The Hammersmith nude murders is the name of a series of six
murders
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
in
West London
West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary.
The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...
, England, in 1964 and 1965. The victims, all
prostitutes
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
, were found undressed in or near the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
, leading the press to nickname the killer Jack the Stripper (a reference to "
Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...
").
Two earlier murders, committed in West London in 1959 and 1963, have also been linked by some investigators to the same perpetrator.
Despite "intense media interest and one of the biggest manhunts in
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
's history" the case is unsolved.
Forensic evidence
Forensic identification is the application of forensic science, or "forensics", and technology to identify specific objects from the trace evidence they leave, often at a crime scene or the scene of an accident. Forensic means "for the courts".
Hu ...
gathered at the time is believed to have been destroyed or lost.
Victims
Elizabeth Figg
Figg was found dead at 5:10am on 17 June 1959 by police officers
on routine patrol in
Duke's Meadows
Dukes Meadows is a riverside park in Chiswick, London. The land was bought by the council in 1923, and the park was opened in 1926. It is cared for by the Dukes Meadows Trust. The area is home to the Chiswick Farmers' Market, which helps to pay ...
,
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...
, on the north bank of the River Thames. The park had a reputation as a
lovers' lane
A lovers' lane is a secluded area where people kiss, make out, or engage in sexual activity. These areas range from parking lots in secluded rural areas to places with extraordinary views of a cityscape or other features.
"Lovers' lanes" are typ ...
, and prostitutes were known to take their clients there.
Figg's body was found on scrubland between Dan Mason Drive and the river's
towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...
, approximately west of
Barnes Bridge
Barnes Bridge railway station, in Travelcard Zone 3, is on The Terrace, Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in south west London. The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Western Railway. It is on the Houn ...
. Her dress was torn at the waist and opened to reveal her breasts; marks around the neck were consistent with strangulation. Figg's underwear and shoes were missing, and no identification or personal possessions were found. A
pathologist
Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...
concluded that death had occurred between midnight and 2:00a.m. on 17 June.
A
post-mortem
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...
photograph of Figg's face distributed to the press was independently recognized by her roommate and her mother.
Extensive searches of the areaincluding the river bedfailed to find Figg's underwear, black stiletto shoes, or white handbag. A police official theorized that she had been murdered by a client in his car, after removing her shoes and underwear, and that these and her handbag had then remained in the car after the body was disposed of at Duke's Meadows.
The proprietor of a pub on the opposite side of the river to where Figg was found said that on the night of the murder he and his wife had seen a car's headlights as it parked in that area at 12:05a.m. Shortly after the lights were switched off, they heard a woman's scream.
Gwynneth Rees
The body of Welsh-born Gwynneth Rees was found on 8 November 1963 at the
Barnes Borough Council household refuse disposal site on Townmead Road,
Mortlake
Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many centu ...
. The dump was situated from the Thames towpath, and approximately from Duke's Meadows.
Rees was naked except for a single stocking on her right leg, extending no further up than the ankle. She had been accidentally decapitated by a shovel which workmen had been using to level the refuse.
Hannah Tailford
Tailford was found dead on 2 February 1964
on the Thames
foreshore
The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species of ...
below Linden Housethe
clubhouse
Clubhouse may refer to:
Locations
* The meetinghouse of:
** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
** In the United States, a country club
** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club
* A ...
of the
London Corinthian Sailing Club
The London Corinthian Sailing Club is based on the river Thames at Hammersmith. Its activities include Dinghy sailing and racing on the river, and yachting in the Solent and further afield, as well as an active social side including 'Club Nights' ...
west of
Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the River Thames in west London. It links the southern part of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, on the north side of the river, and Barnes in the London Borough ...
. She had been strangled, several of her teeth were missing,
and her underwear had been stuffed into her mouth.
Irene Lockwood
Lockwood was found dead on 8 April 1964 on the foreshore of the Thames
at Corney Reach, Chiswick, not far from where Tailford had been found. With the discovery of this third victim, police realized that a serial murderer was at large. Lockwood was pregnant at the time of her death.
Helen Barthelemy
East Lothian
East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921.
In 1975, the histo ...
-born Barthelemy was found dead on 24 April 1964
in an alleyway at the rear of 199 Boston Manor Road,
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
. Barthelemy's death gave investigators their first solid piece of evidence in the case: flecks of paint
used in car manufacturing. Police felt that the paint had probably come from the killer's workplace; they therefore focused on tracing it to a business nearby.
Mary Fleming
Scottish-born Fleming was found dead on 14 July 1964
outside 48 Berrymede Road, Chiswick. Once again, paint spots were found on the body;
many neighbours had also heard a car reversing down the street just before the body was discovered.
Frances Brown
Brown, a native of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, was last seen alive on 23 October 1964 by a colleague who saw her get into a client's car; on 25 November her body was found in a car park on Hornton Street,
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
.
