Legacy and Miscarriage of Justice

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Tune in on Ted Talks Daily wherever you listen to podcasts ACast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere A Cast Duck In november nineteen forty nine, A young father walked into a police station in South Wales and made a series of confusing statements about the death of his wife Within four months, he would be convicted of the murder of his baby daughter and hanged at Pentonville Prison The case appeared open and shut. But three years later, police made a horrifying discovery inside a rundown house in Notting Hill, London Hidden behind wallpaper beneath floorboards and buried in the garden were the remains of multiple women. The man responsible had been living there all along His name John Christe What followed exposed one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in British history It's a case involving serial murder. False confessions, police failures, and a killer who had not only escaped suspicion but it helped send an innocent man. gallows In this episode of British Murders with Stuart Blues, we're looking at the murders committed by John Christe and the shocking events that unfolded at number ten Rillington Place It's a story that claimed the lives of at least eight victims destroyed countless families ultimately help change the law on capital punishment in the UK forever Before we start, just a quick reminder to follow the podcast on your player of choice. It's completely free and it's one of the best ways to support the show If you're able to leave a rateating or review that helps enormously as well And for ad free listening, early access and exclusive episodes, head over to patreon. com forward slash British murders to join my ever growing community To understand how one of Britain's most infamous serial killers ended up at the center of a miscarriage of justice that shocked the nation, we need to start long before the bodies were discovered at Ten Rillington Place. But this story does not actually begin in London Rather it started in my neck of the woods John Reginald Halliday Christe was born on april eighth, eighteen ninety nine in Boothown Halifax in the west Riding of Yorkshire, as it was known at the time. The county is simply known as West Yorkshire these days Christie was the sixth of seven children born to Ernest Christie, a carpet designer and Mary Hannah Halliday From the outside, there wasn't much to suggest that the quiet lad from Halifax would one day become one of Britain's most notorious murderers though his childhood wasn't exactly a happy one My Dad was a cold and distant man who rarely showed affection punish his children for the smallest of things At home, Christie was also surrounded by five older sisters who tended to dominate him. while his mum went the other way becoming fiercely protective of a baby boy It created a strange mix of insecurity and dependence that seemed to follow Christie throughout his life. In around nineteen ten, the family moved to Chester Road in Halifax, and Christie was said to have been a bright boy He attended Boothtown Council School before winning a scholarship to Halifax Secondary School at the age of eleven Maths was his favorite subject particular algebra though he was also good at history and woodwork Years later, Tess would place his IQ at around one hundred and twenty eight A lot higher than the estimated national average of roughly seventy at the time Outside of school, he sang in the church choir and joined the boy Scouts In fact, he became so attached to the scouts that he'd often wear the uniform even when he wasn't at camp It seemed to give him something he desperately lacked, a sense of identity Yet despite this, he never really fitted in People who knew him as a youngster described him as odd drawn and difficult to get close to One former acquaintance later called him a queer lad who mostly kept himself to himself By which he meant Christie was strange, odd, peculiar, or eccentric. Christie's confidence took another blow during his teenage years when an embarrassing sexual encounter left him unable to perform in the bedroom Word quickly spread amongst his peers and he became the target of cruel nicknames appears on the surface as nothing more than schoollyard teasing But the humiliation cut Christie deeply, affecting him for the rest of his life In nineteen eleven, another significant event occurred when his granddad, David Halliday, passed away Several biographers have app pointed to this as being a moment that had a profound effect on a young Christa though exactly how remains open to debate. When he left school in april nineteen thirteen, he found work as an assistant projectionist at a local cinema It wasn't a glamorous job, but it paid the bills all the same cameame the First World War At seventeen, Christie enlisted in the British Army and was eventually sent to France In june nineteen eighteen, he was caught in a mustard gas attack and spent a month recovering in a military hospital in Calais Later in life, Christie would claim the attack left him blind and unable to speak for three and a half years. Historians have never found evidence to support those claims though And many believe he greatly exaggerated the effects Still One thing was undeniable. For the rest of his life he spoke in a soft whisper It was a voice that many people found calming and trustworthy Ye later, it would help him low vulnerable women to their deaths. While Christie was growing up in Halifax, another life was unfolding nearby Ethel Simpson Waddington was born in the same town in eighteen ninety eight and was the youngest of three children Dad, William worked as a mechanic traragedy struck when he died in nineteen oh four, leaving Ethel's mum Amy to raise the family alone By the time she was thirteen, Ethel was already helping to support the household, working part time as an errand girl while attending school Bright, hard working and ambitious And as she got older, she taught herself shorthand as well as typing Those were skills that opened doors for women seeking office work in the early twentieth century. Around nineteen nineteen, Ethel met Christie in Halifax and the pair began dating After a relatively short relationship, they married at Halifax's reggister office on may tenth, nineteen twenty Christie was twenty one and Ethel was twenty two At first, life for the newlyweds seemed promising They moved into a house on Brunswick Road in Halifax and attempted to build a future together But unfortunately, cracks in