The Troubling Case of James Stezaker (1912) / Burnley / True Crime 

Stumbled across your blog after looking up deaths in Todmorden. Imagine my delight when I saw you had a channel too. Brilliant. Thank you for sharing your interests with us!

All your videos are excellent , my mother was born in Brierfield (and my great grandparents lived in Burnley & Nelson from 1891 to 1930 s so all these stories are bringing their surroundings to life thank you ( from Oxfordshire

Keep up the Brilliant Work Guy's 😷

Thank you Chris a very sad tale indeed he got off lightly IMO . very interesting 👏👏👏👏

I agree 8 years was not long enough for two lives , I do believe at the time he was suffering from mental health , although he knew what he was doing was wrong he shown us this from the words he wrote. Thank you both for making and sharing such an interesting and informative video

It's the same question just as relevant today, mental illness or evil? Capital punishment/life sentence or rehabilitation? Really interesting case Chris and Vickie.

Very interesting once again, thanks Chris and Vicky just very sad😢. Such a cowardly attitude to take his wife's life and his little daughter's life. I feel he should have got more years in prison, because he deprived his little daughter from living her life in full and of course his wife's life. Thanks for sharing 👍👍

It's a difficult one to decide.The Dr.'s who stated in his defence that he was insane at time of the murders altered the course of events. Although James was willing to take his punishment, it is possible that the authorities felt that if to go ahead with the death penalty they would be granting him what he wanted all the time. Instead by commuting the sentence to imprisonment that would deny James his wish. Although the consensus is that he should have served longer we don't have the reason why he was released after only 8 years. There is no justice for Florence and Mary, not even a headstone.

I kinda don't understand how if his life and how this world was so cruel, so miserable to him,why didn't he try suicide again in prison or afterwards? Unless with time,he matured mind wise or put on medication idk.. maybe truthfully his first wife was too demanding on certain things or the way they were living was by herself choosing not to move or do anything differently he had wanted and it was unbearable for him to just leave her, especially his child behind.. so many thoughts on this but very sad that he decided for her and the child based only on his feelings that life wasn't worth living for.. thanks for sharing

Great video again. Lots of food for thought. The 8 years 'life sentence' is definitely appaling.

Great video. Just saw a documentary on Trevor Hardy, The beast of Manchester, awful guy.

Oh my, I know someone that lived on Ivy street until last summer. I never knew of this story though.

Its difficult to answer that one

I too don’t agree that 8 years was enough for Murder. He should have been given life in prison and not been allowed to have lived a life that his wife and daughter missed out on.

25 years+ or whole life tariff not sure where they got 8 years from for 2 murders ridiculous.

I think he should have been institutionalised for the crime he took a child's life who never grew to live her life not forgetting her mother who never got to see the little one grow

I love watching your new video tonight it was a sad one😢 xx

I agree with Vicky, if they didn’t end his life he should have at least spent the rest of his life incarcerated, because his wife and daughter weren’t given a choice or a chance to have a future like he had. Good story by the way guys.

If he was genuinely mentally ill, then 8 years is on the line of medical practice today.