Jack the Ripper

 Jack the Ripper was a serial killer of women in the East End of London in 1888. The murderer was never caught and the case remains a mystery.

The Victims

Martha Tabram (?)

Nobody is certain how many women Jack the Ripper killed. Most people think there were 5 victims but there may have been others. One possible victim was Martha Tabram. Martha was born in 1849 and married in 1869. The couple separated in 1875, and Martha eventually became a sex worker. On 6 August 1888, on a bank holiday, Martha was with another woman called Pearly Poll. The two met a pair of soldiers in a pub.

The body of Martha Tabram was found on the stairs of a tenement block called George Yard Buildings. A couple called Mahoney who lived in the building saw nobody there at 1.40 am on 7 August. Then at 2 pm, PC Thomas Barrett saw a soldier in George Yard who said he was waiting for a friend who had gone with a girl. At 3.30 am a cab driver who lived in George Yard Buildings came home from work and saw what he thought was a woman sleeping on a first-floor landing. Then at 4.45, a man named John Reeves was going to work. By now it was getting light and Reeves saw the woman was in a pool of blood. The body was examined by Dr Timothy Killeen who estimated Martha had been killed about 2.30 am.

Martha had been stabbed 39 times. It was a frenzied attack. We don't know if Martha was killed by a soldier or if after parting from him she met Jack the Ripper. At any rate, the two soldiers were never identified.

Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols

The first definite victim of Jack the Ripper was Mary Ann Nichols, known as Polly. She was born in 1845 and married a printer named William Nichols when she was 19. Polly had 5 children, Edward, Percy, Alice, Eliza, and Henry. However, by 1880 the couple were separated. For a time William Nichols paid her an allowance of 5 shillings a week but he stopped it in 1882 when he learned she was a sex worker.

For much of the next 8 years, Polly was in the workhouse. then in April 1888, Polly found a job as a maid to a couple called Cowdray who lived in Wandsworth. However, in July 1888 Polly absconded with clothes worth 3 pounds and 10 shillings (a large sum of money in those days. There were 20 shillings in a pound and many people earned less than 1 pound a week).

By August 1888 Polly was living in doss houses in Whitechapel. At 1.20 am on Friday 31 August 1888, Polly went to a doss house on Thrawl Street but she was turned away because she did not have the money for a bed. (In those days the price of a bed was commonly 4 pence). She said 'I'll soon get my doss money, see what a jolly bonnet I've got now'. At 2.30 am Polly met a woman named Ellen Holland. Polly said she had earned her 'doss money' (money for a bed in a doss house) 3 times that day but had spent it (on drink). Ellen tried to persuade her to return to the doss house in Thrawl Street but she refused. Instead, Polly went off to earn more money.

At about 3.40 am the body of Mary Ann Nichols (Polly) was found in Bucks Row (now called Durward Street). The body was taken to Whitechapel Mortuary. There were two cuts in her throat and several cuts in her abdomen. Poor Polly was buried in the City of London Cemetery on 6 September 1888.

Annie Chapman

The second definite victim of Jack the Ripper was Annie Chapman. She was born Eliza Ann Smith in London in 1841. In 1869, aged 28 she married a coachman named John Chapman. They had 3 children but 1 daughter died in 1882. By then Annie was separated from her husband who died in 1886. At the time of her death, Annie was living at a common lodging house in Dorset Street. Like the other victims she was a sex worker.

At 11.30 pm on Friday 7 September Annie was allowed into the kitchen of the lodging house but at 1.35 am she was turned out because she didn't have the money for a bed. Shortly before 5.30 am on Saturday 8 September a woman saw Annie with a man in Hanbury Street. The man said 'will you?' and Annie replied 'yes'. The man was facing away from the witness but she said he had a deerstalker hat on and was shabby-genteel in appearance.

Then at about 5.25 a.m., a man named Albert Cadosh went into the backyard of 27 Hanbury Street. He heard a woman in the backyard of no. 29 say 'no'. At about 6 am John Davis went into the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street and discovered the body of Annie Chapman. The body was taken to Whitechapel Infirmary where Dr George Bagster Phillips examined it. Her throat was cut. Her intestines had been cut out and laid on her shoulder and the uterus had been removed and taken away.