their marriage began appearing almost immediately compomlicated by Christie's impotence, something that caused considerable strain between them. And Ethel also suffered a miscarriage and was later told that she'd never be able to have children Meanwhile, Christie repeatedly found himself on the wrong side of the law During the nineteen twenties, he drifted between jobs and accumulated a growing list of criminal convictions He stole postal orders while working as a postman. reted money by false pretenses. committed thefts, assaulted a sex worker with a cricket bat. and even stole a car belonging to a priest who tried to help him It became a familiar cycle Christie would find work, lose it Commit an offense, server shop, prison sentence, then start all over again and the strain eventually became too much Ethel separated several times, and after Christie abandoned her in nineteen twenty three, Ethel began rebuilding her life without him She found work in Bradford before eventually moving to Sheffield to live with her brother Henry While there, she secured a position as a shorthand typist at a Steelworks and settled into a stable routine In Sheffield she met a man named Vaon Brindlay And the two began a relationship that lasted around four years Looking back many years later, Vaugh described Ethel as an attractive, intelligent and thoroughly respectable woman She wasn't a pub goer, she didn't smoke and she excelled at work For a time, it seemed as though Ethel had finally moved on from Christa. But life Plumans Around nineteen thirty two, her relationship with Vaughne came to an end when it became clear she couldn't have children And in nineteen thirty three Christe reappeared Fresh out of prison, he wrote to Ethel and persuaded her to give their marriage another chance. Everything that had happened She agreed, leaving her family behind in Yorkshire and joining him in London proved to be a decision that changed both of their lives forever Over the following years, the couple eventually settled at a property that would become infamous throughout Britain. Number ten, Rillington Pl The narrow cul deac stood in Notting Hill, long before the area became the fashionable part of London we know today Back then it was poor, overcrowded and run down Houses were cramped Victorian terraces built in the nineteenth century Squeezed beside an above ground railway line and overlooked by industrial works at the end of the street There were no indoor toilets, and many residents struggled to make ends meet. The effects of war, poverty and housing shortages weighed heavily on the area. Some women turn to sex work just to survive Others found themselves facing unwanted pregnancies at a time when contraception was limited and abortion remained illegal Christ' initially moved into the top floor flat in nineteen thirty seven before relocating to the ground floor flat the following year. According to some local accounts, the couple became known for offering illegal abortions Later allegations suggested Ethel assisted women while Christie administered gas through a makeshift apparatus connected to the kitchen stove Whether every story was true remains debated But one thing is certain Christis became well known within the neighborhood. When the Second World War broke out in nineteen thirty nine, Christie successfully applied to join the War Reserve Police Remarkably, nobody checked his criminal record, so he was immediately accepted Soon, he was patrolling the streets as a special constable attached to Harrow Police Station So to his neighbours he appeared respectable He wore a uniform and represented authority with one local officer later claiming Christate was so domineering that residents nicknamed him the Himler of Rillington Place It was a remarkable transformation for a man with a lengthy criminal record But behind the respectable facade, something much darker was beginning to emerge. Between august nineteen forty three and march nineteen fifty three At least eight people would lose their lives at the hands of Christa at Ten Rillington Place The first known victim was a young woman whose story has largely been forgotten by history. Her name was Ruth Marguarette, Christine Fst Ruth was born on august second, nineteen twenty two in Batfurlau, a small spa town south of Vienna in lower Austria. She was the daughter of Frederich An Friedelfst and came from what appears to be a fairly ordinary middle class family Much of Ruth's early life has been lost to time. In fact, even in recent years, historians have struggled to uncover details about her childhood So little is known about her that Christie researcher doror Jonathan Oatates publicly appealed for information about her family as recently as twenty twenty four What we do know is that Ruth was half Jewish and came of age during one of the darkest periods in European history In march nineteen thirty eight, Nazi Germany annexed Austria in what became known as the Anchluss Overnight, life became increasingly dangerous for Jewish families and those with Jewish heritage. Later that year, Ruth moved to Vienna and for a time lost contact with her parents In june nineteen thirty nine, just three months before the outbreak of the Second World War A sixteen year old Ruth arrived in Britain as a refugee She was a teenage girl leaving everything she'd ever known behind and traveling to a foreign country, not knowing what the future held. And life in Britain wasn't exactly easy for her. As an Austrian national, she found herself caught up in wartime suspicion and was interned as an enemy alien on the Isle of White until december nineteen forty For some context, Germans, Austrians and Italians living in Great Britain during the Second World War were designated as enemy aliens and consequently interned After her release, Ruth moved to London and began trying to rebuild her life She worked various jobs, including a position as a waitress at the Mayfair Hotel During this period, she met a Cypriot man, and in october nineteen forty two, gave birth to a daughter But wartime London was a difficult place for a single mother She was unable to support the baby So Ruth made the heartbreaking decision to place her daughter up for adoption By nineteen forty three, she was once again working as a waitress and had also found employment at a munitions factory in Davis Street. She initially lived on Elgan Crescent before moving to Oxford Gardens in Notting Hill, which was only a short walk from Rillington Place Some reports later suggested Ruth may have occasionally engaged in sex work