The grandmother could no longer see her suffer and sent for another
doctor, at this Dr Willis threatened to leave if another doctor came.
No-one could stand anymore and a Dr Andrew Kelly was called from his home
nearby, but help had come too late. Eleanor Davison died soon after from
haemorrhaging and severe shock from the surgery. Her husband William who
had been with her at the agonizing end had already made a compliant to the
police.
Police surgeon Dr Wilfred Barkes carried out the post mortem and
Dr Willis who was forced to watch had walked out half way through saying
the post mortem was not being done properly. Dr Barkes found part of
Eleanor's intestines had accidentally been removed and concluded that the
mistakes by Dr Willis were responsible for Eleanor Davison's death.
On Tuesday 21st March 1922, Dr Willis appeared before Durham Assizes,
charged with the manslaughter of Mrs Davison. The three days of the trial
were covered in great detail by the local newspapers, and across the
country people read in horror. The shaking was due to a bout of malaria
caught in Egypt while serving with the Royal Navy, not due to the two
glasses of stout, the jury however found him guilty.
Letters were produced from former colleagues who said he was a man of
highest character, Mr Paley Scott his defence barrister called him a hard
working man who tried his best to help his patients most of whom were
poor. He also said: It was a sense of duty alone that drove Dr Willis out
of doors at that time of night, tired as he must have been from a hard
day's work. Mr Justice Bray, the judge, said: It is a very grave offence
for a medical man like yourself to attempt an operation while suffering
from drink. Of course any punishment I give you will not be the only
punishment as you will now also be ruined professionally. Notwithstanding
that, the sentence must be a severe one, and I thus sentence you to 12
months imprisonment.
