John Christie: The Serial Killer of Rillington Place

EARLY YEARS

John Reginald Halliday Christie was born in Yorkshire in 1898. His household was dominated by his overbearing mother and sisters, resulting in him growing up to be a sexually dysfunctional, control-obsessed hypochondriac. He left school at the age of 15 and served as a signalman during World War I. He was involved in a mustard gas attack, which he claimed temporarily caused him to be mute for over three years. His previous sexual dysfunctions and control issues prevented normal sexual relationships - he began visiting prostitutes from the age of nineteen. Even his marriage to Ethel Simpson Waddington in 1920 did not change this.

Christie, who had become a postman, was imprisoned for three months for stealing postal orders, and two years later, he was put on probation for violent behavior. Around this time, he also left Ethel and moved to London. There, he encountered further problems with the police, including assaults on women.

THE MURDER SPREE BEGINS

Christie's first known victim was Austrian Ruth Fuerst, whom he strangled during sexual intercourse. He buried her body in the communal garden at Rillington Place, where he lived. Excited by the ultimate thrill that the death of his victim had brought, he carefully planned an attack on his 32-year-old neighbor, Muriel Eady. On November 8, 1944, he invited her to his place and claimed to be able to cure her recurring chest ailment with a special inhaler that actually contained carbon monoxide. When she became unconscious, he strangled her while raping her. He also disposed of her body in the garden behind the house.

In 1948, Timothy Evans and his wife Beryl moved into Rillington Place, and shortly afterward, Beryl gave birth to a little girl, Geraldine. Evans had an IQ of only 70 and was easily influenced. When Beryl became pregnant again a year later, she feared that her husband Timothy would not be able to support another child. Christie told her that he could perform an abortion, which was illegal in Britain at the time. Having incapacitated her, he strangled her. He convinced Evans that her death was due to septic poisoning caused by the various other abortion methods she had tried up until that point. Timothy, therefore, did not go to the police but instead went to his aunt in Wales. Christie claimed that a friendly couple could take care of baby Geraldine during his absence. She was never seen alive again.

Confused by the mysterious disappearance of Beryl and the baby, Evans's mother confronted Timothy. Unable to maintain the charade any longer, Evans went to the police in Merthyr Tydfil. To protect Christie, he confessed to accidentally killing Beryl himself by giving her abortion pills that caused her death. He claimed to have disposed of her body in a sewer.

TIMOTHY EVANS'S CONVICTION

The police in Notting Hill thoroughly investigated the case but found no corpse or evidence to support Evans's confession. He was called in for questioning once again, and at this point, he changed his story and implicated Christie in Beryl's death. A thorough search of Rillington Place on December 2, 1949, revealed the bodies of Beryl and baby Geraldine, hidden in the washhouse in the backyard. Geraldine still had a man's tie around her neck, the same one used to strangle her.

Christie was also questioned but managed to convince the police that he was not involved. In fact, Christie became a key witness for the prosecution. His positive impression on the jury played a significant role in Evans's conviction, and as a result, he was hanged on March 9, 1950.

THE MURDER SPREE CONTINUES

After the trial, Christie's hypochondria worsened. He became depressed and lost his job at the post office.

Around December 12, 1952, Ethel Christie mysteriously disappeared. John Christie told the neighbors that she had returned to Sheffield, while he told relatives that she had become too ill to communicate with them. In reality, he had strangled Ethel and concealed her body under the floorboards of the living room. When neighbors noticed the increasingly foul odors emanating from the Christie house, John Christie used strong disinfectants.

Christie's next victim was 25-year-old Rita Nelson, a pregnant prostitute who he convinced he could help with an abortion. She met the same fate as Beryl Evans. Christie stashed her body in a niche behind a cupboard in the kitchen. He raped and strangled 26-year-old Kathleen Maloney, another prostitute. She also ended up in the niche. Christie's final victim, 26-year-old Hectorina McLennan, was murdered in a similar manner and then hidden in the same niche.

Christie wallpapered over the cupboard concealing the niche but could do very little to combat the increasingly foul odor emanating from the three decomposing bodies. He eventually moved out of Rillington Place on March 20, 1953.

THE MANHUNT

With the apartment now vacant, another tenant of Rillington Place was allowed by the landlord to use Christie's former kitchen. While renovating the space, the tenant discovered the hidden cupboard with the bodies and immediately notified the police. Given the previous murders committed there, a thorough search was initiated, revealing Ethel's body under the living room floorboards and two more bodies in the garden. The murderer was clear to the investigators: John Christie.

The hunt for Christie began. Ten days later, on March 31, 1953, he was arrested because he had run out of money. He willingly made statements about four of the murders but offered explanations for all of them. His confessions were full of lies and excuses. When confronted with the evidence of the bodies in the garden, he also admitted to those murders and suddenly confessed to the murder of Beryl Evans.

THE TRIAL

The trial lasted only four days. After deliberating for only an hour and twenty minutes, the jury delivered the guilty verdict. Christie was sentenced to death and was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London on July 15, 1953.

THE AFTERMATH

In 1965, an investigation revealed that Timothy Evans had strangled his wife Beryl but not their daughter. He was posthumously pardoned in 1966, years after being tried and hanged for the murders of both.

Christie never confessed to killing Baby Geraldine, although he had admitted to all the other murders while in prison in the weeks leading up to his execution, including the murder of Beryl Evans.