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[Music]
00:01:32
our episodes deal with serious and often
00:01:35
distressing incidents if you feel at
00:01:37
anytime you need support please contact
00:01:39
your local crisis center for suggested
00:01:42
phone numbers for confidential support
00:01:43
please see the show notes for this
00:01:45
episode on your app or on our website
00:01:49
today's episode deals with the crime
00:01:51
committed against the child that won't
00:01:54
be suitable for all listeners at
00:01:59
approximately 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday March
00:02:02
24 1953 Beresford Brown rushed out of
00:02:06
the ground floor flat at 10 Rillington
00:02:08
place in Notting Hills Ladbroke Grove
00:02:11
neighborhood to a payphone outside he
00:02:15
frantically called the police and
00:02:17
officers were immediately dispatched to
00:02:19
the address
00:02:21
within minutes they arrived at the
00:02:23
three-story residential building at the
00:02:25
end of the cul-de-sac and raced inside
00:02:29
police constable Leslie Sussman was one
00:02:32
of the first to enter the ground floor
00:02:33
flat finding the derelict residence
00:02:36
mostly empty he made his way into the
00:02:39
kitchen a narrow ramshackle space
00:02:42
cluttered with junk a section of
00:02:45
wallpaper had been torn from a rear wall
00:02:47
next to a sink to reveal a small
00:02:49
cupboard like alcove hidden behind
00:02:53
constable sighs minh peered into the
00:02:55
dark confined space and recoiled in
00:02:58
horror
00:03:00
the officers stripped away all of the
00:03:03
remaining wallpaper exposing a small
00:03:05
timber frame to doorway that led into a
00:03:08
cramped brick enclosed room measuring
00:03:10
just four feet high and five feet six
00:03:13
inches deep there were no windows and
00:03:16
the flooring consisted of rubble and
00:03:18
earth tucked inside was the body of a
00:03:22
young woman with her bare back facing
00:03:24
the opening she was posed in an upright
00:03:27
kneeling position with her feet folded
00:03:30
beneath her and her head and shoulders
00:03:32
hunched forward one attending officer
00:03:36
later recalled quote
00:03:39
over the years I have seen some shocking
00:03:42
science but never once so unnerving is
00:03:45
that which greeted ourselves
00:03:56
[Music]
00:04:14
the deceased the woman in the archive
00:04:16
had her wrists bound in front of her
00:04:18
with a handkerchief tied in a
00:04:20
distinctive reef knot she was dressed in
00:04:23
stockings and suspenders with a black
00:04:25
jumper white jacket and a bra pulled up
00:04:28
around her neck the bra was fixed to a
00:04:32
large object wrapped in a blanket that
00:04:34
stood in front of the woman and kept her
00:04:36
in an upright position
00:04:38
the blanketed object contained another
00:04:41
female corpse that was positioned upside
00:04:44
down her ankles were tied together with
00:04:47
a sock and a stocking had been used to
00:04:49
secure a pillowcase around her head she
00:04:53
was fully clothed wearing a dress
00:04:55
petticoat bra cardigan and two singlets
00:04:59
a singlet had also been wrapped between
00:05:02
her legs like a nappy behind her was
00:05:06
another blanket this one concealing the
00:05:09
body of a third woman her back was
00:05:13
resting on the ground and her legs were
00:05:15
stretched to vertically against the rear
00:05:17
wall she was wearing a white cotton
00:05:20
singler cardigan and makeshift nappy her
00:05:25
ankles were tied together with wire and
00:05:27
her torso was smeared with ash and dirt
00:05:32
the naturally cold temperature within
00:05:35
the alcove had preserved the victim's
00:05:37
remains and it was determined that all
00:05:40
three had been sexually assaulted around
00:05:42
the time of their death an autopsy on
00:05:46
the woman found sitting upright at the
00:05:48
archives entrance concluded she had been
00:05:50
killed about a month earlier her cause
00:05:54
of death was a mix of carbon monoxide
00:05:56
poisoning and strangulation carried out
00:05:59
by a cord with a smooth surface scratch
00:06:03
marks on her back were consistent with
00:06:05
her body having been dragged across the
00:06:07
floor
00:06:09
the skin of the second victim was
00:06:12
pinkish in color indicating she too had
00:06:15
experienced the gas poisoning
00:06:17
she was also six months pregnant the
00:06:21
third victim appeared to have been in
00:06:23
good health at the time of her death
00:06:25
though her skin also had a pink issue
00:06:28
and - the nails on her hands and feet
00:06:31
were poorly maintained toxicology
00:06:35
reports showed that both women had
00:06:37
consumed alcohol on the day that were
00:06:39
murdered which was estimated to have
00:06:41
occurred 8 to 12 weeks earlier all three
00:06:46
of the women were estimated to have been
00:06:47
aged in their 20s
00:06:51
several loose floorboards were found in
00:06:53
the flats living room and were prized up
00:06:56
exposing a substantial pile of Earth and
00:06:58
rubble underneath the debris covered the
00:07:02
body of a fourth female victim wrapped
00:07:05
in a flannel blanket with a pillowcase
00:07:07
covering her head she was dressed in
00:07:10
stockings a floral dress and a silk
00:07:13
nightgown her cause of death was
00:07:16
determined to be strangulation with a
00:07:18
ligature occurring 12 to 15 weeks
00:07:21
earlier unlike the women found in the
00:07:25
alcove this victim appeared to be middle
00:07:28
aged and born no signs of sexual assault
00:07:31
or alcohol in her system
00:07:36
it had been three years since the bodies
00:07:39
of 19 year-old Beryl Evans and her
00:07:41
infant daughter Geraldine were found in
00:07:44
the backyard wash hours of the same
00:07:46
property both had been strangled with
00:07:49
barrels husband ten Geraldine's father
00:07:51
Timothy Evans ultimately held
00:07:54
responsible for the crimes and sentenced
00:07:56
to death
00:07:57
[Music]
00:07:58
Timothy had professed his innocence up
00:08:01
until his execution in 1950 maintaining
00:08:04
that his downstairs neighbor John
00:08:06
Christie was his wife and daughters
00:08:08
actual killer according to neighbors and
00:08:13
the building's owner John Christie moved
00:08:15
out of the Rillington place ground floor
00:08:17
flat on Saturday March 20 1953 four days
00:08:22
before the bodies were found inside he'd
00:08:26
sold all of his household furniture and
00:08:28
had arranged for a couple to sublet the
00:08:31
flat who arrived on the same day that
00:08:33
Christie vacated by coincidence the
00:08:37
landlord visited the property that night
00:08:39
and was dismayed to find the unfamiliar
00:08:42
couple moving in Christie hadn't
00:08:45
received permission to sublet his home
00:08:48
and the landlord ordered the couple to
00:08:50
leave the following morning once they
00:08:53
were gone he gave the building's top
00:08:55
floor occupant Beresford brown
00:08:57
permission to make use of Christie's
00:09:00
former residence days later
00:09:03
Beresford was performing basic
00:09:05
renovations in the kitchen when he
00:09:07
uncovered the hidden alcove a thorough
00:09:11
search of 10 Rillington place resulted
00:09:14
in the discovery of a driver's license
00:09:16
in a pile of rubbish in the rear yard
00:09:18
which John Christie and his wife Ethel
00:09:21
had exclusive access to the license was
00:09:25
issued to a man named Alexander Baker
00:09:28
police tracked Alexander down only to
00:09:31
learn that his girlfriend 27 year old
00:09:33
Hector rain & McLennan had been missing
00:09:36
for some time originally from the
00:09:39
scottish city of Glasgow Hector inna was
00:09:42
from a large family with four brothers
00:09:44
and two sisters
00:09:47
in 1948 the McClellan's relocated to
00:09:51
London settling in the inner western
00:09:53
area of Kensington Hector Eanes father
00:09:56
described her as a happy girl who was
00:09:59
content to spend the most evenings at
00:10:01
home with her parents
00:10:02
even as a young adult at the age of 23
00:10:07
she became a single mother to a baby
00:10:10
girl by 1951 she had married a member of
00:10:14
the burmese air force who was stationed
00:10:16
in the City of Portsmouth on England's
00:10:18
south coast the couple had a daughter
00:10:22
together but their relationship was cut
00:10:24
short when Hector arenas husband had to
00:10:27
return to Burma in November 1952 her
00:10:32
parents returned to Scotland and talk
00:10:35
act arenas daughters with them
00:10:37
farewelling her children was
00:10:39
particularly hard for Hector ena though
00:10:41
she continued to build a life for
00:10:43
herself in London where she eventually
00:10:45
commenced the relationship with
00:10:47
Alexander Baker they were eager to live
00:10:51
together but had difficulty finding a
00:10:53
home due to their financial struggles on
00:10:58
March 3 1953 Hector ena was at a cafe
00:11:03
when she met the balding middle-aged
00:11:05
John Christie who informed her that he
00:11:08
had a room available to lease that
00:11:11
evening Hector ena and Alexander visited
00:11:14
10 Rillington place with the intention
00:11:16
of leasing Christie's spare room upon
00:11:19
seeing that Hector Rina had a boyfriend
00:11:22
Christie appeared troubled but took them
00:11:25
into his home regardless inside it was
00:11:29
almost entirely bare which Christie
00:11:32
explained was because he was about to
00:11:34
move and had already sent his furniture
00:11:36
away
00:11:38
he agreed to let the young couple stay
00:11:40
temporarily but wouldn't permit them to
00:11:43
share a bed he said that his wife was
00:11:46
staying with neighbors and would be
00:11:48
upset if she discovered an unmarried
00:11:50
couple sleeping together in her
00:11:52
residence consequently Hector ena slept
00:11:57
on a deck chair while Alexander burrowed
00:11:59
Christie's bed and Christy slept sitting
00:12:02
up on a board positioned over a bucket
00:12:06
the couple ended up staying at Christy's
00:12:09
flat for three nights at 9:30 a.m. on
00:12:13
Friday March 6 Christy asked them to
00:12:16
leave and they went to seek work at the
00:12:18
Hammersmith labor exchange Hector Rina
00:12:22
waited outside while Alexander went in
00:12:25
when he returned
00:12:27
Hector Rina said that John Christy had
00:12:29
shown up and asked her to revisit his
00:12:32
place that afternoon she planned to do
00:12:35
so
00:12:35
telling Alexander she would meet him at
00:12:38
a nearby cafe afterwards Alexander went
00:12:43
to the cafe as instructed but by 5 p.m.
