crime & punishment – Page 5

On this day in history….10th August 1949

On this day in history : 10th August 1949 – The execution of serial killer John George Haigh – otherwise known as the ‘Acid Bath Murderer’….

John Haigh – Police photograph taken at Horsham Police Station, 1949 – Public domain

Haigh was born into an affluent family in Stamford, Lincolnshire and he was brought up in the village of Oakwood, in the West Riding of Yorkshire…. His parents were members of the Plymouth Brethren, a conservative, non-conformist, evangelical Christian movement….

Academically bright Haigh won several educational scholarships and was fond of classical music…. He often attended concerts and he himself was a talented pianist…. He won a scholarship to Wakefield Cathedral where he became a choirboy…. However, by the time he was 21 things began to manifest as signs of what was to come…. He was dismissed from his job after being accused of stealing from the petty cash box – then in July 1934 he got married….but in the same year was jailed for fraud…. His new wife left him and had their baby daughter adopted; his parents disowned him….

On release from prison in 1936 Haigh moved to London and found employment as a chauffeur to wealthy amusement arcade owner William McSwan…. At the same time he continued to live his fraudulent life, masquerading as William Cato Adamson, a solicitor with offices in London, Guildford and Hastings…. He ‘specialised’ in selling phoney stocks and shares…. However, as academically bright as he may have been, spelling was obviously his Achilles heel…. His scam was uncovered after a schoolboy error was noticed on his ‘official’ solicitor’s letterhead – he had missed the ‘d’ out of Guildford…. He was sentenced to a further four years in prison….

He was released at the beginning of World War Two and immediately resumed his life as a career fraudster – resulting in several more prison sentences…. The problem was that his victims kept reporting him – it eventually dawned on him that they couldn’t if they were dead! He spent the remainder of his latest prison sentence devising the perfect way of getting rid of them….

Haigh became fascinated with the methods used by French murderer Georges-Alexandre Sarret – who dissolved bodies by using sulphuric acid…. Haigh started to experiment using various types of acid on mice…. He discovered it took 30 minutes to dissolve a field mouse – he began to calculate how long it would take and how much acid he would need to dissolve a full grown man….

After being released from prison he took a job in the accounting department of an engineering company…. Then one day he happened to bump into his former employer, William McSwan – who had now become a landlord with tenants in multiple properties, owned by his parents…. He had an extremely lavish lifestyle and Haigh was insanely jealous….

A few months later he arranged to meet McSwan and then lured him to the basement of a warehouse he had rented…. He hit McSwan over the head – and then after putting his body into a 40-gallon drum poured sulphuric acid over him…. When he returned two days later he found the body had turned to a sludge – and so he tipped it down a convenient manhole….

Haigh told McSwan’s parents that their son had gone into hiding to avoid being called up for military service…. He then took over the collecting of rents from the tenants…. When McSwan’s parents became suspicious when their son failed to return at the end of the War Haigh was to lure them to his warehouse basement, where they too met the same fate…. Haigh then sold their possessions for around £8,000 by forging their signatures and moved into Onslow Court Hotel in Kensington…. He kept their car and dog though!

Haigh developed an acute gambling habit and so the money did not last long…. He began to look for his next victims…. He also decided he needed bigger premises, where he could store more drums of acid – and so he rented a larger warehouse on Leopold Road, Crawley, West Sussex….

He then went to view the house of Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose, which was on the property market…. He made up some pretext to get the doctor to visit his warehouse and once there, shot him in the head…. Receiving a call from Haigh to say that her husband was unwell Rose rushed to Leopold Road – where she too was shot…. The bodies of the husband and wife were then dissolved in acid….

Haigh was still living at Onslow Court Hotel and was befriended by a wealthy fellow resident, 69 year old widow Olive Durand – who fancied herself as a bit of an entrepreneurial inventor…. On hearing that Haigh worked for an engineering company she sought his advice on an idea she had for artificial fingernails…. On the 18th of February 1949, feigning interest and a desire to help her, Haigh took her to his warehouse – and murdered her….

Now, Haigh had overlooked one important factor when he rented his new warehouse – it had no convenient manhole…. He had to resort to dumping the sludge from his acid drums on a pile of rubble at the back of the building….

It did not take long for this to be discovered…. 28lbs of body fat, part of a foot and gall stones were found, along with a piece of denture, which was identified as belonging to Olive by her dentist…. Haigh was arrested and taken to Horsham Police Station; he confessed to the six murders – and to three more…. He claimed to have also killed a girl from Eastbourne, a woman from Hammersmith and a man called Max – although no evidence could be found….