She had been strangled. The colleague was able to provide police with an
identikit
A facial composite is a graphical representation of one or more eyewitnesses' memories of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of (usually serious) crimes. These images a ...
picture and a description of the car, thought to be a grey
Ford Zephyr
The Ford Zephyr is an executive car manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1950 until 1972. The Zephyr and its luxury variants, the Ford Zodiac and Ford Executive, were the largest passenger cars in the British Ford range from 1950 until their r ...
.
Brown had testified as a witness for the defence, along with
Christine Keeler
Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became s ...
and
Mandy Rice-Davies
Marilyn Rice-Davies (21 October 1944 – 18 December 2014) was a Welsh model and showgirl best known for her association with Christine Keeler and her role in the Profumo affair, which discredited the Conservative government of British Prime Mi ...
, at the trial of
Stephen Ward
Stephen Thomas Ward (19 October 1912 – 3 August 1963) was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Sec ...
in July 1963.
Bridget O'Hara
Irish immigrant Bridget "Bridie" O'Hara was found dead on 16 February 1965 near a storage shed behind the Heron Trading Estate,
Acton Acton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Acton
Australia
* Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie
* Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton
Canada ...
.
She had been missing since 11 January. Once again, O'Hara's body turned up flecks of industrial paint which were traced to an electrical transformer near where she was discovered. Her body also showed signs of having been stored in a warm environment. The transformer was a good fit for both the paint and the heating.
Investigation
Chief Superintendent John Du Rose of
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
, the detective put in charge of the case,
interviewed almost 7,000 suspects.
In the spring of 1965, the investigation into the murders encountered a major breakthrough when a sample of paint which perfectly matched that recovered from several victims' bodies was found beneath a concealed
transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
at the rear of a building on the Heron Factory Estate in
Acton Acton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Acton
Australia
* Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie
* Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton
Canada ...
. This factory estate faced a paint spraying shop. Shortly thereafter, Du Rose held a news conference in which he falsely announced that the police had narrowed the suspect pool down to 20 men and that, by a process of elimination, these suspects were being eliminated from the investigation. After a short time, he announced that the suspect pool contained only 10 members, and then three. There were no further known Stripper killings following the initial news conference.
According to the writer
Anthony Summers
Anthony Bruce Summers (born 21 December 1942) is an Irish author. He is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and has written ten non-fiction books.
Career
Summers is an Irish citizen who has been working with Robbyn Swan for more than thirty years befor ...
, Hannah Tailford and Frances Brown, the Stripper's third and seventh victims, were peripherally connected to the 1963
Profumo affair
The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century Politics of the United Kingdom, British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government, had an extramar ...
. Some victims were also known to engage in the underground party scene in addition to appearing in
pornographic
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of Human sexual activity, sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, movies. Several writers have postulated that the victims may have known each other, and that the killer may have been connected to this scene as well.
Suspects
Kenneth Archibald
On 27 April 1964, Kenneth Archibald, a 57-year-old caretaker at the
Holland Park Lawn Tennis Club, walked into
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...
police station and voluntarily confessed to the killing of Irene Lockwood.
Archibald was charged with the murder and stood trial at the
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
in June 1964. When asked to plead, he retracted his confession and pleaded not guilty. There was no other evidence to link him to the crime and on 23 June 1964, he was found not guilty by a jury and acquitted by the judge,
Mr. Justice Neild.
Mungo Ireland
For Du Rose, the most likely suspect was a Scottish security guard called Mungo Ireland, whom Du Rose first identified in a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
television interview in 1970 as a respectable married man in his forties whom he codenamed "Big John". Ireland had apparently been identified as a suspect shortly after Bridget O'Hara's murder, when flecks of industrial paint were traced to the Heron Trading Estate, where he had worked as a security guard.
Shortly after this connection was made, Ireland committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by
carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as "flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large e ...
, leaving a note for his wife that read: "I can't stick it any longer", and finished, "To save you and the police looking for me I'll be in the garage". Whilst seen by many as a strong suspect in the killings, recent research suggests that Ireland was in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
when O'Hara was murdered, and therefore could not have been the Stripper. Crime author Neil Milkins said the killings stopped after Ireland's death and the police task force set up to catch the killer was reduced and finally disbanded. Milkins, who wrote the book Who is ''Jack the Stripper?'', was an investigative consultant for the BBC documentary ''Dark Son: The Hunt for a Serial Killer''; "On the morning that Ireland’s body was found, he had been due to appear before Acton Magistrates Court to face a charge of failing to stop his car after being involved in a road traffic accident," said Mr Milkins. "Did Ireland commit suicide to save facing Acton magistrates over a trifling motoring charge or did John Du Rose push him over the edge with his press statements?" The Scotland Yard Serious Crime Review Group re-investigated the Hammersmith murders between 2006 and 2007 which resulted in a new conclusion. A statement read: "The circumstantial evidence against Mungo Ireland is very strong and it was the view of the officers conducting the most recent review of this case that he was most likely to be responsible." Although Ireland's work records indicated he was in Scotland on the night of O’Hara's disappearance, Scotland Yard believe it is possible that these may have been falsified.