Why the murderer took her uterus is not known but perhaps like certain serial killers he wanted to have trophies of his victims. Or perhaps for him, a uterus was symbolic. Perhaps it was symbolic of women or symbolic of their power to give life. We will never know. At any rate, Annie Chapman was buried on 14 September 1888 at Manor Park Cemetery in Forest Gate.

On 27 September 1888, a letter arrived at the Central News Agency in London (which provided stories to London newspapers). The letter claimed to be from the murderer but it is generally believed it was a hoax. However, the letter was signed Yours Truly Jack the Ripper. So a hoaxer gave the murderer a sensational name.

Elizabeth Stride

We are not certain if Elizabeth Stride was a victim of Jack the Ripper. She was born Elizabeth Gustafsdottir in 1843 in Sweden. In 1865 Liz had a stillborn daughter. The next year, 1866 Elizabeth moved to London. In 1869 she married John Stride. The couple separated about 1877 and John died in 1884. Elizabeth became known as 'Long Liz' because of her surname Stride. She too, was a sex worker.

At 11 pm on Saturday 29 September, 2 labourers saw Elizabeth leaving the Bricklayers Arms in Settles Street. At 11.45 pm another labourer saw Liz with a man in Berner Street (now called Henriques Street). The man told her 'You would say anything but your prayers'. Then at 12.30 PC Smith saw Elizabeth with a man in Berner Street. The man was about 28. He was about 5 feet 7 inches tall and wearing a dark coat and a deerstalker hat. He was carrying a parcel wrapped in newspaper.

What happened next is not certain. At 12.45 am a man named James Brown said he saw Elizabeth with a man in nearby Fairclouth Street. The woman said 'No, not tonight. Maybe some other night'. However, at the same time, a man called Israel Schwartz claimed he saw Liz with a man in Berner Street. The man pushed Elizabeth to the ground. Schwartz said he then noticed a man on the other side of the street with a pipe. The man attacking Liz shouted 'Lipski!' (Israel Lipski was a murderer and his name was a term of anti-Semitic abuse). Schwartz then fled from the scene. Obviously, one of these witnesses was mistaken so we are not sure what happened.

Whatever happened at that time the body of Elizabeth Stride was found at 1 am in Dutfields Yard off Berner Street by a man named Louis Diemschutz. He was driving a pony and cart but when he tried to enter the yard the pony shied. It was very dark but when he lit a match Diemschutz saw the body of a woman. Her throat was cut but her body was not mutilated. Maybe the killer was interrupted before he could mutilate Elizabeth Stride. Dr Frederick Blackwell arrived at 1.10 am and said Elizabeth had been dead for no more than 20 minutes.

If Israel Schwartz was right and the man who pushed Elizabeth to the ground later murdered her he might not have been the Whitechapel murderer. It is possible some other man killed Liz after some kind of argument. It is also possible she left the man who pushed her over and immediately afterwards, she met the murderer.

Catherine Eddowes

The next victim of Jack the Ripper was Catherine or Kate Eddowes. She was born in Wolverhampton in 1842 but her family moved to London in 1843. As a young woman, Kate lived with a man named Thomas Conway and they had 3 children in 1863, 1868, and 1873 but the couple separated in 1880. From 1881 Catherine lived with a labourer named John Kelly. In September 1888 they went hop-picking in Kent but when they returned at the end of the month they separated. Kate turned to sex work.

At 8.30 pm on Saturday 29 September 1888 Catherine Eddowes was arrested for being drunk in Aldgate High Street. She was taken to Bishopsgate Police Station and locked in a cell to sober up. PC Hutt released Catherine at 1.00 am on Sunday 30 September. Catherine said 'I shall get a damn fine hiding when I get home'. PC Hutt replied 'And serves you right. You have no right to get drunk'. Her last words were 'Alright Good night old cock'.

At 1.35 Catherine Eddowes was seen by 3 men at the entrance to Church Passage (now called St James Passage). Eddowes had her hand on his chest. The man was about 30 and was 5 feet 7 or 8 inches tall. He was of medium build and had a mustache. The body of Catherine Eddowes was found in a corner of Mitre Square by PC Watkins at 1.44 am.

The body was examined by Dr Frederick Brown. Once again the throat was cut. The intestines were drawn out and placed over the right shoulder. (Although a piece about 2 feet long had been cut off and placed between the body and the left arm). The uterus had been removed. (The murderer also removed the uterus of Annie Chapman but why he wanted them is a mystery). The left kidney was also missing from the body. The killer also made several cuts to Kate's face.