00:12:46
there was no sign of his girlfriend he
00:12:50
went to 10 Rillington place to find her
00:12:52
but Christy claimed that Hector Rena had
00:12:55
never arrived
00:12:57
Alexander noticed Christy's flat had a
00:13:00
very nasty smell but thought little of
00:13:03
it Christy had offered to help him look
00:13:06
for Hector Rina and the pair had
00:13:08
searched together until 9 o'clock and
00:13:10
that night on several occasions over the
00:13:14
next few days
00:13:15
Christy turned up at the hammersmith the
00:13:18
labor exchange while Alexander was there
00:13:20
and had inquired as to whether he had
00:13:22
found Hector inna Alexander didn't
00:13:27
report Hector Eanes disappearance to the
00:13:29
police as the pair lived a rather
00:13:31
transient lifestyle and he doubted
00:13:34
anything serious had happened however
00:13:37
her unexplained disappearance did raise
00:13:40
the concerns of Hector eanes brothers
00:13:42
who filed a missing-persons report
00:13:46
Hector eanes fingerprints were compared
00:13:49
to those on her police file positively
00:13:52
identifying her as the woman found that
00:13:54
the entrance to the alcove in John
00:13:56
Christie's former flat police also
00:14:03
checked the fingerprints of the other
00:14:05
two victims from the alcove against the
00:14:07
records on their database they
00:14:10
ascertained that the second victim was
00:14:12
25 year old reader Nelson who was born
00:14:15
and raised in the northern Islander city
00:14:17
of Belfast Rita had a difficult life and
00:14:21
upon entering adulthood found herself in
00:14:24
trouble with the police for a range of
00:14:26
minor offences at the age of 21 she
00:14:30
spent the brief period of time in a
00:14:32
mental health facility and gave birth to
00:14:35
a son shortly after she was immensely
00:14:39
proud of her child and was devastated
00:14:41
when at the age of two he was taken into
00:14:44
care in October 1952 reader and her
00:14:50
cousin traveled to London hoping to find
00:14:52
work the parted ways shortly after their
00:14:55
arrival and to never saw each other
00:14:57
again Freda found a room in a lodging
00:15:02
house in the you know Western
00:15:04
neighbourhood of shepherd's bush where
00:15:06
she mostly kept to herself her mother
00:15:09
described her as a quiet serious minded
00:15:12
girl whose main outside interest was
00:15:15
going to the pictures Breda worked a
00:15:18
variety of jobs including a hospital
00:15:21
orderly a waitress and a cleaner saving
00:15:24
her money and sending some home to her
00:15:26
parents at Christmas the last time they
00:15:30
heard from her was on Friday January 16
00:15:33
1953
00:15:37
the exact circumstances of how Rita
00:15:40
Nelson first met John Christie were
00:15:42
difficult to determine she was known to
00:15:45
frequent cheap eateries known as
00:15:47
transport cafes and it was believed she
00:15:50
may have encountered Christie during a
00:15:52
visit to one in the first week of
00:15:55
January 1953 Rita had been offered a job
00:15:59
at a tea shop but her employment was
00:16:01
thrown into jeopardy on January 12 when
00:16:04
she discovered she was pregnant as she
00:16:08
didn't have a support network in London
00:16:10
reader obtained a letter from a medical
00:16:13
officer requesting that she be admitted
00:16:15
to a home for unmarried women until the
00:16:17
baby was born the last time Rita was
00:16:22
seen was on Wednesday January 14 six
00:16:26
days later on Tuesday January 20 readers
00:16:30
the landlord visited her room chasing up
00:16:32
a late rent payment and found a letter
00:16:35
from the medical officer
00:16:37
days later the landlord visited a police
00:16:40
station to inform them of Rita's
00:16:42
unexplained disappearance with the
00:16:46
discovery of the bodies at Rillington
00:16:48
place readers sister was summoned by the
00:16:50
police and identified the second the
00:16:53
body in the alcove as her sister using
00:17:00
fingerprint records the third victim was
00:17:02
identified as 26 year old Kathleen
00:17:05
Maloney originally from the port city of
00:17:09
Plymouth in southwest England
00:17:11
Kathleen's parents both died in quick
00:17:14
succession when she was two years old
00:17:16
and she and her two older sisters were
00:17:18
sent to live in a Catholic orphanage
00:17:22
there aren't and uncle visited regularly
00:17:24
with the latter describing Kathleen as
00:17:28
very wild not in a bad way but full of
00:17:32
pranks throughout her adolescence
00:17:36
Kathleen was transferred between various
00:17:38
orphanages and by the age of 18 she left
00:17:42
the system altogether she worked as a
00:17:45
cleaner and a laundress and went on to
00:17:48
have five children one of whom was
00:17:50
adopted while the other four were sent
00:17:53
to live in a children's home
00:17:56
Kathleen lived a transient lifestyle
00:17:58
residing in abandoned buildings and
00:18:01
moving about between the cities of
00:18:03
London Southampton and to Liverpool she
00:18:06
turned to sex work to support herself
00:18:08
and often fell foul of the law by
00:18:12
September 1952 she was spending most of
00:18:15
her time in London's inner West and was
00:18:18
so impoverished that she occasionally
00:18:20
slept in public toilets in October that
00:18:24
year she and her friend Maureen Briggs
00:18:27
visited a pub in the neighbourhood of
00:18:29
Paddington there they sighted a
00:18:32
spectacled man in his 50s standing at
00:18:34
the bar with a raincoat over his arm
00:18:37
Maureen described the encounter quote he
00:18:42
had the finish lips and he was sort of
00:18:44
licking his lips when he was talking he
00:18:47
got talking to me he asked me if I
00:18:50
wanted to earn myself some money and I
00:18:52
said I would he asked me if I ever had
00:18:55
any photographs done in the nude he said
00:18:58
he did that and he knew a place where he
00:19:00
could take me to do some the men
00:19:04
introduced himself as John Christie and
00:19:07
despite his offer to Maureen
00:19:09
nothing eventuated in early December the
00:19:13
two women bumped into Christie again and
00:19:16
agreed to accompany him to a room that
00:19:18
had been set up as a studio marine lay
00:19:22
naked on a bed while Christie took
00:19:24
photographs of her and Kathleen watched
00:19:28
Christie then undressed and asked
00:19:30
Kathleen to photograph him and Maureen
00:19:32
together
00:19:34
no sex was involved and Christie paid
00:19:37
each woman a pound for the work some
00:19:42
time later
00:19:43
Kathleen struck up a conversation with
00:19:45
the public bathroom attendant saying she
00:19:48
had met a man named mr. Christie whom
00:19:50
she felt sorry for because his wife had
00:19:53
died she said that Christie had promised
00:19:56
to give her some of his late wife's
00:19:57
clothes but when she visited to collect
00:20:00
them Christie's olanta Lord threw her
00:20:02
out she also told a postman that she had
00:20:06
met a man who offered her housing in
00:20:08
Ladbroke Grove
00:20:10
on the evening of Saturday January 10
00:20:13
Kathleen and Maureen were drinking at a
00:20:16
pub when John Christie arrived he bought
00:20:19
them drinks before leaving with a
00:20:21
heavily intoxicated Kathleen between
00:20:24
9:00 and 10:00 p.m. the pair were last
00:20:28
seen crossing the road to a bus stop
00:20:37
John Reginald Christie was born in the
00:20:40
northern County of Yorkshire the fourth
00:20:43
of six children two old-fashioned
00:20:45
parents he was his mother's favorite but
00:20:48
had a difficult relationship with his
00:20:50
Stern father Christie was a quiet
00:20:53
nervous child with few friends and his
00:20:56
peers viewed in Mossad known to friends
00:21:00
and family as Reggie he enlisted in the
00:21:03
army as a teenager and served as an
00:21:05
infantryman during the First World War
00:21:08
while fighting in France he was injured
00:21:11
in a gas attack and spent a month
00:21:13
recovering in hospital Christie later
00:21:16
claimed that the incident left him blind
00:21:18
for six months and unable to speak for
00:21:21
three and a half years there were no
00:21:24
medical documents to verify this yet he
00:21:28
was known to speak at a particularly low
00:21:30
volume after the war ended he returned
00:21:36
to Yorkshire and in May 1920 married
00:21:39
Ethel Waddington over the following
00:21:43
decade Christie committed a series of
00:21:45
crimes including larceny and assault
00:21:48
all of which resulted in brief stints in
00:21:51
prison dear soul which involved Christie
00:21:54
striking a woman in the head with a
00:21:56
cricket bat was described by the trial
00:21:59
judge as a murderous attack Christie was
00:22:03
released after serving six months hard
00:22:05
labor at which point he and Ethel had
00:22:08
been separated for a decade the pair
00:22:11
reconciled though their relationship in
00:22:14
Jewett another setback when earth all
00:22:16
suffered a miscarriage in 1938 they
00:22:21
moved into 10 Rillington place residing
00:22:24
in the top floor flat before taking the
00:22:26
ground-floor residence at the end of
00:22:28
that year following the outbreak of
