“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” This is a quote from 1700’s English jurist William Blackstone and it rings as true today as it did back then. Injustice is a real thing, one that so many people face as they fight to clear their names and expose the truth. It’s something that so many in the justice system, from cops to lawyers to judges, fight against every single day.
However, corrupt investigations and wrongful convictions do still happen, and evil people still get away with their dark deeds, all while hidden in the shadows.
With that said, let us hop into our time machine and discuss one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
The day was March 9th, and the year was 1950. On that day, a 25-year-old man named Timothy Evans sat in a small stone room, known to guards and inmates as the “Condemned Suite,” in Pentonville Prison in Barnsbury, north London. A thin mouse of a man, you’d never think he could have been responsible for the heartless murder of his wife, Beryl, and their infant daughter, Geraldine.
Ever since November of the previous year, Timothy had been a suspect in the disappearance of his family. He initially said that it was an accident, only to later state that it was due to an abortion gone wrong. However, when his home at 10 Rillington Place was thoroughly searched after his confession, the bodies of both Beryl and Geraldine Evans were discovered in the back garden, both strangled to death.
The trial was a swift one, and in the end, Timothy was sentenced to hang. Only three months after the verdict, his sentence was set to be carried out, his final appeal on February 20th being rejected. As his time came to an end, he was pushed into a small room, a noose hanging limply from the ceiling, and underneath it, a trap door.
The noose was then forced over his neck, and a black hood placed over his head. As the lever fell under the executioner’s grip, the floor opened up underneath Timothy and, as the rope snapped tight, a resounding crack filled the room, and the life faded from Timothy Evans, knowing that in the end…he was innocent of all of it.
You see, leading to his trial and even during the proceedings, Timothy had recanted his confession, saying that someone else had been the one responsible for killing his family. He claimed that he was being set up, that he was a scapegoat, but no one would listen. He’d been manipulated into confessing on multiple occasions, and the police, wanting to get the case resolved as quickly and neatly as possible, made sure that a guilty verdict was a guarantee. Because of this, and the words of a man whose claims were taken as truth, Timothy’s pleas fell on deaf ears as the judge and jury decided his life was forfeit.
So now it’s time that we get into the story of the man who not only murdered Beryl and Geraldine Evans, but six other women on his path of destruction. A man who framed Timothy Evans for his crimes and was left smiling, knowing that someone else had gone to the gallows in his place. This is the story of one of the worst injustices in the history of criminal justice, and one of the worst serial killers in the history of the United Kingdom. This is the story…of The Monster of Rillington Place.
Timothy’s Tale
Timothy John Evans was born on November 20th, 1924, in Wales. He and his sisters were raised by his mother and stepfather after his birth father had left them before Timothy was even born. When he was younger, Timothy had trouble in school and even learning to speak. It didn’t help his case that when he was eight, he was in an accident and developed tuberculosis on the underside of his right foot.
For clarification, tuberculosis of the skin isn’t fatal, but can cause terribly painful sores and blisters on the infected area which can take a lot of time to go away. Because of this, he was forced to miss even more school.
This resulted in Timothy being stunted in his education, with his IQ later being determined to be between 60 and 70. This combination of low intelligence and his foot condition would plague him even after leaving school. Shifting his attention to finding a good job in order to help out his family at home, he was willing to do just about anything. However, he lost nearly every job he had, either because of being unable to walk to work due to his foot, or because he was mentally incapable of doing the job.
With World War II going on at the time, Timothy even tried to join the military, but was rejected due to his illiteracy and foot. This soured Timothy’s outlook on life; he felt he truly didn’t belong anywhere. He didn’t feel like anyone respected him so he started making up lies about himself, trying to boost his image in the eyes of those around him.
Obviously, this did nothing for those who knew him well, but for those who didn’t, they were taken in by his lies, enraptured by the stories of grand adventures and unparalleled skills. To quote Timothy’s own mother: “He didn’t have any real confidence in himself and had to lie to cover it up.” Regardless, Timothy became addicted to all the attention and praise, thinking he could make anything better through lies.
However, a low IQ and bad luck didn’t stop him from finding love. By January 1947, Timothy was 23 years old, and he and his family had moved from Wales to London where he’d landed a job as a delivery driver. It was during one of his delivery routes that he met 18-year-old Beryl Susanna Thorley and it was love at first sight. Not even a year later, they were married on September 20th, 1947. Initially they lived with Evans’ family, and they were happy.
