John Haigh
John George Haigh (born July 24, 1909 in Stamford (Lincolnshire) , † August 10, 1949 in London ) was a British serial killer . He is known as the "acid bath killer" or also as the "vampire of London".
Essentially out of greed, he killed six people and dissolved the corpses in a container of sulfuric acid .
Earlier life
John Haigh was raised in a strictly religious manner by his parents, who were members of the Brethren movement . Because of his skills, he was awarded a scholarship to high school in Wakefield and won another scholarship as a choirboy from Wakefield Cathedral.
He later worked as a salesman. He could express himself selectively and liked to dress well. In 1934 he married Beatrice Hamer. When he was arrested for fraud in November of the same year, the relationship broke up after a short time. In the years that followed, Haigh made his way through life with criminal machinations. In 1936 he worked for the businessman WD McSwan as a secretary and chauffeur . A year later he was convicted of fraud again, this time to four years in prison. With the start of the Second World War , many offenders who had not been convicted of crimes against life and limb were released early. Haigh was released from prison in 1940. Again he engaged in minor frauds. With his booty, he was even able to stay at the more upscale Onslow Court Hotel in South Kensington , London in 1943 .
The murders
In 1944, Haigh rented a small study in the basement of a house in Kensington. There he allegedly worked on his inventions. On September 9, 1944, he lured Donald McSwan, the son of his former employer, into this study and killed him there. Haigh had prepared the act well. After knocking his victim unconscious, he dissolved the body in a bath of sulfuric acid. He dumped the remaining acid into the sewer in the basement. In the courtyard behind the building he distributed the viscous residue. Then he transferred the possession of Donald McSwan with forged papers.
Donald McSwan's parents became concerned after a while about their son's sudden disappearance. Haigh reassured her by claiming that Donald McSwan was hiding to avoid being drafted into the army. The McSwans believed him and even accepted an invitation to his study. Haigh killed these two there in 1945 in the same way as her son. He then wrote fake handwritten messages to the McSwans' employees, relatives and friends saying that they had moved to a distant country and that he should do their business. As a result, Haigh appropriated the extensive McSwans possessions, but lost the considerable fortune again through gambling .
Haigh therefore needed more money and found the wealthy retired couple Dr. Archibald and Rosalie Henderson are his next victims. The Hendersons put a house for sale in Ladbroke Grove in August 1947 . Haigh began negotiating with them and ended up pretending that a deal went wrong that he would not be able to purchase the house immediately. A friendly relationship developed between him and the Hendersons. In this way, on February 12, 1948, Haigh succeeded in luring Archibald Henderson into his study. There he killed his victim with a shot in the head and dissolved his body in an acid bath. He then returned to Rosalie Henderson and informed her that her husband was feeling uncomfortable and wanted her. Rosalie Henderson accompanied Haigh to his study and lost her life in the same way. In this case, too, he misled the Hendersons' employees, relatives and friends through fake news and appropriated the vast fortunes of his victims. As before, he lost his fortune by gambling this time.
In 1949 Haigh was in debt and was looking for a new victim, whom he found in the restaurant of the Onslow Court Hotel, where he lived. There he repeatedly met the wealthy widowed pensioner Henrietta Helen Olivia Robarts Durand-Deacon at dinner time. The 69-year-old lady believed Haigh was a businessman. As a successful salesman, he should promote your idea of making fingernails out of plastic. Haigh suggested discussing this idea in his study and thus lured Henrietta Durand-Deacon there on February 18, 1949. As with his previous murders, he shot his victim in the back of the head and dissolved the body in an acid bath. He later reported that he even interrupted the strenuous work by taking a meal break.
discovery
Haigh was able to obtain relatively little money through this last murder, which was at most enough to pay off a few debts. He therefore kept an eye out for potential victims. At the same time, however, he was concerned that Durand-Deacon's disappearance was too closely related to his residence at the Onslow Court Hotel. In order not to be asked about Durand-Deacon himself, he hypocritically inquired of her friend, the pensioner Constance Lane, who also lived in the Onslow Court Hotel. The answer he received unexpectedly was that Lane assumed Durand-Deacon had taken him to his study. Haigh denied this. The next morning he checked with Lane again. She said that Durand-Deacon was still missing and that she intended to go to the police to file a missing person report. Haigh offered to accompany her.
At the police station, a police officer noticed John Haigh and checked records about him. His criminal records made the police suspicious and Haigh was questioned by the police on February 28, 1949. At first, he denied having anything to do with Durand-Deacon's disappearance. The police ransacked his office and his hotel premises. In the study she discovered the gruesome remains of Durand-Deacon, sufficient for identification. In addition to several pounds of human fat scattered in the courtyard behind the building, the police discovered u. a. partially decomposed bones of a human foot. On the basis of the bones found it could be determined that they came from a female person. In addition, one found u. a. the plastic Durand-Deacons handbag, dentures and human gallstones that were not decomposed by the acid.
Haigh had been careless and had clearly left marks in his study and hotel room. Among other things, his diary was found, in which he briefly discussed his murders. In addition, loot from the McSwan's possession was found in the hotel room.
Trial and conviction
When confronted with the police's discoveries, Haigh admitted the killing of Durand-Deacon and the subsequent dissolution of the body in an acid bath. However, he was of the opinion that the police would not be able to prove a murder to him if there was no body. Haigh was obviously mistaken in interpreting the law literally.
He was charged with the murder of Henrietta Durand-Deacon and tried on July 18, 1949. Judge Travers Humphreys presided, and Sir Henry Shawcross served as prosecutor. David Maxwell was appointed as defense attorney. Haigh tried to portray himself as insane in order to go to a psychiatric hospital instead of jail, from where he could escape more easily if necessary. In long and detailed explanations, he explained his lust for blood and claimed to have drunk a glass of blood from each of his victims before he dissolved their corpses in an acid bath. In addition, he behaved like a supposedly insane person. A psychiatric report confirmed that Haigh had mental illnesses, but the court came to the conclusion that he was aware of the injustice of his actions and was therefore responsible within the meaning of the law. Haigh was sentenced to death for murder .
During the period in which he at his execution waited, he wrote his memoirs , claiming it to have been driven by the fanatical religiosity of his parents to his deeds. It is believed, however, that Haigh was still trying to get recognized as insane and admitted to a mental hospital.
On August 10, 1949, John Haigh was hanged in Wandsworth Prison in south London by the chief executioner Albert Pierrepoint .
Others
Many newspapers achieved new circulation records in the wake of this fall. In the often irrelevant and sprawling reports, Haigh was nicknamed "The Vampire of London" and "Acid Bath Murderer" because of his actions and representations.
Haigh is often compared to the French serial killer Marcel Petiot . It is also possible that he heard about the deeds of the French Georges-Alexandre Sarrejani , a lawyer from Marseilles who, using methods similar to Haigh, had the bodies of his victims disappeared in 1925.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Haigh, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Haigh, John George (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British serial killer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 24, 1909 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stamford , Lincolnshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 10, 1949 |
| Place of death | London |