The Killing of Justice Godfrey An Investigation Into England's Most Remarkable Unsolved Murder
The restoration of the British monarchy under Charles II was regularly threatened by republican plots. Some extreme republicans were also fanatically anti-Catholic and whipped up religious passions with scaremongering attempts to persuade the populace that a 'Popish Plot' was about to take over the country. The brutal murder of a prominent magistrate, Sir Edmund Godfrey, was the perfect pretext for an anti-Catholic witch-hunt. Numerous Catholics were arrested and some were executed as murderers. But they were merely scapegoats, and the killing of Justice Godfrey has continued to fascinate and baffle historians ever since.