Peel House, the former Sussex Police Headquarters at Horsham – where Haigh was held

At his trial Haigh pleaded insanity – even saying that he drank the blood of his victims…. His claim was dismissed…. It took the jury just minutes to find him guilty…. Mr Justice Travers Humphreys passed the death sentence and he was taken to the condemned cell at Wandsworth Prison…. Haigh was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on the 10th of August 1949….

Haigh in custody – Image credit : Mitch Hell via Flickr

On this day in history….25th June 1953

On this day in history : 25th June 1953 – John Christie is sentenced to hang for the murder of his wife and then hiding her body under the floorboards of their Notting Hill home, 10 Rillington Place….

Before his own trial Christie had been a key witness for the Crown in another murder trial – that of Timothy Evans, another resident at the Notting Hill address…. Evans had stood trial, accused of the murder of his wife and child – and although the murder charge for his wife was not pursued he was convicted of killing his daughter and was sequently hanged….

Christie himself was no stranger to the criminal world…. Throughout his adult life he had committed a string of petty crimes and had spent time in prison…. He had served a three month sentence for stealing postal orders whilst working as a postman, nine months for theft, six months for assaulting the prostitute girlfriend he had briefly lived with and another three months for stealing a car from a priest he had befriended….

Christie had a troubled childhood and grew up with some abnormal ideas on how a healthy sexual relationship should be conducted…. He married Ethel in 1920 but because of his sexual hang-ups was impotent with her – he could only perform with prostitutes and so he continued to use their services…. After four years the marriage broke up – but in 1933, after his last prison sentence, they got back together….

In December 1938 the Christies moved into the ground floor flat of 10 Rillington Place in the Ladbroke Grove area of Notting Hill…. Ten years later, in the April of 1948, Timothy Evans and his pregnant wife, Beryl, moved into the top floor flat…. She gave birth to a little girl soon after, who they named Geraldine – and then in the November of 1949 Beryl discovered that she was pregnant again…. The couple were worried as they could not afford to have another baby – and so Christie said he could help them, by performing an abortion…. Only, what he actually did was strangle her and because his depraved sexual gratifications now included necrophilia – he then raped her….

When Evans arrived home Christie claimed she had died during the termination procedure…. As abortion was illegal he managed to convince Evans that they had to hide Beryl’s body and he also persuaded him to leave Geraldine with him and to go to relatives in Wales to lay low for a while…. When Evans returned to London and wanted to see his daughter Christie refused….

On the 30th of November 1949 Evans went to the police and explained he had accidentally killed Beryl by giving her a potion to end her pregnancy…. He said that he had hidden her body in a sewer – but after a search the police could not find a body…. Evans then told the truth – how Christie had offered to help them and how he, Evans, had found his wife dead on returning home from work…. He explained how Christie arranged for the disposal of her body and somebody to look after Geraldine while he disappeared to Wales….

But this late admission of the truth only added to the tangled web that had already been woven…. A search of 10 Rillington Place revealed the bodies of both his wife and child hidden in an outside wash house…. Evans was then tried for murder, the jury took just 40 minutes to find him guilty…. After a failed appeal Timothy Evans was hanged on the 9th of March 1950….

Ethel Christie was last seen on the 12th of December 1952…. Christie told people that he had been offered a good job out of the area and that his wife had gone on before him…. He eventually moved out of Rillington Place on the 20th of March 1953, booking seven days lodgings in King’s Cross…. However, he had only been there four nights when Beresford Brown, the new tenant at 10 Rillington Place, discovered the remains of three women in an alcove which had been wallpapered over…. When the news broke Christie left his lodgings and took to wandering London, sleeping rough…. The police eventually caught up with him on the 31st March 1953, on the Embankment near to Putney Bridge….

A total of eight female bodies in all were found at Rillington Place…. Those of his wife, Beryl and baby Geraldine Evans and five others:- Ruth Fuerst, a 21-year-old Austrian prostitute – Muriel Amelia Eady, a work colleague of Christie – Kathleen Maloney, prostitute – Rita Nelson, who was six months pregnant – and Hectorina MacLennan, who Christie had befriended, along with her boyfriend, Alex Baker….

At first Christie only confessed to the murders of the three bodies that had been found in the alcove and that of his wife…. He eventually admitted to Beryl’s murder – but not that of Geraldine…. He went on trial for the murder of his wife – in the same court that Evans had been convicted in – on the 22nd of June 1953…. He pleaded insanity but the jury rejected this plea – and after just 85 minutes of deliberation found him guilty…. There was no appeal….

