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Herbert Wheeler Walter Hannam (1908 – 24 February 1983) was a British policeman within the
Metropolitan Police Service 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 ...
. He was based at
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' ...
where he held the rank of Detective Superintendent.


Family

Hannam was born in
Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padding ...
, London in 1908, the son of printer Walter Hannam from
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...
and Elizabeth Jane from
Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...
,
County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...
.


Career

Hannam became famous in connection with the notorious Teddington Towpath Murders in 1953. During the trial, defence counsel Peter Rawlinson cross-examined Hannam at length, opening large holes in his evidence on how the confession said to have been made by the accused was obtained. In view of police methods of the time and Hannam's book expressing the opinion that the law sometimes must be ignored by detectives, it is not unlikely that the confession had not been obtained as Hannam suggested. In 1956, Hannam took charge of the investigation of the activities of
John Bodkin Adams John Bodkin Adams (21 January 18994 July 1983) was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, 163 of his patients died while in comas, which was deemed to be worthy of i ...
, who Hannam suspected of being a serial killer and who worked in
Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the lar ...
. He was assisted by
Detective Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other un ...
Charles Hewett. At an early stage in the investigation, Hannam believed he had discovered Adams' modus operandi: first to make his victims drug addicts, then to influence them to change their wills in his favour and finally to give them a lethal dose of opiates. Between August and October 1956, Hannam collected a significant number of witness statements from the nurses and relatives of Adams' deceased former patients that indicated that they had been heavily drugged by Adams, had been injected with unknown substances and had become comatose or unresponsive, and he confided to a reporter that he was convinced that Adams was a serial killer who had killed fourteen people. However, his Chief Superintendent and divisional Commander initially considered that his case was speculative, based on rumour and could not be proved.Robins, 2013 Hannam's aristocratic air led to the press dubbing him "The Count". Despite opposition from the BMA and claims of lack of cooperation by the DPP and the
Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the lar ...
police, he produced a file of evidence which he considered was sufficient to charge Adams on four counts of murder.Cullen, 2006 Adams was indicted on only two counts, the murders of Edith Alice Morrell and
Gertrude Hullett Gertrude or Gertrud may refer to: Places In space * Gertrude (crater), a crater on Uranus's moon Titania * 710 Gertrud, a minor planet Terrestrial placenames *Gertrude, Arkansas * Gertrude, Washington * Gertrude, West Virginia People *Gertrude ...
. He was tried for the former in 1957 and found not guilty. The
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
entered the unprecedentedCullen, 2006 plea of
nolle prosequi , abbreviated or , is legal Latin meaning "to be unwilling to pursue".Nolle prosequi
. refe ...
regarding Mrs Hullett rather than accepting a not guilty verdict. Patrick Devlin, the trial judge, later termed this "an abuse of process", done because the prosecution’s case was deficient, which left Adams under the suspicion that there might have been some truth in talk of mass murder.Devlin, (1985), pp. 180-1. Hannam was said to have expressed concern about high-level political, medical and judicial interference in the investigation and the subsequent prosecution, although the statement about political interference was made by a former colleague and not published until long after Hannam's death. The Metropolitan Police conducted an internal investigation into Hannam's conduct during his investigation, and also studied the relationship between Hannam and the press in depth. The results were never made public, but a year later his police career ended, and he was later employed in a private security agency.


References

*Cullen, Pamela V., "A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams", London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, *Robins, Jane, "The Curious Habits of Dr Adams: A 1950s Murder Mystery". London, John Murray, 2013. . *Devlin, Patrick, "Easing the Passing", The Bodley Head, 1985.


External links


Time magazine's account of the investigation into Adams from Monday, 24 September 1956


{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannam, Herbert 1983 deaths 1908 births Date of birth missing People from Paddington Metropolitan Police chief officers