That didn’t last long though as in 1948, Beryl discovered that she was pregnant. With that, they moved out of the Evans household and into the top-floor flat at 10 Rillington Place in the Ladbroke Grove area of Notting Hill. Then, on October 10th, 1948, little Geraldine Evans was born.
So, with a lovely wife and a baby girl, you’d think that life was on the up and up for good old Tim, yes? Well that wouldn’t be the case. While initially happy, things started going downhill fast.
First off, the flat was tiny even for two people, and it was in a dangerous neighborhood. It didn’t help that Beryl was a terrible housekeeper, letting their home get further and further into disarray while Timothy was out working. When it was just the two of them, the apartment was enough, and the money, while in short supply, was also enough.
But when their daughter was born, things got even more difficult. The small apartment got even smaller, the money dried up even quicker, and Timothy, despite trying to find as much work as possible, was unable to do so due to his foot injury and lack of intelligence. This forced them to take out large bank loans in order to just get by and live their lives, their debt only getting worse and worse as time went on.
All this hardship, all this stress, impacted both Timothy and Beryl greatly, their marriage suffering as a result. They fought daily, yelling at each other over the smallest things and the arguments between them were loud enough to be heard by the neighbors. At times, they even grew physical with one another while arguing, which was also witnessed by their neighbors. It didn’t help that, even with their nonexistent finances, Timothy took to drinking to alleviate his woes, which only made his temper worse.
Things were going downhill fast, and it seemed like things would only get worse.
A Dark Turn
Things were proverbially in the gutter, and the small family was desperately hanging on. The marriage was falling apart, neither of them were happy, and they were doing what they could to make sure their daughter, Geraldine, was cared for. Then in 1949, Beryl made the announcement that she was pregnant once more. While most of us would jump for joy at the thought of a new little one coming into our lives, all it did was bring panic and misery for Timothy and Beryl.
They were barely making ends meet to begin with and their flat wasn’t even big enough for them and Geraldine. It was because of this that Beryl decided it was in their best interest to have an abortion.
We now introduce a new character in this strange and dark game, a man by the name of John Christie. Living downstairs in the same building as Timothy, the two had become friends over time and Christie told Timothy to stay strong and to keep looking for work, that things would be alright…only they wouldn’t.
On November 30th, 1949, Timothy Evans walked into the police station and confessed to killing his wife Beryl. He said he had gotten a bottle from someone that would abort the unborn fetus, and gave it to her. He then disposed of her body down a sewer drain outside 10 Rillington Place. After that, Timothy had gone to Wales, but not before making sure his daughter Geraldine was somewhere safe.
However, when the police searched the sewers, no body was found. Additionally, it was unlikely that a sickly and disabled man like Timothy could have killed his wife and unborn child, lifted the heavy manhole cover, and disposed of them himself. The police thought so and decided to question Timothy again…and here’s where things only get worse.
Abortion has always been a controversial topic, and it was illegal in England at the time. Timothy initially opposed the idea, but eventually agreed. He then turned to his friend John Christie for help in figuring out how to do it. Timothy confided in Christie about the situation, and Christie offered to take care of Beryl’s abortion personally.
After some consideration, the Evans’ agreed to his idea. Timothy lied to protect Christie from the repercussions of attempting an illegal abortion, and he continued to do so even when the whole world was crashing down on top of him.
On November 8th, Timothy returned home to find Beryl and Geraldine gone. Christie informed him of the tragedy that had occurred during the abortion, and that Beryl had passed away. Christie promised to take care of the body himself and arranged for Geraldine to be taken care of by a loving couple in East Acton. He advised Timothy to leave London until everything died down, which Timothy did. When he returned to Rillington Place to ask about Geraldine, Christie refused to let him see her.
After Timothy’s second confession, the police conducted two searches of the garden area at Rillington Place. The first search didn’t turn up much, despite the presence of a human thigh bone supporting a fence post in the tiny garden. However, the second search struck gold for the officers. The bodies of Beryl and Geraldine Evans were discovered wrapped in a tablecloth in the wash house in the back garden.
They had both been strangled. When confronted with the news that his whole family was dead, and that this whole time, his little girl was gone and he’d been lied to, what did Timothy do? Well sadly we know the answer already. He was asked if he had strangled his wife and child.
