Squire of Leicestershire - MURDERER!

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I am over 70 and I remember my aunt telling me how some ancestor who was "a" or "the" squire of Leicester/shire had come home to his stately home to find his wife otherwise engaged with a man. He allegedly killed the wife's lover and fled abroad. My aunt insisted that the money and property from the estates passed into Chancery and would look in the appropriate newspapers each week for news of any inheritance. I am sorry I didn't question her story in more detail when I had the chance and I know that every family has a similar (often fictitious)  story lost in the past, but I have tried various attempts to delve into Leicestershire history to find any similar matching historical facts to support my aunt's story; as yet to no avail. Her parent's surnames were TOWNSEND and BIRLEY. Does anyone in Leicestershire know of any Squire getting himself in such a mess or has anyone any suggestions of how I could try to get to the bottom of this story. Lost inheritance is not my motive simply finding if we were related to a man of some importance would be the goal for me and of course confirming that Auntie Elsie had not actually lost her marbles. Fingers crossed someone can help!

[CaroleW]

Hi

Do you have any idea of when this is alleged to have happened?

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Thankyou caroleW for the question. I have no idea of dates but estimating backwards it must have been before 1800. The TOWNSENDS all came from Norfolk from way back so I have tended to discount them and so I have always thought the BIRLEY name might be the one to follow but from 1796 they were in Derbyshire, so it must have been before then. Also and it may be a red hearing: there are places named BIRLEY(some different spellings) in Leicestershire and Rutland, parts of which were in Leicestershire at one time. My attempts at getting to the bottom of this have failed so far so I was hoping some Leicestershire historian might just remember a similar story.