John Christie Was The Killer - But His Evidence Helped Get His Neighbour Executed For The Crime

In 1953, London police entered an apartment at 10, Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London.

Notting Hill was not then the desirable neighbourhood it became. Rillington Place was reasonably typical - terraced houses, rented not owned, occupied by multiple families: A working-class and unsophisticated area, but not in the worst part of London: There were worse areas, for sure.

John Reginald Christie and his wife Ethel had lived there at this point for more than ten years. They were part of the neighbourhood. Their neighbours knew them - or so they thought.

What the neighbours didn't know was that they were sharing their part of Rillington Place with the bodies of numerous women Christie had murdered.

The Police had come calling because the news was finally getting out.

Who was John Christie?

Born in Halifax, Yorkshire in the last year of the 19th century, Christie was one of 7 children, 5 of them girls, a quite usual size family in those days of high child mortality and little contraception. He felt somewhat oppressed by all the women - including older sisters - in his household who were in authority over him.

Christie was bright at school and joined in. He was a scout and loved to parade around in his uniform, even when he wasn't going to meetings. He sang with the choir.

His first sexual experience did not go well and may have coloured his view of sex. An older girl propositioned him, and he was enthusiastic but unable to perform on-demand and, unfortunately for him, she told people about the event. Christie got nicknamed 'Can't Do It Christie' and 'Reggie No Dick'. He would go on to have intermittent impotence issues.

Christie served in the Army in WW1 and was gassed, which gave him a slight speech impediment. There was also speculation that his experiences might have impacted his mental health.

After leaving school, Christie took the work he could get, working as a cinema operator and then as a postman. At 21, he married Ethel Waddington. Christie was to admit that their sex life was infrequent at best and Ethel never got pregnant by him.

It was whilst working as a postman that Christie stole items of value from letters and was caught, prosecuted and jailed for a short sentence.

He separated from his wife and, after his release from prison, he travelled to London alone. He spent the next ten years living a twilight experience, on the verges of criminality, using prostitutes, drifting, getting imprisoned for minor offences 3 or 4 more times, committing petty crimes and mixing with a 'bad crowd'.

By the start of WW2, with Christie now about 40 years old, he seems to have decided it was time to grow up. He sought out Ethel and told her he wanted to make a fresh start, wanted to get back together and she agreed.

She relocated to London, and they moved together into the top floor of 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, an address which is still redolent with horror for those who know this story.

Clean start

The move was Christie's chance to start again. None of their neighbours was made aware of the past misdemeanours. Indeed, Christie got a job in the Police Reserve for the Metropolitan Police, a sort of temporary role for Police officers during the wartime. The Police failed to carry out the necessary background checks and so did not recognise that they were employing a convicted felon. Christie enjoyed the role, not least because it put him in a position of power over many of the women he met.

Neighbours were not complimentary about their resident policeman, describing him as 'the Himmler of Rillington Place' (a reference to the leading member of the Nazi Party). Prostitutes gave Christie free sex in return for him overlooking their activity on this 'turf'.

As stated, Rillington Place was in a poor neighbourhood. A lot of the women prostituting themselves had lost men in the war, and they were doing what they could to survive. There was little contraception available, so inevitably, many accidental pregnancies occurred. There was no option to get a legal abortion.

Police would later come to believe that Christie and his wife were offering an illegal abortion service at their home in the 1940s, for prostitutes but for other women too. They were using a hose and a face mask from their domestic gas supply to render the women unconscious, and then Ethel Christie was terminating their pregnancies.

The first killing

In 1943, Ethel left London to visit her sister. She planned a stay of some weeks in Sheffield, a city in the north of England. Christie took the opportunity to get involved with an Austrian émigré. She was working at a munitions factory and supplementing her income as a part-time prostitute, which is how Christie met her. Her name was Ruth Fuerst, and Christie was paying her for sex.

Getting a telegram from his wife to say she was returning home, Christie panicked that Ruth would tell his wife that she and he had been having an affair, so during their last sex session, Christie strangled her. He wrapped her body in her leopard-skin coat and hid her under the floorboards.

Christie found this whole experience thrilling, the ultimate power (the power of life and death) and considered it the ultimate expression of control. He wanted more thrills. Indeed, the authority lent to him by his police uniform was no longer enough, and he gave up that job and went to work at a radio factory in Acton.

Another woman murdered

It was there that he met his next victim. Muriel Eady was an unmarried woman of 32. They became friends at work and chatted, and she confided in him that she had a bronchial problem and struggled at times with her breathing.