00:22:32
World War two Christie applied to become
00:22:34
a war reserve constable overwhelmed by
00:22:38
the influx of recruits authorities
00:22:41
failed to check his criminal record and
00:22:43
accepted his application
00:22:46
he was assigned to the her a road police
00:22:49
station where he took a great joy in
00:22:51
overzealously patrolling the
00:22:53
neighborhood his neighbors nicknamed him
00:22:56
the Himmler of Relling Tintin Rakim la
00:22:59
the commander of Nazi Germany's
00:23:01
paramilitary organization who also
00:23:04
looked somewhat like Christie at the end
00:23:09
of 1943 Christie resigned from the role
00:23:12
and went to work for a transistor radio
00:23:14
manufacturer when the bodies were
00:23:19
discovered in the Christie's former flat
00:23:21
neighbors informed police that they
00:23:23
hadn't seen Ethel for several months the
00:23:27
last confirmed sighting of her was on
00:23:29
December 12 1952 when she had dropped
00:23:32
some washing off at a laundromat in
00:23:34
Kensington in the weeks that followed
00:23:37
John Christie had given varying stories
00:23:40
to explain his wife's whereabouts he
00:23:43
told one neighbor that she was visiting
00:23:45
relatives in the northern city of
00:23:47
Sheffield while telling another she had
00:23:50
gone to Birmingham to care for her
00:23:51
sister who was recovering from surgery
00:23:55
Ethel sent her family gifts every
00:23:58
Christmas but in the one just gone they
00:24:01
had received a card from her husband
00:24:03
instead in it John Christie explained
00:24:07
that Ethel was suffering from rheumatism
00:24:09
in her fingers and was unable to write
00:24:12
but assured that he was taking good care
00:24:14
of her
00:24:15
and that the doctor had promised she
00:24:17
would recover within a few days across
00:24:21
the top of their card in capital letters
00:24:23
he scrawled don't worry she is okay at
00:24:29
this stage police suspected that the
00:24:31
older female found under the floorboards
00:24:34
in the Christie's former flat was Ethel
00:24:37
her brother was summoned to formally
00:24:39
identify the body and confirmed it to be
00:24:42
his sister
00:24:45
in an effort to locate John Christie
00:24:48
police issued a press release alerting
00:24:50
the public to keep an eye out for him
00:24:53
they provided photographs and described
00:24:56
him as quote aged 55 height 5 feet 9
00:25:01
inches slim build dark hair been on top
00:25:06
clean-shaven sallow complexion long nose
00:25:10
wearing horn rimmed spectacles dentures
00:25:14
top and bottom walks with military
00:25:16
bearing wearing a dark blue herringbone
00:25:20
suit brown leather shoes born belted a
00:25:23
raincoat and debris on trilby hat
00:25:29
meanwhile the thorough search of 10
00:25:32
Rillington place turned up little other
00:25:34
than a suitcase containing Christie's
00:25:37
clothing a man's tire tied with a reef
00:25:39
knot and a bottle of potassium cyanide
00:25:42
on Friday March 27 three days after the
00:25:47
victims were discovered investigators
00:25:50
turned to their attention to the
00:25:51
backyard it measured just 16 feet by 14
00:25:56
feet and contained nothing more than
00:25:59
some scattered shrubs and a few bare
00:26:01
trees there they discovered a portion of
00:26:05
a broken garden trellis had been propped
00:26:07
up using a human femur bone
00:26:11
it appeared to have been there for some
00:26:13
time indicating the bone may have gone
00:26:16
unnoticed by the investigators who found
00:26:18
the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine Evans
00:26:21
in the outdoor wash house three years
00:26:23
earlier the sparse garden was excavated
00:26:28
and buried approximately one foot
00:26:30
beneath the yellow forsythia Bush was a
00:26:33
metal rubbish bin containing charred
00:26:35
bone fragments another foot deeper
00:26:39
investigators uncovered what appeared to
00:26:42
be human skeletal remains the bones were
00:26:46
transferred to the mortuary and
00:26:48
reconstructed into two near-complete
00:26:51
female skeletons with one missing its
00:26:54
skull and a femur one victim was
00:26:57
estimated to be aged between 20 and 30
00:27:00
and to the other believed to be slightly
00:27:03
older other items recovered from
00:27:07
Christie's garden included a square
00:27:09
glass jar with rubber tubing attached
00:27:11
scraps of material a portion of a
00:27:14
newspaper dated July 19 1943 and
00:27:18
apostle's tin that contained pubic hair
00:27:21
from four different women it was
00:27:24
believed that one of the samples
00:27:26
belonged to Ethel and two might have
00:27:29
come from the unidentified victims in
00:27:31
the garden but none were matched to
00:27:34
hector rena reader or kathleen
00:27:38
and appeared Christy kept the hairs as a
00:27:41
morbid souvenir which suggests that he
00:27:43
was far more prolific than what was
00:27:45
already known however police also
00:27:49
acknowledged he could have obtained the
00:27:51
hair from consenting sex workers the
00:27:57
discovery that a seemingly ordinary
00:27:59
middle-aged a Londoner had been
00:28:01
murdering women and storing their bodies
00:28:04
in his home became a major international
00:28:07
news story the fact that two of
00:28:10
Christy's known victims had a history of
00:28:12
sex work prompted one publication to
00:28:15
speculate that quote Christy might have
00:28:18
been driven by some mad urge to kill bad
00:28:21
girls much like that which inspired a
00:28:24
Jack the Ripper to murder prostitutes in
00:28:27
London's gas-lit days one newspaper even
00:28:31
dubbed him the Ripper refer ellington
00:28:34
place 10 Rillington place became a
00:28:39
macabre tourist attraction with
00:28:41
spectators gathering outside each day to
00:28:44
watch what the police worked it impacted
00:28:47
the neighbourhood with one neighbor
00:28:49
telling a reporter it's terrible at work
00:28:53
they shout and make jokes just because I
00:28:56
live in the street as soon as I arrived
00:28:59
they asked what the score is newspaper
00:29:03
headlines described the manhunt for John
00:29:05
Christie has a race against time and
00:29:08
asked when will the killer strike again
00:29:12
Christie's older sister issued a public
00:29:15
appeal for her brother to turn himself
00:29:17
in saying it will be the best thing for
00:29:21
you
00:29:23
it emerged of that on Friday March 20
00:29:27
after Christie had vacated his flat
00:29:29
he took his pet dog to a veterinarian to
00:29:32
be euthanized
00:29:34
afterwards he checked into a low-budget
00:29:37
hostel called rotten house in North
00:29:39
London's Kings Cross district he
00:29:43
registered under his own name and paid
00:29:45
for seven nights in advance when
00:29:48
speaking to a fellow guest Christie
00:29:50
explained he was staying in rotten house
00:29:53
due to domestic trouble and had seemed
00:29:55
too on edge when news broke about the
00:30:00
bodies found in his former residence
00:30:02
Christie checked out of rotten house
00:30:04
despite having paid for two more nights
00:30:07
two days later on Friday March 27 police
00:30:11
arrived at the hostel and recovered a
00:30:13
suitcase he had left behind alleged
00:30:17
sightings of Christie started coming in
00:30:19
from across London and even overseas
00:30:22
with reports placing him in cafes on
00:30:25
buses or wandering the streets one
00:30:29
individual claimed to have seen Christie
00:30:31
sleeping in a van in Notting Hill but by
00:30:34
the time police arrived the vehicle was
00:30:36
empty it didn't take long for the media
00:30:41
to connect Christie's crimes with the
00:30:43
murder of Beryl and Geraldine Evans at
00:30:45
the same address years earlier articles
00:30:49
about the case referenced Timothy Evans
00:30:51
execution for the crimes and to the fact
00:30:54
that Christie had testified at his trial
00:30:56
leading the public to question whether a
00:30:59
miscarriage of justice had occurred
00:31:02
although Christie was never treated as a
00:31:05
genuine suspect in the double homicide
00:31:07
in hindsight his behavior throughout the
00:31:10
investigation into the murders of Beryl
00:31:13
and Geraldine raised concerns not only
00:31:16
had he given differing accounts
00:31:18
regarding the pair's
00:31:20
final movements he had also been
00:31:22
suspiciously dismissive when loved ones
00:31:24
tried to ascertain their whereabouts
00:31:27
when implicated in the crimes Christie
00:31:30
highlighted Timothy and barrels unstable
00:31:33
relationship and focused on establishing
00:31:35
Timothy as an aggressive husband who had
00:31:38
previously threatened to kill Beryl
00:31:41
furthermore he had told her laborers
00:31:44
working on the property to leave their
00:31:46
surplus piles of timber so that he could
00:31:48
quote make use of them a short time
00:31:53
later Beryl and Geraldine were found in
00:31:56
the backyard wash house hidden behind
00:31:58
the timber both had been strangled in a
00:32:03
similar manner to the other victims
00:32:05
found within Christie's flat Timothy had
00:32:10
accused Christie of killing Beryl after
00:32:12
performing a botched abortion yet dr.
