February 26 1949: John George Haigh: Corpus Delicti.

 

John George Haigh was born in 1909 to John Robert & Emily, members of the Plymouth Brethren, who took their religion very seriously. They lived in a village in West Yorkshire. Haigh's parents were very protective of their child and did not want him to mix too with the outside world in fear that he would become corrupt, a sinner. They built a tall fence around the garden of their home so nobody could look in or out and as a child he was told that if he ever sinned, a blemish would appear on his skin. He learned how to play piano and sang in the church choir, he listened to classical music. He done well in school, a bright boy, and even obtained a scholarship. It seems that the religious upbringing made Haigh's want to rebel and see what he was missing even greater. Haigh would later tell people of reoccurring religious nightmares he suffered with with as a child followed him into adulthood. 

In 1923 Haigh was jailed for fraud. He had been working as a motor engineer but he had decided that he would rather work for himself. He started to make forged documents for vehicles and was soon caught. He had married earlier in the year to Betty Hamer and she had quickly become pregnant. Due to Haigh's trouble with the law, the marriage was short lived and Betty put the baby girl up for adoption. 

Haigh had by now discovered that sinning did not give him blemishes as he had been told as a child...

Or maybe he didn't mind having blemished skin. 

Either way, Haigh spent the next few years in and out of prison for stealing and fraud, selling fraudulent stock shares, crimes that were nonviolent in nature. He was at worst, a fraudster looking to make an easy living during this time in his life. 

Haigh was once again released from prison in 1943 but this time he had done some serious reflection with his time inside, maybe the reason he was always getting caught for these small crimes was because he was leaving too many witnesses? 

September 1944, Haigh met an old acquaintance for a drink in The Goat in Kensington. William McSwann was the owner of an amusement arcade business and Haigh had worked for his as a chauffeur back in 1936. I assume Haigh was jealous of McSwann, he was his own boss, had plenty of money, a good lifestyle and was leading the life that Haigh aspired to have for himself. Haigh lured McSwann back to his home at 79 Gloucester Road and down to the basement. He hit McSwann over the head and put his body into a large container before pouring highly concentrated sulphuric acid over the body. Two days later he checked on the container and found it had been left as a sloppy liquid but the acid had done it's job in dissolving the body, all he had to do now was pour the sludge down a nearby drain. 

The Acid Bath Murderer had been created. 

George Haigh decided he no longer needed to live in his house if he could somehow get a story out that William McSwann was out of town and had allowed him to stay at his residence. Haigh informed William McSwann's parents that he had left for Scotland in fear that he would be called for military service during the war. McSwann's parents (Donald & Amy) were suspicious of this claim but perhaps, their son had become fond of his relatively comfortable lifestyle and maybe the trenches of war were not part of his plan. McSwann used to collect rent from tenants that were renting his properties and Haigh took over this duty. He used the money to gamble and improve his lifestyle. As the war was coming to an end Donald and Amy actively started questioning where their son was, why was he still in hiding when there was no risk of him being called up for duty now?

July 1945, Haigh contacted Donald and Amy McSwann to tell them the great news, their son had finally returned from Scotland on a surprise trip. He used this to lure the couple to 79 Gloucester Road and the were treated to the same end as their son almost a year earlier. Haigh started cashing in Donald McSwann's pension cheques and took ownership of their properties, which he sold to fund his ever growing gambling problem. 

By 1947 Haigh's fund were once again running low and when he seen an advertisement from Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose, selling a house Haigh feigned interest in the property to gain entry to the couple and their life. Over the next few months, Haigh befriended the couple and began to plot their murder. In February of 1948, he lured the couple to a warehouse where he was living and this time, he shot the couple in the head before once again disposing of the bodies in giant baths of acid. He sold anything of value that the couple had owned but he kept a car and a dog belonging to them for himself. 

Haigh would kill one last time before his arrest, Olive-Durand Deacon was a wealthy widow and resident of a hotel that Haigh had stayed in previously. Haigh had started calling himself an engineer and an inventor so when Olive heard this, she had an idea about false finger nails that she was looking to develop and John George Haigh was only too happy to offer his services. In February of 1949 Olive went to Haigh's workshop where she was shot in the back of the head and  her belongings stolen. 

  

Two days after her disappearance, Olive was reported missing. She would usually meet her friend Constance in the lobby of the hotel for breakfast and when she didn't show for the second day in a row, Constance went to police. She informed them that the last time her and Olive had spoken, she had been planning to visit an engineer to discuss her idea. Police were not long about identifying Haigh and dragging up his previous criminal records. They went to search his workshop and found various paper work belonging to Olive, along with the papers with names of the Hendersons and McSwanns on them and George was linked to all six disappearances. He was arrested on the 26th February 1949.

Police couldn't identify the sludge that was in an empty oil drum so they sent it to be examined and it was found to contain three human gallstones. Police now knew there would be no bodies or at least none intact. Pathologist Keith Simpson did find human remains in the form of human fat, a foot, the gallstones, a partial from a set of dentures. 

John George Haigh pleaded insanity. He claims to have killed another 3 victims on top of the 6 police could link him to but there has never been any proof or missing people to match the descriptions that Haigh gave police. During his questioning Haigh also asked about Broadmoor which is a high security psychiatric hospital, it seems that Haigh was laying the grounds for a new kind of plan. 

During his trial, Haigh pleaded guilty by reasons of insanity, claiming he drank the victims blood. He began to talk about his childhood, the terrifying nightmares he had as a child had been dominated by blood he would tell the court. Police believe that the six murders were his only victims and his claim of there being more victims was merely him trying to make his insanity plea sound more plausible. 

Corpus Delicti is a phrase that Haigh took to mean "no body, no crime", when in fact he was wrong. Corpus Delicti, refers to the fact that in order to be charged with a crime, there must be evidence to prove that a crime was committed. For law enforcement, the three human gallstones, a human foot, the denture, 6 missing bodies, the paperwork found at Haigh's workshop, were all substantial enough evidence of a crime taking place. A jury took only minutes to decide that John George Haigh was guilty of all 6 murders. 

He was hanged on 10th of August 1949. 

Would you side with the jury and say he was not insane?