By Paul Hurley
Murderer Harold Berry lived in Ledward Street, Wharton, pictured here in 1935 LET us start our story today in the office of a moneylender in Manchester in early 1946. With the end of the war, the moneylenders tried to ease the formalities of borrowing. But because of the following story, these more straightforward formalities were rescinded. One of the men employed as a moneylenders manager at the Refuge Lending Society in Walker Street, Manchester, was Bernard Phillips of Meade Hall Road, Prestwich who was 37 years old and married with one child. On January 3, 1946, a man came into the office to apply for a loan; he wanted £60, that would equate today as £2,529.43. He gave the name George Wood, the address he provided was Moss Side Farm in Tarporley and his wife’s name was Jessie.