00:32:15
Robert Tyr who carried our barrels
00:32:17
autopsy reported that her body showed no
00:32:20
science of having undergone such a
00:32:22
procedure her bruise inside her vagina
00:32:25
indicated she may have attempted to
00:32:28
induce a miscarriage though dr. Tiye
00:32:30
noted that it could have been caused to
00:32:32
by an attempted rape postmortem he
00:32:36
considered taking a swab of her vagina
00:32:38
but his colleagues thought it
00:32:40
unnecessary it was reported that while
00:32:45
on the run Christie approached the 24
00:32:48
year old pregnant woman named Margaret
00:32:50
Wilson in a cafe he claimed to have
00:32:53
surgical knowledge and could abort her
00:32:56
pregnancy if she wanted to quote get rid
00:32:59
of it but Margaret rejected his offer
00:33:04
given that reader Nelson was also
00:33:06
pregnant at the time of her murder it
00:33:09
was speculated that Christie was
00:33:11
offering to perform abortions in order
00:33:13
to lure victims to his flat
00:33:16
whatever his intentions it was clear
00:33:19
that he targeted vulnerable and
00:33:21
destitute women as the public speculated
00:33:25
whether Timothy Evans had been telling
00:33:27
the truth police issued a press release
00:33:29
asserting that there was no connection
00:33:31
between his crimes and those attributed
00:33:34
to Christie
00:33:43
at 9:10 on the morning of Tuesday March
00:33:46
31 exactly one week after the six bodies
00:33:49
were discovered in 10 Rillington place
00:33:51
police constable Thomas Leger was on
00:33:54
patrol near Putney bridge south of the
00:33:57
River Thames that cuts through London an
00:34:00
unkempt gaunt man was leaning on the
00:34:03
wall framing the river and peering into
00:34:06
the water
00:34:07
he appeared as though he'd been hit by
00:34:09
hard times
00:34:10
prompting constable Leger to call out
00:34:13
what are you doing looking for work the
00:34:18
man replied yes but my unemployment
00:34:21
cards haven't come through yet he
00:34:25
introduced himself as John Waddington
00:34:27
telling the officer that he was from the
00:34:29
Western borne Gardens area in Paddington
00:34:32
when constable Leger asked the
00:34:34
Waddington to remove his hat he
00:34:36
immediately recognized the man who was
00:34:39
promptly taken into custody upon
00:34:42
arriving at Putney police station
00:34:45
Waddington threw his identification card
00:34:47
at the arresting officer and verbally
00:34:49
confirmed that he was wanted murderer
00:34:52
John Christie he had his marriage
00:34:55
certificate and other personal papers on
00:34:57
him and the newspaper clipping about
00:35:00
Timothy Evans when the police informed
00:35:03
Christie that his wife Ethel had been
00:35:05
murdered he burst into tears and
00:35:07
confessed to the killing Christie
00:35:12
claimed that Ethel had been quote
00:35:14
suffering a great deal from persecution
00:35:17
and assaults at the hands of their
00:35:19
fellow Rillington place tenants she had
00:35:23
undergone medical treatment to settle
00:35:24
her nerves
00:35:25
however by December 1952 she had become
00:35:29
afraid of her neighbours and was too
00:35:31
scared to use communal areas of the
00:35:33
property when others were present on
00:35:36
Sunday December 14 Christie said he
00:35:40
awoke to ethel having a seizure
00:35:42
and choking her face turned blue and he
00:35:45
attempted to help her but was
00:35:47
unsuccessful unable to watch her suffer
00:35:51
and believing it was too late to call
00:35:54
for assistance he strangled her with a
00:35:56
stocking Christie then noticed his
00:36:00
phenobarbital tablets next to the bed a
00:36:02
medication used to treat epilepsy
00:36:05
insomnia and anxiety the bottle
00:36:08
originally contained 25 pills but there
00:36:11
were only two left leading him to
00:36:14
conclude that a Thor must have overdosed
00:36:16
on them after admitting to killing Ethel
00:36:20
Christie confessed to slaying the three
00:36:22
other women found in the alcove of his
00:36:25
former kitchen but asserted he had acted
00:36:27
in self-defense in regards to Kathleen
00:36:32
Maloney Christie said she had drunkenly
00:36:34
propositioned him on the street one
00:36:36
evening and when he turned her down she
00:36:39
followed him home
00:36:40
inside the flat Kathleen attempted to
00:36:43
hit him with a frying pan but Christie
00:36:46
fought back causing Kathleen to fall
00:36:48
into a deck chair that had a long piece
00:36:50
of cord hanging from it
00:36:53
Christie stated I don't remember what
00:36:57
happened but I must have gone haywire
00:36:59
the next thing I remember she was lying
00:37:02
still in the chair with the rope around
00:37:04
her neck the kitchen alcove was
00:37:08
typically covered by a cupboard but he
00:37:10
pushed it aside to stash Kathleen's body
00:37:13
inside as for the murder of Rita Nelson
00:37:17
Christie claimed that she and another
00:37:19
young woman had approached him while he
00:37:21
was eating in a Notting Hill cafe they
00:37:25
told him they were looking for
00:37:26
accommodation and as he was considering
00:37:28
moving out of his flat at the time he
00:37:31
invited them over to see his place that
00:37:33
evening
00:37:35
only reader showed up and she offered to
00:37:38
have sex with Christie if he would
00:37:40
convince the landlord to let her have
00:37:42
the flat Christie refused prompting
00:37:46
reader to threaten and fight him
00:37:48
Christie couldn't remember much after
00:37:50
that except that he ultimately killed
00:37:53
her and quote must have put her in the
00:37:57
alcove straightaway as for Hector Erina
00:38:02
& McLennan Christie said that she wanted
00:38:05
the stay at his flat without her
00:38:07
boyfriend Alexander Christie was opposed
00:38:10
to this idea and tried to push Hector in
00:38:13
her out of his home but she fought back
00:38:16
although he wasn't sure how her clothes
00:38:19
wrapped around her neck in the ensuing
00:38:21
struggle and she had died John Christie
00:38:29
was taken to Notting Hill police station
00:38:31
to be formally charged with the murder
00:38:33
of his wife Ethel word of his capture
00:38:37
spread quickly during a large crowd to
00:38:40
gather outside the police station to
00:38:42
catch a glimpse of him among the
00:38:45
onlookers was Timothy Evans older sister
00:38:47
Eileen who watched in silence as
00:38:50
Christie was let into the building the
00:38:54
following morning Wednesday April 1 at
00:38:57
downcast the Christie made his first
00:38:59
appearance in court before he was taken
00:39:01
to Brixton prison on remand upon his
00:39:05
admission consulting doctors described
00:39:08
him as somewhat emotional tremulous and
00:39:11
tearful
00:39:14
public interest in their case was strong
00:39:16
and to tabloid newspapers started a
00:39:19
bidding war over the rights the Christie
00:39:21
story he negotiated a deal with the
00:39:25
weekend paper the sunday pictorial
00:39:27
giving them an exclusive in exchange for
00:39:30
payment of his legal fees he spent his
00:39:34
time in prison scribbling notes about
00:39:36
his life to pass to the reporters in one
00:39:40
anecdote Christie recalled that at age
00:39:42
11 he viewed his grandfather's deceased
00:39:45
the body prior to its burial having been
00:39:48
afraid of his grandfather seeing his
00:39:51
lifeless body gave Christie a sense of
00:39:53
power after this he became somewhat
00:39:57
fascinated by death in his teens
00:40:02
Christie earned the nicknames
00:40:04
no dick Reggie and can't do it Christie
00:40:07
after failing to perform during a sexual
00:40:10
encounter with a girl the experience
00:40:13
left him with a fear of quote appearing
00:40:16
ridiculous as a lover and to let him to
00:40:19
seek out sex workers when he married
00:40:22
Ethel at the age of 22 the two were
00:40:25
rarely sexually intimate over the
00:40:31
following months John Christie was
00:40:33
interviewed in numerous times by doctors
00:40:35
and psychiatrists to determine the
00:40:37
legitimacy of his confessions the
00:40:40
prison's principal medical officer later
00:40:43
said Christie was quote one of the very
00:40:46
few murderers I have really disliked on
00:40:49
site while a clinical psychiatrist
00:40:52
described him as insignificant and
00:40:55
unattractive full of sniveling hypocrisy
00:41:00
Christie was unanimously declared sane
00:41:03
with an above average intelligence and
00:41:05
acute anxiety centering on sexual fears
00:41:10
despite frequenting them himself
00:41:13
Christie told one psychiatrist that he
00:41:16
was horrified by pubs and was equally
00:41:18
adverse to masturbation
00:41:21
when a psychiatrist's replied that he
00:41:23
saw no problem with either Christy said
00:41:26
that was very regrettable he used the
00:41:31
same phrase when talking about the
00:41:33
murders often referring to them as these
00:41:36
regrettable happenings when faced with
00:41:40
the results from Kathleen Reader and
00:41:42
Hector arenas autopsies all of which
00:41:45
contradicted his assertions that the
00:41:47
murders were carried out in self-defense
00:41:49
and in the case of Ethel mercifully
00:41:52
Christy changed his story he admitted
00:41:56
that he had gassed some of his victims
00:41:58
using a device made from a square glass
00:42:01
jar that had a metal screw top lid with
00:42:04
two holes in it
00:42:05
one of which held a rubber tube inside
00:42:09
was a concoction made from friars balsam
00:42:11
a pungent solution often inhaled as a
00:42:15
remedy for asthma colds and bronchitis
00:42:20
several of his victims were made to
00:42:22
inhale the mixture through the rubber
00:42:24
tube and as they did so Christy then
00:42:27
inserted a second tube into the jar
00:42:30
which was connected to a gas point he
00:42:33
then removed a bulldog clip he had
00:42:35
fastened to the tube to allow gas to
00:42:37
flow into the jar in other instances he
00:42:42
leaked the gas from the tube directly
00:42:44
into the room at the time london homes
00:42:48
were fitted with coal gas which
00:42:51
contained 15 percent carbon monoxide
00:42:54
this caused the victim to quickly lose
00:42:57
consciousness at which point Christy
00:42:59
would strangle them to death using an 18
00:43:02
inch rope in his writings Christy
00:43:07
painted himself as a merciful
00:43:08
considerate killer stating
00:43:12
in all of the cases my intention was to
00:43:14
avoid hurting them at all they were
00:43:17
rendered semi-conscious first and that
00:43:20
in each case would eliminate the
00:43:22
possibility of hurting them in contrast
00:43:26
he allegedly boasted about his crimes to
00:43:29
fellow inmates and told them that his
00:43:31
goal was to kill 12 women he claimed
00:43:36
that women had always pursued him
00:43:38
because they were attracted to his
00:43:40
gentlemanly upbringing and to remarked
00:43:42
quote you can't help feeling that women
00:43:46
who give you the come on wouldn't be so
00:43:48
smug if helpless or dead as to whether
00:43:53
he had more victims Christie wrote to
00:43:56
the press I have tried to think hard
00:43:59
about whether there were other bodies
00:44:01
but seem to think it is possible those
00:44:04
pubic hairs in the tin have lead me to
00:44:06
think that but I have no clear
00:44:09
recollection in mid-april Christie was
00:44:14
officially charged with the murders of
00:44:16
Kathleen Maloney reader Nelson and tact
00:44:19
arena and McLennan psychiatrist dr. Jack
00:44:23
Hobson noted that Christie appeared to
00:44:26
enjoy attention and often tried to
00:44:28
prolong their conversations by making a
00:44:30
provocative remark towards the end of a
00:44:33
session on Thursday April 23 as their
00:44:37
meeting drew to an end
00:44:39
Christie raised the topic of the murder
00:44:42
of Beryl Evans stating there is
00:44:46
something about mrs. Evans which I can't
00:44:49
quite remember
00:44:51
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four days after he brought up Beryl
00:50:58
Evans to dr. Hobson John Christie once
00:51:01
again spoke of his former neighbor this
00:51:04
time he elaborated on her death claiming
00:51:07
that he had found a barrel in her home
00:51:09
attempting to gas herself and she
00:51:12
offered to have sex with him if he would
00:51:14
assist her suicide after the gas had
00:51:17
rendered her unconscious Christie said
00:51:20
he then raped and strangled her dr.