to supplement her income But it's important to say that much of this information came from Christie himself. and therefore cannot be treated as a reliable fact What is certain is that she was a young woman trying to survive alone in wartime London And sadly, she ended up crossing paths with Christe. In august nineteen forty three Ethel was away visiting relatives back in Sheffield, leaving Christie home alone At some point on august twenty fourth, he persuaded Ruth to come back to ten Rillington Place Exactly how he loed her there remains unclear But once she was inside the flat, He attacked her Using a length of rope, he strangled the twenty one year old woman on his bed Afterwards, Christie later admitted he experienced what he described as a strange sense of peace and excitement Casual Way spoke about the murder is just so chilling She recalled trying to redress Ruth's body after killing her and wrapping her in her leopard skin coat before moving her from the bedroom At first, he concealed her beneath the floorboards in his living room. following evening, under the cover of darkness, he carried her into the back garden buried her What's even sadder is that nobody reported Ruth missing No police investigation followed and no search parties were organized For ten years, she remained hidden behind the house at Rillington Place When her remains were finally discovered in nineteen fifty three Only her skeleton remained, so there was little left of her to identify In the end, investigators were only able to confirm her identity because Christie himself confessed to her murder By then, Rutf's dad had died and her mum had emigrated to New York So even in death, there was little closure Her remains were too fragmented for burial and were ultimately cremated. became the first known victim of Christa. But she would not The last We're going to take a quick break here When we return, we'll introduce another young woman who would soon fall foul to the remorseless hands of Christa See you soon Podcast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. What if you laughed all through your commute? or if you heard the funniest story while at the gym Well, now you can. I'm Jamita Jamill and guests on my new podcast, Wrong Turns share their most mortifying and hilarious disaster stories. I'm talking people like May Martin, Bob the Drag Queen, Catherine Ryan, Jake Johnson, Margaret Cho, Simon Pegg, Penn Badgeley, and so many more. So listen wherever you get your podcast Wrong Turns Dignity goes to die Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast. com This Monday dot com ad was created by a team of people and AI agents. Reese, our content agent, wrote the copy based on our best practices, like mentioning Monday dot com three times. 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Start advertising on podcasts by visiting acast. com slash advertise Just over a year later, another woman entered Christie's orbit Her name was Murel Amelia Edder. And she was born in Plaster, East London on october fourteenth, nineteen twelve She was the youngest of four children Unlike Ruth, her life had been marked by hardship long before she encountered Krista When Murel was just five years old, her mum died in hospital. dad struggled to cope with raising four children alone. and ended up making the painful decision to place them in children's homes Mural spent much of her childhood moving between institutions before eventually being reunited with some of her siblings. At eleven years old, she left the children's home and went to live with her auntie in Acton, who herself ran a strict household An example of this is the fact that Murel wasn't allowed to socialize free lay And she was discouraged from seeing boys As she grew older, she found work wherever she could Whether it be domestic service, laundry work, housekeeping The sort of jobs that keep the country running but rarely receive much recognition Those who knew her described a quiet, gentle woman She wasn't loud or outgoing and tended to keep to herself One relative later described her as rather a quiet sort of person whileile another said she was friendly enough, but rarely spoke about her private life By the outbreak of the Second World War, Murel was working in domestic service. And after her auntie died in nineteen thirty nine, she moved to Putnener in Southwest London to live with another aunt of hers, Martha Hooper It was there where she remained throughout the war In nineteen forty three, she began working in the wartime industry First at a factory in Chiswick, and later at Ultra electronics in Park Royal, where workers assembled radio equipment for the war effort And it was there on april twentieth, nineteen forty four that she met Christa By this point Christie was serving as a special constable as we've already covered, so carried himself as a respectable authority figure. And many people, including Murel, trusted him implicitly The two became acquainted and she confided in him about a health complaint she suffered from called Qatar a condition that causes excessive mucus in the airwaves and can leave people feeling constantly congested Christie listened to Murel and even offered some much welcomed advice in that whispery voice of his As a result, he slowly gained a trust Around the same time, Murel had also started seeing a man named Ernest Lawson. And on at least one occasion, Ernest even accompanied her to visit the Christies at Rillington Place Nothing about Christy appeared suspicious at that time. I can't make that clear enough. Then came Saturday october seventh, nineteen forty four Around four PM, Murel left her auntie's house to do some shopping Before leaving, she said I shan't be late It was the last time her family ever saw her alive At some point that evening, Murel went to Rillington Place as Christie had convinced her he had developed a special remedy for her catar It was nothing but a charirade, however. merely a means of getting her inside the flub Once the pair were alone, Christate used Fryar's Balsam a medicine which contains benzoin and acts as a decongestant for the relief of cold symptoms. He used it to disguise the smell of domestic gas You see, Friars's balsam is meant to be inhaled So as Murel inhaled the fumes, not knowing what she was truly breathing in gradually lost consciousness Once she was helpless, Christie sexually assaulted her before strangling her with a rope. When describing the murder Christie chillingly admitted that he felt a tremendous sense of excitement and reliease Just as he had done with