Ethel Christie was away again, and Christie invited Ms Eady to his house. He had planned his actions. She believed Christie had an inhaler which could cure her breathing problems, and she allowed him to fit the face mask, but what she was breathing in was poisonous carbon monoxide, which rendered her unconscious. Whilst she was out cold, he raped and strangled her. He buried her body in the garden.

Christie was to say afterwards that it was about power, release, about his having control. He said women would no longer have authority over him, he would dominate and they must comply.

When an opportunity presented itself, Christie burnt both women's bodies in the back garden and then buried the remains. No-one knew that either of the women had been to his house, so no suspicion fell on him when they went missing and he was free to kill again.

A new chapter and two more murders

In 1947, Christie and wife Ethel were still living at 10 Rillington Place, now in the ground floor apartment having moved downstairs some years earlier. Christie was respectable, and neighbours knew that Post Office ledger clerk Christie and Ethel were people who could help with abortions. What was not known was that there were the corpses of two women Christie had strangled, buried in the back garden.

In 1948, a new family moved into the upstairs of 10, Rillington Place - Tim and Beryl Evans, a young couple, newlyweds, mid-twenties and expecting their first baby. Tim Evans was a van driver. He had moved to London from rural south Wales to get work. He was of lower than average IQ, estimated at 70.

It was unfortunate for both Tim and Beryl Evans that John Christie was interested in her.

Not long after moving in, Beryl Evans gave birth to a baby girl, Geraldine. The small family settled in. Money was tight, Tim Evans was only earning about £7 a week (about $10), but they were getting by, just.

When Beryl realised she was pregnant again, she got into a panic. She knew that coping with another mouth to feed was going to be difficult. Beryl tried to discuss this with Tim and suggested that abortion might be a route (although this was illegal at the time). Tim Evans disagreed.

In desperation, Beryl Evans took tablets in an attempt to terminate the pregnancy but was not successful. Tim Evans mentioned these events to his downstairs neighbour, and Christie said: "I can solve that problem…"

After a conversation, Christie so reassured the somewhat suggestible Tim Evans that he left Beryl in the care of Christie and went off to work. The date - November 8th. It was to be the last time Tim would see Beryl alive.

On Tim Evans return home from work, Christie met him and told him that the procedure had not gone well and that Beryl had died. Christie said that Evans needed to help him hide her body and that he would subsequently dispose of it down a utility hole near the door of the property. Christie reminded Mr Evans that whilst he, Christie, would be imprisoned, so would Evans if the authorities found out about all of this. Again, Christie persuaded the suggestible Evans to go along. The two men moved the body to an empty room in 10, Rillington Place.

Evans was left to look after baby Geraldine.

Christie was concerned still that there would be questions asked, speculation about the disappearance of Beryl Evans. He worked further on Evans, persuading him to allow Christie to take baby Geraldine. Christie spun a tale about knowing a childless couple who would take her in and care for her. Having achieved this step and getting the baby away from Evans, it was then relatively easy for Christie to convince Evans to flee London and return to Wales, to avoid the questioning and speculation about the absence of Beryl and Geraldine. This Evans duly did, on November 14th 1949.

Things start to come apart

Leaving London might have stopped neighbours there from asking about the fate of Beryl and Geraldine. Still, it was 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' for Evans, because he now faced questions from his and Beryl's families about the whereabouts of Beryl and Geraldine.

By November 30th, Evans could no longer maintain the façade. He went to the Police at Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and confessed to them that his wife had died in unusual circumstances. Evans story was that he was given a substance in a bottle by 'a man' which his wife to must drink, causing the end Beryl's pregnancy. Evans said, however, that his wife had died after drinking it and he had concealed her body in the utility hole outside Rillington Place. Further, he said he had arranged for Geraldine to be looked after and had then left for Wales.

The local Police in Wales contacted the Police in London, who went to Rillington Place and conducted a search, including looking in the utility hole. Still, they found nothing (although they did note, along the way, that it took the combined strength of three officers to lift the utility hole cover).

Welsh Police re-questioned Evans. He gave another statement, this time explaining that he and Beryl had agreed that Christie would end her pregnancy but that this had gone wrong and she had died. He explained that, because abortion was illegal, he had not mentioned Christie's involvement previously 'to keep him out of it'.

Police did speak to Christie, but contemporary reports suggest they found he and his wife to be a respectable middle-aged couple. Police found them far more credible than the working-class and poorly educated lorry driver Evans: In other words, they were more inclined to believe Christie. Christie told investigating officers that Evans was an aggressive alcoholic and that the rows and fights he had with his wife were audible throughout the building.