00:51:24
Hobson was concerned that Christie was
00:51:26
attempting to claim responsibility for a
00:51:28
higher number of murders as part of a
00:51:31
defense strategy to be declared legally
00:51:33
insane yet he ultimately believed his
00:51:37
story about Beryl quote Christie was a
00:51:41
pathological liar and had unparalleled
00:51:44
facility for self-deception it was
00:51:47
always difficult to sort out fact from
00:51:50
fantasy in the history he gave I do feel
00:51:54
however that in his account to me he was
00:51:56
telling the truth to the best of his
00:51:58
ability and that the whole interview was
00:52:01
one of the most reliable I had with him
00:52:03
he told me the story spontaneously with
00:52:06
very little prompting factually coolly
00:52:09
and without histrionics
00:52:13
on Monday May 18 after obtaining
00:52:16
permission to do so the police exhumed
00:52:19
the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine Evans
00:52:22
from their shared grave in London's
00:52:24
Gunners free cemetery
00:52:26
a trio of pathologists from Britain's
00:52:29
Home Office then reexamined the bodies
00:52:32
including dr. Donald tear who had
00:52:35
performed the pair's initial post
00:52:37
mortems they inspected the bodies for
00:52:40
any areas that were pink in tone as this
00:52:43
would suggest carbon monoxide poisoning
00:52:46
barrels thighs and two teeth displayed
00:52:49
some patches of pink but dissipated when
00:52:52
her corpse was exposed to wear this
00:52:55
indicated the discoloration wasn't
00:52:57
caused by carbon monoxide but by a
00:53:00
natural decomposition phenomenon known
00:53:03
as post-mortem pink the pathologists
00:53:07
determined that Beryl hadn't been gassed
00:53:09
as Christy asserted with the one
00:53:12
concluding I am obliged to say that
00:53:16
exome ation proved unrewarding on Friday
00:53:22
June 5 investigators were summoned to
00:53:25
Brixton prison to meet with the John
00:53:27
Christie who offered an explanation
00:53:29
regarding the two skeletons buried in
00:53:32
his backyard six years before he claimed
00:53:36
to have killed Beryl Evans during his
00:53:38
time working as a war reserve constable
00:53:41
Christie met 21-year old Ruth first a
00:53:44
Jewish student nurse from the Austrian
00:53:47
capital of Vienna in 1939 Ruth's parents
00:53:52
and brother had fled to New York to
00:53:55
escape the Nazis a Ruth had been
00:53:57
reluctant to leave her homeland she
00:54:01
decided to join her family at the last
00:54:03
minute but had left it too late to
00:54:05
obtain a United States visa instead she
00:54:09
relocated to London and kept in contact
00:54:12
with her family via mail in early 1940
00:54:17
Ruth spent six months in an internment
00:54:20
camp for Refugees before returning to
00:54:23
London she gained employment in a
00:54:26
munitions factory but her wages were low
00:54:28
and it's believed that she took up sex
00:54:31
work to supplement her income by
00:54:34
September 1943 Ruth had been reported
00:54:38
missing by her landlord
00:54:39
and an organization she was involved in
00:54:42
that assisted Jewish refugees the last
00:54:46
her family had heard from her was three
00:54:48
months prior on may 25 as Ruth was a
00:54:53
foreigner with no close friends or
00:54:55
family nearby her disappearance garnered
00:54:58
a little attention Kristy claimed that
00:55:03
Ruth had fallen madly in love with him
00:55:05
although investigators believed there
00:55:08
was more likely that he had paid her for
00:55:10
sex he alleged that on Tuesday August 24
00:55:14
1943 while Ethel was away visiting
00:55:18
family Ruth visited his flat to
00:55:21
proposition him they had sex during
00:55:25
which Kristy strangled Ruth with a rope
00:55:28
shortly after he received the telegram
00:55:31
informing him that Ethel was coming home
00:55:34
earlier than expected so he quickly
00:55:36
stashed Ruth's body and clothing
00:55:38
underneath the living room floorboards
00:55:42
Ethel returned and when she went to work
00:55:46
the next morning Kristy carried Ruth's
00:55:48
body to the outdoor wash house and then
00:55:51
dug a hole in the yard that night he
00:55:55
snuck outside and buried Ruth's body and
00:55:58
belongings
00:55:59
months later he was working in the
00:56:02
garden when he accidentally dug up
00:56:04
Ruth's skull so he placed it into a
00:56:06
metal bin and reburied it while working
00:56:15
at the transistor radio Factory in the
00:56:17
early 1940s Christie struck up a
00:56:20
friendship with fellow employee 32 year
00:56:23
old Muriel lady who was living with her
00:56:26
art in the South West London district of
00:56:28
Putney Christie confessed that shortly
00:56:32
after meeting Muriel he had started
00:56:34
carefully plotting her murder he and
00:56:38
Ethel hosted Muriel and her boyfriend at
00:56:40
their flat on multiple occasions and
00:56:43
after discovering that Muriel suffered
00:56:45
from chronic bronchitis Christie invited
00:56:48
her to come over to make use of a device
00:56:50
he claimed could cure her affliction on
00:56:55
the afternoon of Saturday October 7 1944
00:56:59
while Ethel was once again away visiting
00:57:02
family
00:57:03
Muriel visited 10 Rillington place to
00:57:05
accept Christie's offer Christie made
00:57:09
Muriel a cup of tea intended her his
00:57:11
homemade jar device that was covertly
00:57:14
connected to his property's internal gas
00:57:16
line she quickly lost consciousness and
00:57:20
Christie carried her into his bedroom
00:57:22
where he raped and strangled her he
00:57:26
stored her body in the wash house before
00:57:28
burying it in the backyard under the
00:57:30
cover of darkness when Muriel failed to
00:57:35
return home that night her loved ones
00:57:37
contacted the police
00:57:39
there were many disappearances around at
00:57:42
that time due to the war and because
00:57:44
there was no evidence of foul play
00:57:46
local law enforcement didn't seem overly
00:57:49
concerned
00:57:52
while working in the garden several
00:57:55
years later Christie said he
00:57:57
inadvertently uncovered murals femur
00:57:59
bone and used it to hold up a trellis
00:58:03
this confirmed that the femur had been
00:58:06
visible at the time the murders of Beryl
00:58:08
and Geraldine Evans were being
00:58:10
investigated that had gone unnoticed
00:58:14
Christie also claimed that his dog once
00:58:17
dug up a Muriel skull so he had smuggled
00:58:20
it under his coat and disposed of it
00:58:22
through the window of a nearby abandoned
00:58:25
house that had been bombed too during
00:58:27
the war children playing in the area
00:58:31
later found the skull and handed it in
00:58:33
to the police
00:58:34
but they never ascertained its identity
00:58:40
three days after Christie provided these
00:58:43
statements he addressed the murder of
00:58:45
Beryl Evans he claimed that Beryl had
00:58:48
confided that her husband Timothy was
00:58:50
beating her and she intended to take her
00:58:53
own life one morning in early November
00:58:57
1949 Christie went upstairs to the
00:59:00
Evanses flat and found Beryl lying on a
00:59:03
quilt in front of the kitchen fireplace
00:59:06
using a rubber tube attached to a tap
00:59:09
she was attempting to gas herself
00:59:12
Christie revived the barrel and promised
00:59:15
not to tell anyone what had happened
00:59:18
two days later Christy went to check on