Freddie Mills
In 2001, reformed gangster Jimmy Tippett, Jr. claimed that, during research for his book about London's gangland, he had uncovered information suggesting that British
light heavyweight
Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...
boxing champion
Freddie Mills
Frederick Percival Mills (26 June 1919 – 25 July 1965) was an English boxer, and the world light heavyweight champion from 1948 to 1950. Mills was tall and did not have a sophisticated boxing style; he relied on two-fisted aggression, relent ...
was responsible for the murders.
According to Tippett,
Kray-era gangsters, including
Charlie Richardson
The Richardson Gang was an English crime gang based in South London, England in the 1960s. Also known as the "Torture Gang", they had a reputation as some of London's most sadistic gangsters. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth o ...
and
Frankie Fraser
Frank Davidson Fraser (13 December 1923 – 26 November 2014), better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. , had long suspected Mills of being the murderer.
Mills had previously been linked with the murders by Peter Neale, a freelance journalist from
Balham
Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...
, south London, who told police in July 1972 that he had received information, in confidence, from a serving
chief inspector
Chief inspector (Ch Insp) is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police (CIP).
Usage by country Australia
The rank of chief inspector is use ...
that Mills "killed the nude prostitutes". He also said that this was "common knowledge in the
West End. Many people would say, 'Oh, Freddie did them in...'"
Mills was found shot dead in his car,
apparently by suicide, in July 1965.
The suggestion that Mills was the Hammersmith nudes murderer originated with gangster Frankie Fraser, who told it to policeman Bob Berry, who told ''
The Sun'' crime reporter Michael Litchfield. Fraser claimed that the story was confessed by Mills, to Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent John Du Rose, and told by Du Rose to him; but when Du Rose published his autobiography which touched on the 'Hammersmith Nude Murders', there was no mention of Freddie Mills with regard to this case. The claims have since been dismissed. Peter McInnes put the allegations to the investigating officer, who stated that Mills had never been a suspect during the investigation.
Metropolitan Police officer
David Seabrook
David Seabrook (19 December 1960 Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire – 18 January 2009 Canterbury, Kent) was a British crime writer and journalist.
Life
Born in 1960 at Hemel Hempstead, David was the only child of Leslie Frank Seabrook (an insur ...
, in his book ''Jack of Jumps'' (2006), wrote that a former
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
detective was a suspect in the opinion of several senior detectives investigating the case. Owen Summers, a journalist for ''
The Sun'' newspaper, had previously raised suspicion about the unnamed officer's involvement in a series of articles published by the newspaper in 1972, and ''Daily Mirror'' journalist Brian McConnell followed a similar line of inquiry in his book ''Found Naked and Dead'' in 1974. He was also considered by Dick Kirby, a former Metropolitan Police detective, in his book ''Laid Bare: The Nude Murders and the Hunt for 'Jack the Stripper (2016), in which Kirby referred to him only as "the Cop".
Tommy Butler
In their book ''The Survivor'' (2002), Jimmy Evans and Martin Short allege the culprit was
Superintendent
Superintendent may refer to:
*Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank
*Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator
*Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...
of the Metropolitan Police's
Flying Squad
The Flying Squad is a branch of the Serious and Organised Crime Command within London's Metropolitan Police Service. It is also known as the Robbery Squad, Specialist Crime Directorate 7, SC&O7 and SO7. It is nicknamed The Sweeney, an abbrevia ...
. Butler died in 1970.
Harold Jones
The
Crime & Investigation
Crime & Investigation (stylized as Crime + Investigation) is an American pay television channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Hearst Communications and the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. The cha ...
channel's ''
Fred Dinenage: Murder Casebook'' put forward the theory in 2011 that the killer could have been
Harold Jones, a convicted murderer from
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. Jones killed two girls in 1921 in his home town of
Abertillery
Abertillery (; cy, Abertyleri) is a town and a community of the Ebbw Fach valley in the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. Following local government reorganisation it became part of the Blaenau Gwent County Borough administrative area. ...
. Because he was 15 at the time, he was not liable for the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
and instead received a life sentence. He was released from
Wandsworth prison
HM Prison Wandsworth is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Pri ...
in 1941, at the age of 35, for exemplary behaviour. He is believed to have then returned to Abertillery, and visited the graves of his victims. By 1947, Jones was living in
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
, London. All the Stripper murders had similar features to his early murders, with no sexual assault, but extreme violence, inflicted on the victims. Due to poor record-keeping, he was never considered as a possible suspect by the police. Jones died in Hammersmith in 1971.
