordshire village in 1869.

Kinnersley, who was described as a well-conducted and respectable young man, had gone to work in Kimbolton, near Leominster, in around 1863 after completing his apprenticeship as a wheelwright and carpenter.

On arriving in the village, he had formed an acquaintance with a young woman named Sarah Jane Langford, the daughter of a well-to-do shoemaker in the parish.

Kinnersley had become a constant visitor to the Langford house, with the young couple soon becoming engaged to be married, it was reported.

When Langford took up a job in service in Halesowen, Kinnersley followed her, taking up a job in the police, and returned to Kimbolton with her when she left her position.

But, on their return, it became clear that Langford had formed an acquaintance with the son of a local farmer, upon whom she was reported to have lavished attention, and the couple went their separate ways.

But Kinnersley took the break-up badly, taking up a gun in September 1869, and shooting Langford, severely wounding the girl.

The shot, it was reported, was evidently aimed at the girl's heart, and it was by sheer chance that her arm had been in the way when she was hit.

Langford ran for her home, passing out as she reached her mother, while Kinnersley again discharged his gun, this time shooting himself.

The doctor was called for and Kinnersley languished in great agony for some 19 hours before eventually succumbing to his wounds, his inquest heard.

Langford was expected to recover, it was reported at the time.