00:59:21
Beryl she said she was determined to end
00:59:25
her life and offered to sleep with him
00:59:27
in exchange for his help in doing so
00:59:29
they attempted to have sex but Christy
00:59:33
was suffering from back pain and
00:59:35
inflammation of the small intestine and
00:59:37
was unable to continue instead he turned
00:59:42
to the gas tap on and waited until Beryl
00:59:44
was almost unconscious before strangling
00:59:47
her with the stocking Christy's
00:59:51
confession contradicted Barrels autopsy
00:59:54
which showed she had sustained a number
00:59:56
of violent injuries including bruises to
00:59:59
her face when Timothy Evans returned
01:00:03
home the evening of Barrels death
01:00:05
Thunder learned of her fate Christie
01:00:08
warned that as her husband he would be a
01:00:10
probable suspect panicked
01:00:13
Timothy concurred and said that he would
01:00:16
dispose of Barrels body using his work
01:00:18
van Christie told investigators that he
01:00:22
was under the impression Timothy had
01:00:24
followed through with this plan and also
01:00:27
said that he had no idea what had
01:00:29
happened to baby Geraldine
01:00:32
despite these confessions no charges
01:00:35
were placed against Christie for the
01:00:37
murders of Ruth first
01:00:39
Muriel lady or Beryl Evans British law
01:00:48
at the time meant that although Christie
01:00:50
had been charged with four murders those
01:00:53
of Ethel Christie packed arena McLennan
01:00:56
Kathleen Maloney and reader Nelson he
01:00:59
could only be prosecuted for one the
01:01:03
Crown settled on trialing him Bertha's
01:01:05
murder as they believe purse was the
01:01:07
strongest case against him
01:01:09
although Christie had already confessed
01:01:12
to the crime he pleaded not guilty by
01:01:15
reason of insanity
01:01:17
his trial commenced at London's Old
01:01:20
Bailey Court on Monday June 22 1953 it
01:01:25
was the same venue where Timothy Evans
01:01:27
had faced the trial in 1950
01:01:31
unlike Timothy's case Christie's
01:01:34
generated a huge amount of media
01:01:36
attention thirty-eight newspapers
01:01:39
including eleven international
01:01:41
publications sent journalists to cover
01:01:44
the trial members of the public as well
01:01:47
as some celebrities took up seats in the
01:01:50
courtrooms public gallery to observe
01:01:52
proceedings in his opening address the
01:01:57
Director of Public Prosecutions Sir
01:01:59
Lionel hilde acknowledged that while
01:02:02
almost everyone in the court would have
01:02:04
read something in the papers about the
01:02:06
discoveries at 10 Rillington place he
01:02:09
urged the jury to forget these details
01:02:13
presenting his case that John Christie
01:02:15
had murdered Ethel on or around Sunday
01:02:18
December 14 1952 Heald provided a brief
01:02:23
rundown of the circumstances surrounding
01:02:24
Ethel's death he established the
01:02:28
findings from her autopsy her last-known
01:02:31
movements and Christie's inconsistent
01:02:34
stories to family and neighbours
01:02:36
explaining her whereabouts healed then
01:02:40
reminded the jury that the prosecution
01:02:42
was only required to prove Christie's in
01:02:44
town
01:02:45
not his motive the number of witnesses
01:02:49
were called to testify among them was
01:02:53
the laundromat employee who had last
01:02:54
seen Ethel when she dropped off some
01:02:56
washing on December 12 1952 members of
01:03:01
Ethel's family told the court of
01:03:03
receiving her annual Christmas card
01:03:05
which had been panned by her husband
01:03:08
that year the same furniture dealer who
01:03:12
had bought Timothy Evans furniture in
01:03:14
1949 also testified that he had bought
01:03:17
some furniture from Christy in early
01:03:19
January of 1953 Heald addressed the
01:03:25
murders of Beryl and Geraldine Evans but
01:03:27
downplayed the possibility that Christy
01:03:30
was responsible for these deaths Timothy
01:03:33
Evans had claimed that Beryl died after
01:03:36
Christy performed a botched abortion on
01:03:38
her but there were no injuries present
01:03:41
to support this theory nor had Christy
01:03:43
confessed to this detail however so
01:03:47
Heald did highlight the fact that while
01:03:50
Timothy was on trial Christy had already
01:03:52
claimed the lives of Ruth first and
01:03:55
Muriel lady on the stand he asked the
01:03:59
police witness when the trial of Timothy
01:04:03
Evans was going on in this very court
01:04:06
there were lying in all probability in
01:04:09
the Garden of 10 Rillington place two
01:04:13
skeletons the officer replied probably
01:04:22
John Christie's defense lawyer darica
01:04:25
Curtis Bennett argued that Christie's
01:04:27
behavior indicated he wasn't sane at the
01:04:30
time of the murders this was supposedly
01:04:33
evident by Christie's decision to allow
01:04:36
our new tenants to move into his flat
01:04:38
despite knowing there were four bodies
01:04:40
hidden inside
01:04:42
according to Curtis Bennett this showed
01:04:45
he wasn't aware that his actions were
01:04:47
wrong the defense also embraced the
01:04:51
theory that Christie was responsible for
01:04:53
killing Beryl and Geraldine Evans as
01:04:56
they believed a higher victim count
01:04:58
would support their assertion that
01:04:59
Christie was insane
01:05:01
Curtis Bennett pointed out that it would
01:05:04
be an unlikely coincidence to have quote
01:05:07
to Stranglers in this tiny house where
01:05:11
there is not enough room to swing a cat
01:05:13
in the kitchen Christie was called as a
01:05:18
witness for the defense and on the stand
01:05:20
his attorney asked him to describe each
01:05:23
of the murders he had committed over the
01:05:25
past decade in chronological order
01:05:28
Christie provided a vague recollection
01:05:30
and claimed several times that he
01:05:33
couldn't recall certain details when
01:05:36
asked why he had tried to conceal
01:05:38
Ethel's murder Christie replied that he
01:05:41
had been in denial about her death as
01:05:44
for the murders of Hector inna Raider
01:05:46
and Kathleen Christie maintained that he
01:05:50
couldn't recall many details about the
01:05:52
crimes but didn't think he was doing
01:05:54
anything wrong at the time
01:05:57
once again Christie claim to
01:06:00
responsibility for the murder of Beryl
01:06:02
Evans repeating the confession he had
01:06:05
given the police to wait earlier though
01:06:08
he denied having anything to do with the
01:06:10
death of baby Geraldine Christie claimed
01:06:14
that at one stage he had forgotten about
01:06:17
the Evanses case altogether this
01:06:20
prompted the judge to interject by
01:06:22
asking quote you say that you killed
01:06:26
mrs. Evans you had discussed with her
01:06:29
husband about disposing of her body and
01:06:32
the danger he stood in he was charged
01:06:35
with her murder and the murder of the
01:06:37
little child you gave evidence in a
01:06:40
murder trial in this court do you mean
01:06:44
that you had forgotten all that Christie
01:06:48
required yes sir it had gone clean out
01:06:51
of my mind
01:06:54
prosecutor heeled pointed out that at
01:06:57
Timothy Evans trial Christie had denied
01:07:00
killing Beryl as he was now admitting to
01:07:03
the crime he would ask how do you expect
01:07:07
the jury to believe you
01:07:09
- which Christie remained silent the
01:07:14
defense called upon psychiatrist - dr.
