THE DRAMATIC murder of a woman at Steeton by her shotgun-wielding husband is detailed in a new book.

Author David Scrimgeour tells how insane killer John Holdsworth was tortured by visions of priests with devils flying around their heads before shooting wife Elizabeth.

The toll collector believed his wife’s black silk dress had become a serpent when he picked up the double-barrelled weapon in the 1861 incident at the couple’s Hawkcliffe Corner house.

As Holdsworth shot from the upstairs window, Elizabeth was killed with a bullet through the head and breast and her brother Joseph was wounded as he tried to protect her.

Details of the crime – and Holdsworth’s attempts to claim his innocence during two decades in a lunatic asylum – are revealed in the book Proper People.

Mr Scrimgeour has carried out extensive research into many patients to explore the history of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield.

He relates Holdsworth’s story in several pages of the book, including reprints of newspaper reports, letters and case notes.

The Leeds Mercury and Huddersfield Chronicle reported in 1861 how Holdsworth, the toll collector at Hawkcliffe-gate on what is now Keighley Road, had suffered delusions for several years.

Holdsworth began “conducting himself strangely” towards Elizabeth, accusing her of misconduct and threatening to kill her if she did not hand over the couple’s bank book.

After Holdsworth threatened to burn Elizabeth’s black dress, her brother persuaded her to leave the house, but they were both cut down when Holdsworth fired the gun.

The killer was chased through fields by the police and arrested.

During his trial at York Assizes, the defence solicitor claimed Holdsworth had for several years “been labouring under the strangest delusions”.

As well as the obsession with the dress, Holdsworth believed he had a variety of diseases, and was afraid of Roman Catholics, whom we claimed had sold his soul.

Found not guilty on the grounds of insanity, Holdsworth was sent first to asylums in London, including the newly-opened Broadmoor, then to the Wakefield institution.

From the beginning, Holdsworth was “very urgent in his desire to be set at liberty”, submitting several unsuccessful appeals, and even two decades later was still claiming the gun barrel had gone off by accident while he was “taking the caps”.

Holdsworth died from heart disease and pleurisy in 1886 after 25 years in asylum custody.

Visit davidscrimgeour.co.uk or call 017702 678128 for details of how to buy Proper People.