Meanwhile, at 2.55 am PC Long found a section of an apron at the bottom of the staircase of Wentworth Model Buildings in Goulston Street. The piece of apron had been cut from an apron worn by Catherine Eddowes. Above the piece of apron, the words 'The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing' were written in chalk.

However, it is not clear if the killer wrote those words or if somebody else did some time before. On 16 October George Lusk Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee received a letter and a parcel. In it was half a human kidney. The writer claimed the kidney was from Eddowes and he fried and ate the other piece. It is generally believed it was a hoax.

Catherine Eddowes was buried on 8 October 1888.

Mary Jane Kelly

The last definite victim of the Whitechapel murderer was an Irish woman named Mary Jane Kelly. Not much is known about her for certain. She was younger than the other victims and was about 25 when she died. Mary Jane was born about 1863 in Limerick, Ireland and it is said her family moved to Wales when she was small. By about 1884 Mary was living in London. She was a sex worker.

Mary lived in a single room in a building in Millers Court. This was a group of buildings arranged around a small courtyard. The court was off Dorset Street and it was reached through an alley about 3 feet wide and 20 feet long. Her only furniture was a bed, a washstand, and 2 small tables. Her body was found in this hovel.

At 2.00 am on Friday 9 November, a man named George Hutchinson met Kelly in the street. She asked to borrow 6 pence but he did not have the money. As she walked away a stranger approached Mary. Hutchinson heard him say to Mary 'You will be alright for what I have told you'. He said the man was about 34 or 35 and was 5 feet 6 inches tall. Hutchinson described the man as 'shabby genteel'.

He followed the pair to the entrance of Millers Court where Mary said to the stranger 'Alright my dear. Come along you will be comfortable'. She kissed the man with her and said she had lost her red handkerchief. The man gave her one to replace it. Hutchinson hung around for 45 minutes then left the area.

At about 3.45 am 3 people in Millers Court heard a cry of 'Oh murder!'. None of them took any notice as such cries were common in the area. Then at 10.45, the landlord sent a man to collect the rent Mary owed. He reached through a broken windowpane and moved a coat hung as a curtain. He saw the mutilated body of Mary Jane Kelly.

Her breasts were cut off and the internal organs were removed from her abdomen. Her uterus, kidneys, and breasts were found under her head. The other breast was found by her right foot. The liver was placed between her feet. The intestines were on the right side of the body and the spleen was on the left. The poor woman's face was obliterated. The murderer had also cut the flesh off her thighs. The heart was missing.

Mary Jane Kelly was buried in St Patrick's RC Cemetery in Leytonstone on 19 November.

On the morning of 9 November, Mrs Paumier was selling hot chestnuts on the corner of Widegate Street and Sandys Row. A man approached her and said: 'I suppose you have heard about the murder in Dorset Street?'. Mrs Paumier replied that she had. The man grinned and said: 'I know more about it than you do'. the man was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and had a mustache. He wore a black coat and hat and he carried a black bag. However, we do not know if he was the killer or if it was a hoax.

Alice McKenzie (?)

Several months after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly a woman named Alice McKenzie was murdered. However, it is unlikely she was a victim of Jack the Ripper as her throat was not cut. Instead, she was stabbed in the neck twice and the body was not mutilated (although there were cuts in her abdomen). Alice was from Peterborough and was born about 1849. She was known as Clay Pipe Alice because she smoked a pipe. At the time of her death, Alice McKenzie was living in Gun Street with a man named John McCormack. However, at 2.50 am on 17 July 1889 PC Andrews discovered the body of Alice McKenzie in Castle Alley. In July 1889 Alice McKenzie was buried in Plaistow Cemetery.

The Pinchin Street Torso (?)

On 10 September 1889, PC Pennett found a woman's torso with its head and legs cut off covered by a piece of women's clothing under a railway arch on Pinchin Street. The abdomen was mutilated. The victim was never identified and the killer was never caught. However, it is unlikely the woman was a victim of Jack the Ripper because the killer's method of dealing with the body was quite different.

Frances Coles (?)