01:07:17
Jack Hobson who had interviewed Christie
01:07:19
on multiple occasions during his time on
01:07:21
remand it was his opinion that Christie
01:07:25
was suffering from a severe case of
01:07:27
hysteria which in the 1950s was believed
01:07:31
to be a mental disorder that caused
01:07:32
anxiety nervousness and hallucinations
01:07:37
dr. Hobson supported the defense's
01:07:39
argument that Christie hadn't known he
01:07:42
was doing anything wrong and believed he
01:07:44
may have forgotten many of his actions
01:07:46
as a result of his disorder he also
01:07:50
acknowledged that Christie was a
01:07:52
frequent liar who took more offense from
01:07:55
accusations that he frequented pubs than
01:07:58
the suggestion he was a murderer in
01:08:02
response to dr. Hobson's assertions the
01:08:05
prosecution called
01:08:06
to psychiatrists to the stand who had
01:08:08
also interviewed Christie one argued
01:08:12
that he so-called lapses in memory were
01:08:15
more likely an attempt to minimize his
01:08:17
criminal actions while the other
01:08:19
believed Christie wasn't mentally ill
01:08:22
but that quote his present reaction
01:08:26
abnormal as it may seem is usual in the
01:08:29
case of a murderer
01:08:30
the absence of shame and remorse at the
01:08:33
crime
01:08:35
this psychiatrist theorized that
01:08:38
Christie's crimes stemmed from the shame
01:08:40
of being impotent which led him to
01:08:43
prefer raping unconscious victims the
01:08:49
trial ran for three days and on Thursday
01:08:52
June 25 1953 both sides presented their
01:08:57
closing arguments the defense emphasized
01:09:00
that the killings were clearly committed
01:09:02
by an insane man or the prosecution
01:09:05
pointed out that sexual perversion is
01:09:07
not necessarily insanity at the time the
01:09:12
mandatory sentence for murder was the
01:09:14
death penalty the jury deliberated for
01:09:18
80 minutes before returning to declare
01:09:21
John Christie guilty of the murder of
01:09:23
his wife Ethel when asked the whether he
01:09:27
had anything to say before the required
01:09:29
judgment of death was passed Christie
01:09:32
silently shook his head he was then
01:09:36
transferred to Pentonville prison the
01:09:39
same facility where Timothy Evans had
01:09:41
been incarcerated following his own
01:09:43
murder conviction upon his arrival some
01:09:47
of the other prisoners booed and yelled
01:09:49
out foul names prompting Christie to
01:09:52
remark to his escorting officers quote
01:09:55
how disgusting some people are he was
01:10:01
assigned to Timothy Evans former cell to
01:10:04
await his death sentence Chris these
01:10:09
confessions relating to Beryl Evans
01:10:11
during his trial provoked renewed
01:10:14
questions about whether Timothy Evans
01:10:16
could have been innocent of her murder
01:10:18
on July 2 one week after Christie's
01:10:21
conviction he received a letter from
01:10:24
Timothy's mother
01:10:25
Thomasina Probert urging him to tell the
01:10:28
complete truth Tommasino wrote it may
01:10:33
save your soul from hell and it will
01:10:35
give me the peace of mind I have not had
01:10:37
for three years past Christie whose
01:10:42
execution was scheduled to take place in
01:10:44
13 days refused to provide any further
01:10:47
information
01:10:49
nevertheless the possibility that a
01:10:52
miscarriage of justice had occurred
01:10:54
gained momentum newspaper editors
01:10:58
members of parliament and a penal reform
01:11:00
organization called for an inquiry into
01:11:03
the murders of Beryl and Geraldine Evans
01:11:05
on Monday July 6 it was announced that a
01:11:09
private inquiry would be conducted by
01:11:12
judicial officer John Scott Henderson
01:11:14
the findings would be made public on
01:11:17
Monday July 13 two days before
01:11:20
Christie's execution this gave Scott
01:11:23
Henderson just one week to read and
01:11:26
analyze all of the evidence from both
01:11:28
criminal cases he interviewed 23
01:11:33
relevant individuals over two days
01:11:35
including John Christie himself when
01:11:38
asked whether he was responsible for the
01:11:40
double homicide Christie replied well I
01:11:44
cannot say whether I was or not an
01:11:49
anglican chaplain told Scott Henderson
01:11:52
that Christie had told him that he had
01:11:54
nothing to do with the two deaths but
01:11:56
had confessed as he thought it was
01:11:58
necessary to implicate himself in more
01:12:01
murders because quote the more the
01:12:04
merrier
01:12:06
a lawyer retained by Thomasina prober
01:12:09
submitted various questions to be posed
01:12:12
to Christie during the inquiry she
01:12:15
sought clarification about the abortion
01:12:17
story the tire used to strangle
01:12:20
Geraldine and adjourned Vincent's
01:12:22
admission that she felt someone press
01:12:24
against the door to prevent her from
01:12:26
entering the Evanses flat on the day of
01:12:28
barrels murder Scott Henderson deemed
01:12:32
today's queries irrelevant and dismissed
01:12:34
them on Monday July 13 the inquiries
01:12:40
findings were delivered with Scott
01:12:42
Henderson concluding that John Christie
01:12:44
was lying when he confessed the Beryl's
01:12:46
murder in a bid to support his insanity
01:12:49
plea
01:12:51
Scott Henderson felt that Timothy Evans
01:12:53
had given details in his fourth and
01:12:56
final confession that only the killer
01:12:58
could have known and to therefore
01:13:00
concluded that Timothy was responsible
01:13:02
for the murders of Beryl and Geraldine
01:13:06
he referred to the newspaper clipping
01:13:08
found in Timothy's flat that detailed an
01:13:11
infamous murder in which the victim had
01:13:13
been wrapped in a bundle finding it
01:13:15
significant that beryls body was bound
01:13:17
in a similar manner rather than settle
01:13:22
the matter of who was responsible
01:13:23
Scott Henderson's inquiry prompted even
01:13:26
more public debate critics argued that
01:13:30
the inquiry primarily focused on details
01:13:33
that indicated Timothy Evans guilt while
01:13:35
ignoring potentially exonerating
01:13:37
information for example Timothy was
01:13:41
barely literate making it unlikely that
01:13:44
he ever read the incriminating newspaper
01:13:46
article found in his flat additionally
01:13:50
Timothy had been fed information prior
01:13:53
to his confessions including how and
01:13:56
where the bodies of his wife and
01:13:57
daughter were found Scott Henderson also
01:14:01
failed to investigate the pathologist
01:14:03
report that stated Barrels killer might
01:14:06
have raped her following her death
01:14:09
meanwhile preparation for John
01:14:12
Christie's execution went ahead as
01:14:14
planned
01:14:15
he's final visitor an acquaintance he
01:14:18
had fought alongside during world war
01:14:20
one asked Christie whether he had killed
01:14:22
Geraldine Evans Christie replied I don't
01:14:27
know I can't remember before looking
01:14:31
slyly and blinking deliberately his
01:14:35
visitor interpreted this as a confession
01:14:37
on the morning of Wednesday July 15 1953
01:14:44
the same executioner who had hanged
01:14:46
Timothy Evans fetched Christie from his
01:14:49
cell and restrained his arms when
01:14:52
Christie complained that his nose itched
01:14:55
the executioner replied it won't bother
01:14:58
you for long he was hanged at 9:00 a.m.
01:15:03
becoming the last serial killer to be
01:15:06
executed in England six minutes later a
01:15:10
notice of Christie's death was posted on
01:15:13
the prison gates with several hundred
01:15:15
people gathering to laugh and jeer at
01:15:18
the announcement an increasing number of
01:15:24
high-profile individuals continued to
01:15:27
campaign on behalf of the late Timothy
01:15:29
Evans ending October 1953
01:15:33
John Scott Henderson's inquiry was
01:15:35
openly critiqued in Parliament two years
01:15:39
later in 1955 for editors from several
01:15:43
prominent English newspapers formed the
01:15:46
delegation to petition the Home
01:15:47
Secretary for a new inquiry that same
01:15:51
year barrister Michael letõs released a
01:15:54
book titled the men on your conscience
01:15:57
in which he asserted that Timothy had
01:15:59
been wrongfully executed
01:16:02
the Commissioner of London's
01:16:04
Metropolitan Police shared his belief
01:16:06
that the inquiry had proved Timothy's
01:16:09
guilt and stated it is still safe to say
01:16:13
that the risk of an innocent man being
01:16:15
executed is so remote that it can be
01:16:18
disregarded in 1961 another book
01:16:24
supporting Timothy's innocence was
01:16:25
published by Scottish journalist and
01:16:28
author Ludovic Kennedy titled 10
01:16:31
Rillington place it dissected Scott
01:16:34
Henderson's inquiry to reveal its errors
01:16:37
and falsehoods and declared that
01:16:39
Timothy's second confession in which he
01:16:42
claimed John Christie offered to perform
01:16:44
an abortion 4-barrel as the truth
01:16:48
investigators had dismissed this story
01:16:50
because barrels body showed no signs of
01:16:53
having undergone such a procedure the
01:16:55
Kennedy theorized Christie offered the
01:16:58
abortion as a ruse to be alone with
01:17:00
Beryl so that he could rape her to
01:17:04
explain her facial injuries Kennedy
01:17:06
speculated that Christie had attacked a
01:17:08
barrel after she fought off his attempts
01:17:10
to gas her before proceeding to sexually
01:17:13
assault and strangle her
01:17:16
following this Christie likely told
01:17:19
Timothy that Beryl died during the
01:17:22
abortion and then forced the Timothy to
01:17:24
help hide her remains by convincing him
01:17:27
that as her husband he would be the one
01:17:29
held responsible Kennedy believed
01:17:33
Timothy was unaware of Geraldine's fate
01:17:36
and fully accepted Christie story that
01:17:38
he had placed her into someone else's
01:17:40
care after learning of Geraldine's death
01:17:45
Timothy had likely deduced she had been
01:17:47
strangled because he saw the knot attire
01:17:50
lying on top of her clothes Kennedy also
01:17:54
speculated that Christie went to great
01:17:57
lengths to pin the murder on his
01:17:58
neighbor including planting the
01:18:01
suspicious newspaper clippings in
01:18:02
Timothy's apartment and compelling Ethel
01:18:05
to support his lies to authorities
01:18:09
Kennedy described Timothy Evans as a
01:18:12
simple man of low intelligence who was
01:18:14
easily manipulated Timothy had an IQ of
01:18:18
70
01:18:19
whereas Christie was of above-average
01:18:21
intelligence with an IQ of 128 Kennedy
01:18:26
also pointed out that Timothy's dictated
01:18:28
confessions contained words such as
01:18:31
whilst and incurring which were unlikely
01:18:34
to have been used by someone of his
01:18:36
limited education to Kennedy it appeared
01:18:40
the police had a guided Timothy during
01:18:42
his lengthy late-night interrogations
01:18:45
this was further supported by the amount
01:18:48
of time that took Timothy to provide
01:18:50
each statement his second statement
01:18:53
which implicated John Christie was just
01:18:56
shy of 1,800 words and took him 2 hours
01:18:59
and 40 minutes to articulate
01:19:02