Ruth, he disposed of Murel's body in the back garden. The two women now lay buried side by side behind Ten Rillington Place Back in Potnee, Murel's family grew increasingly concerned She had vanished without taking her savings, her money, or any of her personal belongings but nothing suggested she had planned to leave. Weeks passed until finally, on november fourth, her cousin Wilfred formally reported her missing to the police Officers investigated but found nothing linking her disappearance to Christa. Nobody even considered him a suspect given his status within the community Murel's dad wasn't even informed she was missing until the following year And for nearly a decade, her family had no answers Like Ruth, it was only in nineteen fifty three, when investigators uncovered the horrors hidden at Rilllington Place that Murel's body was finally found and she was identified through her dental records Heading back to the timeline, we arrive now at Easter nineteen forty eight, which is when a young married couple moved into the top floor flat at ten Rillington Place. They had no idea they were moving into a house that already concealed the bodies of two murdered women was Timothy and Beryl Evans Timothy came from Mertha Tidville in South Wales and was born on november twentieth, nineteen twenty four Timothy is another person in this story with a difficult childhood, as his father abandoned the family before he was even born leaving his mum Thomasina to raise the children alone When Timothy was nine, his mum remarried, and the family remained in Mertha Tidville for a few years before eventually moving to London in search of better opportunities Timothy struggled with his development from an early age. He was slow to develop speech, found school difficult. and suffered recurring health problems after an injury to his foot developed into a chronic infection Frequent hospital stays meant he missed large chunks of his education And he never really caught up with his peers. adulthood, his reading and writing abilities remained limited. with later assessments plac in his IQ somewhere between sixty five and seventy five. Even those closest to him acknowledged his limitations, His own mum later described him as backward using the now outdated language of the time this, Timothy was a hard worker He held various jobs before settling into work as a delivery driver and a lorry driver By the late nineteen forties, he was earning around seven pounds a week, occasionally a little more if work was good. There wasn't much money, but it was enough to get by equating to roughly two hundred and twenty five pounds per week in today's money when adjusted for inflation As for his personality Opinions differed sharply depending on who was asked. Some describe Timothy as a simple, good natured man who liked telling tall tales and often exaggerated stories to make himself sound more important Others painted a much less flattering picture. allegations of heavy drinking. violence and frequent arguments Beryl's younger brother Peter later described Timothy as a brute who regularly mistreated his sister The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle Timothy wasn't a saint by any stretch, as he had previous convictions and could be difficult at times But what nobody disputes is that he was vulnerable. easily influenced and so often out of his depth In january nineteen forty seven, Timothy met seventeen year old Beryl Thorley on a blind date Pair hit it off right away and married later that year at Kensington Register Oice He was twenty two and she had only just turned eighteen. came from Lewishham in Southeast London and was born on september nineteenth, nineteen twenty nine. She was the eldest of four children, and reports suggest she was intelligent, hard wororking, and ambitious Her childhood had also been shaped by hardship Auring the Second World War, she was evacuated from London along with countless other children, escaping the blitz. In nineteen forty seven, tragedy struck when her mum died Meaning that at just seventeen years old, Beryl found herself stepping into a maternal role for her younger brothers and sisters. Years later, her youngest brother Peter remembered her fondly He described her as kind loving and deeply protective of her family. Despite her intelligence, he also felt she was somewhat naive and sheltered from the harsher realities of the world Beryl had left school at around fifteen and attended night classes to improve her prospects Her efforts paid off when she secured a position as a telephonist at the prestigious Grovenna House on Park Lane, one of London's most exclusive hotels After marrying Timothy, the couple initially lived with his mum before moving into Ten Rillington Plays as they prepared for the arrival of their first child On october tenth, nineteen forty eight, Beryl gave birth to a daughter, Geraldine, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Hammersmith, and the girl spent her entire short life at Rillington Place. The flat itself was tiny, consisting of only two rooms The building had no bathroom and all the building's tenants shared a single outside toilet space was so limited that Geraldine's cot barely fit in the bedroom After her daughter's birth, Beryl gave up her job and became a full time mum Friends recalled Sing her pushing Geraldine through the streets of Notting Hill alongside other young mothers And on the surface, they look like an ordinary young family trying to make end's meet But behind closed doors, things were far less happy Money was constantly short and arguments were frequent Neighbourors often heard shouting coming from the flat. Peter visited them regularly and later recalled trying to distract Baby Geraldine while her parents rowled. He remembered covering her ears and making funny faces to stop her hearing the arguments taking place around her The Evans family's difficulties only worsened during nineteen forty nine When in the autumn, Beryl discovered she was pregnant again The prospect terrified the young couple, as they could barely afford the one child they already had Another baby felt beyond impossible And I'll reiterate that abortion was illegal at the time a fact which would prove fatal Because the one person Timothy and Beryl turn to for advice regarding their situation Was their downstairs neighbor Christay By then he had carefully cultivated an image as a respectable older man He was nearly twenty five years older than Beryl and carried himself as somebody who knew what he was talking about So, to the young couple, it