Episode 635: Gordon Cummins: The Blackout Ripper (Part 1)

Summary

Morbid Podcast Episode 635: Gordon Cummins: The Blackout Ripper (Part 1)
Released January 9, 2025
Hosted by Elena and Ash from Morbid Network | Wondery

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Introduction to the Blackout Ripper

In Episode 635 of Morbid, hosts Elena and Ash delve into the harrowing case of Gordon Cummins, infamously known as the Blackout Ripper. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of World War II-era England, the episode explores how the chaos and fear of the time provided the perfect environment for one of history's most brutal serial killers to operate.

Historical Context: England During World War II

Elena sets the stage by describing the intense atmosphere in England during the late 1930s and early 1940s. With the imminent threat of German bombing raids, the British government implemented widespread nightly blackouts to obscure cities from aerial attacks. This period saw millions of citizens evacuated from urban centers to safer rural areas, leading to widespread displacement and heightened vulnerability.

Elena [07:12]: "But the thing with the Blackout Ripper... he is, like, sadistic because his mutilation is not done post mortem. It seems like he enjoys hurting women. And he enjoys hurting women when they can feel it, like torturing them."

These blackouts not only disrupted daily life but also inadvertently created opportunities for criminal activities to flourish under the cover of darkness.

Rise of Crime and Social Tensions

The evacuation and blackouts led to a significant increase in criminal activities. With law enforcement stretched thin, the government released prisoners with short sentences and utilized civilian volunteers to support air raid precautions. However, these volunteers were often exploited by petty criminals who donned ARP wardens' uniforms to carry out thefts and other illicit acts.

Ash [08:52]: "He’s Gordon. He got caught."

This surge in crime and the general sense of insecurity contributed to a climate of fear and desperation, setting the stage for Gordon Cummins' reign of terror.

The Emergence of Gordon Cummins

Elena introduces Gordon Cummins, highlighting the stark differences between his methods and those of the infamous Jack the Ripper. Unlike Jack, who primarily mutilated victims postmortem, Cummins employed brutal, sadistic violence while his victims were still alive. This distinction underscores the unique and horrifying nature of Cummins' crimes.

Elena [07:37]: "He's a different level of Ripper. I would say he's... it's very upsetting. I'm giving you a trigger warning up front. This is very graphic, and there are a lot of really gruesome things that he does to his victims."

First Murders: Isabella Ralph and Evelyn Hamilton

The episode recounts the initial murders attributed to Cummins. Isabella Ralph, a 52-year-old woman with no fixed address who occasionally engaged in sex work, was the first known victim. Her murder was dismissed by the press amidst the overwhelming focus on the war, and her assailant, John Henry Connell, was swiftly apprehended and sentenced to a mere three years for culpable homicide.

Shortly after, Evelyn Hamilton, a 41-year-old pharmacist, was brutally murdered in her London apartment. The meticulous violence inflicted upon her suggested a level of sadism beyond Connell's acts, prompting suspicions of a more sinister perpetrator at work.

Elena [08:00]: "Good news is, though, they caught him. He's not a Jack the Ripper. He's a Gordon."

Escalation of Violence: Catherine Mulkay and Margaret Lowe

As Cummins' spree continued, the brutality of his crimes escalated. Catherine Mulkay narrowly escaped death, providing a crucial eyewitness account that led investigators closer to identifying Cummins as the Blackout Ripper. However, his subsequent murders only heightened the sense of fear, with victims like Margaret Lowe facing horrific mutilations that shocked even seasoned investigators.

Margaret Lowe's murder, in particular, highlighted Cummins' extreme violence, involving tools like razor blades, curling tongs, and broken mirrors to inflict pain and terror on his victims.

Elena [34:24]: "It's literally unthinkable rage and sadism in this case. That's why I was saying that he's... There's a different element here than there was in Jack the Ripper case."

Investigative Challenges and Patterns

The grisly nature of Cummins' crimes, coupled with the chaotic wartime environment, posed significant challenges for law enforcement. Limited forensic technology of the era made it difficult to connect the dots between the murders swiftly. However, patterns began to emerge, such as the left-handedness of the killer and the use of everyday household items as murder weapons.

Ash [30:38]: "Ah, interesting that they could figure that out back in the 30s."

These emerging patterns were crucial in linking the seemingly disparate murders and building a profile of the Blackout Ripper.

Social Commentary: The Impact of War on Society

Throughout the episode, Elena and Ash underscore the profound impact of wartime conditions on societal behavior and criminal activity. The blackouts, widespread evacuations, and increased stress levels created an environment ripe for violence and desperation. The episode also touches on how societal norms and priorities shifted during the war, often overshadowing serious crimes like those committed by Cummins.

Elena [25:20]: "It's very interesting and you and I have been talking about it lately, how certain social climates will just desensitize people completely. The worst things."

Conclusion and Teaser for Part 2

As Part 1 of the episode concludes, Elena and Ash emphasize the ongoing investigation and the escalating violence perpetrated by Cummins. They hint at the impending capture and sentencing of the Blackout Ripper, promising a continuation of the story in the subsequent episode.

Elena [46:44]: "And that's where we're going to end part one, just because I think there's a lot in here and it's very heavy."

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Notable Quotes

• Elena [07:12]: "But the thing with the Blackout Ripper... he is, like, sadistic because his mutilation is not done post mortem. It seems like he enjoys hurting women. And he enjoys hurting women when they can feel it, like torturing them."

• Ash [30:38]: "Ah, interesting that they could figure that out back in the 30s."

• Elena [34:24]: "It's literally unthinkable rage and sadism in this case. That's why I was saying that he's... There's a different element here than there was in Jack the Ripper case."

• Elena [25:20]: "It's very interesting and you and I have been talking about it lately, how certain social climates will just desensitize people completely. The worst things."

