John Christie

John Wayne Gavy

Edward Gein

Fritz Haarmann

Jack The Ripper

Lydia Sherman

Bibliography

Webliography

The Great Debate

John Reginald Halliday Christie was a typical "repressed" lust killer who could achieve satisfaction only through rape, murder, and probably necrophilia.

Over a period of thirteen years Christie killed eight women, including his own wife, without causing the slightest suspicion. His respectable and quiet manner was in no way like it seemed.

The story begins in 1943 at number 10 Rillington Place, London, where Christie lived with his wife Ethel. John Christie had the upstairs of the house made into a flat and was renting it out to tenants.

In the same year Ruth Fuerst had the misfortune to visit the house. According to Christie, she just undressed and asked to have sexual intercourse. He claimed to receive a telegram informing him that his wife was on her way home. He goes on to say the girl asked him to go away with her and that he refused.

Christie then states that he had sex with her and during it he strangled her with a piece of rope. He then described how, because his wife was expected, he covered the body up in her coat and put her under the floorboards in the kitchen. Later that night he took the body into the garden and buried it.

A year later Muriel Eody called at 10 Rillington Place. She thought Christie was a medical man. She complained of catarrh. Ms Eody had made an "appointment", arranged by Christie to coincide with his wife's absence. Christie mixed up a concoction of inhalants containing Friar's Balsam.

The inhalant was in a small glass jar with a metal screw top lid. The lid had two holes. Christie inserted the gas pipe into one of them and encouraged Ms Eody to inhale from the other. Christie explained that the Friar's Balsam covered up the smell of the gas.

Christie then went on to explain how after she became dopey he had a "vague recollection" of tying a stocking around her neck. He then stated how he buried her in a different part of the garden.

It is at this point of the story that a peculiar twist occurs. In 1949 a man named Timothy Evans, along with his wife and baby daughter, rented the flat in Christies house. Then in November of the same year Mr Evans walked into a Police station in Wales and announced how he had found his wife dead at Rillington Place. He confessed to the Police how he disposed of her body down a drain.

Police visited the house and found not only the body of Mrs Evens, but also that of the baby. Timothy Evens was duly arrested, and at first confessed to strangling his family himself. Later he accused John Christie.

Quiet, respectable Mr Christie of course denied any involvement, and oddly enough was the chief prosecution witness.

Timothy Evens was found guilty at his trial and hanged on March 9 1950.

On December 14 1952 John Christie claims to have woken up to find his wife having a convulsive fit. He stated that her face was blue and that he tried to revive her. Christie went on to state how he couldn't bear to see his wife in so much pain, so he tied a stocking around her neck and strangled her. "To put her to sleep."

Christie went on to explain how he noticed a bottle of sleeping pills (Phenalbabitone) with a cup of water beside the bed. He told Police that there had been 25 tablets in the bottle and that only two remained. Suggesting that his wife had committed suicide.

Christie went on in his confession stating that he left his wife in the bed for 3 days because he didn't know what to do with her. He then went on to explain how he suddenly remembered that there were some loose floorboards in the living room. He told how he put her there to "rest".

All was quiet at Rillington Place until January 1953. Christie killed two women, both prostitutes during this time.

The first, Rita Nelson, was strangled at Rillington place. Christie claims that Ms Nelson was drunk and followed him home demanding money. He claimed that she forced her way into his house and started a fight when he refused to give her 10 shillings.

Christie them went on to discribe how the fight got very heated, and how Ms Nelson picked up a frying pan to try and hit him over the head. He then told how he pushed her down onto a chair and strangled her.

Christie discribed how he left her body on the chair and went to bed. He recounts how in the morning he got out of bed and made and ate his breakfast with Ms Nelson still there in the kitchen. He told Police how he pulled away a cupboard to gain access to a small alcove. He said "I must have put her in there.....I don't remember doing it."

Then, on January 12, he told how he visited a cafe in Notting Hill Gate. Christie was sitting at a table and, as the cafe was very busy, two girls sat at the same table. Christie recalled that the girls were talking about trying to find accommodation.

Christie claimed that one of the girls asked him for a cigerrette and started a conversation. Christie invited her to Rillington Place to look at the flat.

Later the same day one of the girls, Kathleen Maloney, went to visit Rillington Place. Christie told a tale of her being interested in the flat and wanting to move in. He stated that the girl then propositioned him to make arrangements for her to "visit him" as a sort of payment in kind. He told of an arguement and Ms Maloney saying she would "bring somebody down on him."

Christie went on to explain that he thought she meant that she was going to get someone to beat him up. He told of a fight. Christie said he couldn't remember what happened to Kathleen Maloney. His word were - "she was on the floor... I must have put her in the alcove straight away."

On March 6th 1953 Hectoria MacLennan was to come across Christie. I am not sure how she came to visit the house, as Christie didn't say. Christie however did discribe her death - he recalled how they had a struggle and how some of her clothes were torn. He said that some of her clothes must have got caught around her neck.

He told police that he felt her pulse and she wasn't breathing. He stated that he must have put her in the alcove but that he couldn't remember.

On 19 March 1953 John Christie vacated 10 Rillington Place. The unfortunate new tenants tried to trace the unpleasant odour coming from the kitchen. They found that it seemed to originate from a section of the wall that seemed to be hollow. Tearing off the paper, and peering in, Mr Brown the new tenant saw what appeared to be a woman's legs.

John Christie was arrested on 31 March 1953. Then on June 8 1953 Christie confessed to the murder of Beryl Evans, but not to that of the baby. Christies defence of not guilty by reasons of insanity was rejected by an Old Bailey jury and on 15 July 1953 John Christie was hanged at Pentenville Prison, London.

It was not until 1966 that Timothy Evans was given a very much overdue posthumous pardon.