Christie was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, who had also executed Evans, on the 15th of July…. Two-hundred people people waited outside the prison to see the execution notice…. After being restrained for the procedure to take place Christie had complained that his nose was itching – only to be told by Pierrepoint that it wouldn’t bother him for much longer….

10 Rillington Place was demolished – in the 1970s the whole street was redeveloped…. Timothy Evans was granted a posthumous pardon in 1966….

Memorial garden on the approximate location of 10 Rillington Place

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….3rd January 1946

On this day in history : 3rd January 1946 – The execution for treason of William Joyce – the Nazi propaganda broadcaster, known to the British public as ‘Lord Haw-Haw’….

Photograph of Joyce taken some time between 1939 & 45 – No known copyright restrictions – Archives of the Law Society via Flickr

‘Haw-Haw’ was a term first coined by Jonah Barrington of the Daily Express…. It actually referred to a number of announcers, with their exaggerated English accents, broadcasting during WW2 to the United Kingdom from the German radio station ‘Reichssender’, in Hamburg…. However, in time the name was to become primarily associated with Joyce….

Broadcasts would always start with “Germany calling, Germany calling”…. The aim was to attempt to break the morale and spirit of the British people – along with that of the allied troops…. Inaccurate reports of the sinking of ships and the shooting down of aircraft…. Urging the British to surrender – attacking the government and the British way of life…. Of course, most people knew it was propaganda – but at a time of heavy censorship it was often used as a way to try and find out information as to what may have become of a missing loved one…. Whilst not illegal to listen to the broadcasts it was discouraged – despite this some 18 million people in Britain are believed to have listened on occasion….

From the collections of the Imperial War Museums

So, how did the likes of Joyce come to be working for the Germans during the war? To understand this it is necessary to learn more about the background of the man….

William Brooke Joyce was born on the 24th of April 1906, in Brooklyn, New York…. He was the son of immigrants – his father was Irish and his mother Anglo-Irish…. When Joyce was 3-years-old the family returned to live in Galway, Ireland….

In 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, Joyce was recruited as a courier by Captain Keating of British Army Intelligence, in the fight against the IRA…. After an attempted assassination on him Joyce was taken to England for his safety…. He was recruited into the Worcester Regiment – but soon discharged after it was discovered he was underage….

Joyce remained in England and finished his education at Kings College School, Wimbledon…. He then studied at Birkbeck College – part of the University of London – graduating with a first-class honours in English…. After being turned down for a position with the Foreign Office he took a job as a teacher….

He began to take a keen interest in Fascism…. It was on the 22nd of October 1924, whilst attending a meeting for Jack Lazarus, Conservative candidate for North Lambeth, that Joyce was attacked by Communists…. He received a deep razor slash across his right cheek, leaving him with a prominent scar from his ear lobe to his jaw….

Joyce took a paid job in the British Union of Fascists (BUF), under Sir Oswald Mosley – and in 1934 he was made Director of Propaganda…. It was after being sacked by Mosley in 1937 that he joined a splinter group, the National Socialist League…. On learning that the British authorities intended to arrest him Joyce fled with his wife in August 1939 to Germany – just before the outbreak of WW2…. He became a naturalised German citizen in 1940 and managed to get a job at the Rundfunkhaus (the German equivalent of Broadcasting House)…. Here he made radio announcements and wrote scripts – but he was to go on to become the best-known of the propaganda broadcasters….

Still frame from 1943 – Allied propaganda cartoon – ‘Tokio Jokio’ – depicting Joyce as Lord Haw-Haw – ‘Lord Hee-Haw, Chief Windbag’

His final broadcast was made on the 30th of April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin…. He finished the broadcast with “Heil Hitler and farewell” – the following day Radio Hamburg was seized by the British – but Joyce had managed to make his escape….

Nearly a month later, on the 28th of May, Joyce was captured at the German/Danish border by British intelligence officers…. During his arrest he was shot through the buttocks – as he had gone to his pocket to produce his false passport but the officers had believed him to be armed….

THE CAPTURE OF WILLIAM JOYCE, GERMANY, 1945 (BU 6910) William Joyce lies in an ambulance under armed guard before being taken from British 2nd Army Headquarters to hospital. He had been shot in the thigh at the time of his arrest. Copyright: � IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205192927

Initially it was thought that due to his American nationality Joyce would have to be acquitted – it was reasoned that he could not be convicted of treason against a country that was not his own…. However, at his trial it was successfully argued that since he had obtained a British passport, by not revealing his true nationality, he had in fact had allegiance to the King and country whilst the passport was valid – and this happened to be the period of time during which he was working for Germany…. Joyce was convicted and sentenced to death on the 19th of September 1945….

