A Calender of Creeps and Crimes

  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 h...

  On February 24th 1979 Yoshie Shiratori died at age 71. Yoshie had led an exciting life by most people's standards and was known as The Japanese Houdini.  Born on the 31st of July 1907, Shiratori was born on the Japanese mainland. As a teenager he took on odd jobs working on farms, in a tofu shop and also as a fisherman catching crab, none of these jobs paid particularly well and Shiratori found himself wanting an easier life, or perhaps he just wanted to be more wealthy. He found himself sucked into a life of gambling and stealing. During an attempted mugging in 1936 Shiratori accidentally killed his victim in the commotion. He was arrested for the crimes and detained in Aomori prison while his sentence was pending.  Recently in Japan, senior citizens have been committing crimes in order to land themselves in prison for the good health care, meals and living conditions, unfortunately for Yoshie Shiratori, prisons in Japan in the 1930s were not a desirable place to be. P...

  On February 23rd 1885 in Exeter, the execution of John "Babbacombe" Lee was scheduled. He had been found guilty of murder earlier in the month. He worked as a servant for a wealthy lady called Emma Keyse and she had been found beaten, her throat slashed and her body set on fire in the home she shared with John Lee. The evidence against Lee was circumstantial. He had been in trouble before for petty theft and he had also threatened to destroy the house claiming he would "level the place to the ashes".  John Lee claimed that he had not been in the house at the time the fire was started but unfortunately, he had no credible alibi. The trial moved forward and all the evidence was put to a jury.  Lee had cuts on his arm and his clothes were covered in blood. There was a bloody knife found in a drawer in the locker beside his bed.  He had a criminal record.  He was the only person in or around the house at the time of the murder.  He had threatened to "level th...