FRESH evidence has come to light concerning the whereabouts of the notorious John ?Babbacombe? Lee ? known as the man they couldn?t hang.

Readers may well remember a report in the Times two years ago about the famous Victorian murder, the botch-up at the Exeter gallows in early 1885 and the possibility that the alleged murderer and three times escapee of the scaffold eventually died at Tavistock.

In November 1884, elderly spinster, Emma Keyse, was found hacked to death at her burnt-out villa at Babbacombe Bay, South Devon.

The person accused of this atrocity was her employee, John Lee, a young man from nearby Abbotskerswell. He was sent to the scaffold in early 1885 but three attempts to hang him failed. He then became famous as ?The Man They Couldn?t Hang? and a leading Edwardian personality before and after his release from Portland Prison in 1907.

Now historians Ian Waugh and Mike Holgate have traced a Tavistock Times front page article at the British Library Newspaper Library in North London dated February 28, 1941 reporting the death of John Lee ?who went in the name of George Walters?.

Mike Holgate said: ?The Tavistock Times ?obituary? is baffling! Such a large headline followed by so little information!?

Meanwhile Ian Waugh, who was brought up in the town said: ?I had traced a death certificate relating to this some years ago ? now we have found this article we are extremely keen to resolve this mystery one way or another once and for all.?

The historians are in the final stages of a major hardback book about the murder case, the events at the gallows, John Lee?s imprisonment and his life as a world famous personality after jail.

The book is due for publication by Sutton?s Publishing in early 2005. ?We are also in talks with television producers with a view to a major documentary about The Man They Could Not Hang,? said Ian.

Now they would like to hear from anyone who remembered John Lee (or George Walters as he was known) as it was reported in The Tavistock Times that this person was resident in the town ?for several years?.

Mike said: ?The death certificate states that this person died at the workhouse in February 1941 and was signed by Dr FWA Watt, Medical Officer; William T Stacey, Master of Tavistock Institute in Bannawell Street. Maybe descendants can help us, or perhaps there are people who were employed at the workhouse during the war who will remember this man.?

Meanwhile, Ian points out there were four companies carrying out funerals at this time (Morris Brothers, Arthur Carr, Collacott and Son and Kerswill and Son).

?We really would like to hear from anyone who recalls this funeral or who has any information at all,? he said.

?For years writers and historians have disputed John Lee?s last years. They have all alleged that he ended his days in numerous states in America, in Canada and Australia ? but never in his home country or even in Devon! It would be ironic, to say the least, if we can prove that this famous man ended his days in Tavistock.?

Anyone who help Mike Holgate and Ian Waugh should email

[email protected]">[email protected] or leave a message on 07930 163 663.