It starts with the shocking details of a mother’s grisly end at the hand of her 13-year-old son but ends in a tale of redemption with links to the Nana Glen region near Coffs Harbour. 

Award-winning author Kate Summerscale was on the lookout for historical material that might form the basis of a new book when she came across details of the murder committed in the early hours of July 8, 1895.

Robert Coombes was living with his mother Emily and brother Nattie in the East End suburb of Plaistow.

When their father was away at sea, 13-year-old Robert entered his mother's bedroom and stabbed her to death with a knife bought specifically for the purpose.

This violent act was compounded by the actions of the boys afterwards – they watched the cricket at Lord's, visited the seaside and enjoyed themselves spending the housekeeping money their father had left behind.

The mother’s body was left to rot for 10 days before the murder was finally discovered and the boys arrested along with a family friend, John Fox, who was charged as an accessory after the fact.  Newspapers detailing the discovery pulled no punches describing the scene – maggots and all.

Thanks to the transcript of the Old Bailey trial that followed Kate had all the names of the witnesses and clues about the lives of the boys and the parents.   

But there was also a nagging sense that there was more to the story – that something more intriguing lay beneath the terrible facts of the case. It was, she thought, almost too cold and ruthless for a 13-year-old boy. 

Robert told authorities at the time that he had committed the murder to protect his younger brother Nattie from another savage beating at the hands of their mother.  

Throughout the trial their mother Emily was described as ‘excitable’ which, at the time, was often code for ‘a drunk’.

The trial was a media sensation with the papers of the day using florid language and dramatic illustrations to up the ante.  However, there were questions about young Robert’s mental health and the jury felt reluctant to sentence him to hang.

Coombes was eventually found guilty but insane and committed to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, where he was to spend 17 years and in many ways benefit from the relatively humane regime.  The institution’s archives provided some interesting background not only into Robert’s situation but the treatment of psychiatric patients at that time.

It proved harder for the author to track the story after his release from Broadmoor but by starting with the obligatory google search she discovered he traveled to Australia.  

She found a website with the listings of graves in Australian cemeteries and even photographs of individual graves.

Robert Coombes had not changed his name, as the author feared, so she was able to locate an inscription on a gravestone in Coffs Harbour which alluded to Coombes' war service and also bore a cryptic reference that he would always be remembered by "Harry Mulville and family". 

He had served in Gallipoli as a stretcher bearer and a bandsman, playing the trumpet. 

Following the Mulville family gravestone lead she took to the White Pages and ultimately made contact with Harry's youngest daughter. Even more surprising, it turned out Harry was still alive, aged in his 90s.

After the war Robert Coombes had settled in the small village of Nana Glen, north of Coffs Harbour – next door to a teenaged Harry Mulville. Young Harry suffered terribly at the hands of his violent stepfather and, after one particularly savage beating, Coombes stepped in and brought Harry into his own home, caring for him as a son for the next five years.

She contacted Harry’s daughter (who agreed to discuss the matter as long as her name was not revealed).  She soon realised the family had no idea of Robert Coombs’ dark past and she grappled with the idea of revealing the truth.  In the end she decided the family had a right to know but it was decided that the elderly Harry Mulville was too frail to take the news.  

"It's been a very big shock for the family," the daughter said.

"We felt we couldn't tell my dad because he was a very old man. I told Kate I thought the shock would probably kill him. But at the same time I had always wondered about Robert's past because everything seemed to be so quiet."

The Wicked Boy published by Bloomsbury Publishing, is on sale now.