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 1817.

A MANHUNT was launched after an ostler was murdered at a Herefordshire pub in 1817.

The search for a murderer was on after William Harris was killed at the New Inn in Ledbury, with several people taken up on suspicion before Richard Underwood was apprehended at a pub in Worcester.

Underwood was taken to Ledbury, where he was interrogated and "many suspicious circumstances were disclosed", but continued to protest his innocence until three days later, when he confessed to having been responsible for the death.

He told police he had slept in the hay loft of the New Inn the night before the murder, but as Mr Harris lit a fire that morning, having promised to give him something to eat, he had taken up a hatchet and hit him over the head repeatedly before leaving him for dead.

"I robbed him of his money and watch, went into the kitchen and took his smock frock and proceeded to Worcester," he was reported to have said.

OTHER NEWS:

Underwood claimed he had buried the smock and watch at Malvern before going to his brother's house in Worcester, where he changed, cut his hair, and shaved.

But while there, he had confessed his crime to his brother, who reported him to the authorities.

Underwood was convicted of wilful murder at Hereford Assizes and sentenced to death.

He was hanged at Hereford Gaol on March 31, 1817.