The Rillington Place Murders
The Rillington Place Murders aka the cases of Timothy Evans and Reg Christie 19 August, 2025 In December 1949, the bodies of Beryl Evans and her young baby, Geraldine, were found in a wash-house in the rear garden of 10, Rillington Place, west London. Date of crime: Between 1943 and 1949 Both had been strangled. Timothy Evans, the husband of Beryl and father of Geraldine was arrested. Evans was a man of low intellect and initially admitted killing his wife, then blamed it on someone else and then admitted to killing both his wife and daughter. At his subsequent trial, he reverted to blaming a downstairs tenant called Reg Christie. The jury convicted Evans and he was hanged in 1950. Had a search of the premises been more thorough, two more skeletal human remains would have been found buried a few feet away in the back garden “She was incurring one debt after another and I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I strangled her with a piece of rope” Three years later, the remains were discovered in the back garden. At the same time, the bodies of three recently strangled women were found in an alcove adjacent to the kitchen of the premises. Each had been raped and strangled. Another body was found buried underneath the floorboards of the living room. The police arrested the former resident of the premises, Reg Christie, who admitted the killing of all the women; the body under the floorboards was his wife. He now also admitted the killing of Beryl Evans three years earlier. Christie pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity but was convicted of murder and hanged in 1953. A later judicial review concluded that Evans did not kill his daughter but probably killed his wife despite Christie admitting responsibility. The decision paved the way for Timothy Evans to be posthumously pardoned and his name would forever be synonymous with the abolition of the death penalty in 1965. To this day, doubt remains over who killed who in Rillington Place. The victims… Ruth Fuerst, Muriel Eady, Kathleen Maloney, Hectorina McClellan, Rita Nelson, Ethel Christie, Beryl and Geraldine Evans Could both Christie and Evans be responsible for different killings? In theory, yes. Both Christie and Evans were prolific liars and there is evidence that some of their admissions could not possibly have been true. Many authors have claimed that they have unearthed the truth, but in reality there are many gaps in our knowledge and there will always be room for doubt. Most people believe that Christie was responsible for all the killings and that Evans was a man wrongly convicted. What was Christie’s motive for killing? Quite simply, sexual gratification. He was a regular user of prostitutes (to use the language of the day) and it seems that strangulation and rape was his ultimate fantasy. Is Rillington Place still there? No, it was knocked down in 1971. Where was Timothy Evans arrested? He surrendered himself to Merthyr Vale police station where he declared, “I want to give myself up. I have disposed of my wife” With all those bodies in the house, surely there must have been a horrible smell? There was, though it was masked by cold conditions throughout the winter of 1952/53 and Christie was seen to be putting disinfectant down the drains. Interested in a talk on this topic? Enquire Now Recent Stories The Acid Bath Murders Read More Britain’s first railway murder Read More The Kray Twins Read More The Murder of Sidney Spicer Read More Load More Topics Crime & Punishment: Death Penalty (4) Crimes Abroad or Colonial Connections (3) Historical Crimes (Pre-1950) (10) Infamous British Murders (6) Miscarriages of Justice & Legal Controversies (3) Psychological & Social Themes (4) Unsolved or Contested Cases (5) Further reading… 10 Rillington Place Ludovic Kennedy1971 Buy the book:Amazon Rillington Place – The Brabin Report HMSO1966 Buy the book:Amazon Murder with a difference Molly Lefebure1958 Buy the book:Amazon Presentations Rillington Place Murders case is available as a presentation. Whether delivered on world-wide cruise ships or in a local village hall, it’s absorbing, informative, and entertaining. Contact Paul Stickler for more information… Enquire Now
The Julia Wallace Murder
The Julia Wallace Murder aka the chess club conspiracy 19 August, 2025 At 6.45pm on 20 January 1931, William Wallace left his home at 29 Wolverton Street, Liverpool. Date of crime: 20 January 1931 He had just eaten dinner with his wife, Julia, and was heading for a meeting with a client in the Menlove Gardens area of the city, just over 4 miles away. He was a Prudential insurance agent and was used to walking the city’s streets selling policies and collecting premiums. However, he was unfamiliar with the Menlove Gardens area and as he travelled by tram, he asked people for directions. Upon arrival he realised that the address he had been given was false and returned home arriving around 8.40pm. “I was horrified to see my wife lying across the rug in front of the fireplace. Her head… was horribly battered” Upon arrival at the house, he found his wife bludgeoned to death in their front parlour; she had received a series of blows to the head. The police