Perhaps it was from shock, or from some form of guilt, but in the end Timothy did what he always did…he lied. Timothy said yes.
A Failure of Justice
To say none of this makes any sense is an understatement. Despite Timothy’s second statement, Christie was not brought in as a suspect and Timothy was charged fully and solely with the death of his wife and child, while Christie was charged with nothing. Timothy’s interrogation and the confession that came from it are embarrassing to say the least.
The police kept him up all night, agitating him with questions and suggestions, and even handed him all the details of the case. Evans even stated later that he feared violence if he didn’t say what the police wanted him to say, and was kept in solitary confinement until he was handed over for trial.
The trial began on January 11th, 1950, before a judge and jury, and the charge was solely for the murder of Geraldine Evans. Timothy wasn’t charged for the death of Beryl, but her death was used as evidence towards the conclusion that he had murdered his daughter. Timothy was represented by Malcolm Morris, a prolific lawyer whose clients also include suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams and rock legend Mick Jagger. Together with Timothy, they argued the defense that it wasn’t Timothy that murdered his wife and daughter, but John Christie.
Seems like a no brainer, right? Given his second admission, and the fact that Christie actually had previous convictions for serial theft and malicious wounding while Timothy’s record was fairly clean, it seemed to scream that he was innocent of it all…except none of that mattered. It was Christie’s word against Timothy’s, and Christie’s reform into a proper member of society, and his upstanding work as a Special Constable with the police, seemed to speak to the judge and jury more than Timothy, a disabled and illiterate nobody who had well documented physical fights with his wife.
Christie was a witness for the prosecution, as was his wife Ethel, and Christie completely denied the claim that he agreed to do an abortion on Beryl. Both Christies went into great detail about Timothy’s violent behavior and lack of remorse, painting a picture of a man who was not to be trusted. On top of all of that, the defense could find no motive for Christie to kill Beryl and Geraldine, while they still had the confessions from Timothy, and it seems that’s all they needed.
It’s here that we must note a rather revealing fact. In most countries, a confession is not enough for a conviction, you need at least some minor corroborating evidence first. However, in England and Wales, a conviction solely on a confession is fully acceptable if a jury decides that the confession is compelling enough. Because of that, coupled with the damning testimony, a sadly lackluster defense, and the fact that there was a number of articles of evidence that was flat out concealed by the police and not shown to the jury, Timothy Evans’ fate was sealed.
The trial itself only lasted three days, and the jury only took 40 minutes when reaching the verdict. Timothy Evans, 25 years old, was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death. And just like that, we’re back at the start. With the resounding crack of a broken neck, Timothy Evan’s life came to an unjust conclusion at the end of a noose, a black bag over his head, and knowing he didn’t deserve any of this.
He might have had his problems, he had his misfortunes in life, but he was innocent. He didn’t do anything wrong, he just wanted to fit in and have a good life, and in the end, he was framed, and everything was taken from him, his life last of all. And all the while…the true Monster simply smiled and laughed from the shadows, his evil eyes hidden behind a pair of large circular spectacles.
Meet the Mastermind
John Reginald Halliday Christie, known to his loved ones as Reg, was born in Northowram near Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on April 8th, 1899. The sixth of seven children, he would be coddled by his mother, bullied by his sisters, and his father was an unfeeling man that would punish his children for the smallest and most meaningless of things. Christie also had a bad relationship with his grandfather David Halliday, being frightened by the very sight of him.
When David passed away in their house due to illness though, it acted as a turning point for young John. When asked about it, he stated that the fact that someone he was scared of was now no more than a corpse gave him a sense of power and satisfaction. No, this was not the sign of a stable young boy, but rather the beginning of a descent into darkness and depravity.
Regarding his sisters, he very much hated them, but in a sick depraved way, it was also them that stimulated his sexual awakening. Reportedly, it was at the age of 10 that Christie saw one of his sister’s bare legs, and it aroused those feelings within his mind, clashing with his stern hatred for her. According to author Ludovic Kennedy: “There was nothing unusual in this, for it is often through their sisters that small boys first find themselves physically disturbed by the opposite sex.
But in Christie’s case it exaggerated an already tense situation. He had always resented his sisters’ bossing him about, and now, to add salt to his wounds, he found himself physically attracted to them. He both loved and hated them because they aroused his masculinity and then stifled it; and this went on day after day, month after month, year after year.