---

Final Thoughts

Episode 635 of Morbid offers a chilling exploration of Gordon Cummins' heinous crimes during one of history's darkest periods. By intertwining historical context with detailed accounts of the murders, Elena and Ash provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the factors that allowed the Blackout Ripper to terrorize London. Part 2 promises to unravel the culmination of Cummins' spree and his eventual apprehension, delivering further insights into this disturbing chapter of true crime history.

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For those intrigued by this episode, stay tuned for Part 2, where Elena and Ash continue their deep dive into the investigation and downfall of Gordon Cummins.

Transcript

[Elena]

Hey, weirdos.

[Ash]

Before we unleash today's macabre mystery, we were wondering, have you ever heard of Wondery? It's like a secret passage to an ad free lair. With early access to episodes. You can join Wondery plus in the Wondery app or in Apple podcasts or Spotify.

[Elena]

You're listening to a morbid network podcast.

[Patrick Gibson]

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[Ash]

If anyone knows how powerful urges can be, it's me.

[Patrick Gibson]

Catch Dexter Morgan in a new serial killer origin.

[Ash]

This hunger inside of you.

[Elena]

It needs a master.

[Patrick Gibson]

Featuring Patrick Gibson, Christian Slater. Special guest star Sarah Michelle Geller. With Patrick Dempsey and Michael C. Hall as Dexter's inner voice. I wasn't born a killer. I was made. Dexter Original sin. New series now streaming on the Paramount plus with Showtime plan. Go to paramountplus.com to try it. Free terms apply.

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[Elena]

Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena.

[Ash]

I'm Ash.

[Elena]

And this is morbid.

[Ash]

It's morbid.

[Elena]

And it's 2025. It's 2025.

[Ash]

Yeah. It's been 2025 for like a. I think. Yeah. Last couple episodes maybe, like, you know, we don't know.

[Elena]

I was gonna say it's a trend. I have no idea.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Where we are.

[Ash]

You know what? I'm. You know where I'm. I'm at.

[Elena]

Where are you at?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Do you know where I'm at?

[Ash]

I'm in a bad place.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

I'm in a bad, bad place.

[Elena]

What place is this?

[Ash]

It's the place of. I don't have any more of my frosted sugar cookie holiday creamer.

[Elena]

I am also in that place. So I commiserate.

[Ash]

That creamer from International Delight. International Delight. If you're listening, please send me some. Help me get to a good place.

[Elena]

Because they're gone.

[Ash]

They're gone. They're absolutely gone. And do you know what happened to me the other day, actually?

[Elena]

Oh, I have a feeling I know what happened to you because it might have happened to me as well.

[Ash]

Why, I oughta. I ordered two on DoorDash and I gave a nice little tip and everything. And I said, if not available, just refund me because I don't want some other bullshit. No, they didn't want to refund me. So the dasher brought me two random ass creamers, which, like, they were International Delight. And actually I shouldn't complain because one of them is like Italian sweet cream.

[Elena]

Oh, I love this sweet cream.

[Ash]

That one's really good. That one's really good. So I'm not super mad. But anyways, International Delight, please send me a whole entire stock of the frosted sugar cookie creamer.

[Elena]

And I second that. Please. Where's the show that that requires it?

[Ash]

Please.

[Elena]

I've only had one bottle of it because that's the only bottle I've been able to find this season.

[Ash]

Me too.

[Elena]

And it's making me upset. And you know, we got to shoot our shot here.

[Ash]

That's the thing.

[Elena]

We got to shoot it.

[Ash]

You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take. Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott.

[Elena]

There you go. I just office it. I did just realize that this is going to come out after the holidays and maybe it won't be available.

[Ash]

No, they still have it. I'm sure they do.

[Elena]

Okay, I believe you.

[Ash]

What do they do with it?

[Elena]

I trust you.

[Ash]

Then they have the recipe.

[Elena]

Yeah. Give me it.

[Ash]

I don't even care if it's in that fancy bottle. You can just send it to me in a jug. In a jug?

[Elena]

Please.

[Ash]

In a vat.

[Elena]

If you would send it to me in a barrel.

[Ash]

Just please, just place in a keg.

[Elena]

If you send me a cow that.

[Ash]

Makes that, I'll milk him.

[Elena]

Send me a keg of the frosted sugar cookie.

[Ash]

I would. I would keg stand that. I would do a keg stand on that.

[Elena]

That's horrifying.

[Ash]

One thing I never did as a keg stand.

[Elena]

Me neither.

[Ash]

Yeah. I mean, never.

[Elena]

I know that I was gonna say, is that shocking?

[Ash]

I used to, but I didn't do that. Yeah. Anyways, I just really want that. My life is hard without it. Today I did the.

[Elena]

My life is hard.

[Ash]

My life is hard without it. I did. I did this sweet cream today and I made it through. It's only like 2:00. We're really proud of you. Thanks.

[Elena]

We're. Everybody keep asking your thoughts.

[Ash]

It's hard. Thank you.

[Elena]

She's using sweet cream instead of frosted sugar.

[Ash]

Keeping in your thoughts. What am I gonna do?

[Elena]

Thoughts and Prayers.

[Ash]

Thank you.

[Elena]

Those are useful. So to get to gain some much needed perspective, we're gonna shift. We're gonna shift into something that's honestly gonna shock you. I believe everyone listening. The case that I am covering today. So I'm gonna be covering the Blackout Ripper.

[Ash]

Oh, I haven't heard of this one.

[Elena]

His name is Gordon Cummins.

[Ash]

And that's so unassuming.

[Elena]

Yeah, just Gordon.

[Ash]

I just always think of Gordon Ramsay. Yeah, he's very assuming.

[Elena]

He's pretty assuming, but he's just an idiot sandwich. Yeah, he's definitely assuming, but this guy I knew, I had heard of this case, but I didn't know the details. And when I looked further into it, I was like, whoa. So he. This happened after Jack the Ripper.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Also happened over in Europe, though, and.

[Ash]

Many Rippers in Europe.

