The towpath murders was a case in which two teenage girls were murdered on the

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 ...

near

Teddington Lock Teddington Lock is a complex of three lock (water transport), locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham, London, Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first buil ...

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, on 31 May 1953. Alfred Charles Whiteway (1931 – 22 December 1953) was found guilty and

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

for the murders, which attracted much press attention, the case being described at the time as "one 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 ...

's most notable triumphs in a century". At the trial, defence counsel Peter Rawlinson had subjected lead detective

Herbert Hannam Herbert Wheeler Walter Hannam (1908 – 24 February 1983) was a British policeman within the Metropolitan Police Service. He was based at Scotland Yard where he held the rank of Detective Superintendent. Family Hannam was born in Paddington, Londo ...

to what was at the time considered a very sharp

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and m ...

on Whiteway's contention that the main evidence against him had been manufactured by police.

Victims

The victims were 16-year-old Barbara Songhurst and 18-year-old Christine Reed. The girls had been on a bicycle trip on Sunday, 31 May 1953, and were seen cycling along the

beside 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 ...

at about 11pm. They failed to return home. Songhurst's body was found the next day floating in the river, and Reed's body was found on 6 June, after a section of the river was drained. Pathologist Keith Mant determined that both victims had been beaten,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d and killed with a

hatchet A hatchet (from the Old French , a diminutive form of ''hache'', 'axe' of Germanic origin) is a single-handed striking tool with a sharp blade on one side used to cut and split wood, and a hammerhead on the other side. Hatchets may also be use ...

Investigation

Alfred Charles Whiteway, aged 22, separated from his wife and living with his parents in Sydney Road,

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...

, was arrested a month later after the two separate rapes of women in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. At first Whiteway denied any involvement. Later, a

police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

found an axe under the back seat of a police car, apparently hidden by Whiteway following his arrest for the rape of a 14-year-old girl and an attack on a woman in the

Oxshott Heath and Woods Oxshott Heath and Woods is an area of woods and heathland in Oxshott, Surrey, England covering approximately , as an area of common land. It is owned by a local authority, however historic rights of access and gathering dead wood where necessa ...

. The axe was found at the house of the constable, who had taken it home and was using it to chop wood. Forensic tests of the time could only inconclusively link traces of blood on the axe and Whiteway's shoes to the murders, but his signature to what police said was a confession taken down by them was crucial evidence for the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

. However, Whiteway continuously insisted he had been told to sign at the bottom of a blank sheet of paper and police had simply manufactured the confession."The Towpath Murders", "Murder Maps" Series 3 Episode 3, broadcast 26 October 2017, presented by Nicholas Day on

Yesterday (TV channel) Yesterday is a British free-to-air history-oriented television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It launched on 30 October 2002 as UK History and relaunched in its current format on 2 March 2009. It is available on satell ...

Trial

Whiteway was tried 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 the autumn 1953 before Mr Justice Hilbery. He was defended by solicitor Arthur Prothero, who instructed Peter Rawlinson, then a relatively junior barrister. Rawlinson cross-examined murder squad detective

at length, opening large holes in his evidence of the

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

, which Whiteway claimed was falsified. Press reports of the period complained at the implication that the police were lying. In view of police methods of the time, and Hannam's book expressing the opinion that the law sometimes must be ignored by detectives, subsequent commentary has thought it not unlikely that Whiteway had been "verbaled". On 2 November, after forty-five minutes of deliberation, the jury found Whiteway guilty. An

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

was heard by the

Lord Chief Justice Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

(

Lord Goddard William Edgar Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard, (10 April 1877 – 29 May 1971) was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Chief Justice of England from 1946 to 1958, known for his strict sentencing and mostly conservative views despite be ...

), Mr. Justice Sellers and Mr. Justice Barry but was rejected on 7 December. Whiteway was hanged at

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 ...

on 22 December 1953. The axe is in the

Black Museum The Crime Museum is a collection of criminal memorabilia kept at New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England. Known as the Black Museum until the early 21st century, the museum came into existence at S ...

at Scotland Yard.

References

{{authority control 1953 murders in the United Kingdom 1953 in London Murder in London History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames May 1953 events in the United Kingdom Female murder victims Axe murder Violence against women in London 1950s murders in London