John George Haigh commonly known as the
"Acid Bath Murderer" , was an English
serial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
during the 1940s. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine. He did not use acid actually to kill his victims, but rather as (he believed) a foolproof method of body disposal – dissolving their bodies in concentrated sulphuric acid before
forgingForgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
papers in order to sell their possessions and collect substantial sums of money. During the investigation, it became apparent that Haigh was using the acid to destroy victims' bodies because he misunderstood the term
corpus delictiCorpus delicti is a term from Western jurisprudence referring to the principle that a crime must have been proven to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it can be proven that property has been stolen...
, thinking that if victims' bodies could not be found, then a murder conviction would not be possible. The substantial forensic evidence, notwithstanding the absence of his victims' bodies, was sufficient for him to be convicted for the murders and subsequently executed.
Early life
John Harlon George Haigh was born in
StamfordStamford is a town and civil parish within the South Kesteven district of the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately to the north of London, on the east side of the A1 road to York and Edinburgh and on the River Welland...
,
LincolnshireLincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, and grew up in the village of
Outwood, West YorkshireOutwood is a district to the north of Wakefield, a city in West Yorkshire, England. The district is centred on the A61 Leeds Road south of Lofthouse. It was originally a small pit village, but there has been so much new housing in the last twenty years that the old village is now only a minority of...
. His parents, Alfred and Emily, were members of the
Plymouth BrethrenThe Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
, a conservative Protestant sect who advocated austere lifestyles. He was confined to living within a 10 ft (3 m) fence that his father put up around their garden to lock out the outside world. Haigh would later claim he suffered from recurring religious nightmares in his childhood. Despite these limitations, Haigh developed great proficiency in the piano, which he learned at home.
Haigh won a scholarship to
Queen Elizabeth Grammar SchoolQueen Elizabeth Grammar School is an independent school in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. QEGS is distinct from most other schools in that it was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1591 at the request of leading citizens in Wakefield 75 in total and some of whom formed the...
,
WakefieldWakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
. After his conviction, claims were made that a desk carved with his name remained at the school (and caretakers would run trips to the cellars to show it to first year pupils), but they were put aside when a teacher of 30 years at the school said the desk had been removed over 20 years previously. He then won another scholarship to
Wakefield CathedralWakefield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of All Saints Wakefield is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of Wakefield and is the seat of the Bishop of Wakefield. The cathedral has Anglo Saxon origins and the tallest cathedral spire in Yorkshire...
, where he became a choirboy.
After school he was apprenticed to a firm of motor engineers. After a year he left that job, and took jobs in insurance and advertising. At age 21, he was fired after being suspected of stealing from a cash box. The following year he was named as a
co-respondentIn English law, a co-respondent is, in general, a respondent to a petition, or other legal proceeding, along with another or others, or a person called upon to answer in some other way.- Divorce :...
in the divorce of Evelyn and racing driver
Eddie HallEdward "Eddie" Ramsden Hall was an English racing driver. He was born in Milnsbridge into a wealthy Yorkshire family in 1900, the heir to a successful textiles business which funded his motor racing and other sporting exploits...
.
Marriage and imprisonment
On 6 July 1934, Haigh married the 21-year-old Beatrice Hammer. The marriage soon fell apart. The same year Haigh was jailed for
fraudIn criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
. Betty gave birth while he was in prison but she gave the baby up for
adoptionAdoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
and left Haigh. Likewise, his conservative family ostracised him from that point onwards.
He then moved to
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1936, and became chauffeur to William McSwan, the wealthy owner of amusement parlours. Additionally, he used his mechanical gifts to maintain McSwan's amusement machines. Following that he became a bogus
solicitorSolicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
and received a four-year jail sentence for
fraudIn criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
. Haigh was released just after the start of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and, continuing as a fraudster, was sentenced to several terms of imprisonment.
While in prison he dreamed up what he considered the perfect murder of being able to destroy the body by dissolving it with sulphuric acid. He experimented with mice and found it took only 30 minutes for the body to disappear.
The "Acid Bath" murders
He was freed from one term in 1943 and became an accountant with an engineering firm. Soon after, by chance, he bumped into his former employer, McSwan, in the Goat pub in
KensingtonKensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
. McSwan introduced Haigh to his parents, William and Amy, who mentioned that they had invested in property. On 6 September 1944, McSwan disappeared. Haigh later admitted hitting him over the head after luring him into a basement at 79 Gloucester Road, London SW7. He then put McSwan's body into a 40-gallon drum and tipped concentrated sulphuric acid on to it. Two days later he returned to find the body had become sludge, which he poured down a manhole.