in contrast his final confession in
01:19:05
which he claimed to have strangled a
01:19:07
barrel in a fit of rage need two
01:19:10
thousand words and only took him one
01:19:12
hour and 15 minutes to detail the time
01:19:17
discrepancy suggested that he might have
01:19:19
been prompted along by interviewing
01:19:21
officers to hasten the process of
01:19:23
incriminating himself
01:19:26
10 Rillington place became one of the
01:19:29
most influential texts relating to the
01:19:32
case and Kennedy was considered
01:19:34
something of a spokesperson for
01:19:36
Timothy's innocence campaign four years
01:19:39
after the book's publication in 1965
01:19:42
Kennedy teamed up with fellow campaigner
01:19:45
and newspaper editor Harold Evans to
01:19:48
form the Timothy Evans committee within
01:19:51
four months the committee received 109
01:19:54
signatures from members of parliament in
01:19:57
support of a new inquiry into the deaths
01:19:59
of Beryl and Geraldine when the Home
01:20:03
Secretary announced that a second
01:20:05
inquiry would be going ahead many
01:20:07
welcome to the news one reporter stated
01:20:11
the ghost of Timothy Evans has haunted
01:20:14
the people of Britain
01:20:17
however the police who handled with the
01:20:20
original investigation were displaced as
01:20:22
was barrels brother basil Timothy had
01:20:27
apologized to basil during his trial
01:20:29
which basil took as a sign of his guilt
01:20:38
the second inquiry took place towards
01:20:41
the end of 1965 and was helmed by High
01:20:44
Court judge sir Daniel Braben his
01:20:48
findings were released in October the
01:20:50
following year and concluded that
01:20:52
Timothy Evans had too likely killed
01:20:54
barrel after an argument about money he
01:20:58
then either sought John Christie's
01:21:00
assistance in moving her body or
01:21:02
Christie had overheard the killing and
01:21:04
agreed to help out of fear the police
01:21:07
would come to the property and discover
01:21:09
the remains of Ruth's first than to
01:21:11
Muriel lady buried in the garden Bravin
01:21:15
believed that the two men had initially
01:21:17
planned to use Timothy's work van to
01:21:19
dispose of barrels body elsewhere but
01:21:22
this was foiled when Timothy lost his
01:21:24
job Braben stated I find the evidence in
01:21:30
respect to the death of Geraldine more
01:21:32
perplexing I do not believe that he who
01:21:36
killed Beryl Evans must have necessarily
01:21:38
killed a Geraldine they were separate
01:21:42
killings done I think for different
01:21:44
reasons I think it was more probable
01:21:47
than not that John Christie did it it
01:21:49
was a killing in cold blood that
01:21:52
Christie would be more likely to do
01:21:56
Braeburn admitted that it was difficult
01:21:58
to know the truth as both that the
01:22:01
convicted men were liars
01:22:04
the findings were once again met with
01:22:07
skepticism although they enabled Timothy
01:22:10
to be posthumously pardoned as he had
01:22:13
only ever been convicted of Geraldine's
01:22:15
murder on Tuesday October 18 1966
01:22:20
sixteen years after his execution queen
01:22:24
elizabeth ii signed a free pardon for
01:22:27
Timothy Evans officially clearing him of
01:22:30
his daughter's murder the Evans case was
01:22:34
often used as an example of why the
01:22:37
death penalty should be abolished and it
01:22:39
galvanized the number of British
01:22:41
politicians to propose a bill titled the
01:22:44
abolition of death penalty
01:22:46
instead of execution the act called for
01:22:50
individuals convicted of murder to be
01:22:52
given a mandatory life sentence it was
01:22:56
passed on November 8 1965 and made
01:23:00
permanent in 1969 after Timothy was
01:23:06
pardoned his family requested that his
01:23:08
body be exhumed from the unmarked grave
01:23:11
at Pentonville prison for reburial in
01:23:14
Greenford de park cemetery west of
01:23:16
London permission was granted into the
01:23:20
rain tournament was scheduled to take
01:23:22
place at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday November
01:23:24
10 1966 followed by a private memorial
01:23:28
service news of the ceremony was leaked
01:23:33
to the press prompting a slew of
01:23:35
journalists photographers and television
01:23:38
crews together at Greenford Park
01:23:40
Cemetery a decoy van was dispatched from
01:23:43
Pentonville prison to distract them
01:23:45
while Timothy's family into lawyers made
01:23:48
alternative plans they covertly traveled
01:23:53
to st. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery
01:23:55
in East London where the actual service
01:23:58
and the burial took place when the press
01:24:01
realized that they had been tricked they
01:24:04
harassed
01:24:04
Timothy's mother by calling her into the
01:24:07
early hours of the morning over the
01:24:11
years it became widely accepted that
01:24:14
John Christie was responsible for the
01:24:16
murders of Beryl and Geraldine Evans yet
01:24:19
some still theorized that two killers
01:24:21
were coincidentally living under the
01:24:23
same roof several authors have pent
01:24:27
books arguing that Timothy Evans was
01:24:29
telling the truth when he admitted to
01:24:31
killing his wife and daughter as evident
01:24:34
in his confessions behaviour following
01:24:36
the murders reputation of lying and
01:24:38
history of domestic violence
01:24:41
those convinced of Timothy's guilt also
01:24:45
know that John Christie preferred
01:24:47
victims whose disappearances wouldn't be
01:24:49
immediately noticed who are actively
01:24:51
investigated as opposed to someone with
01:24:54
a close support network like Beryl
01:24:57
furthermore Barrels facial injuries were
01:25:00
inconsistent with Christie's other known
01:25:02
attacks and she didn't present the same
01:25:05
signs of gas poisoning has several of
01:25:07
his other victims there were also
01:25:10
several floors increased these
01:25:12
confessions that didn't align with the
01:25:14
known facts of the Evans case advocates
01:25:18
for Timothy's guilt have also drawn
01:25:20
attention to reports that he associated
01:25:22
with Donald Hume while in prison the
01:25:25
young man arrested for the murder
01:25:27
featured in the newspaper clippings
01:25:29
recovered from the Evanses flat Hume
01:25:33
claimed that Timothy requested his
01:25:35
assistance in sorting out a defense
01:25:37
story and Hume had encouraged him to
01:25:40
quote blame everyone but yourself Hume
01:25:45
also alleged that Timothy insisted John
01:25:48
Christie had murdered Beryl but admitted
01:25:50
to killing Geraldine because she
01:25:52
wouldn't stop crying
01:25:54
however when Timothy described his
01:25:57
prison experience prior to his execution
01:25:59
he commented there are 18 of us here but
01:26:05
you have to watch donald hume in january
01:26:12
2003 more than five decades after
01:26:15
Timothy's death an independent Assessor
01:26:17
for Britain's Home Office Lord Daniel
01:26:20
Brennan revisited the infamous case he
01:26:24
decreed that given John Christie had
01:26:26
confessed to killing Beryl Evans the
01:26:29
findings from the second inquiry
01:26:30
concluding Timothy was the killer should
01:26:33
be rejected
01:26:35
Brennan believed there was no evidence
01:26:37
implicating Timothy in the double
01:26:39
homicide and declared the conviction and
01:26:43
execution of Timothy Evans for the
01:26:45
murder of his child was wrongful and a
01:26:48
miscarriage of justice the Home Office
01:26:52
subsequently compensated each of Timothy
01:26:55
sisters with an undisclosed six-figure
01:26:57
sum the payments were intended to
01:27:00
acknowledge the deep and profound impact
01:27:03
their brother's imprisonment and
01:27:04
execution had on their lives but they
01:27:07
felt more could be done to clear
01:27:09
Timothy's name
01:27:11
despite his posthumous free pardon his
01:27:14
conviction for Geraldine's murder had
01:27:16
never been formally expunged so on
01:27:19
August 26 2003 Timothy's sister Eileen
01:27:23
submitted an application to refer the
01:27:26
conviction to the court of appeal her
01:27:29
application was rejected with the court
01:27:32
ruling that the pardon was sufficient
01:27:34
recognition of Timothy's innocence the
01:27:39
following year
01:27:40
Timothy's half-sister mary sought a
01:27:42
review of the decision the judges
01:27:45
accepted that Timothy hadn't murdered
01:27:47
barrel or Geraldine but felt the cost
01:27:50
and resources required to quash his
01:27:52
conviction couldn't be justified and her
01:27:55
request was dismissed on March 9 2010 to
01:28:00
mark the 60th anniversary of Timothy's
01:28:03
execution the BBC published an interview
01:28:06
with Mary in which she shared the
01:28:08
devastating impact that the murders and
01:28:10
execution had on their family she didn't
01:28:14
recognize the simple-minded individual
01:28:16
depicted by the media instead describing
01:28:20
Timothy as a fun-loving scam and a
01:28:22
sensitive young man Mary said her
01:28:26
brother was so worried about the
01:28:28
feelings of others that he occasionally
01:28:30
concealed the seriousness of his chronic
01:28:32
foot injury from his mother to avoid
01:28:34
upsetting her
01:28:36
she also claimed that the family had
01:28:39
tried to warn investigators about
01:28:41
Timothy's tendency to make up stories
01:28:43
but quote the police chose to take him
01:28:47
at his word mary believed Timothy had
01:28:52
been in shock upon learning of barrel
01:28:54
and Geraldine's death and made up a
01:28:56
story in an attempt to make sense of it
01:28:59
Mary stated we never once doubted Tim's
01:29:04
innocence the whole investigation was
01:29:07
rotten through they made Timmy out to be
01:29:10
a simpleton a drunk and a wife beater
01:29:15
three of John Christie's victims
01:29:17
Kathleen Maloney reader Nelson and
01:29:20
Tector Reena MacLennan had buried in
01:29:22
unmarked graves at Gunnar's Bree
01:29:24
cemetery in Kensington the same resting
01:29:27
place as Beryl and Geraldine Evans Ethel
01:29:31
Christie was cremated and her ashes were
01:29:33
given to her brother what became if the
01:29:37
remains of Ruth's first and de Muriel
01:29:39
Leedy isn't publicly known over the
01:29:44
years the Evans and Christie cases have
01:29:46
been explored through various novels
01:29:48
songs movie adaptations and television
01:29:52
programs in 1971 a film titled 10
01:29:57
Rillington place was released starring
01:30:00
Richard Attenborough as John Christie
01:30:03
the story was also told in a 2016 BBC
01:30:07
miniseries titled Rillington place the
01:30:11
address continued to attract onlookers
01:30:13
curious to see the infamous murder house
01:30:16
for themselves much to the dismay of a
01:30:18
local residence in an effort to dissuade
01:30:22
spectators the street was renamed trust
01:30:25
and closed changing the street name did
01:30:29
a little to deter tourists and in 1978
01:30:32
the block was completely demolished
01:30:35
today the land is home to rows of neat
01:30:39
brick housing and a small tidy Park
01:30:42
dotted with trees and flowering shrubs
01:30:58
[Music]
01:31:09
you
01:31:09
[Music]