Agnes Waterhouse is a character appearing in the episode The Straw Woman of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders.
Waterhouse was a terminal care nurse with an obsession with Alan Clifford, working with him to open his end-of-life clinic at the manor he recently bought. She fell for his seduction and pleasured him as much as benefited his last moments on earth medically. Waterhouse became disturbed to the point of wanting to die with Alan at the end of his life. Another caregiver, Kate Malpas, who specialized in homeopathic remedies, caught Alan's eye more than Waterhouse. When Waterhouse found Kate's distant ancestor, Catherine Malpas, was hanged as a witch in Midsomer Parva, she would use the myth to frame Kate for a series of murders besieging the village citizens. All as a distraction to get Alan alone.
Waterhouse discovered that a woman from outside the village, Liz Francis, was coming in to teach kids about the illicit consequences of witch hunts. Even down to burning a straw woman statue in the village square to demonstrate the times. Waterhouse decided fire was her ideal weapon, in spite of no burnings happening in Midsomer Parva. In preparation for future murders, she would employ a trick used by a chemist patient with leukemia that she had: pouring toluene on phosphorous to make the increasing heat start fire, which would look like spontaneous combustion when igniting someone starting with their clothes.
Rev. Alex Deakin, who opposed both Alan and Liz, was given drugged coffee when Waterhouse met him for a home meeting. She dragged him to the straw woman at the school while Liz was busiest with the children. After cutting the statue open, Rev. Deakin was shoved inside unconscious. Waterhouse patiently waited during one of Alan's parties for the ceremony, and when the statue was torched, Rev. Deakin burned inside while screaming in pain and terror. As he wasn't at the church, everyone knew he was dead.
Waterhouse escalated by leaving a pig's head and straw figures around town, interspersed and at the scenes of her next murders. Rev. Deakin's colleague and partner, Rev. Jim Hale, was lured to the church, where toluene doused his robe. When he saw the pig's head, his robe caught fire and he incinerated to ashes and dust. This was around the same time Waterhouse bought a love seat for Alan, the panicked fears of the villagers being stoked.
The local general practitioner, Dr. John Cole, knew of Alan's medical problems, so Waterhouse decided him next to die. When she got him to the church, a straw figure was present in his view, shortly before Waterhouse smashed a candlestick into his head to knock him unconscious. Dr. Cole was set on fire, but Liz managed to narrowly save him with the fire extinguisher. Despite him being wheeled into an ambulance, he was expected to die in the next few days. Matthew Cole, Dr. Cole's son, joined the masses in blaming Liz as a "witch", throwing a brick through her window and later having a psychotic breakdown.
Liz herself cracked the case open when she read the records of Kate's ancestors, realizing Waterhouse removed them. Calling DS Dan Scott, who spent the night in her house, to meet her at the church, Waterhouse somehow found out and followed her there. Swinging the same candlestick into Liz's head, Waterhouse poured toluene on her and sabotaged the fire extinguisher. Scott and DCI Tom Barnaby were arrive to personally witness Liz burn alive while she was out of it, unable to put out the flames to prevent her murder.
Barnaby realized Waterhouse was the murderer when figuring out the motive, rushing to the manor with Scott and evoke Kate for her needed remedies in the worst case scenario. It turned to to be true, as in a murder-suicide attempt, Waterhouse locked, sedated Alan, and nearly killed the both of them with an overdose of morphine in an IV drip. When the police broke in and she was pulled off, the drip being stopped, Waterhouse screamed and flailed for them to get away. But Kate's remedies saved Alan's life, with his daughter Jo tearfully rushing to embrace him while he as being resuscitated. As Waterhouse was dragged out, he confessed her motives of jealousy toward Kate and wanting to frame her.
Waterhouse originally tried to deny all her crimes. Then she was encouraged to demonstrate her skills with a straw man and a bottle of toluene. She, in a quiet and disturbed state, quietly state where she learned the chemical reaction and poured toluene on the figure. As she slowly elaborated all her murders, DS Scott, who was deeply traumatically effected by Liz's violent death, couldn't hide his shock and disgust, leaving the room when the figurine caught ablaze. Waterhouse was taken into custody when the interview was over, Kate lamenting burning wasn't even the village's witches execution, but a bonfire was still provocative either way.
Victims[]
- Rev. Alex Deakin - Drank drugged coffee and taken to the shack where the Straw Woman was kept. The Straw Woman was then cut with a knife, he was put inside while still being unconscious and later that night was burned alive when the "statue" was set on fire as part of the festival.
- Rev. Jim Hale - Came in church where he changed into a robe which was poured with phosphorus and toluene that slowly heated it, then saw a pig's head on the altar and his robe caught fire, burning him alive.
- Dr. John Cole - Lured to the church, knocked unconscious with a candlestick and then burned after having his clothes poured with phosphorous and toluene, slowly heating them. Liz put out the flames with a fire extinguisher and narrowly saved him.
- Liz Francis - Lured to the church, knocked unconscious with a candlestick and then burned after having her clothes poured with phosphorus and toluene, slowly heating them.
- Alan Clifford - Sedated, locked in his room, and attempted to overdose him in his love seat with an IV drip of morphine in a murder-suicide. She was arrested, and Kate and emergency responders narrowly saved his life with counteractive treatment.
- Kate Malpas - Attempted to frame for all the crimes, but she was absolved of suspicion and even provided her assistance.