There must have been many occasions when he thought of his grandfather and wished them all dead.”
Christie was branded “Reggie-No-Dick” and “Can’t-Do-It-Christie” by his peers due to his chronic impotence since adolescence. He was only able to perform in any capacity when it was with prostitutes. This, combined with the emotional familial turmoil which precipitated his sexual awakening, led to a deep-seated hatred of women. The darkness was indeed at work.
In September 1916, Christie enlisted in the British military and was called into action as an infantryman in April 1917. He was then dispatched to France in 1918, only to be caught in a mustard gas attack in June 1919. Christie claimed that the gas had made him deaf and blind, but this has been proven untrue.
There was no official record of him going blind, and his inability to talk at the time has been attributed to a psychological reaction to the attack instead of the attack itself. He was demobilized from the army in October 1919, and joined the Royal Air Force in 1923, only to be discharged completely a year later in 1924.
Between his stints in the military, Christie met and married Ethel Simpson at Halifax town’s Register Office on May 10th, 1920. Unfortunately, his issues towards the female sex remained, and the marriage was further strained when Ethel suffered a miscarriage. It was during this time that Christie began having run-ins with the law, and the dark seeds planted years ago were starting to bloom.
Descent into Darkness
Christie’s first arrest happened when he was working as a postman and was caught for stealing postal orders on February 20th and March 26th, receiving a three-month sentence in HM Prison Manchester. Less than two years later, he was arrested for obtaining money on false pretenses and of violent conduct, to which he was given a year’s probation. In 1924, he was arrested and convicted twice of larceny, getting sentenced to three-and-six-month long sentences before being released from HM Prison Wandsworth.
During this time, Christie and Ethel separated, with her moving to Sheffield and Christie moving to London. It is likely that Ethel had grown tired of Christie’s criminal behavior.
Then, after working as a lorry driver for two years, Christie escalated, his hatred of women taking him over entirely. He had been living with a woman named Maud Cole at 6 Almeric Road in Battersea, south London, and on May 13th, 1929, Christie took up a cricket bat and struck Maud over the head. She survived, and he was arrested, charged with assault with murderous intent and he was once more to HM Prison Wandsworth for six months of hard labor.
That’s right, attempted murder and only six months of physical work. This was likely Christie’s first attempt at murder, but he failed, and he could have been stopped there and then…but he wasn’t. His last imprisonment was in November of 1933 for auto-theft, for which he was only given a three-month sentence.
So, how on earth was his word taken over Timothy’s, confession or not? Well sadly it’s fairly simple. After his final imprisonment and release, Christie started to turn things around, renouncing his criminal ways. The first thing Christie did after his release was to mend things with his estranged wife, Ethel, in 1934.
Despite all the stress he had caused her, she took him back, likely due to his charm as a psychopath. However, this did not mean that Christie had truly changed his ways, as he still saw plenty of prostitutes and his impotence remained strong.
Christie and his wife then moved into the top-floor flat of 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, later moving into the ground-floor flat. The flat was small and run-down, but they did what they could to make it livable. To make ends meet, Christie applied for and was given a position with the War Reserve Police at the beginning of World War II, despite his criminal background.
It is almost unbelievable that the police did not check into his background before allowing him to join their ranks, but that’s exactly what happened. Perhaps the police job was just what Christie needed to add some much-needed stability to his life.
However, he soon met another woman named Gladys Jones who worked at the Harrow Road police station where Christie was stationed. The two of them started an affair that lasted until mid-1943, when Gladys’ husband returned from the war and discovered his wife was cheating on him. He arrived at the house and found Christie there, giving him the thrashing of a lifetime and sending him packing.
Now that sounds all well and good, but it was this final embarrassment, the beating he took, that seemed to flip the switch. This writer’s honest opinion is that Christie felt he took that beating because of a woman, the one thing on earth he hated more than anything. This was the final straw that pushed him over the edge, and he fully snapped. He might have attempted murder once before, but now, nothing would stand in his way.
The Monster, The Beast, of Rillington Place
Ruth Fuerst was a 21-year-old Austrian munitions worker who supplemented her income by occasionally engaging in prostitution. On August 23rd, 1943, she encountered John Christie in a snack bar in Ladbroke Grove. He invited her back to his flat for sex, Ethel being away visiting relatives at the time. After they had sex, Christie grabbed a length of rope and strangled Ruth right there in his bed.