Another woman was murdered in 1891. She was called Frances Coles but she was also known as Carroty Nell. However, it is unlikely she was a victim of Jack the Ripper because she was still alive when she was found. Frances Coles was found in Swallow Gardens (which no longer exists). PC Thompson discovered the body at 2.15 am on Friday 13 February. He shone his torch in her face and she opened one eye. However, she died shortly afterward. The killer was never caught. It seems that Frances Coles and Alice McKenzie were killed by some other unknown men.

What Sort of Man Was Jack the Ripper?

Jack the Ripper must have been a local man since he knew his way in the rabbit warren of streets and alleys. He probably had a job as he usually killed at the weekends. The murderer was probably working class. In fiction, he is sometimes shown as a gentleman with a top hat and cape but in reality, people who probably saw the murderer said he was not particularly well dressed. Furthermore, if he lived locally it is unlikely he was well off as the great majority of people in Whitechapel were working class. Jack probably lived alone as he went out in the early hours of the morning and returned with blood on him without arousing any suspicion. Witnesses said Jack was in his late 20s or early 30s and that is the age at which serial killers usually murder people.

It is debatable if Jack the Ripper had any surgical skills. Some people at the time thought he did but others disagreed. He may have been a slaughterman. If he was that would enable him to walk through the streets with blood on him without arousing suspicion. Lastly, Jack the Ripper had a murderous hatred of women. Why is not known but it has been suggested he was abused by his mother. Of course none of the above is certain.

The Suspects

William Bury

William Bury lived in Bow, in London at the time of the murders and he sold sawdust for a living. In January 1889 he moved with his wife Ellen to Dundee. In February 1889 he strangled his wife with a rope and then cut the body several times with a knife. Amazingly Bury then went to the police and gave himself up. He claimed his wife committed suicide. Not surprisingly he was not believed and Bury was hanged in April 1889.

However, Bury killed by strangulation with a rope while Jack the Ripper cut his victim's throats. He also killed strangers while Bury killed his wife. Furthermore, it does not seem likely that a cunning man who had evaded capture after several murders would just go to the police and hand himself in. Altogether William Bury is not a convincing suspect.

George Chapman

Chapman was born in Poland in 1865 (his real name was Severin Klosowski). He moved to London in the 1880s and later married 3 women. He poisoned all 3 of them (In 1897, 1901, and 1902). Chapman was hanged in 1903. Again there is no evidence to link Chapman to the Whitechapel murders. The murders he committed were different. Jack the Ripper killed strangers by cutting their throats and then mutilating them. Chapman married women and then poisoned them. Furthermore, at the time of Jack the Ripper Chapman was only 23, which makes him younger than the man eyewitnesses saw.

David Cohen

On 7 December 1888, David Cohen was arrested as a lunatic wandering at large. He was sent to Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary and then to an asylum. Cohen was violent but he died of natural causes in October 1889. There is nothing to link Cohen with the Whitechapel murders and he was probably too deranged to have carried them out. Jack the Ripper was cunning and he must have been able to act normally when not killing people to avoid suspicion. Cohen sounds too disorganised to have been Jack the Ripper.

Montague John Druitt

Druitt was born in 1857 into a well-off family in Dorset. At the time of the murders in 1888, he was working as a barrister in London. He was also working part-time in a school but for some reason, he was dismissed from there on 30 November. Druitt committed suicide at the beginning of December by jumping in the Thames and his body was found on 31 December. Druitt left a note saying he feared he was going to be like his mother (she was mentally ill). He may also have been depressed about losing his job at the school. However, there is no evidence that this unfortunate man was Jack the Ripper. He seems to have become a suspect purely because he killed himself about a month after the last murder.

Aaron Kosminski

On 7 February 1891, Aaron Kosminski was sent to an asylum and he stayed there until he died in 1919. Kosminski heard voices and ate food from the gutter. Kosminski was mentally ill but while he was in an asylum he was never violent (except once when he attacked somebody with a chair). It is said that Kosminski threatened his sister with a knife. We don't know exactly what happened but it probably was a domestic argument. (Domestic violence was common in the East End). There is no evidence that Kosminski was Jack the Ripper.

Michael Ostrog

It is believed that Michael Ostrog was born in Russia in about 1833. He was a con man and a thief. However, Ostrog was never violent. He was also tall and stood about 5 feet 11 inches tall, which makes him much too tall for any of the eyewitness descriptions of Jack. Ostrog was also much older than the man seen by witnesses. Furthermore, it is not certain if Ostrog was in London at the time of the murders. He was sentenced to 2 years for theft in Paris on 18 November 1888. All in all, it seems most unlikely Ostrog was the Whitechapel murderer.

