10 Rillington Place, Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill, London, was the site of the crimes of John Reginald Christie, one of Britain's most notorious serial killers, resulting in a miscarriage of justice which contributed towards the abolition of the death penalty in Britain. 10 Rillington Place is also the title of a book on the case by Ludovic Kennedy published in 1965, and a 1970 movie directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Richard Attenborough as Christie, John Hurt as Timothy Evans and Judy Geeson as Beryl Evans. Rillington Place was renamed Ruston Close shortly after Christie was hanged, and has since been demolished. Ladbroke Grove is a road in West London, and is also the name given to the immediate area surrounding the road. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... John Reginald Halliday Christie was a British serial killer in the 1940s and 50s. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime that he or she did not commit. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... Sir Ludovic Kennedy shown on the cover of his book All In The Mind: A Farewell To God Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (born 3 November 1919) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author. ... Richard Fleischer (born December 8, 1916) is an American film director. ... Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE, KBE (born August 29, 1923) is an English actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. ... John Vincent Hurt CBE (born January 22, 1940) is an Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning British actor. ... Judy Geeson (born September 10, 1948 in Arundel, Sussex) is an English actress. ...

Background

John Reginald Halliday Christie and his wife Ethel lived in the ground floor flat of 10 Rillington Place from 1938. At Easter 1948 Timothy Evans, a 24-year-old Welshman, and his wife Beryl moved in to the top floor flat, and shortly afterwards their daughter, Geraldine, was born. In the summer of 1949 Beryl became pregnant again, but she could not afford to support another child and was desperate for an abortion, which was illegal in the UK at that time. Also aware that her husband, a lapsed Catholic, would object to an abortion, Beryl made discreet enquiries and mentioned the problem to Reginald Christie. John Reginald Halliday Christie (April 8, 1898–July 15, 1953) was an English serial killer active in the 1940s and 1950s. ... Floor numbering in a building can cause misunderstandings between speakers of different varieties of the English language. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Timothy John Evans (November 20, 1924 – March 9, 1950) was a young man, possibly mentally retarded, who was hanged in the United Kingdom in 1950 for the murder of his infant daughter. ...

Although he had no medical qualifications, Christie persuaded her to let him carry out the abortion. On 8 November 1949, Evans returned home to be told by Christie that the abortion had gone wrong and that Beryl was dead. Evans agreed to help Christie move the body into the empty flat on the first floor and let a neighbour take care of the child. is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

Evans went to work the next day, and on his return Christie told him that Geraldine was being looked after by a family in nearby Acton, and that he would dispose of Beryl's body down a manhole. He suggested that Evans leave London. Evans agreed, and stayed with an aunt in his native South Wales. Three weeks later he went to the police station in Merthyr Tydfil. He told a detective that he had disposed of his wife's body, but implied that she had died after drinking an "abortifacient concoction". When the police investigated the drains outside 10 Rillington Place they found nothing. Evans then made another statement, this time implicating Christie. Police made another search of 10 Rillington Place and found the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine hidden in a wash-house. Acton is the name of several places, people and organizations: // Places England Acton, Cheshire Acton, Dorset Acton, Staffordshire Acton, Shropshire Acton, Worcestershire Acton, Suffolk Acton, London Of these, the London Acton is the largest. ... A manhole or maintenance hole is the top opening to an underground vault used to house an access point for making connections or performing maintenance on underground and buried public utility and other services including sewers, telephone, electricity, storm drains and gas. ... This article is about the country. ... Merthyr Tydfil (Welsh: ) is a town and county borough in Wales, with a population of about 55,000. ...

Timothy Evans as prime suspect

The police initially thought they were dealing with a run-of-the-mill domestic murder. Investigation showed that both mother and child had been strangled, which contradicted Evans' account. Evans was brought back to London where, without legal advice, he made a third statement admitting that he had strangled his wife, killed his daughter two days later, and hidden the bodies in the wash-house. Evans was charged with the murder of his daughter but not his wife, since this evidence was considered less strong.

