A friend of the History Group, Yvonne Salt, contacted us recently with two pieces of information about the "murder" mystery.
Firstly, it turn's out that the man's name wasn't Frederick Hamsom Whitaker it was Frederick Harrison Whitaker, and he lived in Crosshills.
The second piece of information suggests that Frederick's petition might really have been about a possible murder - as it seems that his father died in unexplained circumstances. Here's a report from the Shipley Times:
Perhaps, Yvonne suggests, Frederick had second thoughts about the cause of his father's death and wanted the matter to be re-examined ?
Thoughts, anyone ?
Update posted: 30/06/2018
With thanks to Yvonne Salt