He told McSwan's parents, William and Amy, that their son had fled to
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to avoid being called up for military service. Haigh then took over McSwan's house and when William and Amy became curious as to why their son had not returned as the war was coming to an end, he murdered them too – on 2 July 1945, he lured them to Gloucester Road and disposed of them.
Haigh stole William McSwan's
pensionIn general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
cheques, sold their properties – stealing about £8,000 (£ when adjusted for
inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
) – and moved into the Onslow Court Hotel in
KensingtonKensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
. By the summer of 1947 Haigh, a gambler, was running short of money. He found another couple to kill and rob: Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose, whom he met after purporting to show interest in a house they were selling.
He rented a small workshop at 2 Leopold Road,
CrawleyCrawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
,
West SussexWest Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, and moved acid and drums there from Gloucester Road.
He was also known to have stayed at
The George Hotel, CrawleyThe George Hotel, also known as The George Inn and now marketed as the Ramada Crawley Gatwick, is a hotel and former coaching inn on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England....
on several occasions. On 12 February 1948, he drove Henderson to Crawley, on the pretext of showing him an invention. When they arrived Haigh shot Henderson in the head with a revolver he had earlier stolen from the doctor’s house. He then lured Mrs Henderson to the workshop, claiming her husband had fallen ill, and shot her also.
After disposing of the Hendersons' bodies in oil drums filled with acid, he forged a letter from them and sold all of their possessions for £8,000 (except their dog, which he kept). This 1948 amount is the equivalent of £ today.
Last victim and capture
Haigh's next and last victim was Olive Durand-Deacon, 69, a widow and fellow resident at the Onslow Court Hotel. She mentioned to Haigh, by then calling himself an engineer, an idea that she had for artificial fingernails. He invited her down to the Crawley workshop (number 2 Leopold Road) on 18 February 1949, and once inside he shot her in the back of the head, stripped her of her valuables, including a Persian lamb coat, and put her into the acid bath. Two days later Durand-Deacon’s friend, Constance Lane, reported her missing.
Detectives soon discovered Haigh’s record of theft and fraud and searched the workshop. Police not only found Haigh’s attaché case containing a dry cleaner’s receipt for Mrs. Durand-Deacon’s coat, but also papers referring to the Hendersons and McSwans. Further investigation of the sludge at the workshop by the pathologist
Keith SimpsonCedric Keith Simpson, CBE, FRCP was an eminent English pathologist. He was Professor of Forensic Medicine in the University of London at Guy's Hospital, and Lecturer in Forensic Medicine at the University of Oxford.-Career:...
revealed three human
gallstoneA gallstone is a crystalline concretion formed within the gallbladder by accretion of bile components. These calculi are formed in the gallbladder, but may pass distally into other parts of the biliary tract such as the cystic duct, common bile duct, pancreatic duct, or the ampulla of...
s and part of a denture which was later identified by Mrs Durand-Deacon's dentist during the trial and conviction.
Questioned by Detective Inspector Albert Webb, Haigh asked him "Tell me, frankly, what are the chances of anybody being released from
BroadmoorBroadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
?" (a high security psychiatric hospital). The inspector said he could not discuss that sort of thing, so Haigh replied "Well, if I told you the truth, you would not believe me. It sounds too fantastic to believe".
Haigh then confessed that he had not only killed Durand-Deacon, the McSwans and Hendersons, but also three other people: a young man called Max, a girl from
EastbourneEastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, and a woman from
HammersmithHammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
.
Trial and execution
After arrest, Haigh remained in custody in Cell 2 of
Horsham Police Station when it was in Barttelot Road. He was charged with murder at the nearby courthouse in what is now known as the
Old Town Hall. Haigh pleaded insanity, claiming that he had drunk the blood of his victims. However, he had previously asked a police officer "What are the chances of getting out of
BroadmoorBroadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
"?
The Attorney-General,
Sir Hartley ShawcrossHartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, GBE, PC, KC was a British barrister and politician and the lead British prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal.- Early life :...
KC, (later Lord Shawcross) led for the prosecution at
LewesLewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...
AssizesAssize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to::;in common law countries :::*assizes , an obsolete judicial inquest...
, and urged the jury to reject Haigh’s defence of insanity because he had acted with
malice aforethoughtMalice aforethought is the "premeditation" or "predetermination" that was required as an element of some crimes in some jurisdictions, and a unique element for first-degree or aggravated murder in a few.-Legal history:...
.
