Case Study- The Acid Bath Serial Murderer

THE ACID BATH SERIAL MURDERER

Incident

Mrs. Olive Durand Deacon was a 69 year old widow who lived in the Onslow Court Hotel, South Kensington, London. Mrs. Lane was a very good friend of Mrs. Olive who was also the resident of Onslow Court.  Mr. John George Haigh was another resident in their locality.

 Mr. Haigh lived in Onslow Court for 3 years. He was the company director of Hurstlea Products Ltd. He also claimed to have a small factory in Crawley.

Mrs. Olive, irrespective of her age, had interest in making business in the artificial fingernails production and approached with this idea to Mr. Haigh. Haigh was considerate of the idea and suggested Olive to visit his factory down to Crawley and observe the production process.

Haigh arranged a car to pick up Olive outside the Army and Navy stores at about 2:30pm on 18^th February, 1949, and not from the hotel lobby were they both eventually lived. Olive informed her friend, Mrs. Lane that she is off to meet Haigh at the Army and Navy stores.

Mrs. Olive Durand Deacon was never seen again!

Haigh was concerned for Olive as she did not come for the meeting in the said time and place and approached Mrs. Lane to inquire if Olive was well. He told Lane that he waited for almost an hour outside the Army and Navy stores but she did not show up. He also mentioned that he visited Crawley, alone.

Mrs. Lane grew anxious and asked Haigh to report to the police that Olive is missing. Mrs. Lane and Mr. Haigh went to the Chelsea police station to report the disappearance of Olive. Haigh even insisted the police to record his name as being the one to have made the report.

Evidences found

1. A female police sergeant at the police station was suspicious of Haigh being the culprit behind the missing case of Olive. She informed her superiors of her suspicion which was later proven to be true. Haigh was searched for any previous criminal record into the database and it was found that he had convictions for fraud and theft from Nottingham, London and Surrey. There were no convictions for violence or murder.

2. Police now searched for Haigh factory in Crawley. They inspected the place and immediately found the following evidences: 

• Bloodstains on a wall
• A large leather hat box marked H which contained a .38 Enfield revolver with 8 rounds of ammunition
•  40 gallon steel tank
•  Carbons containing concentrated sulphuric acid
•  Rubber gloves
•  A gas mask
•   A rubber apron
•  Leather briefcase with papers in the names of Mrs. Rosalie Mary Henderson, Dr. Archibald Henderson, Donald McSwann, William Donald McSwann and Amy B.S. McSwann.
• A receipt of a Persian lamb coat dated as 19^th February from Cottage Cleaners Reigate.

3. The over spread news of the woman’s disappearance; a pawnbroker also came forward with information that acted as evidence.  He told the police about a necklace, 5 rings, earrings, an emerald, diamond clasp and some pearls had been pawned by a man who fits the description of Haigh.

Confessions and further evidences found

ü  Haigh was called-in by the police for an interview which did not appear in his favor. In between the time of the interview, when Haigh and only one detective were present, he made a very strange remark. Haigh asked the detective,” Tell me frankly what the chances of anyone being released from Broadmoor are?”

Note: Broadmoor was England’s foremost criminal lunatic asylum back at that time.

ü   Police was alerted after this remark made by Haigh. They knew for a fact that Haigh is trying to make a plea of insanity to avoid death penalty. The police wanted a firm line of inquiry so as to collect any positive proof that any crime has been actually committed by him.

     Haigh made a statement that led to some clarity in the case. He said, “If I told you the truth you wouldn’t believe it. It is too fantastic for belief.” He further said, “I understand all that, Mrs. Durand Deacon no longer exists. She has disappeared completely and no trace of her can ever be found. I’ve destroyed her with acid. You’ll find the sludge at the Leopold Road Factory.”

    Haigh confessed for the whole incident and narrated how he carried out the murder. He told that he met Olive at 2:30pm as arranged and drove her to Crawley. When they entered the factory, he shot Olive in the back of her head. He then made an incision cut in her neck and collected her blood in a glass. He drank the blood. He removed her jewellery and her Persian lamb coat and put Olive’s body into the 40 gallon tank. He later had a poached egg on toast and a pot of tea on the other side of the road. He went back to the factory, wore rubber gloves and an apron, fixed his gas mask and pumped sulphuric acid from the carboys into the tank. He then came back to the George Hotel in Crawley, had dinner. Next day, he sold Olive’s jewellery and her watch. He went back to the factory to check if the body was completely dissolved. On 21^st February he returned to Crawley. He saw that the body did not dissolve fully. He then emptied most of the contents of the tank outside and added more acid.  The following day, he noticed the body had completely dissolved. He emptied the sludge from the tank on the outside ground of the factory.

ü  He further confessed that he killed five other people whose papers were found in the factory and drank a glass of their blood in the same fashion.

     Police checked and confirmed for the confessions made by Haigh. On 1^st march, Haigh was taken to Horsham Police Station and was charged of Mrs. Olive Durand Deacon’s murder.

   On the day of arrest, Chief Inspector Guy Mahon took charge of the case. Professor Keith Simpson, a home office pathologist was called upon and requested to visit the crime scene.

     At the crime scene, Keith Found the ground to be rough and a huge amount of small pebbles mingled with earth. He picked one pebble and informed Mahon that it is a “gallstone”. The earth from the yard was collected for the evidence.  About 6*4 feet and 6 inches deep was packed into boxes and was sent to police laboratory at Scotland Yard for forensic examination. Keith also cautioned them that the gallstones are also present in some animals and that only the laboratory tests can make a proper conclusion.

Laboratory test results and aftermath

The linkage of the confession made by Haigh and the evidences found perfectly matched after the laboratory results came forward.

o   The bloodstains found on the walls were the result of the gunshot when Olive was murdered.

o   The 40 gallon steel tank was used to dissolve Olive’s body using three carboys of concentrated sulphuric acid.

o   Haigh wore rubber gloves, a gas mask, a rubber apron while disposing off the dead body.

o   The receipt from the Cottage Cleaners Reigate was found. Haigh removed the Persian lamb coat after he killed Olive and made an incision cut on her neck. The coat was full of blood and needed to be cleaned. During the time of search, when the coat was found, police asked Haigh to whom the coat belonged to. He then said it was for a friend. Later, Olive’s sister and Mrs. Lane confirmed the coat to be the belonging of Olive.

o   After the examination of the earth collected form the yard, the scientists found a greater part of left foot, several masses of eroded human bone, 28 pounds of yellow body fat, gallstones and 11 pieces of identifiable eroded human bone.

•         Part of pelvis proven to be of a female.
•      The gallstone was form Olive’s body and Keith also clarified that the women of Olive’s age are prone to have gallstones.
•        Handle of a red plastic handbag similar to one owned by Olive.
•      Metal cap of a lipstick case similar to one owned by Olive.
•       Upper and lower dentures identified by Olive’s dentist to belong to her.

Haigh’s Belief

Haigh was an egotist. He had the impression that without a dead body no murder/ crime can be proved. He knew about the legal phrase corpus delecti, which he thought that a charge of murder could not be upheld without a dead body. But the phrase “corpus delecti” actually means “a body of evidence” and not a dead body by the court of law.

Verdict

Haigh was tried in the Lewes Assize Court on 18^th July. The defence he had was that he was insane at the time of commission of the murders. Dr. Yellowlees gave evidence regarding Haigh’s mental state. He put forward a case of insanity but during the cross-examination, the doctor admitted that Haigh was not insane under the M’Naghten Rules (Section 84, IPC). The jury took only 18 minutes to prove that Haigh was sane during the time of murders and found him guilty of murder. He was hanged at Wandsworth prison.