Francis Tumblety

Francis Tumblety was born in 1833 and he was a quack doctor. He was in London in 1888. However, Tumblety was in his mid-50s in 1888, and eyewitnesses saw a much younger man. Furthermore, he was 5 feet 10 inches tall. (That was tall by the standards of Victorian London) and people who saw the killer described a younger man. By all accounts, Tumblety was a rogue but there is no evidence that he was violent and there is nothing to link him with the Whitechapel murders.

Prince Albert Victor, the Duke of Clarence

Prince Albert Victor was the grandson of Queen Victoria. His father was the future King Edward VII. Albert Victor was born in 1864. He was partly deaf and according to some accounts, he had mild learning difficulties. He died during an influenza epidemic in 1892.

Leaving aside the question of motive, Albert Victor was too tall to fit the witness's descriptions of the killer. In any case, he had an alibi for the nights of the murders. When Polly Nicholls and Annie Chapman were killed he was in Yorkshire. He was in Scotland when Liz Stride and Kate Eddowes were murdered and he was in Norfolk when Mary Kelly died. In short, it is very unlikely that Prince Albert Victor was Jack the Ripper.

Did Jack the Ripper strike in Havant?

 Havant has a connection with Jack the Ripper. At the time of the murders, in 1888 a letter with a Portsmouth postmark was sent to a magistrate claiming to be from Jack the Ripper. The writer said not to look for him in London because 'I'm not there'. Shortly afterwards a boy in Havant was stabbed 3 times in the throat and died. A lot of people were afraid that Jack was in the area but it seems unlikely as he killed women, not boys.

At about 6 pm on 26 November 1888 an 8-year-old boy called Percy Searle was walking along a lane between Manor Close and Pallant House. (His mother sent him to get some material from a drapers shop in North Street). He was stabbed in the neck 3 times. One stab severed an artery and caused him to bleed to death. An 11-year-old boy named Thomas Husband said he heard a ‘squeal’ and saw a man stabbing Percy. Thomas said he shouted ‘murder’ and the man ran away. 

Thomas ran and grabbed a man named John Platt by the arm. He told Platt what had happened. Platt persuaded the boy to go with him to the site of the murder and then told him to fetch the police. But instead of going to the police station Thomas Husband went home and washed his hands. The police found a knife near the body of the victim. 

The unfortunate boy, Percy Searle was laid to rest in New Road Cemetery in Havant on 1 December 1888.

Meanwhile, the odd behaviour of the boy Thomas Husband made the police suspicious. Why did he wash his hands? Husband said he was passing the end of the lane when he witnessed the murder but the police thought he could not, in fact, have seen it from that point. They then discovered the knife belonged to Thomas’s older brother, George. He admitted it was his knife and said he usually carried it in his jacket pocket. But he said that on Sunday (the day before the murder) he changed into his ‘Sunday clothes’. He had not seen the knife since. 

On 28 November 1888, the police arrested Thomas Husband. They found spots of blood on his clothes (although there was no proof they came from the dead boy). 

The trial of Thomas Husband began on 19 December 1888. He did not give evidence himself but an expert witness, Professor Tidy, said the blood spots on the boy’s clothes were at least a month old. 

He also said that if Thomas Husband had stabbed the victim his hands would certainly have been bloodstained. Thomas Husband’s father and stepmother said they saw no blood on his hands when he came home and his stepmother said she told him to wash his ‘coaly’ hands. John Platt, the man first approached by Thomas Husband said that when Husband grabbed his sleeve his hands were not covered in blood.

The defence lawyer also argued that Thomas Husband could not have killed Percy Searle because he was only slightly taller than him and it would have taken the strength of a grown man to stab him to death. (In his summing up the judge told the jury they would have to decide if it was physically possible).

A boy named Charles Clark told the court that on the day of the murder, Husband had waved a knife at a boy and said ‘I am Jack the Ripper’. He could not swear it was the same knife used to kill Percy Searle. The judge warned the jury it might just be ‘childish play’. 

The jury took less than a quarter of an hour to find Thomas Husband not guilty. The case was never solved and it remains a mystery.

