10, Rillington Place
Linda's Crime Notes
Rillington Place, Revisited.*
See Plan of House
The year 2000 will mark 50 years from the conviction and execution of Timothy Evans for
the murder of his baby daughter, a crime for which he received a free pardon in 1966.
Irrespective of whether Evans was guilty or not, it is almost certain that had the jury
known at the time of his trial that Christie, the other male occupant of the house (and
chief prosecution witness) was a murderer, they could not have convicted him. Despite the
pardon, many people remain convinced that Evans did indeed murder his daughter - others
feel sure that he murdered his wife, a crime to which Christie later confessed. Evans also
has his champions - those who believe passionately in his innocence of both crimes. I
start this examination of the case without any colours nailed to my mast, but I will make
an analysis of the evidence and reach a conclusion.
Christie’s early life
John Reginald Halliday Christie was born on April 8th 1899 just outside
Halifax, Yorkshire. He went to school in Halifax and was considered above average in
intelligence. (As an adult his IQ was measured at 128.) His father was strict, his mother
over-protective, and he became shy and withdrawn. A former schoolmate made the classic
comment "He kept himself to himself". When he was eight, his grandfather died,
and he was allowed to view the corpse. He later described his feelings as
"fascination and pleasure". He had always been frightened of the old man and he
now experienced a great sense of freedom. From this time he spent much of his leisure time
playing in the graveyard. He had three older sisters who, he claimed, bossed him about,
and was shy of girls. His first sexual adventure was a disaster, all the more so because
the girl concerned told others about his deficiencies. While it is obvious that Christie
was attracted to women, his early experiences had left him with a barely suppressed hatred
of them.
He enlisted in the Army in 1916, and was sent to France in 1918 where he was gassed. He
spent some time in hospital, and on demobilisation received a disability allowance. The
injury affected his speech, so that he was unable to speak for some weeks after the
incident, and his speech remained quiet for the rest of his life. In 1919 he returned to
Halifax where he began courting a neighbour, Ethel Simpson. They were married on 10th
May 1920. He was then working as a clerk in a mill, but gave that up and became a postman.
It was at this time that he committed his first known crimes.
Christie’s criminal record.
His job as a postman put temptation in his way and he began stealing postal orders. In
April 1921 he was sentenced to three months in prison. In 1923 he appeared before
magistrates on charges of obtaining money by false pretences, and violence. He received 12
months probation. Although Ethel remained with him, the marriage was in trouble - he
neglected her sexually but was known to visit prostitutes. His criminal record made it
difficult to get a job. The marriage foundered. In 1924 Ethel went to live with relatives
in Sheffield and he went to London. Soon after his arrival he was injured in a road
accident, and in September he was again in trouble with the law - he was charged with
larceny and sentenced to 3 and 6 months consecutive imprisonment . At that time he appears
not to have either employment or home. Not a great deal is known about the years between
1924 and 1933. In 1929 he was living with a prostitute, and presumably living off her, too
, as he was not working. During an argument he struck her over the head
with a cricket bat. For this crime he received a sentence of 6 months hard labour. In 1933
he was sentenced to 3 months for stealing a car from a priest who had befriended him. It
was while he was in prison for the car theft that he wrote to Ethel asking her to come and
live with him again. It is not clear why she agreed to this, but she did. During their
remaining nineteen years together, he was never again in trouble for petty crime. He had
not, however, severed his old links with the underworld. While apparently respectable, he
lived another life, one that existed after Ethel had gone to bed or when she was away
visiting relatives. In 1938 the couple moved to 10 Rillington Place.
10 Rillington Place.
Rillington Place was a cul-de-sac with ten houses on either side. The houses had three
floors, but they were small, mean, narrow and shabby. Anyone who has seen the film, 10
Rillington Place, will have an idea of the cramped nature of the accommodation, as the
film was made in another house in the same street, with identical dimensions. The house
was divided into three flats. The Christies had the ground floor; the first floor which
consisted of a kitchen, bedroom and living room, was occupied by a Mr Kitchener, a man of
over 60 with poor eyesight, and the top floor which comprised only a bed-sitting room and
a kitchen, was then unoccupied. The plan shows the ground floor to be divided into living
room, bedroom and kitchen. At the back of the kitchen was an alcove used for storing coal.
A wash house could only be accessed from the yard at the back. This measured 52 by 54
inches. There was also a lavatory, the only one available for all three floors. The
"garden" was actually a piece of wasteland some 20 ft square.
