Yvonne Gladys Fletcher was convicted of murder in Sydney in November 1952 and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and she was released in 1964. She was one of several Sydney women prosecuted in the early 1950s over the deaths of family members.
Yvonne Gladys Fletcher was born in 1922 and lived in Sydney. She married three times. Her first husband was Desmond Butler, her second was Bertram Fletcher, and her third, in 1967, was a man who died six years later in circumstances that were not suspicious. She was known as Yvonne Butler after the first marriage and as Yvonne Fletcher after the second.
She had two children from her first marriage. Her early life, family background and schooling are not on record.
Desmond Butler died in 1948. Bertram Fletcher died in 1952. Friends and family became concerned that the two deaths were alike, and police began an investigation. She was arrested in 1952; the month of her arrest is not on record.
She was charged over the deaths of both husbands. The exact wording of each charge, the court that heard the case, the name of the judge and the length of the trial are not on record.
In November 1952 she was convicted of murder. Whether a separate verdict was returned on the charge relating to the other husband's death is not on record.
She was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The date of the commutation and the authority that ordered it are not on record.
She was released in 1964. The prison where she served her sentence is not on record.
A son of her first marriage, whose father was Desmond Butler, was told the full truth about his parents only as a teenager. In 2013 he spoke publicly about what he had learned and about growing up without either parent.
She married a third time in 1967. That husband died six years later, aged 54. She died in 2009, aged 87.
Decided by a court: a conviction for murder in November 1952, with a sentence of death commuted to life imprisonment.
Not on record: the exact charge wording, the court, the trial dates, the date and authority of the commutation, and whether the verdict covered one death or both. The length of her time in custody before the 1964 release is not on record.
1922: Yvonne Gladys Fletcher is born.
1948: her first husband, Desmond Butler, dies.
1952: her second husband, Bertram Fletcher, dies; she is charged in Sydney.
November 1952: convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Later: the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
1964: released.
1967: marries a third time.
2009: dies, aged 87.