seemed trustworthy. Christie claimed he knew somebody who could perform an abortion safely before eventually suggesting he could arrange the procedure himself It was exactly the opportunity he'd been waiting for And on november eighth, nineteen forty nine, while Timothy was at work Christie invited Beryl downstairs to his flat er next would become one of the most debated moments in British criminal history broad outline is clear Christit rendered twenty year old Beryl unconscious using domestic gas before strangling her to death. When Timothy returned home, Christie delivered the devastating news that the abortion had gone wrong Meryl was dead Christie then immediately began manipulating the young Welshman, convincing Timothy that, because he had helped arrange the abortion He would be treated as an accessory and could face prosecution himself Chrisy claimed there was only one way out. He said he would dispose of the body by placing it down a manhole, meaning it would disappear forever. Timothay, who was understandably frightened and confused, agreed to the plan Christie then gave him another piece of advice Leave London As for Little Geraldine, Christie claimed he knew a childless couple in East Acton who would care for her until matters settled down truth was There was no couple and never had been That left Christa to carry out yet another horrifying act. at some point around the same time Christie murdered the almost thirteen month old Geraldine She was strangled and hidden alongside her mum in the washhouse at the rear of the property their bodies concealed from view behind some timber. So by this point, not only had Christie murdered a young mother He'd also killed her baby daughter to eliminate the final witness to his deception A few days later, on november fourteenth, Timothy left London as agreed and tralled back to South Wales, staying with his relatives in Mertha Vale. Before leaving, he quit his job and sold much of the family's furniture And when pressed by friends and relatives regarding Beryl and Jaldine's absence, He offered various explanations Nobody seemed entirely convinced though And his mum especially quickly became suspicious In a letter written later that month, she admitted she had not seen Beryl or Geraldine for weeks and remarked that there seemed to be some sort of mystery surrounding her son's behaviour pressure eventually became too much And on november thirtieth, nineteen forty nine Timothy walked into Mertha Tidville Police station uttered the words that would seal his fate I have disposed of my wife He then gave what would become the first of three conflicting confessions Timothy initially claimed Beryl had died following a botched abortion and that he had disposed of her body in a drain outside the front of Rillington Place But the storyory immediately raised questions. Police examined the drain, they found nothing But more importantly, it required three officers working together just to lift the heavy cover The idea that Timothy had managed it alone seemed highly unlikely. While investigators continued digging into his account, police also interviewed Christa who presented himself as the helpful neighbor He told officers that Timothay was violent, abusive, and an alcoholic. In many ways, Christate was exactly the sort of witness police were inclined to believe Timothy, meanwhile, was a working class labouorer with learning difficulties, who had already admitted involvement contontrast could hardly have been greater On december second, nineteen forty nine, officers carried out a thorough search of Ten Rillington Place And there inside the washhouse they made a horrifying discovery I found the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine Evans Both had been strangled, and there was no evidence whatsoever that an abortion had taken place With that, detectives immediately traveled to Wales and arrested Tima. Ironically, while searching the property at Rillington Pace, officers completely missed the remains of Ruth and Murial who were buried in the garden. At one point a human thigh bone was even being used to support a fence post, yet nobody recognized its significance Back in Custodate, Timothy was shown the clothing recovered from the bodies and was also forced to identify his wife and daughter The news that Geraldine was dead visibly devastated him. And it was during this period that his story changed again In his second statement, Timothy accused Christie of performing the abortion and causing Beryl's death Christie done it, he insisted But investigators dismissed the allegation came his third confession in which Timothy admitted murdering both Beryl and Geraldine himself Many researchers now believe large parts of this statement were either heavily influenced by police questioning or outright fabricated by officers writing it down Modern linguistic analysis found numerous phrases and expressions that simply did not sound like the way Timothy spoke Nevertheless The damage was done. And he was charged with the murders of both his wife and daughter His trial began at the O Bailey on january eleventh, nineteen fifty, and what's interesting is that prosecutors only charged him with Geraldine's murder Under English law at the time, prosecutors could only proceed with one murder charge per trial So Geraldines was chosen because it was deemed the more cold blooded of the two, with no possible defense of provocation The allegation regarding Beryl remained in reserve The star witness at the trial was none other than Christa The very man who, as we now know, had committed the murders. Throughout the trial, Timothy maintained his innocence and repeatedly accused Christa But nobody believed him claims were dismissed as mere fantasy After just forty minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. And on january thirteenth, Timothy was convicted of murdering his daughter As the sentence was passed, his mum reportedly pointed towards Christe and shouted a single word Murderer Ethel immediately sprang to her husband's defense, shouting, Don't you dare call my husband a murderer He's a good man Ethel was unknowingly defending a serial killer sitting only feet away and had no idea that she herself would soon become one of his victims Timothy appealed his sentence, but then home secretary James Shuter Ead rejected it On the morning of march ninth, nineteen fifty, twenty five year old Timothy Evans was led to the gallows at Pentonville Prison the executioner Albert Pierre Point And until the very end, Timothet maintained his innocence It