The Acid Bath Murders

The Acid Bath Murders
Author: Gordon Lowe
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2015-11-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 075096670X

John George Haigh committed five perfect murders – by dissolving his wealthy victims in sulphuric acid. Then he tipped away the resultant soup to avoid detection on a ‘no body, no murder’ principle and used his victims’ property to fund his luxury lifestyle of silk ties and flashy cars.Murder number six was less than perfect. When a guest in Haigh’s hotel disappeared, the police found half-dissolved body parts carelessly thrown into the yard outside his secluded workshop. But was the urbane Mr Haigh, the man brought up by strict Plymouth Brethren parents in Yorkshire and dressed like a city stockbroker, really the monster he said he was? Did he really kill six innocent people just so he could drink their blood? Using unpublished archive papers, including recently released letters Haigh wrote from prison while awaiting execution, author Gordon Lowe sheds light on whether Haigh’s claims were a cynical ploy for a ticket into Broadmoor Hospital, or if he was a psychopathic vampire with a penchant for disposing of his victims in acid.

John George Haigh, the Acid-Bath Murderer

John George Haigh, the Acid-Bath Murderer
Author: Jonathan Oates
Publisher: Wharncliffe
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2014-10-30
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1473841232

What motivated John George Haigh to murder at least six people, then dissolve their corpses in concentrated sulphuric acid? How did this intelligent, well-educated man from a loving, strongly religious family of Plymouth Brethren become a fraudster, a thief, then a serial killer? In the latest of his best-selling studies of criminal history, Jonathan Oates reinvestigates this sensational case of the late 1940s. He delves into Haigh's Yorkshire background, his reputation as a loner, a bully and a forger during his years at Wakefield Grammar School, and his growing appetite for the good life which his modest employment in insurance and advertising could not sustain. Then came his move to London and a rapid, apparently remorseless descent into the depths of crime, from deceit and theft to cold-blooded killing. As he follows the course of Haigh's crimes in graphic, forensic detail, Jonathan Oates gives a fascinating inside view of Haigh's attempt to carry through a series of perfect murders. For Haigh intended not only cut off his victims' lives but, by destroying their bodies with acid, literally to remove all traces that they had ever existed.

Handsome Brute

Handsome Brute
Author: Sean O'Connor
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2014-02-27
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1471101355

Handsome Bruteexplores the facts of a once-renowned, now little-remembered British murder case, the killings of the charming, but deadly ex-RAF playboy Neville Heath. Since the 1940s, Heath has generally been dismissed as a sadistic sex-killer - the preserve of sensational Murder Anthologies - and little else. But the story behind the tabloid headlines reveals itself to be complex and ambiguous, provoking unsettling questions that echo across the decades to the present day. Handsome Bruteis both an examination of the age of austerity, and a real-life thriller as shocking and provocative as American Psycho or The Killer Inside Me, exploring the perspectives of the women in Heath's life - his wife, his mother, his lovers - and his victims. This collage of experiences from the women who knew him intimately probes the schism at the heart of his fascinating, chilling personality.

John Christie of Rillington Place

John Christie of Rillington Place
Author: Jonathan Oates
Publisher: Wharncliffe
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2013-01-19
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1845631412

Sixty years ago, the discovery of bodies at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London, led to one of the most sensational, shocking and controversial serial murder cases in British criminal history the case of John Christie. Much has been written about the Christie killings and the fate of Timothy Evans who was executed for murders Christie later confessed to the story still provokes strong feeling and speculation. However, most the books on the case have been compiled without the benefit of all the sources that are open to researchers, and they tend to focus on Evans in an attempt to clear him of guilt. In addition, many simply repeat what has been said before. Therefore, a painstaking, scholarly reassessment of the evidence - and of Christies life - is overdue, and that is what Jonathan Oates provides in this gripping biography of a serial killer.

Bombers, Rioters and Police Killers

Bombers, Rioters and Police Killers
Author: Simon Webb
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2015-11-30
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1473878489

“Fascinating and enlightening . . . Historical true crime books can often fall victim to being very dry . . . [This book], however, is quite the opposite” (Crime Traveler). Despite the Victorian period’s reputation for stability and social order, there was plenty of civil disorder during this time—violent crime and terrorism were considerably worse than they are today. This book recounts a time when citizens faced problems eerily similar to those with which we have to contend in modern times. Whether a rise in armed robberies and muggings; debates about the arming of the police; bag searches due to fears about terrorists planting bombs in museums and railway stations; or anxiety about rioting on the streets of our cities; our Victorian ancestors faced precisely the same difficulties well over a century ago. With stories of police officers shot, stabbed, or beaten to death, and of bombs exploding in the London Underground, this is an enlightening look at how the good old days were not always so good.

The Acid Bath Murderer

The Acid Bath Murderer
Author: Jack Rosewood
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2016-11-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781540308153

One of the more unique British serial killers, John George Haigh killed simply because he wanted more. He had an exaggerated sense of entitlement, and would seek out victims who could support his lavish lifestyle. What is most abhorrent in this true crime murder story is not that he killed six people, but rather what he did with them after they were dead. Newspapers and tabloids would shout out headlines of John being a 'vampire', a man with a blood lust who drank the blood of those he killed. But was he really a vampire? Or was John just a very clever man? The undoing of John Haigh came about when a missing person case quickly progressed to a homicide investigation. The police officers involved stumbled across a scene so horrific, it would stay in their minds forever. You see John had learned an interesting skill while incarcerated for fraud - how to dissolve a body in sulfuric acid. Of all the true crime serial killers, John was different because he didn't kill out of some need to hurt people. He murdered to gain access to his victims bank accounts. A man from a deeply religious home, John grew up to want more money, the flash cars and the fancy clothing. When he started to run out of money, he sought out his next victim to bankroll his lifestyle. A cold-hearted ruthless man with no thought or care for others, does John's motive make classify him as one of the worst serial killers of all time? Read about the Acid Bath Murderer and decide for yourself.