When asked later on, he said he hadn’t intended to kill her when he first invited her over, though I’m not too sure about that personally. Initially Christie hid her body beneath the floorboards of his living room, but soon moved it to the backyard. Remember that thigh bone the police found in the garden holding up part of the fence? Yeah, me too.
At the end of 1943, Christie left his job as a police constable, finding new employment as a clerk at an Acton radio factory. It was here that he met 31-year-old Muriel Amelia Eady. During the time they spent working together, Muriel developed bronchitis, giving her quite the nasty cough.
Spotting this, Christie took his chance and on October 7th, 1944, he invited her back to his flat. He’d promised her that he had managed to concoct some sort of medicine that would cure her ailment and help her breathe better, and all she had to do was inhale the mixture from a jar with a tube inserted in the top. She did so, and when she wasn’t looking, Christie connected the jar to another tube to a gas tap.
Breathing the gas in and out, soon Muriel lost consciousness…and Christie got to work. He raped her while she was unconscious and when he was done, he strangled her and buried her in the garden next to Ruth’s body.
As for the third and fourth victims, we unfortunately revisit Beryl and Geraldine Evans. For months, Christie had weaseled his way into the trust of Timothy Evans, manipulating the poor broken man into confiding in him. So of course, when Timothy was up the creek without a paddle with Beryl being pregnant, he went to Christie who, being the good friend he was, broached the idea of himself performing the abortion the Evans’ so desperately needed. The Evans’ agreed…and that’s all she wrote.
We don’t know precisely what happened that night, but I believe we can hazard a guess. Beryl arrived with Geraldine and, much like the second victim, she was gassed, raped, and murdered by strangulation. Geraldine, less than a year old, was simply a loose end to the Monster of Rillington Place, and she too was strangled as a result. Their bodies were then wrapped up in a blanket and tablecloth, and hidden in the shed in the garden for later disposal, where they were found by the police.
Christie was questioned, and his accounts were taken as fact by the police, despite his background as a criminal. He was seen as an upstanding member of society, and was treated as an important witness in the case. The inconsistencies with Timothy’s confessions were brushed off, the damning evidence of the bone in the garden was glossed over, and in the end, it was Christie’s testimony paired with the childish investigation and slapstick police work that sent Timothy Evans to the noose. A tragedy, a travesty, a complete and utter injustice.
The messed-up part about it? The police were literally trampling over the burial site of Ruth and Muriel during the whole search, and Christie later admitted that his dog had dug up Muriel’s skull in the garden shortly after the cops had finished up their searches, to which he threw the skull into an abandoned bombed-out house in nearby St. Marks Road.
One day, it seemed that Christie had finally grown more than tired of his wife. Ethel Christie, aged 54, became her husband’s fifth victim when she was murdered in bed via strangulation on the morning of December 14th, 1952. He’d always hated women, he’d constantly been unfaithful to her from the very start, and his whole murder spree started while being unfaithful to her.
It’s plausible that he simply got tired of playing house and got rid of the distraction. Even so, she didn’t deserve to die, especially after finding it in her heart to give this piece of slime a second chance. And it didn’t take long for Christie to move on and start covering up, making excuses around town as to why she seemed absent, then going on to sell her wedding ring.
Next was 25-year-old Rita Nelson, a woman from Belfast who was six-months pregnant and visiting her sister in Ladbroke Grove, and 26-year-old Kathleen Maloney, a local prostitute from the Ladbroke Grove area. Both were lured to Rillington Place, both were gassed, this time with a rubber tube connected to the gas line in the kitchen, raped repeatedly, and then strangled to death in January and February of 1953 respectively.
The eighth and final victim was Hectorina MacLennan, 26. She was living with her boyfriend Alex Baker at the time and was out at a cafe one day when she met John Christie. He struck up a friendship with her and managed to befriend Alex as well, meeting up on several occasions, and John even let the two of them stay with him in his flat while they were looking for a new place to live. On March 6th, 1953, Christie met with Hectorina alone, and he persuaded her to return with him to his flat.
John had become a trusted friend, so of course she thought nothing of it, and it cost her her life. Over the next several days, he continued to meet with Alex, convincing the young man that he had not seen Hectorina at all in the last few days.
