Wallace consistently denied having anything to do with the crime, but was charged with murder and stood trial at Liverpool Assizes. After conducting a secret mock-trial in London, which unanimously found Wallace not guilty, the Prudential Staff Union, in a unique act, sponsored his defence. Despite the evidence against him being purely circumstantial, and the statement of a local milk delivery boy — who was certain he had spoken to Julia only minutes before her husband would have had to leave to catch his tram — Wallace was found guilty after an hour's deliberation by the Liverpool jury, and sentenced to death.