fell on deaf ears though At Precisely nine o'clock that morning, he was hanged Christie had not only murdered Beryl and Geraldine Evans But he'd also successfully persuaded the British justice system to execute an innocent man patriarch of that small family of three soon to be four crimes, he himself committed We're gonna to take one final break here. When we return, we'll discuss the four murders Christie committed after Timothy Evans was wrongfully hanged Don't go anywhere Monday dot com AI agents took over my work. and I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday dot comot You've got social dialed in. Search is doing its thing. So why do your marketing results look the same as six months ago That's because you're fishing in the same pond as everyone else. Podcast listeners are a different audience entirely more engaged, harder to reach through traditional channels, and ready to act when someone they trust makes a recommendation. We're a cast, and we put them right in front of you. Browse thousands of the world's leading podcasts, book host reads or run your own ads, and track every conversion in real time. Same skills you already have, brand new results. Acast Acast d. com slash advertise combat For the next three years an eerie calm settled over Ten Rillington Place As far as we know, Christie committed no further murders between nineteen fifty and the end of nineteen fifty two and life appeared to return to some semblance of normality Timothy Evans was dead The investigation was closed and the newspapers moved on Christe simply carried on with his life He worked a series of clerical jobs and continued presenting himself as the quiet, respectable older man that neighbors had known for years If anyone in the area ever suspected the truth They certainly weren't saying it Be beond closed doors though Things were changing Ethel's health had steadily deteriorated She suffered from arthritis and rheumatism and was also b in depression The relationship between husband and wife had become increasingly strained Letters she wrote to family members suggested she was unhappy. in one particularly telling letter She simply wrote I wish I could move. Perhaps more significantly, Ethel had begun standing up to her husband For years she'd largely gone along with whatever Christie wanted Now she was questioning and challenging him becoming less willing to accept his excuses and explanations There was another problem too The ownership of the property had changed and there was a constant flow of new tenants moving in and out of the building Bodies of Ruthher Murial remained buried in the garden Every new neighbour brought fresh risks Every repair, inspection and change around the property increase the chances of the bodies being discovered Then in deecember nineteen fifty two Christie made a decision that would set off the final and most frantic phase of his killing spree On the morning of december twelfth, he murdered his wife Ethel was fifty four years old at the time According to Christie's later confession She woke him during the early morning, suffering some sort of a fit or seizure. claimed he strangled her to end her suffering But nobody believes that explanation The reality is that Christie wrapped a stocking around her neck and strangled her in their bed around quarter past eight that morning Unlike his other known victims, he did not sexually assault her afterwards either because she was his wife or perhaps because he just viewed her differently Perhaps it was because by this point, his motives had become impossible even for him to explain Once Ethel was dead, Christie wrapped her body in blankets and concealed her beneath the floorboards of the front room Then he carried on as though nothing had happened In january nineteen fifty three, he began selling off furniture and household possessions Most of the contents of the flat disappeared. And by january eighth, he'd sold nearly everything keepeeping only a mattress, two chairs, a table and some cutlery Around that time, a burglar elsewhere in the building brought police officers back to Rillingon Place One of them was local officer Len Trevalion. While speaking with Christie, Len noticed a strange smell lingering inside the flat Christie's response was immediate, blaming the smell on immigrant neighbours and their cooking. The explanation satisfied nobody looking back on it today At time, the officer had no reason to suspect it was standing a few feet away from multiple concealed bodies Christie was also telling anyone who asked that Ethel had traveveled to Birmingham to care for her sick sister. And again, nobody questioned the story Christie was now living alone And within weeks He killed again Rita Nelson was Christie's next victim And she was a twenty five year old originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland Unfortunately, of all Christie's victims, hers is perhaps the life we know the least about Unlike Beryl Evans or Ethel Christa Nobody spent decades preserving a memory No detailed family accounts emerged, and no major biographies were written about her life Instead, she largely appeared in contemporary newspapers simply because She'd become a murder victim What do know is that she'd recently traveled to London, was staying with her sister near Ladbrook Grove, and was around six months pregnant Just a week before her death, on january twelfth, nineteen fifty three Rita attended a medical appointment where doctors confirmed she was twenty four weeks pregnant and referred her for further care at the Samaran Hospital for Women in Marlabon She never attended the appointment Some historians believe Rita had traveled from Northern Ireland, hoping to find a way to terminate the pregnancy. And if that's true, she would have been exactly the sort of vulnerable young woman Christie had targeted before At some point around january nineteenth, their paths crossed precisely how remains unclear Most researchers suggest she was seeking help with her pregnancy and encountered Christe who falsely claimed he could provide said help. By then he'd refined his killing method He'd rigged up a rubber tube connected to the gas supply in his kitchen and his victims would sit in a deck chair while he released the gas from behind them As the fumes built up, they would gradually lose consciousness and he'd sexually assault them before strangling them to death That's exactly what happened to Rita. Christie then concealed her body inside a wallpaper covered alcove kitchen. Just days later, on january twenty sixth, Christie forged