Police officers also carried out a second search though they found nothing in this search, despite the small 15 by 14-foot rear garden containing the buried corpses of the first two victims. Police also seem not to have reacted to a human thigh-bone propping up one of the fence posts.

On December 2nd, Police undertook a third and more thorough search. This time, inside a locked washroom accessed from the rear garden, the body of Beryl Evans was found, wrapped in a tablecloth. Alongside her was the body of her baby, Geraldine. Both had been strangled. Authorities noted that Mrs Christie kept the knife used to open the door to this washroom, and this was the only way to open it.

(Police still did not discover the skeletal remains of the first two victims in shallow graves in the garden. At about this time, Christie's dog had dug up the skull of one of his early victims and Christie had thrown it away on the nearby site of a bombed-out building, commonplace in post-war London. This skull was subsequently found by children playing and handed into the Police, but it did not result in any further investigation).

Police transported Evans back to London to face questioning at Notting Hill Police Station.

A series of interview followed. Police showed Evans clothing recovered from his dead wife and daughter and was told that both victims had been strangled. Evans claimed that this was the first time he knew that baby Geraldine had died. However, Police reported that he said that he had killed his wife in an argument over money and killed his daughter two days later before leaving for Wales.

Unsafe confession and lack of corroboration

Evans confession was the primary evidence the Police had against him, even though he did not know how his wife had died, where her body was or even that his daughter was dead. The main witness supporting his guilt was the actual murderer, Christie.

Researchers years later analysed the statements given by Evans and report that they show marked differences in the language used. In the Merthyr Tydfil statements, it is the language of a poorly educated working man: In the Notting Hill statements, the language used is more erudite and used a different vocabulary, which is considered by some experts not to reflect Evans likely speech. Evans could neither read nor write very well and so his statement would have been written by a Police Officer as dictation and would have been read back to him before he signed it. It is certainly possible that his words were not recorded accurately or were changed, in addition to the risk that the susceptible and suggestible Evans could have been 'nudged' into a confession. There is little doubt that the Police gave him all the information about the crimes that he needed to be able to confess.

Whatever the circumstances before it, Evans signed a confession to the murders of Beryl and Geraldine. Police charged Evans with these crimes.

Trial, conviction and execution

On January 11th 1950, Evans faced trial at the famous 'Old Bailey' court, London's Central Criminal Court. By now, Evans had retracted his previous statements and confession and was roundly blaming Christie.

The State tried Evans for Geraldine's murder although evidence concerning the death of Beryl was included in the court case, as corroboration.

Christie gave evidence against Evans. Christie said he had heard noises from the Evans home above his. Christie had been a Police Officer, had appeared in court before, was clear, knew how to speak in court: In other words, he was likely highly credible.

The State had evidence from two workmen who would say that Beryl and Geraldine's bodies were not in the washhouse until after Evans had left London. Still, this evidence did not fit the narrative, and the jury never got to hear it.

After a three-day trial, it took the jury only 40 minutes to find Evans guilty, and the judge passed a sentence of death.

The Home Secretary rejected Evans appeal for clemency and Evans was hanged on March 3rd, 1950 at Pentonville Prison in London.

Christie, having no suspicion attached to him, was free to carry on killing.

The abortions continued, and Christie argued with his wife

Four people were dead, the skeletons of two were in the back garden, and Tim Evans - an innocent man - had been hanged for the killing of the other two.

New neighbours came and went, and Police would later construct a story of audible rows and arguments between Christie and his wife. Relatives of Evans had shouted at Christie after Evans trial and accused him of being the perpetrator. Mrs Christie had defended her husband, but perhaps she had doubts?

The Christie's continued to perform abortions at 10, Rillington Place. Women were seated in the kitchen in a deckchair, made insensible with gas, and then Ethel Christie carried out a termination on them. The unconscious women were then moved by Christie into another room and laid on a bed to recover.

Christie later disclosed to Police Officers that Ethel had become upset and angry when she had caught him 'interfering' with unconscious women. Ethel Christie threatened to tell the Police. Because of this or something else, on December 14th 1952, Christie strangled Ethel when they were in bed together and later hid her body under the floorboards.

Christie explained to neighbours that Ethel had gone to care for her sick sister in another city. He was later to tell Police that he enjoyed the feeling of power from 'walking over Ethel' when crossing the section of flooring he had interred her beneath.

The freedom granted by Ethel being out of the way seems to have given Christie licence for a sudden rush of killings, not untypical of late-stage serial killers.