Christie the policeman.
The London Police Force was calling for volunteer Special Constables. It might have
seemed an unlikely step for someone with Christie’s criminal record, but he applied,
and no enquiries were made about his past, so that in September 1939 he was enrolled. He
was assigned to Harrow Road Police Station and was there for four years. He enjoyed the
new found respect this position gave him, and was hard working and efficient. He also
began an intimate relationship with a young woman working at the police station whose
husband was a serving soldier. It would not be unreasonable to conclude that this part of
Christie’s life was his highest point of self-esteem. In the Summer of 1943 this
illusion came to an end, when the soldier returned, found Christie and his wife together,
and gave him a severe beating.
Ruth Fuerst.
Ruth was an Austrian student nurse born in 1922, and reputedly a part-time prostitute.
She had known Christie a short time, though how many times she had visited him at home, if
at all, is not known, before the fateful day in August 1943. Mrs Christie was at the time
with her relations in Sheffield. It is important to note, both here and for future
reference, that in his confessions, Christie always said that it was the women who
approached him , who forced themselves upon him. It was a part of his self image that he
never began anything. Christie later admitted he had had intercourse with Ruth Fuerst, and
strangled her with a rope. He then wrapped the body in her coat. A telegram arrived to
announce his wife’s arrival that evening, so he quickly put the body and the clothing
under the floorboards in the front room. The next day, while his wife was out at work, he
dug a hole in the back garden, and moved the body to the washhouse. At ten that night,
under cover of darkness, he buried the body. The clothing was burned in a dustbin normally
used for burning garden refuse.
Muriel Eady
Christie left the police force early in 1944 and worked in an electrical factory. There,
he met Muriel, a respectable spinster, who suffered from chronic catarrh. It was not until
the Autumn that Ethel again went away to Sheffield, and then Christie suggested to Muriel
that he had an inhalation device which could cure her catarrh. This device was a jar
filled with inhalants such as Friar’s Balsam, which Muriel could breathe in through a
rubber tube, but unknown to her, there was a second tube connected to a gas tap. With
this, he was able to render her unconscious before having sex and strangling her. The body
was placed in the wash house, and he later buried her in the garden.
Once the war was over, Christie went back to work for the Post Office, who presumably
carried out no checks on his past record. Four years passed during which, if Christie had
carried out any criminal activities, he was never found out and never confessed. Later,
when asked if he had killed anyone during this time, he said he couldn’t remember.
Then in Spring 1948 Timothy Evans and his wife Beryl moved into 10 Rillington Place.
Timothy and Beryl
Timothy Evans was born in Wales in 1924, and the family moved to London in 1935. It was
obvious from an early age that he was mentally backward. Illness kept him out of school
for many months at a time. He was unable to read or write anything but his own name. As an
adult, he was thin and undersized, with a mental age of between 10 and 11. He had a
measured IQ of just 68. He enjoyed his beer, and with a few drinks inside him would tell
wild lies and fantasies to boost his confidence. He met Beryl on a blind date in 1947. She
was eighteen. They were married later that year and occupied a back room in the house of
Evans’ mother and stepfather. It wasn’t far from Rillington Place, thus, with a
baby on the way in 1948, they were looking for their own place and spotted the flat to
let. They moved in at Easter, and in October 1948, baby Geraldine was born. . Evans was
working long hours as a van driver, and bringing in a modest wage. They had been happy in
the little flat, but the baby, whom they both adored, put extra pressure on their
resources There were quarrels, and one out and out family row when Beryl invited a friend
to stay.
In the summer of 1949 Beryl found that she was pregnant again. This had not been
planned, and with their resources, it was a disaster. She tried douching and syringing to
procure an abortion, but without success. She was desperate for an abortion, and the
Christies got to know about this. The murders of Beryl Evans and her daughter Geraldine,
the only ones in Rillington Place ever to be attributed to anyone other than Christie,
took place in November 1949. I will go into these murders in a great deal more detail
later in this article. Evans was, for legal reasons tried only for the murder of Geraldine
in January 1950, although evidence about the murder of Beryl was permitted to be put
before the court. Christie was an important prosecution witness. Evans was found guilty
and hanged on 9th March 1950.
Mrs Christie.