As for the body, the garden was too small and the shed had already been searched, so he had to find another place for not only Hectorina, but also for Kathleen and Rita. For these final three, he placed a cloth-like material between their legs before wrapping their semi-naked bodies in blankets and stowing their bodies in a small alcove behind the back kitchen wall. Then, as if to put a final cover over all of his evil deeds, John Christie covered up the alcove with wallpaper.
8 victims, 7 innocent women and 1 infant. All of them fell victim to a heinous and despicable man. One that stole their lives away for no other reason other than his own deplorable hatred and satisfaction. However, his reign of terror was not to last forever. He’d finally made a grave error, one that would come back and bite him in the ass.
On March 20th, 1953, John Christie moved out of 10 Rillington Place, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction that would soon be uncovered.
The Monster, Unmasked
After leaving Rillington Place, Christie moved into a Rowton House in King’s Cross, booking a room under his real name with his real address. Seems like someone forgot the CasCrim rules with that one, but that wasn’t the only rule he’d forgotten about. So, what was this grave error Christie had made after so long? Simple, he sold his flat. He had complete and total control of the crime scene…and he just left it and gave it to someone else.
He allowed a couple to move into his flat once he’d moved out, but this was a mistake. You see, Christie had not cleared it with the landlord, and when the landlord discovered the new couple in the flat that evening, he forced them out the next morning. Beresford Brown, the tenant of the top-floor flat, was then allowed to use Christie’s kitchen, and it was on March 24th that he discovered the alcove. When he peeled back the wallpaper to insert brackets for a wireless set, he was met with the smell of rotting flesh and the decaying forms of Kathleen Maloney, Rita Nelson, and Hectorina MacLennan.
News broke that very same day, and the police were hot on Christie’s heels. For days, he wandered around London and slept on the streets, trying to keep out of sight and out of mind of the police. He even took time to visit cafes and cinemas, as if to escape from the stress of being on the run.
On March 31st, 1953, PC Thomas Ledger stopped a suspicious looking man on the embankment near Putney Bridge. Ledger had heard of the discovery of the bodies in the flat at 10 Rillington Place several days prior, so he, like the rest of the police, was on edge and on the lookout for the murderer. When asked about his identity, the man refused to cooperate, so he was taken in. It didn’t take long for the man to be identified; it was John Christie.
He was officially arrested that same day for the murders of Kathleen, Rita, and Hectorina.
When questioned by the police, it didn’t take long for him to fully admit to the three murders, plus the murder of his wife Ethel. Initially he was tight lipped about any other crimes, at least until the police dug up the back garden at Rillington Place and found the skeletal remains of his first two victims. Being informed of the discovery, Christie admitted to the murders of Ruth and Muriel as well.
As far as Beryl, he played dumb for almost a month, but on April 27th, 1953, he finally confessed to killing her as well. In regards to Geraldine, Christie denied killing her from arrest to trial to conviction, though there were times he insinuated or outright admitted he might have been responsible for her death. To this day, it’s speculated that he played coy the whole time in order to not enrage the jury or put a target on his back from the other inmates for being a child killer.
The trial began on June 22nd, 1953, with John Christie being charged solely with the murder of Ethel. In a proper twist of fate, he was tried in the exact same court that found Timothy Evans guilty years prior. Karma at its finest, ladies and gents. Christie pleaded insanity and even though his defense team were quoted as calling Christie “mad as a March hare,” the prosecution went out of their way to prove that this was no Wonderland.
Dr. Matheson, a doctor at HM Prison Brixton, evaluated Christie and took the stand for The Crown, claiming that Christie had a “hysterical personality” but was not insane. The jury didn’t buy it either, finding him guilty after deliberating for less than an hour and a half. As for his sentence, Mr Justice Finnemore gave him the only sentence fitting for such a heinous crime: death by hanging.
After dodging the noose years prior, sending poor Timothy there in his place, John Christie would finally hang for his crimes. Christie stated that he would not appeal his conviction, and indeed it was later found by the Home Secretary David Maxwell-Fyfe that there were no grounds for Christie to receive a reprieve from the rope. He received several visitors in lieu of his execution, including ex-army friend Dennis Hague and his sister Phyllis Clarke, both of which said afterwards that Christie seemed resigned to his fate, having accepted that his death was close at hand.
