a fight where Ball tried to wrench the gun away from Stagg; as Stagg fell back, the gun discharged accidentally, killing Ball. Stagg also claimed that Ball had threatened to attack Mrs. Stagg who was watching from a first-floor window: "I will come up and dash your brains out" and that Beatrice Ball had later said "He would not have hurt Mrs. Stagg, although he kicks me about". This was refuted at the trial by Mrs. Ball who "emphatically denied" that her husband had ever hit her. The Aston Villa trainer, Alf Miles, was called as a witness saying that Ball was a "good living man – always in the best of condition". In his summing up, Mr. Justice Rowlatt instructed the jury not to show too much sympathy towards Stagg, but "to look at the facts dispassionately". Although there was a conflict of evidence as to how Ball was killed and although there might have been no motive, "it might still be murder if a man might lose his temper against a person he did not like and commit an act of murder". If the gun was pointed at the victim and discharged on purpose, that was murder, whereas if it went off by accident during a struggle, that was manslaughter. After deliberating for an hour and forty minutes, the jury returned a verdict of "wilful murder" with a recommendation of mercy. Despite this, Mr. Justice Rowlatt passed a sentence of death. Stagg was refused leave to appeal, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment as part of the reforms introduced by the newly elected Labour Government. Stagg was subsequently declared "insane" and was incarcerated in Broadmoor Hospital. He eventually died in a Birmingham mental hospital in February 1966, aged 87. References Further reading Murder of Tommy Ball: An Aston Villa Tragedy by Paul Lester (published October 1996) External links Murder of Tommy Ball (Aston Villa player 1923) (Photoset on Flickr) Picture of grave 1900 births 1923 deaths Sportspeople from Chester-le-Street Footballers from County Durham English footballers Association football defenders Newcastle United F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players People murdered in England Male murder victims Deaths by firearm in England English murder victims British coal miners