The trial had resulted in Christie’s past record being uncovered, and he lost his
job. That year, ownership of the house changed hands, and Christie had a new landlord. He
made great efforts to ensure that he should have exclusive use of the garden. In the next
two years relations between Christie and his wife became increasingly strained. Both of
them suffered from nervous tension and required frequent visits to the family doctor. The
last day on which Mrs Christie was seen alive by anyone except Christie was 12th
December 1952. Early on the morning of 14th December, Christie picked up a
stocking from near the bed and strangled his wife. This was not a sexual murder - the post
mortem found no evidence of recent intercourse - it is probable that he killed her to get
her out of the way. He left her in the bed for two or three days and then remembered the
loose floorboards in the front room under which he had temporarily put the body of Ruth
Fuerst. There, he put the blanket wrapped body of his wife. With the approaching Xmas
season he was able to stave off suspicion for a time by writing to relatives explaining
that Ethel had rheumatism and couldn’t write. He subsisted for a time by selling
furniture and cashing in Ethel’s savings.
Kathleen Maloney.
In January 1953 Kathleen Maloney was 26, a prostitute well known in the Paddington
area. Christie certainly knew her well. That evening in mid-January, Maloney was seen
leaving a public house, very drunk, with Christie. He had already rigged up a gas tube
with a bulldog clip he could surreptitiously remove. While Maloney sat drunk in a chair,
he removed the clip and she gradually became drowsy. Then he strangled her with a rope. On
the following day he pushed her blanket wrapped body into the alcove behind the washhouse.
He had only recently discovered the existence of this useful storage space when a plumber
had opened it up to mend a burst pipe.
Rita Nelson
Rita was reported missing by her landlady on 19th January, only a few days
after the murder of Kathleen Maloney. Nelson, a 25 year old prostitute was 25 weeks
pregnant. It was very likely at this time that Christie was again posing as a medical man.
A Mrs Forrest had spoken to him at about this time and he had claimed that he could cure
her migraine with a special method that involved inhalation of gas. Fortunately for her,
she decided not to try this out. Nelson was not so lucky. According to Christie he gave
her the gas, but she struggled, and he strangled her. He body joined that of Kathleen
Maloney in the alcove.
Hectorina McLennan
Hectorina met Christie in March 1953. She was living with an unemployed lorry driver
called Baker. When Christie made an appointment with her to look at a flat, he was
somewhat put out to find that Baker was with her. They viewed the flat, and it being late,
stayed there the night. They stayed three nights in all, and then Christie insisted they
leave. The following day he made an appointment to see Hectorina at the flat - the
supposed purpose is a mystery - but she later mentioned this visit to Baker, saying she
would meet him at a café at 3 o’clock. By that time, of course, she was dead,
wrapped in a blanket and in the alcove. Baker arrived at 10 Rillington Place to look for
her, but Christie showed him round the flat, and he saw no sign of her, although he did
notice an unpleasant smell in the area near the alcove.
Time was almost up for Christie. He had no money and no job. He was able to sublet the
flat, taking three months rent in advance, then he packed his case and left. The landlord
arrived and pointed out that Christie had no right to sublet the flat. The new tenants had
to go, and the landlord granted permission for one of the existing tenants to use the
Christies’ kitchen. During the next few days the tenant cleared out the rubbish. On
24th March, wanting to put up some wall brackets he discovered the papered-over
alcove, peeled back some paper and shone his torch inside…….
Christie wandered aimlessly about London for a few days, and on 31st March
he was spotted and recognised by a Police Constable, who arrested him. Christie
subsequently made numerous confessions, many of then varying in detail, in which he
admitted to the killing of all the women whose bodies were found in the house and the
garden. When the killing was that of a prostitute he stated that they had forced their
attentions on him, and began to fight him. With the murders of Mrs Christie, Muriel Eady
and Beryl Evans, he claimed that they had been suffering and depressed and he had put them
out of their misery. He did not confess to the murder of Geraldine. His trial opened on
June 22nd 1953. He was found guilty and hanged on15th July.
The murder of Beryl
Some things will never be known, some were only known to Evans and Christie.
Unfortunately, both of these men were experienced liars and masters of self-delusion. It
is very difficult to rely on anything either of them said, although it would be as well to
look closely at any parts of their independently given stories which coincide. In picking
through the evidence I will try to distinguish what we know for certain, what can be
deduced, and what is in evidence only as a witness statement.
