Wicked Little Letters film story similar to Isle of Wight scandal

In the summer of 1934 the quiet village of Brighstone was rocked by what became known as ‘The Anonymous Letter Scandal’.

It was revealed that during the previous four years nearly 200 anonymous letters had been received by various people in the Brighstone area.

The letters were said to be of “an indecent nature,” sometimes containing “substances of a disgustingly offensive character".

Main Road, Brighstone, in the early 20th century. On the left foreground is the Five Bells Inn, closed in 1918, and further on, the New Inn, better known today as the Three Bishops. Photo: Brian Greening Collection (Image: Brian Greening)

On June 9, the County Press broke the story: “An epidemic of anonymous letter writing which has been poisoning the life of Brighstone for four years had a sensational sequel this week when Mrs Edith Creeth, 48, the sub-postmistress at Brighstone, and wife of John Creeth, blacksmith, appeared at Newport to answer charges of sending indecent packets through the post.”

The subsequent hearings at Newport and Winchester took over six weeks.

At committal proceedings at Newport, Mr Done (prosecuting) said: “Most of the letters were offensive and many were disgusting.

"In all cases they were in disguised handwriting but eventually a series of events, all pointing in one direction, led to suspicion falling upon the defendant.”

The first letters were received in January, 1930, by Miss Willoughby, headmistress of Brighstone School and also church choirmaster.

The modern day Welcome to Brighstone sign (Image: Google Maps)

As the CP reported: “Some difference arose with regard to the choir and it was then that the anonymous letters had begun. The first communication sent to Miss Willoughby included the following words: 'I should like you to be shut up with at least 100 strong men, perhaps then you would not always want a married man around you.’ It was evident that all the letters were written by someone familiar with all that went on in the village.”

As a result of the letters Miss Willoughby moved to the mainland, and crucially, the only person on the Island to know her new address was Mrs Creeth, who received a mail redirection notice as part of her duties.

Shortly afterwards, an anonymous letter with a Newport postmark was received by Miss Willoughby’s new headmistress “advising her, among a string of derogatory remarks ‘Beware of the husband snatcher.’ ”

By this time over 200 anonymous letters had been received by others in the Brighstone area.

Supt Morrison told the court: “I showed Mrs Creeth envelopes addressed by her to purchasers of wireless licences issued by her.

"I said 'the names on the anonymous letters and on the wireless licences issued by you leave no doubt in my mind that they were written by the same person'. Mrs Creeth replied: "It's very like my writing, but you can't prove I wrote them.”

An aerial view of Brighstone years after the incident, in 1983. In the foreground is Brighstone Tea Gardens, once a popular venue for tourists - note the coaches in the car park. Photo: Alan Stroud/County Press. (Image: Alan Stroud/CP)

The police then arranged for Mrs Creeth to issue marked stamps to people in the village and to carefully note who they were sold to.

Mrs Creeth soon reported that two anonymous letters with marked stamps had gone through.

Sgt Jackman asked her for the remaining stamps. He told the court, “She said “I have sold them to anyone. I did not think it would matter.” I said “Don’t you see you have destroyed the very object I had in view!”

Mrs Creeth had handed Sgt Jackman ten anonymous letters, claiming they had come through the post to her despite him pointing out that none of the letters had a stamp.

After three days Mrs Creeth was committed for trial at Winchester, where the evidence heard differed little from the Newport hearing.

The jury heard witnesses testify that they had made casual remarks to Mrs Creeth in conversation, which then appeared in subsequent letters and were told of coincidence after coincidence which appeared to point to Mrs Creeth's guilt.

“Mr O’Connor, defending, read extracts from the letters and suggested the jury should pay particular attention to the crudity and filthiness of the expressions. They would find that they included expressions which must be distasteful to any woman who was not either a raving lunatic or one who had acquired her vocabulary in the cesspools of the country. Mr Done, prosecuting, told the jury it was impossible to avoid the conclusion that the defendant was the writer.”

The exact nature of the “substances of a disgustingly offensive character” was never revealed but the Winchester jury was told Maurice Attrill, a Brighstone farmer, had received a parcel labelled wedding cake, which contained the substances.

The CP reported that Mrs Creeth showed little trace of emotion when found not guilty.

Coincidence or not, no more anonymous letters were received following the trial.