[Elena]

Many rippers. We have a few over here, too. But these ones are rough. And the thing is, I'm. I hesitate to say any, any Ripper is worse than the other because they're all terrible. That's why they are literally called rippers.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But the thing with the Blackout Ripper that we're going to cover today, this is going to be a two parter, by the way, because it's a lot. But he is, like, with Jack the Ripper. Sorry, I'm like, everywhere. My thoughts are all over the place.

[Ash]

Because you didn't have the right coffee.

[Elena]

I didn't. That's very true. So Jack the Ripper was pretty methodical about the way he went about things. Seemed like he had almost like a plan, like a blue plan. When he went into each murder, he did it quick. He did it relatively, you know, clean isn't the word, but like very quick and smooth. He also did his mutilation postmortem for the most part. Really, the only one that you can point to is Mary Kelly at the end. That was like frenzied and out of control and totally off the map, which some people even wonder if it's. Obviously we went into that, if that's all connected and all that, but we won't go into that. But the Blackout Ripper, Gordon Cummins, he's a mutilator. That's why he's called a ripper.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But he is, like, sadistic because his mutilation is not done post mortem.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

It seems like he enjoys hurting women. And he enjoys hurting women when they can feel it, like torturing them. Yeah. He mutilates and tortures while they are alive. And it's. So while I Hesitate to say he is worse because obviously it is all awful. Yeah, he's different.

[Ash]

He's a different.

[Elena]

For sure. He's a different level of Ripper. I would say he's. It's very upsetting. I'm giving you a trigger warning up front. This is very graphic, and there is a lot of really up, gruesome things that he does to his victims. So please be aware of that.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Good news is, though, they caught him.

[Ash]

That's good.

[Elena]

He's not a Jack the Ripper. He's a Gordon.

[Ash]

He's Gordon. He got caught.

[Elena]

He's Gordon the idiot. So let's take it back, shall we? Let's take it back. Back, back. We're going back into, you know, when German bombing raids were happening during World War II.

[Ash]

That's far back.

[Elena]

Taking it back. We're in the 30s, late 30s, early 40s. So in response to the onset of German bombing raids During World War II, a lot of England's most vulnerable citizens were evacuated and temporarily, they were. You know, they were taken out of, like, the urban areas to be safer in the more rural parts of the country because it was really, really dangerous time and very unprecedented and very, like, unpredictable time. But those who stayed in the cities would spend years enduring blackouts.

[Ash]

So scary.

[Elena]

And these were periods where the city was intentionally plunged into darkness to prevent German bombers from easily identifying urban areas to bomb.

[Ash]

That's so sad that they even had to do that to avoid being bombed.

[Elena]

Oh. And it's all that in and of itself is an awful, awful thing. If you research into these blackouts. Horrific. And they were sick. They were a huge inconvenience and obviously, like, tough to deal with in a myriad of ways. But they were also a safety risk for everybody. But for at least one person, they offered the perfect opportunity to enact what was clearly his darkest fantasies. This man clearly had been thinking about this. You don't just go and do this. And he didn't have a criminal record.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

So he went straight. He must have been thinking about this for a long time, and this gave him the opportunity. So when the German army invaded Poland in September 1939, like we said, countries all over Europe were forced to take a position and develop a strategy just in case they were drawn into the conflict in England, where attacks from Germany were kind of. Everybody was just waiting for it. It was imminent, essentially. The War Secretary just quickly mobilized the British armed for armed forces and began evacuating 1.5 million citizens. Wow. Those citizens were mostly like, women, children, the elderly, the most vulnerable, like I said, taking them out of the cities, bringing them to the countryside, that's where they were going to be safer. But these would end up being super traumatic for a lot of people because they ended up being relocated to the homes of strangers often. And they also wouldn't know what happened to the people that they left behind.

[Ash]

Oh, my God. I can't imagine.

[Elena]

Like, fathers, you know, brothers, all, like. All husbands, all kinds of people. Yeah. And that was for, like, many years. They dealt with this under those circumstances. When the bombs began falling a few months later, many of these people chose to just return home instead of being separated from their families and just dealt with the. The chaos that was about to ensue. Now, in addition to the relocation of, honestly, the most vulnerable people in the nation, the government also implemented those widespread nightly blackouts. It was every night.

[Ash]

Wow.

[Elena]

During this time, all lights, electric or natural, were to be extinguished.

[Ash]

Oh, my God.

[Elena]

That must have been straight up blackness.

[Ash]

So scary.

[Elena]

I don't think any of us can truly appreciate how dark would be that was happening here, because we are. No matter what, there's lights around us at all times always. It's like when we covered Jack the Ripper, we talked about how. I don't think people take into account how wild it is that he did what he did with such precision in that darkness, in how dark it was. There wasn't street lamps. There weren't. He was doing this by the light of a small flame up in a corner.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Like, that's insane.

[Ash]

And then here, there's no glare whatsoever.

[Elena]

It is a black. That you can't even conceive of.

[Ash]

Oh, God. And that just adds to the. To the feeling.

[Elena]

Oh, my God. Feeling, because it takes away all your senses. It totally, like, it puts you in a place of, like, just complete vulnerability.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

In every way.

[Ash]

Imagine, like, there are so many people who have genuine, like, people say, oh, I'm scared of the dark. But there are people who have literal phobias of the dark. Can you imagine having to deal with that?

[Elena]

I don't think I. That I feel like it would make me crazy.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

I feel like not having any kind of, like, perception of what was around you, that's what would scare me the most.