Final three victims of John Reginald Christie?

Between murdering his wife Ethel on December 14th 1952 and March 6th of 1953, Christie killed three more women, all gassed and then strangled, all raped whilst unconscious and dying, and possibly, dead.

Rita Nelson, originally from Belfast, was working locally in a shop. She was pregnant and did not want to be. Christie killed her when she visited his home for an abortion. He put her wrapped corpse in an alcove (a nook) in the kitchen, with her folded up to fit in.

Kathleen Maloney was working nearby as a prostitute and went home with Christie. She was allegedly drunk. After suffering the same fate, Christie put her wrapped, and doubled-over body into the kitchen alcove.

Hectorina MacLennan was slightly different. Christie learnt that she was looking for accommodation and he invited her to use his flat, but he was not expecting her to move in also with her boyfriend, Alex Baker. He nevertheless let them stay a few days. Sometime after they had moved out, Christie met Hectorina again when she was alone. He persuaded her to come home with her, and she died in the same way as the others.

Christie also added Hectorina to the alcove, an area that he later sealed off by wallpapering over it. The wrapped corpses remained in place.

End game, capture, trial and execution

Something seems to have happened to Christie at this point. There were now three dead women in his kitchen, his deceased wife was under the floorboards, and there were two skeletal remains in the back garden. The washhouse, where he had stored two more, was just outside the back door.

Perhaps the strain got too much. Whatever the reason, Christie decided to get out of Rillington Place. He illegally sub-let his accommodation and, pretending to the new tenants that he was the landlord, charged several weeks rent cash up-front.

Christie also faked his wife's signature to empty her bank account and did whatever he could to raise some cash. He had quit his job some weeks before and only had limited funds coming in the form of unemployment assistance.

He signed himself into a homeless shelter - not hiding, giving his real name - and paid for seven days, but after three days he moved on. It is not clear where he was sleeping or how he was spending his days.

Meanwhile, at Rillington Place, there were significant developments. The landlord, finding out about the sub-letting, had thrown out the people Christie had installed and had also allowed the tenant in the upstairs flat use the kitchen in the downstairs, the part previously occupied by Christie. Mr Brown, the tenant from upstairs, had been attempting to fit a wall bracket when he discovered that what looked like a wall was only some layers of wallpaper. Ripping that down, Mr Brown found what he took to be dead bodies.

Mr Brown called the Police and, on March 24th 1953, just over three months since Christie had murdered his wife and about ten years since he had killed Ruth Fuerst, Police began a full search of what was to become known as the 'house of horrors'.

Mr Brown had already found the bodies of the victims in the kitchen. Police rapidly found Mrs Christie's corpse under the floorboards, and the garden gradually yielded two more skeletons.

The Police now had a search underway for Christie.

A routine 'stop' by a Police Constable on near Putney Bridge in London saw Christie apprehended.

Christie was evasive when questioned. He admitted killing many of the victims (including Beryl Evans, although he never admitted killing little Geraldine), but there were excuses. Christie said the death of his wife was a 'mercy killing' - he had woken to find her fitting and unable to breathe. Beryl Evans, according to Christie, wanted to commit suicide, so his actions were to help her achieve what she wanted. The other women he had killed, according to him, had attacked him when they got to his house and they had died whilst he was defending himself. None of the deaths was his fault.

Although the State charged Christie with the death of four of the women, they could only try him for one crime, and the prosecution considered the most robust case to be the death of his wife. On June 22nd 1953, it was Christie's turn to appear at London's Old Bailey courthouse. A four-day trial ensued.

During the trial, Christie was asked by the prosecution if he had killed more victims than those known about and he replied: "I can't say exactly - I might have done".

Three psychiatrists had spent time with Christie before the trial, and two of the three gave evidence that they thought he was sane and understood his actions, so he had criminal liability.

The jury only took an hour and 20 minutes to find Christie guilty, and the judge sentenced him to death. He was hanged at Pentonville Prison on July 15th 1953.

Events after the trial

The UK State and public widely accepted the conviction and subsequent execution of Timothy Evans as a miscarriage of justice. Evans case was one of those which lead to the abolition of the death penalty in the United Kingdom in 1965.

In 1966, Timothy Evans received a posthumous Royal Pardon. Relatives of his were to receive financial compensation some ten years later.

The 'house of horror' - 10 Rillington Place - was demolished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Evans

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2231062/john-christie-victims-where-is-rillington-place/

John_Christie_(murderer)

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/john-christie