There are a number of surrounding circumstances which have some importance. In October
1949 Christie had complained about a blocked drain. As a result of this the landlords were
required to carry out work to the building, and a team of men turned up on 31 October
and worked on the premises on and off for the next 15 days. Fortunately most of their time
sheets were available for examination. Mr Kitchener, the elderly occupant of the second
floor of 10 Rillington Place, had to go into hospital for an operation, and his flat was
therefore empty during the crucial time.
Evans goes to the police
After the terrible events at Rillington Place, Evans left London and went to stay with
his uncle and aunt in Merthyr Vale, arriving on the 15th November. He made one
brief return visit to 10 Rillington Place on 23rd, but Christie would not allow
him to enter the house. (The stories of Evans, Christie and Mrs Christie all tally on this
point). His evasive answers and frequent changes of story regarding the whereabouts of
Beryl and Geraldine caused great concern in Evans’ family. Letters were exchanged,
telegraphs sent, and on 27th, his sister Eileen went to see Christie and spoke
to him and Ethel She was told that Beryl and Geraldine had left the house on Tuesday 8th
November. This is an important point, as not only was this a lie but it was a lie told by
both the Christies. One can only speculate about how much Mrs Christie knew, but here is
very clear evidence that she was prepared to lie for her husband. On the following day his
other sister Maureen visited. She first spoke to Mrs Christie who said that Beryl had left
saying goodbye and promised to write. Christie then arrived and said that Beryl had left
without saying goodbye, to which Maureen pointed out that one of them must be lying. When
she threatened to go to the police he became angry and she thought he was going to hit
her.
By the morning of the 30th Evans’s aunt was sure that he was telling
lies about the whereabouts of Beryl and Geraldine, and told him so. Under pressure from
his family, that afternoon Evans went to the local police and told them a story which we
will call Statement 1. Most of it was lies. In this statement, Evans said that after Beryl
had threatened to get an abortion he had met a stranger in a café who had given him some
abortion pills. Beryl had taken these and died, and he had put her body down the drain
outside his house. He had had Geraldine looked after, and sold up and come to Wales. There
was no mention of Christie.
Naturally the police checked the drain, and six hours later told Evans that the drain
was empty, and moreover he couldn’t have opened the cover as it had taken three men
to do so. Evans said that he had made the first statement to protect Christie, and now he
made a second Statement which we will call Statement 2. This is the one which is generally
accepted as being nearest to the truth of what happened.
Statement 2
According to Evans, Christie had approached him saying he knew that Beryl was trying to
get rid of her baby, and that he could help. He showed Evans some medical books, but of
course Evans was unable to read. (The only medical books in the house were some first aid
manuals). Christie had said that the stuff he used for abortions would kill one person in
ten. Evans told Christie he wasn’t interested, but Beryl had already spoken to him,
and was determined to go through with it. On Monday 7th he came home from work
and Beryl told him she had made arrangements with Christie for the next day. He went to
work the following morning,, and when he came home in the evening Christie met him and
said it was bad news. Beryl’s body was on the bed. There was blood on her nose and
mouth and from what Evans called "the bottom part". Christie told Evans to stay
in the kitchen. A little while later he returned and said he had forced the door of Mr
Kitchener’s flat and put the body in there. He intended to put it down the drain. The
next day Evans went to work as usual, Christie saying he would look after the baby. On his
return Christie said he knew a couple in East Acton who would look after the baby, and
they would come for her the next day. On Wednesday 9th Evans went to work and
on his return Christie had said the people had called and taken the baby, while he had put
Beryl’s body down the drain. Christie advised Evans to leave London. On Friday Evans
sold the furniture and on Sunday he saw a rag dealer. On Monday the rag dealer came for
the old clothes and blankets and the furniture van came to take away the rest. At 3
o’clock Evans left the house and later that day he caught the train for Wales.
After further questioning Evans admitted that he had helped Christie carry the body
down to the lower flat. He had heard Christie puffing and blowing and saw him half way
down stairs struggling with Beryl’s body, and helped him with it.
