Murder in the Houses of Parliament: The Victorian Assassination that Shaped the Insanity Defence

A lone gunman’s misfire thrusts Victorian Britain into a defining legal crisis surrounding insanity.London, January 1843. A lone gunman waits in the shadows of Whitehall, convinced he is striking a blow against the government. But when Daniel M’Naghten pulls the trigger, he murders the wrong man — Edward Drummond, the trusted secretary to Sir Robert Peel.The city erupts. Parliament is furious. The Queen herself demands answers. And as Drummond lies dying under the care of feuding surgeons, the nation braces for what everyone assumes will be the quickest of trials and the swiftest of hangings. Instead, Britain is shaken to its core.Murder in the Houses of Parliament plunges readers into the riveting real-life drama that followed: the frantic manhunt, the botched medical decisions, the sensational Old Bailey trial, and the explosive verdict that outraged Victorian society. From the uproar in the streets to the storm in the House of Lords, this is the gripping story of how one shocking case forced the creation of the famed M’Naghten Rules, forever changing the way the law treats the insane. Read more