The Infamous Acid Bath Murders

 The Story of John George Haigh

The man who almost committed the perfect murders

Well quite unusually for me this is a solved crime case but nevertheless has some great history and bearing in mind my investigations into religious cults, this one is very relevant.

John George Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England in 1909 and was brought up in West Riding, Yorkshire. Now interestingly his parents and family were dedicated, fervent members of The Plymouth Brethren church but more of that later.

In 1945 Haigh began a killing spree that ended in him being famously known as "The Acid Bath Murderer", although he did not actually kill using the acid baths.

Although Haigh was convicted of killing six victims, it is widely believed that actually, he was more likely to have been responsible for a total of nine murders over a span of four years.

John George Haigh was not only a killer but also a fraudster on quite a large scale, he would either shot or battered his victims to death then "made them vanish" by placing the bodies into Sulphuric Acid and literally dissolving them.

He then forged signatures on documents that ultimately enabled him to sell large quantities of his victim's possessions and rake in the money. 

Now from the evidence that I have been able to gather thus far, it seems that Haigh suffered a lot of nightmares and night terrors with regard to his strict religious upbringing in the Plymouth Brethren sect and this may have had some bearing on his dreadful murderous behaviour in later life.

He always openly spoke of his very strict childhood back home in West Riding and how his very religious parents had put up a fence, some seven feet in height around the family home in order to stop John from mixing with other local children, that were not from their religious sect. Seems that even in those early days the Plymouth Brethren were very much exclusive and did not allow members to have contact with the "worldly" people of society.

John George Haigh was executed for six counts of murder in 1949

The information surrounding the case is not clear but it would seem that Haigh most likely left the Plymouth Brethren in his late teens or early adulthood as having won a scholarship to the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield, West Yorkshire then went on to win a further scholarship to The Wakefield Cathedral where he was a choirboy.

Haigh married Beatrice Hamer in July 1934 but that did not really last very long after he was sent to prison for fraud. Beatrice gave birth to a girl whilst her husband was incarcerated but gave the child up for adoption.

From that point on it seems Haigh's own family completely banished him from their lives and thus very much alone he headed off to live in London. In 1936 he found himself a job as a chauffeur to a wealthy businessman. 

Of course, Haigh was greedy and wasn't satisfied with an average working wage like anyone else so he set up a fake business trading as a solicitor calling himself William Cato Adamson. He claimed to have offices in Guildford, Surrey, Chancery Lane, London and Hastings, Sussex. 

As part of that "business", he sold off valuable shares on The Stock Market that had originally belonged to his deceased clients by keeping the prices below the going rate. His scam was only revealed after a discerning client spotted a small error in that Haigh had misspelt the word Guildford on his headed paper and had in fact printed Guilford, he was then arrested and carted off to prison for another four-year sentence. 

After another few arrests and short stints in prison, Haigh realised that he was actually making a grave error and getting caught because his victims were still alive and could expose his crimes, hence his murder spree began. It seems that he was not the ideal friend, particularly if you were a rich person or had valuable possessions, as he would probably kill to get his hands on them.

I must say that my heart does go out to the families of the victims as they would not only have lost a loved one who was dear to them but there could be no funeral or place of rest at all. It really doesn't bear thinking about. I guess that Haigh assumed that if there was no sign of a body or remains then there was no evidence of murder.

John George Haigh really lived the high life in London using his victim's money, he lived in a very smart hotel and explained his wealth by saying he was an inventor and civil engineer, which no one seemed to question.

He would wine and dine his "friends" and really get to know them, he would take them to exclusive events such as concerts at high-class venues like the Royal Albert Hall. If you were his friend he would ensure he avoided the subjects of your money status and your finances until he really knew you and gained your complete trust, a very clever man indeed.

Once he had established a good rapport he would then discreetly establish what property his victims owned, where their money was invested and where he could find the valuables.