The sentence was upheld on the 1st of November 1945 after an appeal – and he was executed at Wandsworth Prison on the 3rd of January 1946 by hangman Albert Pierrepoint…. As he went to the gallows Joyce was unrepentant – as he fell the pressure from the drop split the old scar on his face wide open….

Joyce was buried in an unmarked grave within the prison walls but – after a long campaign by his daughter – in 1979 his body was reinterred in Galway, Ireland….

British History

On this day in history….28th October 1986

On this day in history : 28th October 1986 – Jeremy Bamber is jailed for life for the White House Farm murders – where he killed five members of his own family….

Bamber shortly after his arrest – Fair use

The Bambers were a wealthy farming family, living at White House Farm, a large Georgian property near to Tolleshunt D’Arcy in Essex…. Jeremy was legally adopted by the family as a baby…. Four years previously they had also adopted a baby girl, Sheila….

White House Farm (in 2007) – Image credit : Glyn Baker CC BY-SA 2.0

After leaving school Bamber’s adoptive father paid for him to travel to Australia and New Zealand…. Here he reputedly became involved in drug smuggling – and also broke into a jewellery shop, stealing two valuable watches….

Once he had returned to the UK and after a few casual jobs, Bamber began to work for the family farm…. However, he was resentful of the low wage – despite living rent free in one of the family’s cottages and having been given a car…. He further showed his lack of appreciation by committing a robbery at the caravan park owned by his family….

Bamber’s adoptive parents Neville and June Bamber – Fair use

Bamber’s adoptive sister, Sheila, had been treated in hospital for schizophrenia…. On the 7th of August 1985 at 3.30am 24-year-old Bamber phoned the police to say his father had phoned him and told him that Sheila had got hold of his gun and had gone berserk with it…. When the police arrived at the house they found her dead, with the gun lay on her chest – along with a Bible…. Her mother lay dead in the same room, her father was found dead in the kitchen and Sheila’s 6-year-old twin boys lay dead in their beds upstairs….

Sheila and her twin boys, Daniel and Caffell (around 1984) – Fair use

At first police believed that Sheila had killed them all before turning the gun on herself…. But when Bamber’s girlfriend came forward and said that he had talked about killing his parents forensic tests were carried out and revealed his fingerprints on the gun…. Bamber had been set to inherit £436,000….

As the guilty verdict was read out at Chelmsford Crown Court Bamber showed little reaction…. Judge Mr. Justice Drake described him as “Warped and evil beyond belief”…. He then handed down five life sentences….

Bamber has always protested his innocence…. In July 2001 an inquiry was launched into the case and it was referred back to the Court of Appeal…. In December 2002 Bamber lost his appeal….

British History

On this day in history….13th August 1964

On this day in history : 13th August 1964 – The last two criminals to face the death penalty in Britain are simultaneously hanged for the murder of a laundry van driver In Cumberland….

24 year old Gwynne Evans dropped to his death at the hands of hangman Harry Allen in Strangeways Prison, Manchester – whilst at exactly the precise same time 21 year old Peter Allen was hanged in Walton Jail, Liverpool by Robert Leslie Stewart….

The pair had been convicted of killing 53 year old John Alan West at his home in Seaton, Cumberland…. John West, known as ‘Jack’, was a bachelor and had worked for the Lakeland Laundry at Workington for 34 years…. He had returned home after an ordinary days work and gone about his usual evening routine…. But then, at 3am, a neighbour was woken by noises coming from West’s house…. On looking out of the window he saw a car disappearing – and he called the police…. West was found dead, with severe head injuries and a stab wound to the chest….

A search of the property revealed a raincoat which had been left behind by Evans…. In one of the pockets was a medal, along with the name and address of a Norma O’Brian in Liverpool…. The police contacted her and she confirmed that she knew Evans and that the medal belonged to him….

Evans was traced through his criminal and army records to the home of his parents – and from there they were able to find Allen…. Within 36 hours both men had been arrested – on being questioned Allen initially claimed that he had been at home with his wife on the night of the murder – however, it soon came to be that both men were blaming each other for striking the fatal blows…. Both were found guilty of murder at trial….

By now public opinion had turned against capital punishment – despite this calls for a reprieve failed…. Theirs were, however, to be the last executions in Britain….