[Ash]

That would fuck you up. Listen, I don't know about you guys, but obviously I have some bad habits that I want to shrug off. You know, we've all got bad habits that we try to shake off. And even though I'm not going around doing shady stuff, like some of the people that we'd be talking about on this podcast. It's always a good idea to make moves towards good habits. Let me tell you about this new alternative to smoking and vaping called Flavored Air. Our sponsor Fume have created an award winning flavored air device that helps people ditch that bad habit of smoking. It was founded on this idea that if we stick to good habits, making change feels easier and less pressurized. Fume has a ton of delicious flavors to choose from. Crisp, Mint, Orange, Vanilla and new Peach Blush. I have the Peach Blush one and it is yummy with Flavored Air. You can satisfy your oral fixation through a passive diffusion system that utilizes no electronics, vapor or combustion. There's no nicotine, it's not addictive, it's non toxic flavors. It is a guilt free alternative plus no batteries so you never need to even charge it. Fume has served over 300,000 customers and you can be the next success story for a limited time. Use my Code Morbid to get a free gift with your journey Pack head to try fume.com that's try f u m.com and use code Morbid to get a free gift with your order today. Oh this holiday season was absolutely bonkers. I have never been more excited for the new year and part of that excitement is Thrive Market. I'm ready to get my booty in check with making these, you know, good decisions for my eating habits. You know, it's a crazy statistic. Over 10,000 chemicals have entered our US food supply, yet the EU limits this to just 300 additives. Thrive Market makes it so easy to find better options without the hassle. One of my absolute favorite features is the Healthy Swap Scanner in the Thrive Market app. It's super simple. You just scan any item, like any food that you really enjoy and it will instantly suggest cleaner, healthier grocery alternatives for me. I've been swapping out really sugary snacks with Chomps beef sticks. Those things go crazy. They have multiple flavors. The jalapeno one rocks my world. Thrive Market also takes the guesswork out of finding safe and healthy food. All their products are 100% non GMO and free from over 1000 harmful ingredients. Actually, I'm really trying to up my protein this year and I love filtering their site by using the high protein option so that I am completely stocked with all my high protein needs. Like those chomp sticks. I'm telling you you got to try them. Ready for a junk free start to 2025, head to thrive market.commorbid and get 30% off your first order, plus a free $60 gift. That's T H R I V market.commorbid thrivemarket.commorbid.

[Elena]

And though. And it's not like this was something you could just, like, not do, because if you violated this blackout, you were going to be subject to fines of various amounts. And it was as simple as, like, lighting a match would get you a fine. And these people couldn't afford this stuff and they couldn't afford to be thrown in jail.

[Ash]

And also, you don't want to be the person who fucks it up. Exactly. And, like, puts everybody in danger.

[Elena]

Yeah. And obviously this, like you said, like, you don't want to be the one to fuck this up. Because what they were doing was trying to stay hidden from German bombers, identifying them as targets during air raids. But while it was, like, strategically made sense for the time because, like, what else are they going to do? It had obviously added risks with it. It's like, yeah, you were safe from air raids. You're not safe from each other.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

And that's a problem. In the first month alone, traffic deaths doubled. And by January 1942, one in five people had sustained some form of injury from the blackouts.

[Ash]

One in five people.

[Elena]

Now, as all this chaos was unfolding, the question that came about was, what do we do with the nation's countless prisoners that are now. Yeah, unlike the free British citizens who could evacuate or hide during an air raid, people in prison and youth detention centers were just sitting targets. Right? It's like, what do you do? You just let them be sitting. Not all of them are in there for, like, killing people, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, this is some petty crimes are there, right? And it's like they're just sitting there waiting to be bombed now. So in response, the government implemented a policy where any inmate with less than three months left on their sentence and boys who completed at least six months of their sentence would be released.

[Ash]

That's a little bit scary. You understand why that happened, but that's definitely a little scary.

[Elena]

Well, in the result was a massive, massive uptick in criminal activity at a time when law enforcement was already overworked and their attention was understandably, in many other places. So during this period, police relied on support from civilian volunteers who were instrumental in coordinating, coordinating air raid precaution efforts and could be identified. Now, like, these volunteer citizens, they could be identified by their helmets and air raid precautions armband, so you could know who you could trust, quote, unquote. But unfortunately, as people are going to do, they're going to people. So petty criminals quickly realized those armbands gave the wearer considerable power. And according to an article by Duncan Campbell, criminals began to kit themselves out with an ARP warden's helmet and armband and smash their way into shops when no one was looking.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So they just started using it.

[Ash]

It's like Ted Bundy carrying around a police badge.

[Elena]

Exactly. Under the circumstances, law enforcement and the public make distinctions between what was and what wasn't behavior worth prosecuting because they can't go after everybody. Now, in simple terms, stealing a blanket from a shop would ordinarily be considered theft. But during wartime, most people would probably agree with you that stealing a blanket from a shop to cover a body in the street was probably not criminal behavior.

[Ash]

Fair enough.

[Elena]

So things were. Lines were being blurred, which makes it very scary. Now, in wartime England, looting and shoplifting alone were such huge, massive problems that the court set aside two days each week just to prosecute those charged for those crimes. Wow. But they were not the only crimes that were clogging up the courts. The less scrupulous business owners, for example, were known to exploit the rationing of wartime goods by selling additional products at like, crazy, over like, price gouging, essentially. And even some doctors were more than happy to disqualify a young man from military. Military service just for a few extra bucks.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So everybody's suddenly tilting in the wrong direction on the moral scale here. With the British justice system just so bogged down with additional crime and a dramatic increase in public need, other crimes were kind of ignored. Like sex work, for example, was a, a big crime back then, considered a big crime. And it flourished during the wartime years in part because it was obviously like way less important of like, who is it really? Like, what are we doing here? You know, and. But also because these women provided what some were arguing was a valuable service to the military men. Yeah, so what are you, you gotta prosecute them.

[Ash]

Like, come on, just let everybody.

[Elena]

There's a lot of way worse shit happening in here. In London's Piccadilly Circus, for example, the so called Piccadilly Commandos, as the area sex workers were known, cater to thousands of young men about to ship off the front line to the front lines. All of which went largely ignored by the police. They just let it happen, you know, they're going off to war, whatever. With that said, the lax attitudes around sex work at the time and law enforcement turning a blind eye to the whole thing allowed for at least one man to quickly and easily find victims with whom he could get very close to very easily and act out his murderous fantasies that he had very clearly been having for a long time.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So it's like it's, it's a double edged sword for real.