Ethel's signature and emptied her bank account It was another indication that he had no intention of ever explaining a disappearance and showed zero remorse for his actions The following month, he found another victim Kathleen Madeeline Malona was twenty six years old Originally from Plymouth, her life had been marked by hardship from an early age as both of her parents died before she was four years old She spent much of her childhood moving between relatives, children's homes and Catholic institutions Although her aunt and uncle visited regularly and clearly cared for her Stability was something Kathleen rarely experienced As she grew older, she drifted in and out of trouble periods under probation supervision occasionally fell foul of the law, and frequently moved around southern England looking for work and accommodation Yet those who knew it remembered somebody full of life One relative described her as wild in the sense that she loved jokes, pranks and mischief rather than anything malicious She eventually became a mum herself, giving birth to five children between nineteen forty six and nineteen fifty but the circumstances were tragic One child was adopted and the others entered the care system The separation caused Kathleen enormous pain and she wrote letters to relatives asking if she could stay with them. for some sort of stability But manyen never replied By late nineteen fifty two, she drifted back to London, spending time around the cafes, lodging houses and pubs of Notting Hill, just trying to survive day by day It was there Christine noticed her Around february nineteen fifty three, after spending time drinking together at the Westminster Arms in Paddington, Kathleen accompanied Christie back to Rillington Place. She was intoxicated and vulnerable. And once more, Christy used gas to render his victim unconscious before sexually assaulting and strangling her In one particularly disturbing detail from his confession Christie claimed he left her sitting in the deckchair overnight and only dealt with her body the following morning after waking up and finding her still there point space inside the flat was running out As far as official records were concerned, Kathleen simply disappeared And even after his arrest Christie referred to Kathleen as a sweet kid and claimed he felt sorry for her By the end of February, Christie was continuing to strip away the last traces of his former life On the twenty seventh, he sold some of Ethel's clothing for a few pounds Th days later, he met the woman who would become his final known victim Her name was Hectora McClennon Tinna was born in Glasgow in nineteen twenty six and came from proud Scottish stock Her unusual first name reflected her Highland roots and remains one of the most memorable names connected to the case For kids, many accounts wrongly labeled Hectorina as a sex worker a description which modern historians have strongly challenged, as research suggests she was not Like many women in post W Britain, she was simply trying to build a life for herself while dealing with unstable relationships, financial difficulties, and the challenges of raising children By the early nineteen fifties, she'd moved to West London, where she was known around Acton and Notting Hill. person who took a genuine interest in helping her try and get her life back on track was the estranged wife of one of her former boyfriends Working as a welfare officer, she encouraged Hectorina to return to Scotland and rebuild her life with her family Sadly, that advice went unheeded In fact, Hectorina already knew something wasn't quite right about Christa One former boyfriend later recalled the pair spotting Christa in a Nottinghill milk bar at which point Hectorina allegedly remarked that she knew him and that he was trouble Yet despite that instinct, she eventually found herself back at T Rillington Pl Christie had previously allowed Hectorina and her boyfriend Alexander Baker to stay at the property while they search for accommodation So that sense of familiarity gave him an advantage. On march sixth, nineteen fifty three, a twenty seven year old Hectorina returned to the house alone after Christop persuaded her to come back While there, Christy Gastter sexually assaulted her and strangled her. Her body then joined Rita and Kathleen in the concealed alcove. Alexander soon became worried and started looking for Hectorina And believe it or not, Christie actually joined the search, pretending to be concerned about her whereabouts He reassured Alexander that he hadn't seen her and even sat him down with a cup of tea while helping discuss where she might have gone All the while, her body was concealed just a few feet away It was the last known murder Christie would commit Because within weeks, the carefully constructed world he'd spent years building was finally about to collapse On march thirteenth, nineteen fifty three, he sublt the ground floor flat at Ten Rillington Place to a couple called mister and Mrs. Riley He told them he was the landlord. seven pounds thirteen shillings in rent, roughly the equivalent of three months rent at the time In reality, he had no right to rent the place out at all and was himself due to be evicted within a matter of days. It was another small deception in a life built almost entirely on lies Just a week later on march twentieth, Christie walked out of Ten Rillington Place for the last time taking with him only a battered suitcase and a few personal belongings Before leaving, he took his dog to the vet and had it put down With that, he stepped out into London as a man who'd murdered multiple people and was now completely untethered from his old life That same evening, the actual landlord discovered the Rileies in the flat and ordered them to leave Christie then checked into Roton House lodgings in King's Cross, registering under his real name and address Three days later, on march twenty fourth, the landlord back at Rillington Place allowed a tenant from upstairs to use the now empty ground floor kitchen Bererisford Brown, the tenant, was trying to fit brackets for a wireless set when he knocked on a section of wallpaper and heard a hollow sound behind it. part of the wallpaper and was confronted with the body of a woman. slumped forward inside a concealed alcove Police were called, and Detective Chief Inspector Griffin took control of the scene, requesting the presence of homeome office pathologist Dr. Franis Campps When they open the space fully The scale of what had been hidden there became clear Three bodies were found