The Search
The police, who were of the opinion that Evans was "off his head" made a
search of 10 Rillington Place. They failed to find a number of things. Muriel Eady’s
thigh bone had worked loose from the soil and was propping up a garden fence. Her skull
had also come to the surface, and after dark Christie put it in a nearby bombed house. A
few days later it was found by children who handed it to the police. It was held by the
Coroner to be from a victim of the 1940 bomb, and destroyed. The police did not look in
the wash house, but they did look in Evans’ flat. In it they found a stolen
briefcase, and a newspaper cutting about the Stanley Setty torso murder. Was the cutting
planted by Christie to incriminate Evans? Certainly it could have been of no interest to
Evans, who could not read. The finding of the briefcase enabled the police to charge Evans
with a crime, and bring him back to London. Christie and Mrs Christie were also questioned
independently. Christie told the police that Evans and his wife were always arguing and
Evans had attacked her by grabbing her throat. At some point, it would have been revealed
to the police that Christie himself had been a policeman. Meanwhile, Mrs Christie had made
a statement to the effect that Beryl had wanted to go for an abortion, but indicating that
the proposed abortionist was someone other than her husband. She also mentioned a visit by
Mrs Vincent, Beryl’s friend. It is worth looking at this in some detail.
Mrs Vincent.
Joan Vincent was a close friend of Beryl. She called to see her at lunchtime probably
on the 8th of November. While Mrs Vincent thought the visit was on the 8th
, Mrs Christie mentioned it as having been on the 7th. There are two reasons to
think it was Mrs Vincent who was correct. . Firstly, Mrs Christie’s statements show a
number of errors as to date. Also, Mrs Vincent stated that when she arrived, she was
surprised to find the front door open. The workmen’s time sheets show that they did
not work at the house on the 7th because the weather was bad, but they resumed
work on the following day. On the 8th of November, therefore, the front door
could well have been left open by workmen carrying in materials. Joan found the door to
Beryl’s kitchen shut, which was unusual, and when she tried the door, got the
distinct impression that someone was inside, holding it shut. Upset at the thought that
Beryl didn’t want to see her, she went away. So who was holding the door shut? Beryl?
Christie? It certainly wasn’t Evans, who was at work. In her statement to the police,
Mrs Christie mentioned Mrs Vincent’s visit and said that Beryl didn’t want to
see her and had locked herself in the kitchen. Was she telling the truth? It is worth
giving some thought as to what Mrs Christie knew, or thought she knew. She must have known
that Beryl wanted an abortion. This is an indisputable fact as she had discussed it with
other people. Beryl had also mentioned to other people that Christie was going to abort
her. Whether or not Christie murdered Beryl, it would seem, based on his previous and
later behaviour, that he was planning to. Mrs Christie’s behaviour is understandable
if we assume that she was under the impression that her husband had performed an abortion
which had resulted in Beryl’s death, and was lying to protect him. If, when Joan
Vincent visited, it had been Christie holding that door shut after murdering Beryl, then
his wife’s story would protect him.
The second search
The police returned to 10 Rillington Place on 2nd December. They found
nothing in the house, or in the garden. They poked about inside the dustbin but failed to
empty it, otherwise they would have found Ruth Fuerst’s skull. They opened the wash
house door. Propped against the sink was a stack of wood. An officer felt behind the wood
and found a package. The wood was removed and the package brought out. It was wrapped in a
green tablecloth and tied with a sashcord. When it was opened, Beryl’s legs slipped
out. The wrapped body of Geraldine was found under some wood behind the door.
It was estimated that both bodies had been dead about three weeks. The cold November
weather had effectively kept them in refrigeration and they were well preserved. Death was
due to strangulation with a ligature, Beryl with a cord, Geraldine with a tie. In
addition, Beryl had bruising to her throat and neck, there was swelling to her right eye
and upper lip, and bruising inside her vagina. Unfortunately, no swab was taken.
One comment by Ludovic Kennedy must be mentioned here. At the time of the trial it had
been said that the original pathologist had suggested that there was evidence in the
vagina of post mortem penetration, but this evidence was suppressed at the trial as being
too unpleasant. Had this been the case it would not of course have helped Evans much at
the time, as it is only with hindsight that we can attribute such an assault to Christie.
Simpson, however has pointed out that the report had described ante, not post
mortem bruising, i.e. taking place before death, so this clinching piece of evidence
against Christie did not in fact exist. The cause of the bruising is unknown, but it could
have been attributable to Beryl’s efforts to abort herself. The report is reproduced
in Michael Eddowes book as Appendix D.
Evans was shown the clothing of his wife and child, and told that the police believed
he was responsible for their deaths. He said only one word - "Yes".
