A police constable investigating a burglary at a crockery warehouse in the Clerkenwell district of London one September night in 1909 made a gruesome discovery. The warehouse yard was protected by a high wooden gate with a row of iron spikes along the top. As the constable flashed his lamp along the top of the gate he caught a glimpse of something very strange attached to one of the spikes. He clambered up to take a look. The strange thing was a finger-a little finger-held firmly in place by a gold ring.

Peering over the gate and into the yard he could see blood on the ground. It wasn't hard to fathom what must have happened. In jumping from the gate, the burglar had caught a ring on the little finger of his right hand on the tip of the spike. The weight of his body had torn the finger ...