Thomas Neill Cream

Thomas Neill Cream was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 27 May 1850, but his family moved to Canada when he was a child. Cream was trained to be a doctor. He was first convicted of murder in 1881. While living in Chicago, he gave strychnine to a man named Daniel Stott, who suffered from epilepsy. Cream managed to convince Stott that he had a cure for the ailment. Stott’s death was, at first, ascribed to natural causes. 
However, Cream did something very strange. He wrote to the coroner accusing a pharmacist of poisoning Stott. 

The body was exhumed and was found to contain strychnine. Cream was arrested and tried for murder. He was convicted but he was treated with surprising leniency. 
He was sentenced to life imprisonment and he was released in 1891. Why did Cream write to the coroner? He could have gotten away with murder. Perhaps Cream wanted to be caught.

At any rate, after being released in 1891, he moved to Lambeth, London and began poisoning sex workers. Presumably, Cream got some sadistic pleasure from poisoning people. 

The first victim was a 19-year-old woman named Ellen Donworth. She collapsed in agony on the street on 13 October and she died on the way to the hospital. Before she died, she said that a ‘tall gentleman’ had given her a bottle with ‘white stuff’ in it. An autopsy showed she had been poisoned with strychnine. 
Again, Cream wrote letters to people about the murder. He wrote to the coroner, using a false name, offering to name the murderer in return for a large sum of money. He also wrote to the owner of the booksellers W.H. Smith, accusing him of the murder of Donworth and offering to keep silent in return for money. Again, he used a false name.

Next, Cream murdered Matilda Clover. On 20 October 1891, she was found writhing in agony in her room and died shortly afterward. She said a man had given her some pills. Cream wrote to a doctor, William Broadbent and accused him of murdering Matilda Clover. 

In April 1892, Cream met a sex worker called Louise Harvey. Cream helpfully offered her some pills, which he said would clear up her complexion. Fortunately, she only pretended to take them. Cream left, presumably believing he had poisoned her. 
Two other women were not so lucky. On 11 April 1892, Cream met two sex workers, Alice Marsh, aged 21 and Emma Shrivell, aged 18. Cream spent the night with them but before he left, he gave them some pills. 

Unfortunately, both girls took the pills and died of strychnine poisoning.
Cream was caught because he could not resist talking about the murders. He met an American tourist and offered to take him on a tour of the places where the murders were committed. 

However, the tourist was a policeman and he was suspicious of Cream. He informed the British police and they placed Cream under surveillance. They found that he often paid for the services of sex workers and they also found out about his criminal record in the USA. 

Cream was arrested on 3 June 1892 and his trial began on 17 October. He was found guilty on 21 October and was sentenced to death. Thomas Neill Cream was hanged on 15 November 1892.