in that kitchen alcove. Those of Rita Nelson Kathleen Malone and Hectorina McClennon But the discoveries didn't stop there as a full search of the property followed. Beneath the floorboards of the front room, officers found the body of Ethel Christter In the back garden, they uncovered skeletal remains belonging to Ruth Fst and Murel Ede Even more disturbingly, it emerged that Christie's own dog had previously dug up a human skull, later identified as Murial Ed' Christie had casually thrown into a bombed out building nearby on St. Mark's Road What had once been an ordinary looking terrac house in Notting Hill was now revealed to be a burial site for multiple victims A nationwide manhunt was launched almost immediately, with Christie's face appearing in newspapers across the country. He left the Roten house after only four nights, having seen the coverage and realising the net was tightening fromrom that point on, he lived rough in through London He slept in the open and spent his days moving between cafes and cinemas to keep out of sight On march twenty eighth, he pawn his watch in Batasay for ten shillons It was the last trace of any normal life he had left And then on the morning of march thirty first, nineteen fifty three, It was all over After just nine o'clock, Christie was spotted on the embankment near Putney Bridge by PC Thomas Ledger He was disheveled, with leaves and twigs caught in his clothing, staring towards the river Thames as if he had nowhere else to go Ledger approached and asked his name. John Waddington, Christie replied When asked for identification, He said he had none Ledger then asked him to remove his hat and the officer immediately noticed the thinning hair beneath it Something clicked Are you John Christa? he asked Quite right officer, he replied. Hi, I amm Christa Inside his pocket, police found something telling An old newspaper clipping reporting the remand of Timothy Evans from nineteen forty nine He was then taken to pututnener police station for questioning At first, Christie only admitted to killing the women found in the kitchen alcove and his wife Ethel He tried to frame them as acts carried out in confused or desperate circumstances even suggesting Ethel's death had been some form of mercy killing after she suffered a seizure But as the investigation widened and officers confronted him with what had been found in the garden He began to shift again On april twenty seventh, Christie made a far more significant confession. He admitted to murdering Beryl Evans, the wife of Timotha, who'd been hanged three years earlier not, however, admit to killing baby Geraldine Instead, he tried to frame that death in a different way suggesting it was some form of assisted act rather than outright murder Historians have long debated why he drew that line Some believe it was tactical, tied to his legal defense and the attempt to argue insanita Others suggest it was self preservation Knowing that admitting to child murder would change how he was treated both in court and prison On june fifth, nineteen fifty three, Christie went further still and confessed to the murders of Ruth Fst and Murel Ede helping police formally identify their remains But even then, his statements were inconsistent. At times he distanced himself from details, referring to events in vague or impersonal terms almost as if trying to detach himself from what he'd done At one point, he even remarked to officers about the smell in the house, referencing comments made years earlier by Len, the police officer who visited him at Rilllington Place. It was as if he was stitching together fragments of memory and denial at the same time He also claimed that he and Ethel had performed illegal abortions on women in the property using gas to render them unconscious According to Christie, it was only when Ethel discovered what he was doing that she threatened to go to the police That led to an argument he said that ended in him stranglinger On june twenty second, Christie appeared at the old Bailey before Mr. Justice Finamore. Compared to when he was arrested, he appeared calm, even composed He was charged with the murder of his wife, Ethel a single charge that was sufficient to carry the death penalty prosecution, led by attttorney General Sir Lionel Hildd argued that Christie's actions partarticularly the concealment of bodies proved he knew exactly what he was doing In other words, this was not a man acting without understanding was someone fully aware of his crimes Christie's defense team led by Derek Curtis Bennett QC, entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity They attempted to use his entire history of killings to support the argument that he was mentally unwell and not responsible for his actions However, the judge made it clear that the jury were only to consider his state of mind at the time of Ethel's murder, not the wider pattern of Killings. When Christie was asked directly about Eel's death, he reportedly replied I might have done it It was one of the few moments in court where he showed any emotion, breaking down briefly when speaking about her Medical experts were split One psychiatrist supported the insanity defense, while others argued that although Christie had personality issues, He was still fully aware and deliberate in what he'd done pointed to the planning, concealment and repeated behaviour as evidence of control rather than madness On june twenty fifth, after just eighty five minutes of deliberation The jury rejected the insanity plea and found Christe guilty of murder which led to him being sentenced to death In the weeks that followed, there were attempts from outside the case to get him to fully admit what had happened to the Evans family particularly at the murder of Bavid Geraldine Even Christie's final opportunities for clarity became tangled in silence and contradiction. On july fifteenth, nineteen fifty three, a fifty four year old Christate was hanged at Pentonville Prison by Albert Pierpoint In a strange and chilling coincidence, he was executed on the same gallows beam beneath which Timothy Evans had been hanged three years earlier by the same executioner Christie was being prepared, he reportedly complained that his nose was itching. Pier Point's response was blunt It won't bother you for long. A small crowd gathered outside Pentonville as the execution took place, waiting for official confirmation Inside the prison, Christa was buried within the grounds The consequences of what happened at Ten Rillington Plays would continue long after the rope was cut.