At the trial at the Old Bailey in January 1950, barely six weeks after Evans' arrest, two important facts were withheld from the jury. There was evidence that Beryl had been sexually assaulted after death, which was inconsistent with Evans' statement; and two workmen, who were willing to testify that there were no bodies in the wash-house when they worked there several days after Evans supposedly hid them, were not called to give evidence (Christie had moved the bodies to the wash-house two weeks later, after the workmen had finished). The Old Bailey. ...

On 13 January 1950 after 40 minutes' deliberation the jury found Evans guilty of his daughter's murder. An appeal was rejected on 20 February 1950, and on 9 March 1950, Albert Pierrepoint hanged Timothy Evans at Pentonville prison, London. January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 68th day of the year (69th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Albert Pierrepoint (30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) is the most famous member of a Yorkshire family who provided three of Britains Chief Executioners in the first half of the 20th century. ... HMP Pentonville Pentonville Prison in 1842 HM Prison Pentonville is a prison built in 1842 in North London. ...

New murders by Christie

The rest of 1950, 1951 and most of 1952 passed without apparent incident, but on the morning of 14 December 1952, John Christie strangled his wife Ethel, by then in poor health with chronic arthritis and rheumatism. Christie later claimed that he was putting her out of her misery, but at the time kept up the pretence that Ethel was alive, writing letters to her sister in Sheffield, altering the date from the 10th to the 15th on one letter, and claiming her arthritis prevented her from writing in person. Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Arthritis (from Greek arthro-, joint + -itis, inflammation; plural: arthritides) is a group of conditions where there is damage caused to the joints of the body. ... Rheumatism or Rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the heart, bones, joints, kidney, skin and lung. ... Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. ...

Over the next three months, Christie invited three prostitutes back to 10 Rillington Place and murdered them. Nobody missed Kathleen Maloney from Southampton or Rita Nelson from Belfast, but Hectorina MacLennan was seen with Christie by her boyfriend, Alex Baker. Christie claimed that MacLennan had wandered off and kept up the pretence for two weeks, asking Baker how she was. Baker assumed that she had gone back to Scotland. Southampton is the largest city[1] on the south coast of England. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: , Statistics Province: Northern Ireland County: District: Belfast UK Parliament: Belfast North Belfast South Belfast East Belfast West European Parliament: Northern Ireland Dialling Code: 028, +44 28 posttown = Belfast Postal District(s): BT1-BT17, BT29 (part of), BT58 Area: 115 km² Population (2001) Website: www. ... This article is about the country. ...

On 8 January 1953, having given up his job a month before, Christie sold most of his furniture, including his bed. He slept on an old mattress for the next 10 weeks. He became increasingly aware of the unpleasant smell, and started to sprinkle disinfectant around his flat and garden to prevent the neighbours noticing. On 20 March, he illegally sub-let his flat to a couple named Reilly, who paid him seven pounds thirteen shillings — three months' rent — in advance, and then left 10 Rillington Place for good. January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

The landlord soon learned of the sub-letting, and he ordered the Reillys out. He gave permission for the second floor tenant, a Jamaican immigrant named Beresford Brown, to use the ground floor kitchen. Brown decided to tidy up the kitchen, which had been neglected since Ethel's death. He cleared rubbish into the back yard and tore off some of the peeling wallpaper. In one corner, he discovered not a wall but a door to what had been a pantry. Brown pulled the door ajar, pointed his torch into the pantry, and saw a body, clad only in a bra, stockings and suspenders, hunched over in a sitting position. Brown called the police, who discovered two more bodies in the pantry. A landlord, is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called the tenant. ... A pantry is a room in a domestic house used for food storage. ...

The three bodies were those of Kathleen Maloney, Rita Nelson, and Hectorina MacLennan. A more thorough search then revealed the corpse of Ethel Christie under the floorboards in the front room, and two skeletons were discovered in the garden — those of Ruth Fuerst, an Austrian prostitute, and Muriel Eady, a former work colleague of Christie, who had been killed some time around 1943–1944.

