Elizabeth Short - The Black Dahlia

 Elizabeth Short was born on 29 July 1924. In 1947 she became the victim of an unsolved murder in Los Angeles. She became known as the Black Dahlia.

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. 

John George Haigh

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 it is unknown whether this had anything to do with his later behaviour. 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 for 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 November 1937. He was released in 1940. He then worked as a fire watcher, alerting the fire brigade when necessary. However, in 1941 he was sent to prison again. He was released in 1943.

It has been suggested that Haigh may have been affected by his experiences during the German bombing, and that is what turned him to murder. Or maybe the third time he was sent to prison, he was determined not to get caught again. This time, Haigh obtained acid from the prison workshop. He also obtained dead mice that prisoners caught. He carried out experiments by dissolving dead mice in acid. It had obviously occurred to him that you 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 said that murder could not be proved without a corpus delicti. But he misunderstood the Latin phrase. It does not mean a human body; it means a body of evidence.

This time, after being released from prison, Haigh turned to murder. His first victim was William McSwan, who had employed him previously. The two met, apparently by accident, and renewed their friendship. On 6 September 1944, Haigh lured William to a basement and hit him over the head with an iron bar. He finished off McSwan and placed his body in an oil drum. He then filled it with acid. After two days, William's body had dissolved into sludge, which Haigh poured down a drain.

Haigh told William McSwan'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, where he killed him. His wife arrived about an hour later, and Haigh killed her too. He had two oil drums prepared to dissolve the bodies in.

Afterward, Haigh forged their signatures. He sold their property, and he persuaded people that they had emigrated to Australia. However, Haigh spent huge amounts on gambling and by 1948 he was beginning to run short of money. His next two victims were Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rosalie.

On 13 February 1948, Haigh persuaded Dr Henderson to come to a workshop he rented in Crawley, Sussex, by telling him he had an invention to show him. Haigh shot Dr Henderson 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 signatures, allowing him to sell their property. He managed to convince people that the Hendersons had gone to live in South Africa. But Haigh continued his lavish spending, and before long he was running short of money again.

His last victim was Olive Durand-Deacon. In 1949, Haigh was living at the Onslow Hotel in London. Mrs Durand-Deacon was a fellow guest. She was a wealthy widow, and 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 there in his car. When she entered the workshop, he shot her in the back of the head. Haigh placed the body in an acid bath. He then sold Olive's jewellery. He took her Persian lamb skin 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 traces of it remained on the ground. Meanwhile, the other residents of the hotel noticed Olive was missing and became concerned. A woman named Constance Lane told the police. They spoke to other hotel residents, and a policewoman, Alexandra Lambourne, was immediately suspicious of Haigh. She persuaded her superiors to check if he had a criminal record. They then found that Haigh had convictions for fraud.

They also discovered that Haigh had a workshop in Crawley. They searched it and found a receipt for Olive's lamb skin coat from a dry cleaner. They also found a recently fired revolver. And they found that Haigh had sold the missing woman's jewellery. Haigh realised the game was up and he confessed to the murder of Olive Durand-Deacon. He also told 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 Haigh's workshop in Crawley. Despite his boast that he had destroyed the body of Mrs Durand-Deacon, traces of it were found, including animal fat, which does not dissolve in acid. Olive had been suffering from gallstones, and a layer of fat surrounded them and protected them from the acid. There were also fragments of foot bones (they probably survived because the body was not completely immersed). Most telling, the police found a denture, which a dentist identified as belonging to Olive.

Haigh went on trial on 18 July 1949. Haigh pleaded not guilty due to insanity. But the jury was most unlikely to accept his plea since he obviously killed people for their money. Nevertheless, the defence called Dr Henry Yellowlees, who said that Haigh was a 'paranoaic'. However, the prosecution lawyer asked Dr Yellowlees if Haigh knew he was doing something punishable by law. Yellowlees was forced to admit that he did. The prosecution lawyer then 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.

Edward Leonski

 Edward Leonski murdered three women in Melbourne, Australia, in 1942. He was born in New Jersey on 12 December 1917. 

His parents were Russian immigrants. It’s said that both parents abused alcohol. It’s said his mother was overprotective and controlling. Edward was called a ‘mummy’s boy’, and later it was suggested that he killed women because he hated his mother. He was really killing her.

Leonski was conscripted into the army in February 1941. In February 1942, he was sent to Australia. At that time, there was a ‘brownout’ of reduced lighting, which made it easier for Leonski to kill people. 

He prepared breakfast on a military base, but after he finished, he was free to wander the streets of Melbourne. 

The first victim was Ivy McLeod. She was found dead in a shop doorway in Melbourne on 3 May 1942. She had been strangled, and the killer had removed some of her clothes. He left the body in a degrading position. Two more victims followed; Pauline Thompson was strangled outside a boarding house on 9 May, and Gladys Hosking was strangled on 18 May. 

This time, when he returned to his military base, Leonski was challenged by a sentry for being dishevelled and muddy. 

When news of the murder of Gladys Hosking broke, the sentry informed the police. He identified Leonski at a line-up. Several witnesses who had seen Leonski also identified him. 

Leonski confessed to the murders. When he was asked why he killed women, he replied, ‘it was to get their voices’. (It has been suggested that their voices reminded Leonski of his mother). Leonski also drank heavily, and that may have lowered his inhibitions.

Although the murders happened in Australia, Leonski was tried under American military law. He pleaded not guilty because of insanity. However, his plea was rejected. On 17 July 1942, he was found guilty of murder. 

Edward Leonski was hanged on 9 November 1942. He was buried in a military cemetery in Hawaii.

Here Come the Murderers!

 I have published a book of famous murder cases. It's called Here Come the Murderers! It's available from Lulubooks.

A teacher killed a student

  In 1860 a teacher named Thomas Hopley beat a boy to death. The boy was 14-year-old Reginald Chancellor and he had a learning disability. Among other things, the teacher hit him with a candlestick because he could not repeat the multiplication table.

The teacher was charged with manslaughter, not murder, because the intent to kill could not be proved. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Discipline in the 19th century was brutal but even by their standards, beating a child to death was going a bit too far.

Corporal punishment was made illegal in state schools in Britain in 1987. It was made illegal in private schools in 1999.

Corporal Punishment

 On 22 July 1986, the British Parliament voted to end corporal punishment in state schools. The new law received royal assent on 7 November 1986. Corporal punishment became illegal in state schools on 15 August 1987. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs35t2xFqdU