Statements 3 and 4
On the night of December 2-3 Evans made two more statements in which he confessed to
the murders of Beryl and Geraldine. Those readers who are students of true crime will have
no trouble with the concept of someone confessing to crimes, even murder, of which they
are innocent. The history of crime is littered with cases of miscarriage of justice where
there has been a false confession, and often the accused has been someone of subnormal
intelligence, like Evans. Ludovic Kennedy deals with this matter extensively in his
classic work on the case. This, however, is not the only reason to have considerable
suspicions about these statements. Briefly, the confessions stated that Evans and Beryl
had argued over debts she had incurred. A row on the Tuesday night (8th
November) ended with Evans slapping Beryl and strangling her with a bit of rope he had
brought into the flat from his van. He laid her on the bed with the rope still round her
neck. Later, he put the body in Mr Kitchener’s flat. After feeding the baby he waited
until things were quiet, carried the body down into the wash house and put it behind the
sink, then covered the body with pieces of wood. He then locked the wash house door. The
following day (Wednesday) he fed the baby, put it in its cot and went to work, feeding the
baby again when he got home. The next day he again went to work after feeding the baby,
but on returning home, strangled the baby with his tie. That night he put the body in the
wash house. He sold up his property and went to Wales.
There are two main reasons to doubt the confessions. First of all, in comparing the
vocabulary and phraseology of statements 1 and 2, taken before the bodies were found, with
3 and 4, when the police were looking for a confession, one sees that the literary skills
displayed are completely different. The fist two read exactly as might be supposed, if
they had come from a poorly educated mentally subnormal man. The second two are
sufficiently different to suggest that they had been written by someone else, indeed, the
person with the mentality that produced the first two could not have written the second
two. This does not of itself invalidate the contents - after all, it is reasonable to
suppose that after the bodies were found the police took a lot more care about the
statements than previously, and could, indeed, must have paraphrased what Evans said. This
factor does not prove that they put words into his mouth, although it is heavily
suggestive. The second point, however, is more serious.
In the confessions, Evans stated doing things which are either unlikely or impossible.
In order to leave the Christies out of the matter entirely, (and clearly Evans had no
motive to do so), it was necessary for Evans to say he had left his baby unattended for
twelve hours at a stretch, two days in succession. Leaving aside the probability that he
would have done this, it is very unlikely that this would have gone unnoticed.
He also refers to locking the wash house door. The door did not lock. The lock was
damaged and did not work. He refers to leaving the rope around Beryl’s neck. No rope
was found around her neck.
The third point is crucial. The police knew, of course, that the bodies had been found
in the wash house behind some wood. Obviously, Evans’ confessions had to tally with
this, so in them he says the murder of Beryl was committed on the Tuesday night, and on
the same night he put the body in the wash house and put wood in front of it.
It was not until after Evans’ confessions were taken that the police interviewed
the workmen, and discovered that the plasterer had completed the ceiling of the wash house
on the 9th of November and noticed nothing unusual. Worse still, the wash house
had been swept out on 11th and was left empty. The room was just 52 by 54
inches, and it is hardly possible that two corpses could have been in there on 11th
without anyone noticing. Not only that - the wood used to cover the bodies consisted of
floorboards taken up from the front passageway in 10 Rillington Place, and this had not
been done until 11 November. At the time Evans’ statement has him putting the wood in
front of the bodies that self same wood was still a part of the floor. It was possible
that Evans had never even seen the planks, since the carpenter said he had given it to
Christie on 14th. Not only does this information suggest strongly that this
aspect of Evans’ confession is false, it also suggests that whether or not Christie
actually committed the murders, he was involved in hiding the bodies. The workmen were
taken to the police station and told that they must have been mistaken. After considerable
pressure both of them were persuaded to modify their stories. The plasterer took with him
a time sheet which showed clearly that he had worked in the wash house after the time
Evans said he had put the bodies there, but this was not returned to him.
