Mrs Lockey was separated from her husband Milner Lockey because of his cruelty, and he now lived and worked at Leasingthorn Colliery, near Bishop Auckland. After Mr Lockey heard that his wife had taken in a lodger, Mr Bell to help with the bills Mr Lockey became convinced that his wife and the lodger were intimately involved.
Mr Lockey became increasingly jealous and began to make frequently unwanted visits to his wife, his jealousy out of control Mr Lockey then decided to kill first his wife and then himself. It was Saturday 29th September 1860, that after first having a glass of whiskey with friends on the way Mr Lockey made his way to Hutchinson's corn mill, Team Valley, Gateshead. When he arrived around 7 o'clock his wife warily asked what he was doing at her home, his sneering reply was "You'll find out before lang." With this Mr Lockey took a knife from his pocket and screamed "Thou'll not be lang here" and struck Mrs Lockey on the chest.
The bone in her corset saved her so Mr Lockey tried again with the same results. With his determination to kill her and his anger at failing Mr Lockey aimed the knife at her bowels, the knife entered her thigh. Samuel Wilson Mrs Lockey's son eleven year old son from a previous marriage, woke from his sleep by the noise came downstairs and begged Lockey to leave his mother alone. The lodger Mr Bell also woken by the noise tried to restrain Mr Lockey, in a rage and thinking he had killed his wife Mr Lockey turned on the lodger and plunged the knife into his heart. Mr Bell fell to the floor dead.
Samuel had already rushed from the house to get help at near by Ridings Farm. Crying Samuel told his story and two of the farm hands Wright and Hart went back with him. As they approached they saw Mrs Lockey run screaming from the cottage adjoining the mill screaming "Murder!" Furious that he had not killed her and she was escaping Mr Lockey followed his wife, while the two farm hands stood and watched. Out of breath Mrs Lockey ran up a hill into a field of barley out of sight from her husband.
Police officers arrived and began a search of the area, and it was at half past five the following morning, because the two farm hands had followed him that Mr Lockey was found hiding in a pig sty near Urpeth. Mr Lockey was tried and sentenced to death at Durham with no sign of regret or remorse for his crime. The execution took place in front of the count court at Durham, at 9 o'clock on 27th December 1860, while hundreds of people watched the event.
