Annie Paino was haunted, fearful her young daughter would be murdered by the very man who professed to passionately love her.

She was so scared she told her landlady who repeatedly reassured her that it was merely a dream.

But in an extraordinary coincidence, the teenager shared the same recurring nightmare - and kill her he did as well as himself.

On an uncharacteristically wet and cold summer's evening, the few passengers waiting for the evening London bound express huddled together for warmth from the waiting room's coal fire.

Suddenly they heard what appeared to be sharp crack of two shots, followed by incessant shrieking.

Initially the ticket collector dismissed it as the shenanigans of young boys playing in the station yard and was about to put an end to their larking when a passenger, as pale as he was breathless, rushed up to say a man had shot a girl and then himself.

Dashing to the parapet of the north bound platform at Southampton's main railway station, he saw a young girl and a man lying in pools of blood. Beside them looking aghast was her mother.

News of the shocking drama spread like wild fire and some 1,000 ghouls converged on the scene.

Josephine Paino was a few weeks away from her 15th birthday, though her physical attributes belied her tender age.

Her killer was navy deserter Harry Hurman, her infatuated but slighted lover, newly released from Winchester Prison where he had been serving a month's hard labour for the theft of a hired bicycle which he had intended to sell for about £2.

Once freed, the seaman immediately travelled to Southampton and visited the couple who lived in Derby Road.

He stayed with them that night but then took a train to London, Mrs Paino having charitably paid his fare so he could attend a wedding, and in a letter he profusely acknowledged her generosity.

"I will never forget your kindness. I hope if you are ever in trouble, I'll be able to help you."

Ominously, it ended in endearing terms to Josephine, signed "From your loving sweetheart, Harry," followed by the postscipt "Perhaps you don't want to be my sweetheart any more. If not, I must conclude as your sincere friend, Harry."

He returned to Southampton two days later, alighting at the docks station terminus to meet them in the High Street.

It was nearly 8pm and Hurman indicated he intended to remain in the town for an hour before catching the next service to Waterloo to finalise arrangements for a trip to China. With time pressing, they hailed a cab to the West station.

Mrs Paino naturally expected Hurman to say goodbye on the platform but as they approached it, with Josephine expressing her joy at a forthcoming Sunday school treat, he suddenly produced a revolver and shot her in the forehead, her mother turning round to see her slump insensible to the ground.

Within seconds, he put the pistol through his teeth and pulled the trigger.

Mrs Paino rushed to the aid of her daughter who momentarily staggered to her feet and then collapsed. In floods of tears, she clung to her but then her feelings turned to rage and grabbing his walking stick, struck Hurman as violently as she could across his face, before she uncontrollably wept at the pitiful sight of her daughter with the crowd so visibly shaken they wiped away their own flood of tears.

Hurman died instantly, remarkably the teenager did not. With her life ebbing away, she was rushed to the Royal South Hants Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

At the murder scene, inspector Tarrant told a Hampshire Independent reporter:

"The first I heard of the occurence was a passenger rushing up to me and stating that a man and a woman had been shot in the station yard. I immediately went out and found a man and a woman lying on the ground, both covered with blood. I gave orders that a doctor be found and ordered the removal of the woman to hospital.

"People came rushing in from all parts and within five minutes the yard appeared to be full of excited onlookers."

After the shooting, Mrs Paino had the painful duty of informing her sister who was in delicate health and due to arrive in Southampton within hours by boat.

The Independent's next edition carried an extensive report not only of the shooting but also of those involved.

Mrs Paino had been widowed for several years and Josephine was her only child. They were inseperable and friends and acquaintances of the teenager lauded her as being bright, intelligent and a favourite with all those who knew her.

Mrs Paino had lived in Southampton for some time but two years ago had travelled to her native South Africa where she and Josephine stayed for 18 months. It was on the voyage back to Southampton on the Walmer Castle that they met Hurman and a strong friendship developed between them, though he struck some as being possessive and sour tempered.

Mother and daughter took rented rooms at 170, Derby Road, which Hurman often visited but after his conviction for theft, the owners banned him from going there and requested Mrs Paino not to admit him if he turned up on her doorstep.

Though they had previously been on amicable terms, Hurman vindictively threatened to shoot the owners in revenge.

On his release from prison, Mrs Paino could not be dissuaded from accompanying him to the theatre, though she bizarrely took with her a letter which purported to claim a message he was 'wanted' in London.

It transpired jealousy had been the motive. Hurman told Mrs Paino he passionately loved her daughter and wanted to marry her but she warned him off, refusing to give her approval as her daughter was so young.

He refused to accept it, telling her in forthright terms that after he returned from China he would return to see Josephine and find out the extent of her feelings towards him.

But it never came to that.

Two days later after the shooting which occurred on July 23, 1903, the town's coroner, Mr Coxwell, conducted the inquest into both deaths.

Mrs Paino told jurors of their first meeting, the state of their relationship and the events leading to the fatal last moments where under the station clock she suddenly saw "a flash" and told her daughter to run.

"She ran a few yards and then fell. I ran, calling out out 'murder' and 'police'. He ran after me. Then he suddenly stopped and shot himself. I afterwards hit with across the face with his walking stick, exclaiming: 'Oh, you brute."

Only hours before, he had told her of his desire to marry Josephine but she emphatically told him: "Decidedly not."

He then told her he was going to China for three years and might marry her then.

The coroner asked Mrs Paino: " Had been there been any quarreling between your daughter and Hurman?"

She replied: "Not an angry word."

Coroner - "Was he quite sober?"

Mrs Paino - "Quite, he only had one drop of port wine all day."

Significantly the coroner then asked: "Did you think there was anything the matter with his mind?"

She replied: "I don't know but the day before he sold the bicycle he was very strange."

Hurman's father, Francis, told the court he had been living in South Africa for 12 months but since his return to England he had been making very strange statements to his mother.

"I do not think he was quite answerable for anything he said or did. He often contradicted himself on statements he made," adding his son had suffered from enteric fever for about 16 or 17 weeks while in South Africa.

Following a brief summing up from the coroner, jurors returned a verdict that Hurman had wilfully murdered Josephine and committed suicide while of unsound mind.

The foreman added they wished to donate their fees to Mrs Paino and expressed their condolences to relatives of both victims.

Two days later, a large crowd braved the teeming rain to attend her daughter's funeral at Southampton cemetery.

The coffin, bearing the breastplate inscribed 'Josephine Paino, Died July 23, 1903, Aged 14 years,' was covered in wreaths, one of which came from the Central District Schools. As the coffin was lowered into the ground, several people wept bitterly.

Hurman's funeral took place separately on the same day and he was buried on unconsecrated ground but its timing was kept private and only his parents and the police court missionary attended.