[Ash]

Definitely.

[Elena]

Now, given the tensions and frustrations being felt across Britain in those days, murder seemed like an inevitable thing that was going to happen. In fact, within just two weeks of the announcements, announcements of the nightly blackouts, the report of the first murder came in from Edinburgh on September 15, 1939. And this victim in this case, 52 year old Isabella Ralph, had no fixed address and did make her living sometimes doing sex work.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Now in the case of Isabella Ralph, the press reported the death and gave like a brief overview of the circumstances that was really, it just a quick little mention, you know, with cities being ripped apart by German air raids and families being separated by evacuations and displacement, it seemed like everyone just kind of moved on from this murder of this woman, this, you know, like nomadic woman in Scotland.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Fortunately, Edinburgh police got lucky and a few days later they arrested John Henry Connell, a 24 year old bricklayer that was living in Edinburgh. Damn.

[Ash]

24?

[Elena]

Yeah. Upon being arrested, Connell told police he'd taken a room at a boarding house. And the next day he realized that he had some money that was stolen. So he confronted Isabella Ralph, with whom he'd had relations. Relations with the previous evening.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

And he managed to retrieve his stolen money. But in the process of this whole thing, the two got physically aggressive with each other. They started struggling and he said he grabbed her throat in order to stop her from screaming and oops, he killed her. I think we all know by now how long it takes to manually strangle someone. Uh huh. So that's bullshit.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You. You don't just go, oh, oh, I tried to make her stop. Screen. It's so crazy. I held it there for like, you know, many, many minutes.

[Ash]

At the very least it's three minutes, right?

[Elena]

At least like four, I think. Four. Yeah. And it's. And it's consistent pressure, right too. It's like if you let just maybe 30 seconds start. Screw clock again.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Now, at trial, Connell's lawyer claimed his client had never intended to kill Isabella and he had only wanted to get his stolen money back. Despite the evidence showing that several of Isabella Ralph's ribs had been crushed in the process, indicating a very much higher degree of violence than he was talking about, the judge accepted the lesser plea of culpable homicide and sentenced Connell to three Years of penal servo. Servitude. Wow. In handing down the sentence, Lord Justice Clerk told him, I am satisfied that the result of your conduct was the very last thing you anticipated. But you took this woman's life through violence which you inflicted upon her. So he's like, I'm confident that you didn't mean to kill her, but you did essentially.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Now the murder of Isabella Ralph, which was definitely a violent homicide, like. Yes, good try. Illustrates two important things about the press and the judicial system's understanding of murder at the time, especially of the lower class persuasion during this time period. First, regardless of the brutality or sensational nature of the crime, page space was limited and editorial and journalistic priorities were given to coverage of the war at the time. So they were just not going to focus on this. And second, the justice system, particularly the resources of the police and the court system, had very limited bandwidth and were eager to process what they considered lesser crimes as quickly and with as little attention as possible.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

These two realities are definitely going to be an important factor in why there was relatively little coverage of what would end up being a serial killer operating in London during these blackouts. Especially when you consider the obvious comparisons to none other than England's most notorious and mysterious killer, Jack the Ripper. There's a very obvious, like there. You can compare them.

[Ash]

Yeah, definitely.

[Elena]

And it's like, it shows you how bonkers it was at the time that.

[Ash]

They'Re not talking about like a Jack the Ripper 2.0.

[Elena]

The second Jack the Ripper essentially is kind of going unnoticed and not really talked about. It's like that should have been literally like Jack the Ripper at the time was all anyone was talking about. Yeah, literally all they were talking about, all the press was talking about, anybody on the street. And this one, which is essentially the same like movie but somehow more sadistic, it's not even being talked about.

[Ash]

It's very interesting and you and I have been talking about it lately, how certain social climates will just desensitize people completely. The worst things.

[Elena]

Yeah, they just. And they just. It wasn't being reported on now. By the winter of 1942, the war had been dragging on for more than a year and violence had, honestly, for the residents of London had just become a normal thing. They just dealt with it every day. Violence, violence, violence. Still, even the most hardened of Londoners would have been absolutely shocked by the first discovery. This discovery was made by plumbers William Baldwin and Harold Bachelder on their way to work on the morning of February 9, 1942. So as the two men passed through Montague Place in Marylebone, I looked this up. Mary lebone that morning they noticed what looked to be a broken flashlight laying in the snow just out of one of, outside of one of these. Like, they're like basically handmade air raid shelters.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

If you look it up, it's like a little kind of half circle, like, you know, like a half sphere, 10 kind of made with. No, it's kind of made with like a, like a tin almost with like a little opening so you can scoot in and hide. Essentially.

[Unknown]

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[Luke Lamanna]

Closed doors of government offices and military compounds, there are hidden stories and buried secrets from the darkest corners of history. From COVID experiments pushing the boundaries of science to operations so secretive they were barely whispered about. Each week on Declassified Mysteries, we pull back the curtain on These hidden histories, 100% true and verifiable stories that expose the shadowy underbelly of power. Consider Operation Paperclip, where former Nazi scientists were brought to America after World War II not as prisoners, but as assets to advance US intelligence during the Cold War. These aren't just old conspiracy theories. They're thoroughly investigated accounts that reveal the uncomfortable truths still shaping our world today. The stories are real. The secrets are shocking. Follow Declassified Mysteries with me, Luke lamanna on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts to listen ad free. Join Wondery plus In the Wondery app.

[Elena]

Next to it, they found a woman's green wool turban style hat, some matches and some Ovaltine tablets. Then as they got closer to it, they saw what looked like the pale leg of what they believed was a mannequin sticking out of the doorway of the shelter.

[Ash]

Never a mannequin.