Christie captured and put on trial

The police named Christie as their prime suspect. He evaded arrest for another week, but on 31 March, he was seen by PC Thomas Ledger standing on Putney Bridge and looking into the River Thames. Christie gave a false name and address - "John Waddington, 35 Westbourne Grove" - but on being challenged admitted to being John Christie. He was taken to Putney police station where he confessed to the murder of his wife, and later several others. March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (91st in leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... Putney Bridge Putney Bridge is a bridge crossing of the River Thames in west London, linking Putney on the south side with Fulham to the north. ... The Thames is a river flowing through southern England, and one of the major waterways in England. ... Putney is a district of south-west London in the London Borough of Wandsworth. ...

The following day, Christie was charged with his wife's murder, and two weeks later with the murders of Maloney, Nelson, MacLennan, Fuerst and Eady. On 8 June he admitted killing Beryl Evans. This cast doubt on the investigation of 1949 — Timothy Evans had been convicted of murdering his daughter, but it was assumed that he had also killed his wife. However, Christie never admitted killing the child, Geraldine, so the public was led to believe that two murderers had lived in the same house, and both were guilty. is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

Christie's trial began on 22 June 1953. His defence of not guilty by reason of insanity was rejected, and the jury took 82 minutes to convict him of murdering Ethel Christie on 25 June. Four days later Christie announced that he would not appeal, and no medical or psychological grounds were found for a reprieve. At 9am on the morning of 15 July 1953, Christie was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint at Pentonville Prison, on the same gallows as Evans. is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 196th day of the year (197th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Albert Pierrepoint (30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) is the most famous member of a Yorkshire family who provided three of Britains Chief Executioners in the first half of the 20th century. ...

Evans pardon

In 1961 the journalist and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy wrote a book, 10 Rillington Place, highlighting the apparent miscarriage of justice in Timothy Evans' case. The Brabin Report was commissioned, which reported in 1966, and shortly afterwards the Home Secretary Roy Jenkins awarded Timothy Evans a posthumous pardon. This does not cite any references or sources. ... Sir Ludovic Kennedy shown on the cover of his book All In The Mind: A Farewell To God Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (born 3 November 1919) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author. ... The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole United Kingdom (including Scotland and Northern Ireland). ... Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, OM, PC (November 11, 1920 – January 5, 2003) was a British politician and a prominent Labour Member of Parliament in the 1960s and 1970s, and founding member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In 1970 Kennedy's book was adapted into the film 10 Rillington Place, directed by Richard Fleischer and starring John Hurt as Timothy Evans and Richard Attenborough as Christie. Sightseeing trips around 10 Rillington Place (renamed 10 Ruston Close) continued until the street was demolished in the early 1970s to make way for the Westway urban motorway, and the street was rebuilt as Bartle Road. The site of 10 Rillington Place is now a small garden. Richard Fleischer (born December 8, 1916) is an American film director. ... John Vincent Hurt CBE (born January 22, 1940) is an Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning British actor. ... Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE, KBE (born August 29, 1923) is an English actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. ... For other uses of Westway, see Westway Westway, or The Westway is the main route from central London to the northwestern suburbs and beyond. ...

On November 16, 2004, Timothy Evans' half-sister, Mary Westlake, started a case to overturn a decision by the Criminal Cases Review Commission not to refer Evans' case to the Court of Appeal to have his conviction quashed. She argued that although the previous inquiries concluded that Evans probably did not kill his daughter, they did not declare him innocent, since a pardon is a forgiveness of crimes committed. The request to refer the case was dismissed on November 19, with the judges saying that the cost and resources of quashing the conviction could not be justified, although they did accept that Evans did not murder his wife or child. November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Criminal Cases Review Commission is the independent public body set up to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. ... is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Bartle Road / Rillington Place location in Ladbroke Grove (Google)
• 10 Rillington Place at the Internet Movie Database