The Trial
Proceedings commenced at the Old Bailey on 11 January 1950. The prosecution had decided
to take the case of the murder of Geraldine. They could not take the two together, and
there was the possibility that if they had taken the murder of Beryl, a plea of
provocation could have been brought. Where two murders are held to be part of the same
transaction, evidence of the first can be allowed in respect of the second, but not the
other way about, so in proceeding with the case of Geraldine, the prosecution could
introduce evidence regarding Beryl. After his questioning by the police, Evans went back
to the story in statement 2. His defence was that Christie was the murderer. Christie was
questioned on the first day of the trial, and the point was made that he had been a
policeman during the Second World War and had served in the previous war. During his
evidence, Christie frequently referred to being ill and in pain, and probably made quite a
pathetic figure in the witness box. It wasn’t until later cross-examination that the
history of his past petty crimes came to light. The last offences known about had taken
place seventeen years previously, and the prosecution made a good job of suggesting that
these minor pieces of trouble were irrelevant to the case in hand. The difficulty in
defending Evans was that he had lied on many previous occasions, could be shown to have
done so, and admitted to having done so. He was alleging that Christie had carried out
actions which he (Christie) claimed to be too ill to be capable of, and he also claimed
that Christie had performed, or tried to perform an abortion on Beryl which the post
mortem showed quite clearly had not been the case. These factors increased the perception
of the jury that everything he said was a lie. The summing up did not help matters, as it
was suggested that the abortion story either meant that Evans was lying or that the doctor
who examined Beryl was wrong. The third possibility, that Christie was lying, was never
mentioned. The judge also accepted without question that Christie state of health meant he
was incapable of carrying out the murder or disposing of Beryl’s body. Had greater
attention been paid to Christie’s tales of woe, and checks made with his doctor, his
stories would have been shown to be either heavily embroidered or quite false. The jury
was out for only forty minutes before delivering their verdict.
Exhumation
Following the conviction of Christie in 1953, and his confession to the murder of
Beryl, her body was exhumed. Christie had indicated that he had given her gas and then
strangled her. He had also said that she had been depressed and wanted to end her life,
thus suggesting that it was a mercy killing. It was always the case with Christie that
even though he committed the most repulsive crimes he tried to show himself in a good
light. Found on the premises was a tobacco tin, and in this were four samples of pubic
hair. Christie had said that they were, as far as he could recollect, from Mrs Christie
and the three women in the alcove, but at the time it was impossible to show with any
certainty who they were from. There was also no indication that Beryl had ever been given
sufficient gas to render her unconscious. Keith Simpson examined Beryl’s body, and,
examining the cut ends of the hair, was sure that none of the hair in the tin was hers. So
was Christie lying about Beryl? Was he simply trying to add another murder to his list, to
increase the likelihood of an insanity plea succeeding? He had indeed said on one
occasion, "The more the merrier". When Evans was eventually pardoned, it was
because it was felt that while he might have killed Beryl, Christie had killed Geraldine,
the murder of which Evans had been convicted.
Analysis.
The great difficulty in analysing this case is the certain knowledge that both Christie
and Evans were liars, and that Mrs Christie was prepared to tell lies to help her husband.
Who does one believe?
Firstly, I am inclined to believe the initial story told by the workmen at 10
Rillington Place. They had no motive to do other than tell the truth, and they also had
their time sheets to refer to, as well as memory. It is understandable that they changed
their stories under severe pressure, as at the time it must have seemed like a minor
matter in the case.
I also find the story told by Mrs Vincent very convincing. She had no reason to lie,
and in any case no-one has doubted what she said, although after Mrs Christie said the
incident had happened on the Monday, the police suggested to Mrs Vincent that she had been
mistaken. The only doubts therefore are as to the date. Given the fact that she found the
front door open, the 8th is the most likely date. This leaves us with only two
possibilities - either Beryl was behind the kitchen door, or Christie was.
The question I am now going to ask is - whose signature was on the crimes? Since Evans
had no other convictions, this could be tricky, but look at the accounts of his rows with
Beryl, some of which occurred in front of witnesses. Quarrels were apparently frequent,
and did sometimes come to violence, the couple having been seen on one occasion exchanging
blows in front of the window. Beryl once threw a jar at his head and he once pushed her so
she fell into a chair. What we see no evidence of is Evans punching her in the face, of
past injuries to Beryl, of his trying to strangle her, or of using a ligature. If Evans
had killed Beryl during a quarrel it would have been a "heat of the moment"
thing - the most likely outcome of the kind of quarrel described being a push leading to a
fall. If he had strangled her, the most probable means would have been that used by most
impulse stranglers - bare hands. The ligature, which of itself tends to suggest a
premeditated crime, is, however, without a doubt, Christie’s signature. Every murder
we know for certain was committed by Christie was done in this way, either by his
admission or by physical evidence.