[Elena]

Harold Bachelder ran to the nearest phone and called the police. And PC John Miles arrived. A short time later, they discovered this was a human body because initially they thought it was a mannequin, but they were like, let's call it in because, yeah, just in case with all like the, the objects that clearly Belong to a woman. This we're not going to check ourselves. So, upon seeing this woman's body, Miles knew it was not an accidental death. Yeah. So he called for additional officers and he secured the scene. Now, as far as the officers at the scene could tell, the woman in the air raid shelter had been brutalized by her attacker. Her face and neck were badly bruised, her clothes were torn, her skirt had been pulled up to her thighs, and she had been violently sexually assaulted. Oh. The following day, the pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury. I love this Sir Bernard Spilsbury.

[Ash]

It's a very important name.

[Elena]

It is an important name. He concluded his postmortem examination and he reported that aside from the bruising on her face and neck, there were, quote, a small. A number of small abrasions to her upper. Including a small amount of abrasions to her exposed right breast. Oh. The cause of death was listed as manual strangulation. Okay. She ended up being the least brutalized of all of his victims, if you can believe it. Just to give you a heads up for what's to come at the scene, there was very little forensic evidence to work with. Investigators theorized that her body, which had been discovered, quote, with her legs wide open in the doorway of the shelter, had been deliberately posed to humiliate her corpse. Later that day, PC Miles found the victim's purse a short distance away on the sidewalk. Someone had clearly gone through it and taken whatever money and valuable bowls were inside, as well as her ID card.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

The only blood found on the victim was her own, but the bruising on her neck and fingerprints found at the scene suggested that she'd been killed by a left handed person.

[Ash]

Ah, interesting that they could figure that out back in the 30s.

[Elena]

Isn't that interesting? A few days later, the victim was identified as evelyn Hamilton, a 41 year old pharmacist from Essex. The outbreak of the war had all but bankrupted the pharmacy where Evelyn was working. And on the night of her death, she had been passing through London on her way to Grimsby, where she was going to start a new job at a different pharmacy. So she was just going to her job.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Detectives learned that Hamilton had been staying at a local woman's hostel that evening and was last seen at the Lions Corner house where she had dinner and a drink. But unfortunately, no one at the Lions Corner remembered whether she was joined by a man that evening. So they couldn't really determine whether she'd been lured to the shelter or simply attacked on her way back from the hospital or the hostel detectives had only just begun investigating the Hamilton murder when a report of a similar murder was reported on February 10th. This is just the next day, right? That morning, two meter readers from the electric company were doing their rounds. You know, just going from rooming house to rooming house. And they were like, they were trying to go into one place in a rooming house on Warder street in Soho. So the men knocked on the door of 34 year old Evan Oatley's room and they got no reply. The manager was like, no, she's home. Like, I know this. I saw her like, she hasn't left. So the manager was like, you know what, did you try the door? And they were like, well, no, we can't just like walk into people's houses. So we didn't. And he was like, no, I know she's home. I'm just gonna like, see if I can open it and yell for her.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So he jiggled the door and it was unlocked. So he kind of like opened it a little, kind of yelled her name, didn't get an answer. And he was like, I know she's home. Like, what the fuck? She wouldn't leave this unlocked. So they ended up going inside and as they entered the apartment, they found Evelyn lying face up on her bed. They later, they later said they believed she had a red scarf around her neck, but found out it was just that her neck had been violently slashed open. Wow. Yeah. The men ran into the street to find the nearest police officer and returned with Inspector John Hennessy. In his report filed later that day, Hennessy described what he saw when he entered the apartment. This is rough. I flashed my torch and saw a woman believed to be Evelyn Oatley on her back on a divan or single bed in a transverse position. We looked it up in a divan. I didn't know what that was.

[Ash]

No, me either.

[Elena]

It's apparently like a chaise. Yeah, Lounge, essentially. Her head was pointing north and was hanging down over, down the side of the bed. She was naked except for a slender garment which covered her breasts. I saw that her throat had been cut and a hand torch was wedged in her private parts. A tin can opener was lying near the torch and her legs were wide apart. Oh, my God, it gets worse. Additional investigators arrived at the house soon after the discovery and were shocked by the brutality of this murder. Superintendent Fred Sherrill said she was a ghastly sight. She had been the victim of a sadistic attack of the most horrible and revolting kind. Yeah, Now Superintendent Fred Sherrill is kind of like a fingerprint expert as well.

[Ash]

Oh, wow.

[Elena]

So he was like really big in this case and even he couldn't. He was the one that determined that they were probably left hand. This person was probably left handed and tried to run these fingerprints alongside like known offenders and couldn't find a match anywhere. He was the one that determined person wasn't known. Yeah. Things that had been used in this murder and on Evelyn were razor blade, a can opener, parts of a broken mirror, a flashlight and curling tongs.

[Ash]

Oh, wow.

[Elena]

Yeah. It's literally unthinkable rage and sadism in this case. That's why I was saying that he's. There's a different element here than there was in Jack the Ripper case.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Not there's a torture per se, but there. But it's a different level for sure.

[Ash]

Curling tongs.

[Elena]

Yeah. There it's. It's sadism and it would. It appears to be that the killer is taking a lot of time to torture and inflict pain and mutilations on these victims while they are alive.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like the Hamilton murder, there was very little evidence found at the scene and no one could think of any reason that someone would kill Oatley. At the time of her death, Evelyn was married, but had been living apart from her husband Harold for some time while she pursued an acting career in London. According to Harold Oatley, Evelyn was, quote, fascinated with West End life and would not leave it. But while it was true that she was hoping to make her way in the theater, she had worked at a nightclub for a little while. But while her husband was away, she had been supporting herself as a full time sex worker since 1939. The last time anyone had seen her was when she was with a dark haired airman. The night before this dark haired airman had approached her, somebody said, okay. And according to this really cool youtuber who. He's fascinating. His channel, he's called well, I Never. Well, I never. And he's just this British man who will tell you all about these amazing things and horrifying things. Love it. Apparently her friends and this like really will like break your heart when he said it. Her friends later said she had turned to sex work, you know, obviously for income while her husband was away, but also because she was afraid of sleeping in her apartment alone because of the blackouts. So like she just wanted.

