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.