And just like that, we find ourselves in a very familiar stone room, table placed in the center, with two guards sitting in opposite seats, facing each other. But this time, instead of Timothy Evans, we see John Christie sat in the same seat Evans had sat. And, just like before, we see the door thrust open as guards rush the room, grabbing Christie and walking him through that same door.
Setting him in place, noose affixed around his neck and hood placed over his face, Christie complained that his nose itched. Albert Pierrepoint, the executioner, simply looked at him and said not to worry, it wouldn’t bother him much longer. At 9 am on July 15th, 1953, and with a swift pull of the lever, the trapdoor opened and John Christie, The Monster of Rillington Place, aged 54, died with a resounding crack, ending the life of one of the most notorious serial killers in British history.
Wrap-Up
And with that, our dark story comes to an end. I’d be lying if I said that this didn’t hurt. John Christie was a despicable man, one who donned the mask of a respectable gentleman and friend to many, regardless of his criminal past. He was an army man, he was a police constable, all the while holding the darkness inside him until he wished to unleash it on the poor innocent women around him.
And in doing so, he also sent an innocent man to the gallows in his stead. But justice was served in the end, and Christie was given the punishment he deserved. His death marked the end of a long and tragic story, one that is remembered to this day.
Christie might not be as infamous as many of the bigger names we’ve covered on this show, but his evil has left a stain on the entirety of Britain and has inspired several adaptations of the story. A play called Christie in Love premiered in 1969, focusing on his murders and psychological issues. He’s also been portrayed in movies and television, namely the 1971 film 10 Rillington Place where he was played by Richard Attenborough of Jurassic Park and Miracle on 34th Street fame, and the 2016 three-part biographical crime drama Rillington Place where he was played by Tim Roth, known for his work in such films as Pulp Fiction and The Incredible Hulk.
As the darkness leaves us behind yet again, I must ask us all to remember his victims. Ruth Fuerst, Muriel Eady, Beryl and Geraldine Evans, Ethel Christie, Rita Nelson, Kathleen Maloney, Hectorina MacLennan. These women didn’t deserve to die, they trusted Christie, and he betrayed every single one of them. Ethel loved him and gave him another chance, and he killed her.
Hectorina thought him a friend, and he killed her. Beryl believed him a kind neighbor who cared about her and her family, and not only did he kill her, but also her baby.
In the end, there’s only 8 names linked to John Christie…though I don’t agree. In this writer’s honest opinion, the victim count should be 9. Timothy Evans was fooled, tricked into trusting an evil man, and because of that, he lost his family and his life. He was ostracized, convicted, and hanged, all while crying out for help, claiming innocence, all of which fell on deaf ears. He cried for the light…only for the darkness to muffle his sobs.
In the end though, the injustice was made right. Christie was put to the noose, and Timothy Evans was proven innocent. In 1966, Timothy was officially pardoned on the charges of killing his family, and in 2004, it was officially acknowledged that his execution was wrongful, a true miscarriage of justice. At last…Timothy Evans and his family could finally rest in peace, all while John Christie is rotting down in the depths where he belongs.
Key Takeaways
- Timothy Evans was wrongfully executed in 1950 for murders actually committed by serial killer John Christie at 10 Rillington Place.
- Police manipulated Evans into confessing and ignored his recantations, preferring Christie’s testimony due to his respectable image as a Special Constable.
- Christie murdered eight victims including Beryl and Geraldine Evans, using gas and strangulation, then hid bodies in his garden and behind wallpapered alcoves.
- Christie was finally caught in 1953 when a new tenant discovered three bodies hidden behind wallpaper; he was hanged that July.
- Evans received a posthumous pardon in 1966, and his execution was officially acknowledged as wrongful in 2004.
Dana Ortiz covers prosecutorial mechanics, evidentiary procedure, and how investigations unwind decades after the original case file went cold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Timothy Evans and what happened to him?
Timothy Evans was a 25-year-old man who was wrongfully convicted and hanged on March 9, 1950, for the murders of his wife Beryl and infant daughter Geraldine. He had confessed to the crimes under duress and manipulation, but later recanted and claimed John Christie was responsible. Despite his pleas of innocence, he was executed at Pentonville Prison. He was officially pardoned in 1966, and in 2004 his execution was officially acknowledged as a wrongful miscarriage of justice.
Who was the actual killer of Beryl and Geraldine Evans?