[Ash]

So sad. She's just lonely and scared.

[Elena]

It's like really sad. According to the medical examiner, Evelyn Oatley had been, quote, beaten and strangled to unconsciousness. And then suffered extensive sexually motivated mutilations inflicted by the killer using a safety razor, curling tongs, a corner fragment of a broken mirror and the tin can opener.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Evelyn's cause of death was the five and a half inch wound on her neck that severed her carotid artery, which was believed to have been inflicted with the 2 inch razor blade.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Now, among the evidence that was found in the room were unidentified fingerprints on the fragment of the broken mirror and the tin can opener. And they again indicated that the killer was left handed.

[Ash]

So we're relating these two cases even.

[Elena]

Though they are very different, but. Yeah, you know, otherwise it looked like there was, you know, obviously a huge struggle, but that there was also only one thing missing. And this. It was like a silver cigarette case that was in her purse. Just a trophy, but her bank books and her money were still there. Now that makes me think that in the first case, the Hamilton murder, they said they found her purse close by, but on the sidewalk. And that I think somebody passing by just stole her shit.

[Ash]

Possibly.

[Elena]

I don't even know if he did. He maybe took her identification, but I don't know if he took her money.

[Ash]

My thought was that possibly he like chased her somehow and she dropped her purse along the way. And then like you said, somebody else took her stuff.

[Elena]

I think someone else probably did.

[Ash]

I do wonder if, like, obviously there's such an escalation here, if he didn't do everything that he did to his second victim, to his first victim, because it was a little bit more like in this case, he's in an apartment tucked away. He has all the time in the world.

[Elena]

Yeah. And he doesn't. It doesn't look like he brings these things with him.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

It looks like he finds them where he is. And he was just available at the first thing. At first thing. So I think he just didn't have anything available to him. I think if he did, it probably would have been the exact same thing.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But it was outside. Yeah. What's even worse is a neighbor told police later that a little after midnight the night before, they had heard a radio suddenly turn up really loud from that apartment enough that they could hear it through the walls.

[Ash]

We always say how much we hate that.

[Elena]

Fucking hate that. He literally was doing it to drown out her screams. Now, on February 12, a sex worker named Catherine Mulkay nearly lost her life to this man, but didn't. Oh, my God.

[Ash]

She got away.

[Elena]

Yes. Apparently a very nice looking, clean cut man approached her while she Was soliciting on Regent street and she agreed to work with him. Once they were at her apartment and the whole thing began, he got on top of her and attacked her immediately. He dug his knees as hard as he could into her abdomen and started trying to strangle her manually. But she fought back hard and apparently she still had her boots on. And she kicked him as hard as she could off of her and ran the out of there to her neighbors completely nude. Oh, he ran after her and threw money at her, claiming he was drunk and he didn't mean to. And then he ran away. Yeah, sure, but he left something behind.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

He left a belt behind. A Royal Air Force belt, specifically.

[Ash]

This motherfucker's in the Air Force.

[Elena]

And remember the night before, Evelyn had been seen being approached by a nice, clean cut, dark haired Air Forceman.

[Ash]

Isn't it so scary how like, somebody can look so unassuming and even charming.

[Elena]

And then they're this, and then they're.

[Ash]

This, they're this scary?

[Elena]

Yeah. Now, he went right on that evening to kill again after this, what he would consider a failure. But that victim would not be discovered until February 13th. So we're gonna get there, but I'm trying to go in order of the discoveries while making the like, maintaining the timeline.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Cause I want you to get the idea of how bloodthirsty this fucker really was. Like he barely went a day, sometimes even hours between murders. It was like a spree. And when one failed, he would immediately find another woman to kill. So he does go right to another one, but she is not found for a couple of days. Okay. So the police and press had honestly barely begun to even process Evelyn Oatley's scene when a report of yet another body came in not 24 hours later on the afternoon of the 13th. 15 year old. And it's not her who died. 15 year old Barbara Lowe went to visit her mother, Margaret, at her apartment in North Soho.

[Ash]

Oh, it's her mom though.

[Elena]

Yeah. When Barbara's knocks didn't get an answer, she asked a neighbor if they'd seen her mother, Margaret. But the neighbor was like, you know what? I haven't seen her in a couple of days. And there is a package that's been sitting on the step for a couple of days. So it was not her mom's character to go away without saying anything or to like just abandon her in any way. So Barbara called the police, who dispatched an officer to the apartment. They used a spare key and were able to get inside. But when they Went inside. DS Leonard Blacktop was very surprised to see that the blackout curtains were still drawn and everything was completely dark. And he was like, are you sure she's in here? And he flitched. He switched on his flashlight and started making his way through the place. And in the kitchen, he saw a woman's purse was laying on the floor, and everything in the purse was strewn across the floor.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

So finally he reached the last door in the apartment, which was Margaret's bedroom. The door was locked, but Barbara gave the detective permission to force the door open so they could get inside. Fortunately, he was able to stop Barbara from coming into the room, which spared her a lot of horror. Margaret Lowe's body was on the bed, completely nude. And having probably been there for at least a day or two, her face and head were brutally beaten. And beaten with what the detective assumed was the fireplace poker that lay in two pieces. Oh. On the floor beside her. It broke.

[Ash]

A fireplace poker. Those things are usually like wrought iron.

[Elena]

Later, the autopsy would show that her jaw had been shattered by the blows. One of her stockings had been tied tightly around her neck and knotted. It had dug into her skin, and her body had been badly, badly mutilated with, among other things, a razor, a potato peeler, and a kit and a table knife. And. And this is horrifying. Not that everything else hasn't been. There was a large serrated bread knife protruding from a wound near her groin, and a wax candle had been inserted into her vagina. Yeah. Everybody is literally in this room in a state of absolute shock. It's that when I tell you that I was not ready for case to be as brutal as it is. I had no idea.

