Infamous Scots. Peter Queen.

Peter Queen was the son of a Glasgow bookmaker. He had married whilst still quite young and this had turned into a disaster with the couple separating after his wife had become an alcoholic.

Queen’s father hired a nursemaid, Chrissie Gall, to look after the children and it wasn’t long before Peter and Chrissie became attracted to each other. Unfortunatley like her predecessor, Chrissie had an affinity for the bottle.

Peter Queen and Chrissie moved in together with some friends, James Burns and his wife, but got their own place in the summer of 1931. Chrissie was not happy about the fact that they were living in sin and this made her drink heavily.

Mrs Johnson, who was a friend, called on Chrissie on 20th November and found her drunk. Mrs Johnson returned later with her husband, when Queen had come home and found that Chrissie was sleeping it off in bed. The couple left around 11pm. In the early hours of the next morning, Peter Queen rushed into a local police station and told them ‘I think you will find my wife dead.’

When the police went around to their house it was to find Chrissie lying dead in bed, she had been strangled with a clothes line. There were no signs of a struggle but Queen was charged with her murder. The defence obtained the services of Sir Bernard Spilsbury and Sir Sydney Smith who both decided that, because of the lack of signs of a struggle, the woman had committed suicide.

One theory which could explain the lack of a struggle would be that Chrissie was still drunk when Peter strangled her and never actually regained consiousness.

At Queen’s trial, at Glasgow in January 1932, their testimony failed to persuade the jury of Queens’ innocence and Queen was found guilty, but with a recommendation to mercy. Queen was sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was later released and died in 1958.