***** When 28-year-old Ruth Ellis shot her lover, David Blakely, in 1955, she set in motion a trial that rocked the country. Found guilty, she was sentenced to death and became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. With many theories about what really happened, this account attempts to lay out the facts, rather…
Category: True Crime
‘The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer’ by Brian Masters
***** A severed head in the refrigerator, two more in the freezer, skulls and a skeleton in a filing cabinet. These are among the items found in Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment when he was arrested in 1991. But Dahmer didn’t merely kill people – he also used their body parts for sexual gratification and as pieces…
Oh, What a Lovely Murder
Ever since Blackwood’s Magazine published Thomas De Quincey’s satirical essay, ‘On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts’, in 1827, the British (and of course the rest of the world) have been fascinated by the slaughter of our fellow man in all its many permutations and variations. De Quincey’s musings were prompted by the…
‘The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher’ by Kate Summerscale
***** During a summer night in 1860, a terrible crime is committed. When the Kent family of Road Hill House wake up the next morning, they learn that three-year-old Saville is missing and soon discover he has been brutally murdered. As local police fail to track down the killer, Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard is…
‘Evil Relations’ by David Smith, with Carol Ann Lee
***** At the trial of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady in 1966, David Smith acted as chief prosecution witness. But his evidence did him no favours. Due in part to the insistence by Hindley and Brady that Smith took part in the murders, he was reviled and vilified by the press for years afterwards—even after…
‘The Mile End Murder’ by Sinclair McKay
***** (Audiobook) When wealthy and eccentric widow Mary Emsley is found dead at her home on 17th August 1860, the resulting murder inquiry grips the nation. Faced with several suspects, the police home in on two individuals, finally narrowing it down to one man – James Mullins. Convicted and hanged for the killing, the Mullins…
‘They All Love Jack’ by Bruce Robinson
They All Love Jack (Audiobook) Ever since a mysterious figure ripped his way through the East End of London in the late 1880s, writers and filmmakers have focused on the identity of the perpetrator. The mystery of Jack the Ripper still exudes a fascination to…
‘The Case of Mary Bell’ by Gitta Sereny
The Case of Mary Bell December 1968, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Two girls aged eleven and thirteen are accused of strangling two little boys – four-year-old Martin Brown and three-year-old Brian Howe. The oldest girl, Norma, is acquitted, but the younger and more advanced Mary Bell, is found guilty of manslaughter. Investigative journalist…
‘The Murders at White House Farm’ by Carol Ann Lee
The Murders at White House Farm (Audiobook) The deaths of Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila and her two young sons on 7th August 1985, sparked a massive police investigation. As the murder weapon was found on her body and all windows and doors appeared to be secure, it seemed reasonable that…
‘The Clydach Murders’ by John Morris
The Clydach Murders (Audiobook) South Wales, 1999. Single mum Mandy Power, her mother and her two daughters are battered to death in the early hours of Sunday 27th June. Then, in a bid by the killer to destroy evidence, the house is set on fire. Unpopular builder David (Dai) Morris is tried twice for the…