[Ash]

I don't know if we've heard anything that brutal back to back.

[Elena]

The fact that this has gone largely kind of like under the radar even now.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like I've said, we're gonna cover the blackout ripper to a couple people. And they're like, oh, what's that?

[Ash]

I know. I've literally never heard of it.

[Elena]

You had never heard of it. Nobody had ever heard of it. And this is what it is. A potato peeler that I couldn't move.

[Ash]

That's the thing somehow that I was.

[Elena]

Focused on because he's using just kitchen items.

[Ash]

Oh, God.

[Elena]

Like, he's just using what is around.

[Ash]

This is.

[Elena]

Which is even more up that this man is coming in. He knows he can strangle them to death. So he's not worried about. He. He doesn't seem to be worried about, like, the end result he knows he can probably get the end result, but he's just coming in there being like, I'll just use what's around, like potato peeler, razor, candle.

[Ash]

I can't even begin.

[Elena]

Tin can opener, broken mirror.

[Ash]

To somebody like, oh my God. Yeah, yeah. That poor, poor woman. Thank God her daughter didn't see that.

[Elena]

That's the thing. That's the thing.

[Ash]

I don't know how you would ever go on.

[Elena]

No. Even think you do.

[Ash]

Hearing what had happened to her mother.

[Elena]

To like, oh my God, like, how do you even.

[Ash]

I'm speechless right now.

[Elena]

She's 15.

[Ash]

That's the other thing. 15, in the middle of the war, like motherless.

[Elena]

Yeah. And her mom had been like, you know, just trying to make ends, like, just trying to. And keep her in boarding school, too. Like pay to keep her in boarding school because. So fingerprints were found in the apartment and again, left handed. So they're connecting it now. Yeah, but that wasn't. And obviously she had some commonalities with the other victims. But until the early 1930s, Margaret and her husband had been relatively wealthy, living off an income from the dry goods store and boarding house that they had owned together. But her husband died in 1932 and the income quickly went away and Margaret found herself desperate to support herself and her daughter. So she turned to sex work. This was not in. Again. She was. Her daughter was going to boarding school and she wanted to keep her in boarding school, so she did this to keep her daughter where she was safest.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Now, this was not the first time that she'd relied on sex work for income, but she was kind of hoping to have left it behind when she met her husband and, like, started a family. Yeah. And she did. Until he died.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Which is really just like, I feel so bad because, like, you know, she didn't want to.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

Now, the similarities between the victims weren't lost on the press. One reporter wrote. The three West End murders have all been discovered within an area of just over one square mile as each woman was strangled. The possibility that all three were the victims of the same person cannot be ruled out. There were, of course, other details about the cases that the press hadn't made even been aware of at the time. And it probably would have only strengthened their belief that the women were victims of the same man. But there was really not a lot of time to consider all the connections between the cases because another victim was discovered just hours after Margaret Lowe's body had been found.

[Ash]

My God. I can't imagine the police just going from scene to scene like this, just.

[Elena]

One after the other after the other.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And that's where we're going to end part one, just because I think there's a lot in here and it's very heavy. Seriously. But this is. I mean, luckily, you know, he gets caught.

[Ash]

That's.

[Elena]

He will get caught. It's shocking when he's caught because he's, he's not like, he's, he's not a walking monster on the outside.

[Ash]

He's obviously like, yeah, good looking enough to have charmed these women, normal looking enough and normal seeming enough that no.

[Elena]

One'S batting an eye.

[Ash]

And he's in the Air Force. Like, he had to have passed some kind of. I don't know how that worked back then, actually.

[Elena]

I don't either.

[Ash]

I know now you have to pass so many tests to be cleared to be part of the military.

[Elena]

I think you still needed to pass, I was gonna say. So it's like.

[Ash]

So he passed some of those tests and it's like, geez Louise.

[Elena]

It's just the Jack the Ripper case is so brutal and like, so vicious and like, it's shocking when you go through it bit by bit and find out the injuries to these women. And then like, this is just like. Because you can't, you can't help but compare the two because they're in the same, you know, relative, you know, corner of the world.

[Ash]

Sure.

[Elena]

Not like, you know, too far away in time. Like, victim profile, it's the same kind of victim profile. It's the same motive, almost like frenzy when it comes to, like, how quickly and how many victims he was ranking up here.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

But it's like, there's just like. So you. He has to be such an evil.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like, he has to be such an.

[Ash]

Evil to use a potato peeler on somebody to stab somebody with a bread knife. I mean, to kill anybody, obviously, but the lengths that he's going to and like, you know, assaulting, sexually assaulting them with these objects and.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Oh, my God. It's. I think this is definitely up there with some of the most brutal cases that you have covered.

[Elena]

I agree. I was shocked.

[Ash]

I am shocked right now. I think it's good that we're ending here for part one because I think. Damn. Should we bring back palette cleansers?

[Elena]

I know, Seriously, I think everybody needs.

[Ash]

A quick palette cleanser. So go listen to the re watcher for that.

[Elena]

Yeah. And part two, there's. There's more. He's not done. So part two is not, you know, just the arrest and all that. It's. He's not done right and he's as brutal.

[Ash]

I'm very excited to hear the part where he gets caught and sentenced to so many years in prison. Yeah, I hope all the years.

[Elena]

All the years. Hope he's still there.

[Ash]

Yeah, well, yeah. Okay, well thanks for listening and we.

[Elena]

Hope you keep it weird.

[Ash]

Oh, but not so weird that this I'm so shocked that I can't actually even speak.

[Elena]

Yeah, it was just like am I.

[Ash]

Supposed to say something not that weird?

[Elena]

No, not that weird.

[Ash]

Never that. We don't have to tell you that.

[Elena]

No. You know sat.

[Ash]

If you like morbid you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.