Catherine Wilson, the poisoner

 Catherine Wilson has the distinction of being the last woman to be hanged in public in London. Public executions drew big crowds as they were free entertainment. Catherine Wilson was a female poisoner. Her poison of choice was colchicum, a kind of crocus. In small doses, it was used as a medicine but in large doses, it could kill. Wilson was born in 1822. She became a housekeeper to a man named Captain Peter Mawr. However, Captain Mawr made the mistake of telling Wilson he had left something in his will for her. Captain Mawr suffered from gout and he took colchicum to treat it. Unfortunately, he died from an overdose in 1854. At first, it was believed it was accidental.

Wilson then moved to London with her partner, a man named Dixon. Wilson worked for a woman named Maria Soames. However, Dixon died in 1856, probably poisoned. (He was a heavy drinker and Wilson was probably tired of him). Her employer Maria Soames then became ill and died.

Wilson next worked for a woman named Sarah Carnell. However, she unwisely tried to poison the woman by giving her sulfuric acid to drink. Carnell spat it out and it burned the sheets. Wilson then fled but she was arrested and put on trial for attempted murder. Wilson claimed that a pharmacist had given her acid instead of medicine by mistake. The jury found her not guilty but as she left the courtroom Wilson was arrested again, this time for the murder of Maria Soames. This time she was found guilty. Catherine Wilson was hanged on 20 October 1862.

Haigh - The Acid Bath Murderer

John George Haigh murdered people for money, then dissolved the bodies in acid. He was born on 24 July 1909 in Lincolnshire, but his family moved to Yorkshire. 

Haigh's parents belonged to the Plymouth Brethren, a strict religious sect, although whether it had any bearing on his later behaviour is unknown. Haigh was certainly a psychopath. 

Haigh won a scholarship to attend Wakefield Grammar School, which meant he was a choirboy in Wakefield Cathedral. 

After leaving school, Haigh did clerical jobs. He also married in 1934, but the marriage was short-lived. Haigh turned to fraud, but he was not very good at it. He kept getting caught. 

His first prison sentence was in November 1934. He was released in December 1935. In 1936, he moved to London, hoping to make a fresh start. For a time, he worked as a chauffeur for a young man named William McSwan. Haigh was convicted of fraud again in 1937. He was released in August 1940. He then worked as a fire watcher, alerting the fire brigade when necessary. However, in June 1941 he was sent to prison again. He was released in 1943. 

It has been suggested that Haigh was affected by his experiences during the Second World War and that is what led him to murder. Or maybe the third time he was in prison, he was determined not to get caught again.

This time, while in prison, Haigh obtained acid from the prison workshop. He also obtained dead mice that prisoners had caught. He carried out experiments by dissolving dead mice in acid. It had obviously occurred to him that he could destroy a human body that way. 

Haigh foolishly believed that he could not be convicted of murder if there was no body. He was wrong. English law does not require a body to prove murder. Haigh often told his fellow prisoners that murder could not be proven without a corpus delicti. But he misunderstood the Latin phrase. It means a body of evidence that a crime has been committed. It doesn't mean a human body. Haigh was sure he could get away with murder - and for a while he did- but he was eventually caught.

His first victim was William McSwan, who had employed him before. The two met, apparently by accident, and renewed their friendship. On 6 September 1944, Haigh lured William and then hit him over the head with an iron bar. He finished off William McSwan and placed him in an oil drum. He then filled it with acid. After two days, the body had dissolved into sludge, which Haigh poured down a drain. 

Haigh told William's parents that their son had disappeared to avoid conscription. Haigh then persuaded them to employ him as a rent-collector. On 2 July 1945, he lured William's father to a basement workshop, where he killed him. William's mother arrived about an hour later, and Haigh killed her too. He had two more oil drums in which to dissolve the bodies. 

Afterwards, Haigh faked their signatures. He sold the McSwans' property, and he persuaded people that they had emigrated to Australia. However, Haigh spent huge amounts of money on gambling, and by 1948 he was starting to run out of money. His next two victims were Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rosalie. 