were called who were dubious of Wallace’s alibi claim. Wallace elaborated and said that the only reason he had gone to the Menlove Gardens area was because the night before he had a received a message at his chess club from a man called Qualtrough who had earlier telephoned asking him to visit the following evening. There then followed a detailed examination of Wallace’s movements, not only on the night of the murder but also the evening before. A theory was developing that Wallace had made the telephone call himself, fabricated the name Qualtrough and set up a false alibi for the following evening. The theory suggested that Wallace murdered his wife before he left home, travelled to the Menlove Gardens area knowing the address did not exist, made sure he was seen in the area, and then returned to ‘discover’ Julia in the parlour. Wallace was charged with the killing, convicted, but later acquitted on appeal. Other theories would later emerge, but it remains shrouded in mystery as to who brought the murder weapon down on Julia Wallace’s head. The victim… Julia Wallace Julia Wallace was born on 26 April 1861 in North Yorkshire and was the second child of seven children. Her passions seem to have been French, music and painting. It is not clear why, but there is some suspicion that in 1911, she falsified her details on the census return to state that she was eighteen years younger than she was. This deception was carried across when she married William Wallace in Harrogate in 1914 (though now only 16 years younger), but whether Wallace knew of the false claim is unknown. Whether this was to play a part in her eventual killing is similarly not known. They moved to Liverpool in 1915 and eventually settled in Wolverton Street the same year. There is little known about her time in Liverpool before her eventual death in 1931 and seemed to have settled into a quiet life of domesticity. Was the murder weapon ever found? In truth, we are not sure. Something blunt was obviously used and an iron poker was seemingly missing from the premises. There is a suggestion that years later it had been found, but there is no tangible evidence of that. If Wallace had been the murderer, surely he would have been covered in blood? Yet, he was not. The killer almost certainly would have had some blood on their clothing. It is true that there is no evidence of any blood being found on any of Wallace’s clothes but there are theories – and no more than that – that he dealt with that by either wearing a raincoat and leaving it at the scene (making it look like the real killer had worn it) or he had removed his clothing before the attack and dressed afterwards. There is no evidence to support either of these theories. Is it true that other suspects emerged during the investigation? Yes, two in particular, Richard Parry and Joseph Marsden. Based on the material available, it is not clear the extent to which these people were properly investigated but it is equally clear that there is little evidence to connect them to the actual killing or being responsible for the ‘Qualtrough’ call. What was the basis for Wallace’s eventual acquittal at the appeal court? The court ruled that the evidence presented to the jury could not justify the jury’s guilty verdict and quashed the conviction under S.4 Criminal Appeal Act 1907. What happened to William Wallace after his acquittal? His acquittal did not stop tongues wagging and many people still considered him responsible for his wife’s death. He eventually moved house as a result, but he died on 26 February 1933, just over two years since his wife had been killed. He protested his innocence to the end. Interested in a talk on this topic? Enquire Now Recent Stories The Acid Bath Murders Read More Britain’s first railway murder Read More The Kray Twins Read More The Murder of Sidney Spicer Read More Load More Topics Crime & Punishment: Death Penalty (4) Crimes Abroad or Colonial Connections (3) Historical Crimes (Pre-1950) (10) Infamous British Murders (6) Miscarriages of Justice & Legal Controversies (3) Psychological & Social Themes (4) Unsolved or Contested Cases (5) Further reading… Checkmate: The Wallace Murder Mystery Mark Russell2021 Buy the book:Amazon Move to Murder Antony M Brown2018 Buy the book:Amazon The Killing of Julia Wallace Jonathan Goodman1969 Buy the book:Amazon Presentations The Julia Wallace Murder case is available as a presentation. Whether delivered on world-wide cruise ships or in a local village hall, it’s absorbing, informative, and entertaining. Contact Paul Stickler for more information… Enquire Now
The A6 Murder
