High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The murder of Julia Martha Thomas, dubbed the Barnes Mystery or the Richmond Murder by the press, was one of the most notorious crimes in late 19th-century Britain. Thomas, a widow in her 50s who lived in Richmond in west London, was murdered on 2 March 1879 by her maid, Kate Webster, a 30-year-old Irishwoman with a history of theft. Webster disposed of the body by dismembering it, boiling the flesh off the bones, and throwing most of what was left into the River Thames. It was alleged, although never proven, that she had offered the fat to neighbours and street children as dripping and lard. Part of Thomas`s remains were subsequently recovered from the river. Her severed head remained missing until October 2010, when it was found during building works being carried out for Sir David Attenborough, the naturalist.