On 13 February 1948, Haigh persuaded Archie Henderson to a workshop he rented in Crawley, Sussex, by telling him he had an invention to show him. Haigh shot Dr Henderson with a revolver and placed him in an acid bath. Later he lured Rosalie Henderson to his workshop. He shot her and dissolved her in acid too. Once again, Haigh forged their signatures, allowing him to sell their property. He managed to convince people that the Hendersons had gone to live in South Africa. However, Haigh continued his lavish spending, and before long he was running short of money again.

His last victim was a wealthy widow named Olive Durand-Deacon. In 1949, Haigh was living in the Onslow Hotel in London; Mrs Durand-Deacon was a fellow guest. She befriended Haigh. She had a scheme to manufacture false fingernails, and Haigh feigned interest. He invited her to come to his workshop in Crawley. 

On 18 February 1949, Haigh gave her a lift to his workshop. When she entered the workshop, Haigh shot her in the back of the head. Haigh placed the body in an acid bath. He then pawned Olive's jewellery. He took her Persian lamb coat to a dry cleaner. 

Haigh then drove back to London. Later he went back to the workshop and poured out the dissolved body on the ground. But Haigh was becoming careless. The body had not been completely destroyed, and parts of it remained on the ground. 

Meanwhile, other residents of the hotel naturally noticed Olive was missing, and became worried. A woman named Constance Lane told the police. They spoke to the residents of the hotel, and a policewoman, Alexandra Lambourne, was immediately suspicious of Haigh. She persuaded her superiors to check if he had a criminal record. They found out he had convictions for fraud. 

They also discovered he had a workshop in Crawley. They searched it and found a receipt for Olive's Persian lamb coat from the dry cleaners. They also found a revolver that had been recently fired. They also discovered that Haigh had sold the dead woman's jewellery.

Haigh realised the game was up and he confessed to the murder of Olive Durand-Deacon. He also told the police about the other murders he committed. However, Haigh hoped he could escape execution by pretending to be insane. He claimed to be a vampire and that he drank the blood of his victims. 

The police searched the ground around the workshop in Crawley. Despite Haigh's boast that he had completely destroyed the body of Olive Durand-Deacon, traces of her were found, including animal fat, which acid does not dissolve. Olive had been suffering from gallstones, and a layer of fat covered them and protected them. There were also fragments of foot bones (they probably survived because the body was not completely immersed in acid). Most telling of all, the police found a denture, which a dentist identified as belonging to Olive. 

Haigh went on trial for murder on 18 July 1949. He pleaded not guilty because of insanity. But the jury were most unlikely to accept his plea as he obviously killed for money. Nevertheless, the defence called Dr Yellowlees, who said that Haigh was a 'paranoiac'. However, the prosecution lawyer asked Dr Yellowlees if Haigh knew he was doing something punishable by law. Yellowlees was forced to admit he did. The prosecution lawyer added, 'Punishable by law and therefore wrong?' Yellowlees had to say yes. 

The jury found Haigh guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to death. John George Haigh was hanged on 10 August 1949. 

Martha Place - the first woman executed in the electric chair

 Martha Place was the first woman to be executed by the electric chair. She murdered her stepmother and attempted to murder her husband. 

Martha was born on 8 September 1849 in New Jersey, USA. Her birth name was Martha Garrettson. Martha married Wesley Savacool, and they had a son. But the marriage was short-lived. Wesley left, and Martha could not look after her son. So she agreed to have him adopted. 

In 1893, she married William Place. He had a teenage daughter named Ida from a previous marriage, and it seems Martha was very jealous of her. She resented the girl because she was very popular and she was close to her father. She also wanted her son to come and live with them, but Place refused, much to Martha’s annoyance. The couple grew apart. 

On 7 February 1899, Martha had a row with 17-year-old Ida. Martha threw carbolic acid in Ida’s face. She then killed the girl by suffocating her. attacked William Place with an axe when he came home from work. Place managed to escape and summon help. 

When William Place came back from work, Martha attacked him with an axe. Fortunately, William survived. Martha ran upstairs, perhaps thinking William was dead. He managed to stumble outside, where neighbours saw him and called the police.

The police found Martha unconscious. She had attempted to kill herself by turning on gas taps. The police also found the dead body of Ida Place. Martha was, at first, taken to a hospital, but when she recovered, she was charged with the murder of Ida and the attempted murder of William.

At her trial, Martha claimed to be innocent. However, not surprisingly, the jury did not believe her and she was found guilty. Martha was sentenced to death. The governor of the state of New York, Theodore Roosevelt, refused to commute her sentence to life imprisonment. On 20 March 1899, Martha Place was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison. 

