Dorothea Nancy Waddingham was an English nursing home matron who was convicted of murder.
14 Facts About Dorothea Waddingham
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Dorothea Waddingham has been referred to as "Nurse" Waddingham because the two murders she was accused and convicted of were committed in a nursing home she ran near Nottingham in England.
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Dorothea Waddingham was twice her age and dying of cancer.
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Leech died in 1933, at which time Waddingham was seeing another man named Ronald Joseph Sullivan.
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Ada had noted in her will a request not to notify her relatives, and Dorothea Waddingham said there were no relatives, which was a lie.
6.
Dorothea Waddingham became suspicious at the note from Ada Baguley that authorised cremation and ordered a post-mortem.
7.
Dorothea Waddingham's trial started on 4 February 1936 before Justice Rayner Goddard.
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Dorothea Waddingham's barrister was Mr Eales, with the prosecution by Norman Birkett.
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Birkett brought out much damaging testimony, including how Ada Baguley's last meal was heavy and rich for a woman in her condition: Dorothea Waddingham admitted that she gave Ada pork, baked potatoes, kidney beans, and two portions of fruit pie.
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The result was that Dorothea Waddingham was convicted of using morphine to poison Mrs Baguley and Ada.
11.
Dorothea Waddingham's execution was carried out at Winson Green Prison and her hangman was Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by his nephew Albert Pierrepoint.
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Dorothea Waddingham was a mother of five and was still breastfeeding her 3-month old baby at the time of her execution.
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The execution is dramatised in the 2005 film Pierrepoint, in which Dorothea Waddingham is played by Elizabeth Hopley.
14.
Dorothea Waddingham's case was examined in Murder, Mystery and My Family in 2019.