John Reginald Halliday Christie, their downstairs neighbor at 10 Rillington Place, was the actual killer. Christie manipulated Timothy Evans into trusting him, offered to perform an illegal abortion on Beryl, and then murdered both Beryl and Geraldine by strangulation. He framed Timothy Evans for the murders and was never charged, while Evans was wrongfully executed for Christie’s crimes.
How many victims did John Christie have, and who were they?
John Christie had 8 confirmed victims: Ruth Fuerst (21, murdered August 23, 1943), Muriel Amelia Eady (31, murdered October 7, 1944), Beryl Evans (murdered in 1949), Geraldine Evans (infant, murdered in 1949), Ethel Christie (his wife, 54, murdered December 14, 1952), Rita Nelson (25, six months pregnant, murdered January 1953), Kathleen Maloney (26, murdered February 1953), and Hectorina MacLennan (26, murdered March 6, 1953). The author argues the victim count should be 9, including Timothy Evans.
What method did John Christie use to kill his victims?
Christie typically lured women to his flat, gassed them unconscious using a tube connected to a gas tap (or in later cases, a rubber tube connected to the kitchen gas line), raped them while unconscious, and then strangled them to death. His first victim Ruth Fuerst was strangled with a length of rope after sex. His wife Ethel was simply strangled in bed.
How was John Christie finally caught?
Christie was caught after he moved out of 10 Rillington Place and sold his flat without clearing it with the landlord. The landlord forced out the new couple, and the top-floor tenant Beresford Brown was allowed to use Christie’s kitchen. On March 24, 1953, Brown peeled back wallpaper to install brackets and discovered the decaying bodies of Kathleen Maloney, Rita Nelson, and Hectorina MacLennan hidden in an alcove. Christie was arrested on March 31, 1953, after PC Thomas Ledger stopped him near Putney Bridge.
What role did John Christie’s position as a Special Constable play in the wrongful conviction of Timothy Evans?
Christie’s work as a Special Constable with the police and his apparent reform into a ‘proper member of society’ made his testimony more credible to the judge and jury than Timothy Evans, who was a disabled, illiterate man with a low IQ. Christie was treated as an important witness for the prosecution, and his word was taken as truth despite his criminal background. This status, combined with police wanting to resolve the case quickly, led to Evans being convicted while Christie was never charged.
What was Timothy Evans’s IQ and how did his background affect his case?
Timothy Evans’s IQ was later determined to be between 60 and 70. He had trouble in school, missed significant time due to tuberculosis of the foot from an accident at age 8, and was illiterate. He was rejected from military service due to his illiteracy and foot condition. His low intelligence made him susceptible to manipulation, and he had a pattern of lying to boost his image.
These factors made him an easy target for Christie to manipulate and for police to coerce a confession from, but also made him appear less credible to the jury compared to Christie.
How long did Timothy Evans’s trial last and how quickly was the verdict reached?
Timothy Evans’s trial began on January 11, 1950, and lasted only three days. The jury took just 40 minutes to reach a guilty verdict. He was sentenced to death, and his execution was carried out on March 9, 1950, only about three months after the verdict. His final appeal on February 20, 1950, had been rejected.
What happened to John Christie after his trial?
John Christie was tried starting June 22, 1953, in the same court that had convicted Timothy Evans. He was charged solely with the murder of his wife Ethel. He pleaded insanity but was found guilty after the jury deliberated for less than an hour and a half. Mr Justice Finnemore sentenced him to death by hanging.
Christie stated he would not appeal, and the Home Secretary found no grounds for reprieve. He was executed by Albert Pierrepoint at 9 am on July 15, 1953, at Pentonville Prison, reportedly complaining that his nose itched before the trapdoor opened.
What evidence was overlooked or concealed during the investigation of Beryl and Geraldine Evans’s murders?
Several critical pieces of evidence were overlooked or concealed: a human thigh bone supporting a fence post in the garden was missed during the first police search; police were literally trampling over the burial sites of Ruth Fuerst and Muriel Eady during their searches; Christie’s dog had dug up Muriel’s skull shortly after police finished, which Christie threw into a bombed-out house; and a number of articles of evidence were flat out concealed by police and not shown to the jury. Additionally, Christie’s previous convictions for theft, malicious wounding, and assault with murderous intent were not given sufficient weight.
Sources
- Original Casual Criminalist video: The Monster of Rillington Place
- Hero image source by Northwest / openverse, by-sa.