Sir David Maxwell Fyfe KC, defending, called many witnesses to attest to Haigh’s mental state, including Dr Henry Yellowlees who claimed Haigh had a
paranoidParanoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
constitution, adding: "The absolute callous, cheerful, bland and almost friendly indifference of the accused to the crimes which he freely admits having committed is unique in my experience."
It took only minutes for the jury to find Haigh guilty. Mr Justice
Travers HumphreysThe Rt. Hon. Sir Travers Humphreys PC was a noted British barrister and judge who, during a sixty year legal career, was involved in the cases of Oscar Wilde, Hawley Harvey Crippen, George Joseph Smith, the 'Brides in the Bath' murderer, and John George Haigh, the 'Acid Bath Murderer'.-Legal...
sentenced him to death.
It was reported that Haigh, in the condemned cell at Wandsworth Prison, asked one of his prison guards, Jack Morwood, whether it would be possible to have a trial run of his hanging so everything would run smoothly. It is likely that his request went no further, or, if it did, the request was denied. Haigh was led to the gallows and hanged by
executionerA judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...
Albert PierrepointAlbert Pierrepoint is the most famous member of the family which provided three of the United Kingdom's official hangmen in the first half of the 20th century...
on 10 August 1949.
The case of John George Haigh was one of the post-1945 cases which gained much media coverage at the time. Along with the case of
Neville HeathNeville George Clevely Heath was an English killer who was responsible for the murders of at least two young women. He was executed in London in 1946.-Early career:Heath was born in Essex, England...
, it attracted a great deal of coverage in the newspapers even though Haigh's guilt (as with Heath) was not questioned. In the case of Haigh, it was also the method of disposal which has given him his place in criminal history. The editor of the
Daily Mirror,
Silvester BolamSilvester Bolam was a British newspaper editor.Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, Bolam studied at the University of Durham's Armstrong College before joining the Newcastle Journal. He then moved to work for the News Chronicle, and in 1936 became a sub-editor on the Daily Mirror...
, was sentenced to a prison term for
contempt of courtContempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
for describing Haigh as a "murderer" while the trial was still under way.
Haigh's confirmed victims
- William Donald McSwan, 9 September 1944
- Donald McSwan, 2 July 1945
- Amy McSwan, 2 July 1945
- Archibald Henderson, 12 February 1948
- Rosalie Henderson, 12 February 1948
- Olive Henrietta Robarts Durand-Deacon, 18 February 1949
In popular culture
- The Haigh case was dramatized in the episode "The Jar of Acid" on the 1951 radio series The Black Museum
The Black Museum was a 1951 radio crime drama program independently produced by Harry Alan Towers and based on real-life cases from the files of Scotland Yard's Black Museum. Ira Marion was the scriptwriter, and music for the series was composed and conducted by Sidney Torch...
.
- The role of Haigh is played by Martin Clunes
Alexander Martin Clunes is an English actor and comedian. Clunes is perhaps best known for his roles as Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly, Doctor Martin Ellingham in Doc Martin and the title character in Reggie Perrin....
in the ITV drama A is for Acid.
- Nigel Fairs
Nigel Fairs is a British actor, writer and producer.He trained at Bretton Hall College and has appeared in a number of theatre productions, most notably as Christopher Wren in the long-running London stage production of The Mousetrap. On television, he has appeared in EastEnders and as a Dalek on...
played Haigh in the Big FinishBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama In Conversation with an Acid Bath Murderer (2011), which he also wrote. The cast included Richard FranklinRichard Franklin is a British actor.He has had various roles in different television programmes including Crossroads and Emmerdale Farm...
as "Archie Henderson", Mandi Symonds as "Olive Durand-Deacon" and Louise JamesonLouise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
(who also directed) as "Rose Henderson".
- A waxwork of Haigh featured in an episode of the British comedy series Psychoville
Psychoville is an award-winning British dark comedy television serial written by and starring The League of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. It debuted on BBC Two on 18 June 2009. Pemberton and Shearsmith each play numerous characters, with Dawn French and Jason Tompkins in...
. The waxwork (along with others of Albert DeSalvoAlbert Henry DeSalvo was a criminal in Boston, Massachusetts who confessed to being the "Boston Strangler", the murderer of 13 women in the Boston area. DeSalvo was not imprisoned for these murders, however, but for a series of rapes...
, John ChristieJohn Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
and Jack the Ripper"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
) comes to life in a fantasy sequence, trying to persuade the character David Sowerbutts to kill a man using sulfuric acid, rather than methods suggested by the other waxworks. The Christie waxwork mentions, disparagingly, that while he had been portrayed in film by Sir Richard Attenborough, Haigh had been portrayed by Martin Clunes.