The A6 Murder aka the James Hanratty affair 15 July, 2025 In August 1961, 22-year-old Valerie Storie and her partner, 36-year-old Michael Gregsten, were approached by a gunman as they were sitting in their Morris Minor car in a cornfield in Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire. Date of crime: August 1961 The gunman demanded their valuables and then held them captive for 2 hours before ordering them to drive towards London. Seemingly with no obvious plan, the gunman continued to order the couple to drive through the night. They eventually found themselves driving along the A6 and just north of Clophill, Bedfordshire, they were ordered to pull over into a layby. Within the hour, Michael had been shot dead in the back of the head and Valerie was raped as blood poured from her partner’s wounds. The killer then shot Valerie five times but miraculously she survived, though she would be paralysed from the neck down for the rest of her life. Within 2 months James Hanratty was arrested and charged with the murder and the following year he was convicted and hanged. He was 25 years old. But this was the beginning of the story. For forty years there would be claims that there had been a miscarriage of justice, the police had allowed the real killer to slip through their fingers and Valerie had been mistaken in her identification of her attacker. She was subjected to public ridicule for sending an innocent man to the hangman’s noose until 2001 when DNA evidence confirmed Hanratty’s guilt. This is the story of a brave and resourceful woman who maintained a dignified silence throughout the 40-year ordeal. After she died in 2016, her personal papers were passed to Paul Stickler who has described the events from 1961 to 2016 in great detail in his book, The Long Silence. The victims… Valerie Storie Valerie Storie was born on 24 November 1938 in Cippenham, Buckinghamshire. She was the only child of Jack and Marjorie. She was a bookish child and went to grammar school but refused to go to university. Instead, she took a job at the Road Research Laboratories in Langley where she met Michael Gregsten. After her shooting and subsequent paralysis, she returned to the laboratory and became involved in assessing the causes of car accidents. After the death of her parents, who had become her full-time carers, she fended for herself and immersed herself in work and several hobbies, particularly family history research. Those who knew her well, described her as brave, intelligent and a no-nonsense sort of woman. Despite her horrendous ordeal and paralysis, she never complained about her predicament and was always seen with a smile on her face. She died on 26 March 2016. Michael Gregsten Michael Gregsten was born in December 1924 and after attending grammar school he joined the RAF. He left the service in 1946 and a few years later he met his wife-to-be, Janet Phillips. Michael and Janet married in 1951 and had two children, Simon (1953) and Anthony (1959). Michael met Valerie Storie at the Road Research Centre at Langley in 1957. After this, Michael and Janet’s relationship started to deteriorate which resulted in Michael leaving home on a number of occasions though he remained a devoted father to his two children. It is clear that Michael was suffering from episodes of anxiety and depression but no more so than many others who found themselves in similar positions. On the day that Michael was shot dead, he had separated once more from his wife and had seemed set to start a new life in Maidenhead. What were Valerie and Michael doing in the cornfield in the first place? They had stopped there on the way home from the Old Station Inn at Taplow to discuss their future. Michael had recently left his wife and had found a new home in Maidenhead. Where did Valerie live? She lived in the house in which she had been born in Anthony Way, Slough with her parents. She died in the same house in 2016. Why would James Hanratty be in cornfield with a gun when he was a petty thief from London? This is a long answer and is outlined in detail in The Long Silence. However, he was not a petty thief, and he was an accomplished burglar for which he had been sent to prison three years earlier. He had boasted about getting a gun and becoming a stick-up man. He routinely toured the countryside looking for houses to break into. On 22 August 1961, he accidentally stumbled across Michael and Valerie in their car. At this point, he became a stick-up man. What made Hanratty turn into a killer and a rapist? Again, this is a long answer and is outlined in detail in The Long Silence. In essence, he got carried away with his adventurous plan and suddenly panicked when he thought he was about to be overpowered. He pulled the trigger of his gun and then turned his attentions on Valerie. Was James Hanratty the last man to be hanged in Britain? No, but he was the last man to be hanged in Bedford prison on 4 April 1962. Interested in a talk on this topic? Enquire Now Recent Stories The Acid Bath Murders Read More Britain’s first railway murder Read More The Kray Twins Read More The Murder of Sidney Spicer Read More Load More Topics Crime & Punishment: Death Penalty (4) Crimes Abroad or Colonial Connections (3) Historical Crimes (Pre-1950) (10) Infamous British Murders (6) Miscarriages of Justice & Legal Controversies (3) Psychological & Social Themes (4) Unsolved or Contested Cases (5) Further reading… The Long Silence Paul Stickler2021 In August 1961, Valerie Storie and Michael Gregsten were kidnapped at gunpoint. Michael was murdered, and Valerie was left for dead. The Long Silence is Valerie’s posthumous account, authored with Paul Stickler, detailing the infamous A6 murder and her decades of silence before the truth could be fully told. “The car crept through the silent streets of