The other part of Christie’s signature is that by various means, his victim should
be either unconscious or in a physically vulnerable position before strangling. In
Christie’s account of the murder of Ruth Fuerst he strangled her during intercourse,
and gas was not involved. Mrs Christie was killed first thing in the morning while asleep
or half awake, and gas inhalation was involved in the case of Muriel Eady and the last
three murders. In Beryl’s case, Christie said he gave her gas, but demonstrably did
not. This factor is cited as evidence that it was Evans and not Christie who killed her. I
disagree. A perfectly possible scenario is that Beryl panicked and struggled at the last
moment, before inhaling significant amounts of gas, and Christie punched her unconscious.
He did not admit he had done so for a very good reason. As previously mentioned, he always
liked to show himself in a good light. In his confession to the murder of Beryl he said
that she was depressed and wanted to die, and he had put her out of her misery. He even
suggested that Beryl had attempted suicide. To accord with this image of himself as the
benevolent helper, it was reasonable, so he might have thought, to say he had given her
gas, but not that he had punched her in the face. Recall, also, that Christie was no
stranger to violence. He had twice been in court for offences of violence, and had
threatened violence against Maureen.
I don’t attach any importance to the fact that Beryl’s pubic hair was not one
of the samples in the tin. Even Christie did not claim that it was, and in any case, there
were only four samples and seven adult corpses.
Did Evans kill his daughter? Everyone who knew Evans found it difficult to believe that
he had harmed Geraldine. This is not evidence, of course, and people have been known to be
wrong about these things, but everything we know points to his extreme fondness for the
child. Evans, who was a notably inept liar, also gave every impression after 10 November,
in both word and deed, that he believed Geraldine to be alive, right up to the moment the
police told him of finding her body.
I find nothing inconsistent with the suggestion that Christie killed Geraldine,
although he never in so many words confessed to this murder. The nearest he came to it, in
his many rambling and contradictory statements was :-
" If someone came up to me - that is what I was going to mention previously - and
told me that there is definite proof that I had something to do with one of them or both
of them, I should accept it as being right, that I must have done it, but I want to know
the truth about it as much as you do"
Of course, it would not have fitted his self-image to confess to such a crime. In all
the other cases he had claimed that either the victim had been a sexual aggressor, or he
had carried out mercy killings of women who were ill or depressed. Although he killed for
sexual purposes, one of his killings, that of Mrs Christie, was probably to get her out of
the way. Once he had killed Beryl, the presence of Geraldine drew attention to her
mother’s disappearance. Christie did have a habit of just hoping that things would
blow over - they certainly had in the case of Fuerst and Eady. He must have hoped that
with Beryl and Geraldine disposed of, and Evans out of London, that would be the end of
the matter. He had reckoned, of course, without the persistent enquiries of Evans’
family.
I am led to the conclusion therefore, on the balance of the evidence and probabilities,
that Christie killed both Beryl and Geraldine Evans.
What did Christie intend to do eventually with the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine? They
could not remain in the wash house indefinitely. It is not even certain when he moved the
bodies there. It must have been after the workmen finished - certainly after 11 November,
and perhaps when he asked for the wood on the 14th he had some idea then of
using it to hide the bodies. The arrival at his door of Evans on 23rd must have
been disturbing, and if he had not already moved the bodies then, he would have done so
soon afterwards. The visits of Eileen and Maureen must have been an important factor,
especially in view of Maureen’s threats to go to the police. The crucial incident,
however, was the police search of the drain. If Christie had indeed told Evans that the
body of Beryl was there, then this was the clearest indication that Evans had spoken to
the police. Perhaps Christie had originally intended to bury the bodies as he had Fuerst
and Eady, but once the police were involved, another plan must have come to mind. If he
had buried them, then the freshly turned soil would have been obvious and then the other
victims would be found. There was no need, however. Why strain his back moving bodies and
digging the garden? If the police came, and found the bodies, all he had to do was put the
blame on Evans.
Linda Stratmann
©Linda Stratmann 2000
References
The Investigation of Murder by F E Camps and Richard Barber, Scientific Book Club 1966
10 Rillington Place by Ludovic Kennedy. Panther Books 1971 edition.
The Man on Your Conscience by Michael Eddowes, Cassell 1955
Forty Years of Murder by Professor Keith Simpson Granada 1980
* Since writing this item I have read with very great interest 'The Two Killers of
Rillington Place' by John Eddowes. He makes a very good case for Evans having been the
murderer of Beryl and Geraldine. At present (2004) time does not permit me to write
extensively on this, but I do recommend that anyone with an interest in this case should
read this book.
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