Ruth Ellis - the last woman hanged in Britain

 Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She was born on 9 October 1926 in Rhyl, Wales. She was one of six children. When she was 17, she had a son by a Canadian soldier. 

After the Second World War, Ruth was living in London. In the 1940s, she worked in factories but she could not earn enough to support herself and her son. Ruth became a nude model and by 1950 she was an escort. In 1950 she married a man named George Ellis. They had a daughter but the couple soon separated. However, by 1953 Ruth had a job as manager of the Little Club in Knightsbridge. It was there that she met David Blakely. 

Blakely was a racing driver. He was also a heavy drinker. He moved in with Ruth even though he was engaged to another woman. Ruth met another man, Desmond Cussen, and she moved in with him. Ruth and David Blakely continued their relationship, although they were both seeing other people. Blakely was abusive. 

He asked Ruth to marry him, but she had a miscarriage in January 1955 after Blakely punched her in the stomach. Blakely later decided he never wanted to see Ruth again. 

On 10 April 1955 Ruth took a taxi to a flat where she knew Blakely was staying. As they arrived, she saw him drive off in his car. She paid the taxi driver and walked to the Magdala Tavern where she thought he would be. Ruth waited till Blakely emerged from the pub. She drew a revolver from her handbag, and as he searched for his car keys, she shot him. Ruth fired six bullets at Blakely. The first shot missed. The second shot hit him and caused him to fall to the ground. 

She fired three more bullets into him. Her last shot ricocheted off the ground and hit a bystander in the hand. 

Ruth was immediately arrested by an off-duty policeman. Psychiatrists who examined her found she was not insane. Ruth went on trial on 20 June 1955. There was no doubt that she shot David Blakely. The prosecution merely had to prove the intent to kill. The prosecution lawyer asked, 'When you fired the revolver at close range into the body of David Blakely, what did you intend to do?' Ruth answered, 'It's obvious that when I shot him I intended to kill him'.

The jury found her guilty of murder, and she was sentenced to death. However, many people felt that her sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment. A petition was signed by 50,000 people, but the Home Secretary refused to grant a reprieve, and Ruth Ellis was hanged on 13 July 1955. 

Guenther Podola - the last man hanged for killing a policeman

 Guenther Podola was the last person to be hanged in Britain for the murder of a policeman. He was born in Berlin, Germany, on 8 February 1929. In 1962, he moved to Canada but he was deported for burglary. He then moved to Britain. Podola arrived on 21 May 1959. 

Podola burgled Verne Schiffman's flat, stealing jewellery and furs worth £2,000 (a huge sum in those days). Later, bizarrely, he tried to blackmail her. He wrote to her claiming he had photos and tape recordings of her. He did not. Since she had nothing to hide Mrs Schiffman told the police. (Why Podola tried to blackmail her when she had nothing to hide is a mystery. If he had not done something so strange, he might well have got away with the burglary). 

On 13 July 1959, Podola phoned her from a public phone box and again he tried to blackmail her. This time her phone was tapped and Mrs Schiffman kept him talking until the police traced the call. Two policemen, John Stanford and William Purdy arrested Podola at the phone box. However, Podola broke free and ran into a nearby block of flats. 

The police captured him again and one of them, Stanford, went to fetch the patrol car. Podola then produced a gun and shot William Purdy.

Podola fled the scene, and he hid in a hotel for the next three days. However, in the dead policeman's pocket was an address book. It belonged to Podola. He must have dropped it when he was arrested, and the policeman picked it up. The police soon identified the book's owner and traced him to the hotel where he was hiding. On 16 July 1959, armed police went to the room occupied by Podola, and they forced open the door. Podola, who was standing by the door, was hit on the head as it opened and was knocked unconscious. 

When he recovered, Podola said he had no memory of shooting a policeman. Before, he was tried for murder; a court hearing was held to decide if he was fit to stand trial. A jury had to decide if he was genuinely suffering from amnesia. Expert witnesses testified for both the prosecution and the defence, but after retiring for three hours the jury decided he was faking it. Podola then went on trial for murder. He still claimed he could not remember what happened, but he was found guilty and was sentenced to death on 26 September 1959.

Guenther Podola was hanged on 5 November 1959.