The Welsh writer Neil Milkins, in ''Who was Jack the Stripper?'' (2011), also concluded that Jones was the perpetrator.
While researching Jones for his book ''Every Mother's Nightmare'',
Milkins had traced the murderer's movements: "
turned up in Fulham in the late 1940s calling himself Harry Stevens, and stayed at that address in Hestercombe Avenue until 1962, at which point he disappeared again. I came across the Jack the Stripper case on the internet and realised that in the same three years Jones' whereabouts remained unknown – 1962 to 1965 – a number of prostitutes had been murdered in the same west London area."
In January 2019 the possible involvement of Jones was re-examined in the 90-minute documentary ''Dark Son: The Hunt for a Serial Killer'' broadcast on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
. Criminologist Professor
David Wilson and an investigative team, including former detective Jackie Malton and forensic psychologist Professor Mike Berry, use contemporary policing techniques such as
geographic profiling Geographic profiling is a criminal investigative methodology that analyzes the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most probable area of offender residence. By incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods, it assist ...
and
offender profiling
Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is an investigative strategy used by law enforcement agencies to identify likely suspects and has been used by investigators to link cases that may have been committed by the same perpetrator. ...
to see if the crimes of Jones the boy can be measured against those of the London killer. There are many similarities.
In the media
The murders have been the subject of several television documentaries:
* ''
Great Crimes and Trials
''Great Crimes and Trials'' (sometimes titled ''Great Crimes and Trials of the Twentieth Century'') is a 1993–1996 BBC documentary television series. The program uses archival material to reconstruct a renowned crime, examining the felon's mot ...
'' documentary series – "The Hammersmith Murders" episode, first broadcast in the UK by
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
in 1993.
* ''
Fred Dinenage: Murder Casebook'' documentary series – "Murders That Shocked a Nation: The Welsh Child Killer", first broadcast in the UK by
CI in 2011.
* ''Dark Son: The Hunt for a Serial Killer'' (2018) – BBC documentary. This was filmed in both London and Abertillery, and contributors include criminologist
David Wilson and writer Robin Jarossi, author of ''The Hunt for the '60s Ripper''.
In fiction
The crime novel ''
Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square
''Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square'' is a 1966 novel by Arthur La Bern, which was the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's film ''Frenzy'' (1972).
Plot
The novel and film tell the story of Bob Rusk, a serial killer in London who rapes and st ...
'' (1969), written by
Arthur La Bern
Arthur La Bern (1909–1990) was a British journalist, novelist and screenwriter, specialising in crime fiction. Four of his novels were adapted into films, including ''Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square'' which was made into Alfred H ...
, is loosely based on the case. The book was adapted for the
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
movie ''
Frenzy
''Frenzy'' is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer was based on the 1966 novel ''Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Squar ...
'' (1972). The case also inspired ''
The Fiend
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (1972), in which a misogynistic serial killer leaves his naked victims across London.
The crime novel ''Bad Penny Blues'' (2009) by
Cathi Unsworth
Cathi Unsworth is an English writer and journalist. After working for ''Melody Maker'' and ''Bizarre'', she began writing novels, with ''The Not Knowing'' in 2005 and ''The Singer'' in 2007, on Serpent's Tail. She also edited its ''London Noir' ...
is closely based on the case.
See also
*
Gordon Cummins
Gordon Frederick Cummins (18 February 1914 – 25 June 1942) was a British serial killer known as the Blackout Killer, the Blackout Ripper and the Wartime Ripper, who murdered four women and attempted to murder two others over a six-day period in ...
– the "Blackout Ripper"
*
Anthony Hardy
Anthony John Hardy (31 May 1951 – 26 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was known as the Camden Ripper for dismembering some of his victims. In November 2003, he was sentenced to three life terms for three murders, but police beli ...
– the "Camden Ripper"
*
Gary Ridgway
Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer and sex offender. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, brin ...
– the "Green River Killer"
*
Peter Sutcliffe
Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
– the "Yorkshire Ripper"
*
Steve Wright – the "Suffolk Strangler"
*
List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
This is a list of fugitives from justice, notable people who disappeared or evaded capture while being sought by law enforcement agencies in connection with a crime, and who are currently sought or were sought for the duration of their presume ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
1950s murders in London
1959 murders in the United Kingdom
1960s murders in London
1963 murders in the United Kingdom
1964 murders in the United Kingdom
1965 murders in the United Kingdom
20th-century criminals
Female murder victims
Fugitives
Murder in London
Serial murders in the United Kingdom
Unidentified serial killers
Unsolved murders in London
Violence against sex workers in the United Kingdom
Violence against women in England
Women in London