Haigh had a little workshop which he rented in Leopold Road, Crawley, West Sussex where if the mood took him he may take a potential "client" to show them his work. Sadly, if you were one of the unfortunate visitors to his den, then the chances are once you got there and the door was closed, you'd never be seen again. You were very likely to end up with a bullet sunken into your brain and your body plunged into a bath of pure sulphuric acid until there was just a small pool of sludge left.

After being released from prison in 1943 Haigh had begun to work in an engineering company and by chance, he met with his former boss William McSwan, he was then introduced to McSwan's parents, Amy and Donald. They were very rich and owned a number of expensive properties which the former boss collected the rents for. 

Haigh became very envious of McSwan and as a result on September 6th 1944, McSwan vanished. John had talked him into going to the basement of 70 Gloucester Road, London SW7, where he hit him over the head and killed him. McSwan's body was then thrown into a massive oil drum filled with Sulphuric Acid and destroyed.

Of course, then Haigh moved into his former boss's house and lived the high life there for a while. He then went onto to kill Amy and Donald and dispose of them in the same way that's when he moved into a hotel in Kensington, London having sold the McSwan property portfolio for a considerable sum of approximately eight thousand pounds. 

John Haigh then become somewhat addicted to gambling and began to run short of money so he then killed Doctor Archibold Henderson and his wife Rose. Haigh actually used a revolver that he had stolen from the doctor whilst at the Henderson family house warming party. He did the same thing to Mrs Henderson, having enticed her to his workshop on the rouse that her husband had been taken unwell there. 

Having killed the Hendersons, Haigh forged signatures on a document that somehow enabled him to sell their property and things of value. According to some reports he kept the dog and their car which I feel could have been a mistake but I guess by that time he had become careless and greedy.

The final victim so far as can be ascertained was a resident of the hotel where John lived. Mrs Olive Durand Deacon was a widow whose husband had died during the second world war and was pretty well off. She was a former suffragette and although by then a respectable lady, she had spent a night in police custody once after a bit of a fracas during a suffragette campaign. 

Mrs Durand Deacon was keen to try to produce a range of false fingernails and patent them, Haigh showed big interest in the project of course and he lured her to his workshop to look at some blueprints that he had produced for the scheme. Needless to say, the plan was somewhat different and in fact the lady was never seen again.

John Haigh made his final mistake by taking the concerned best friend of Mrs Durand Deacon to the police station to report her missing, Unfortunately for him, a woman police sergeant became very suspicious of John's attitude and initiated an investigation. 

Cold, devious John George Haigh wasn't quite as smart as he believed

A police investigation began at Haigh's workshop and a sharp-eyed detective spotted some rather unusual stones amongst the gravel outside in the courtyard. These stones were, in fact, gall stones and false teeth from the remains of Mrs Durand Deacon.

When the police searched the actual workshop building they discovered a huge steel drum, several large containers of Sulphuric Acid, n apron spattered with acid splashes and a revolver. 

Haigh immediately confessed to killing six people and disposing of them in acid, explaining that he would wait for two days then pour the remaining acid and human sludge down the drains or out into the yard in front of the workshop. 

John also told the police that he always kept a small sharp knife with him when he did the killings as he liked to drink a cup of the victim's still warm blood before he disposed of them. 

It is thought that the vampire-like claims of drinking blood may have just been a last tactical attempt by Haigh to avoid the death penalty by pleading criminal insanity and thus being sent to Broadmoor secure hospital for life. A knife was found in the glove compartment of John's car but in those days there was no way to tell whether it had any traces of the victim's blood on it.

Haigh was sentenced to be hanged for his heinous crimes but he spent his final days ensuring that he was known as the killer vampire who drank the blood of his victims having gained access to their money and valuables, learned to copy their signatures before completely disposing of all trace of them, well almost.

Eerily John George Haigh was well-liked and made friends wherever he went, even the chaplain who prayed for him in his cell just moments before he went to the gallows spoke affectionately of him and his parents forgave him in faith and certain hope that God would forgive him in the hereafter. 

It's a strange old world and I see many cases as I do my job but I have to say I have seen a pattern emerge when it comes to people that commit crime after being connected with unusual religious sects and cults and The Plymouth Brethren certainly have a few under their belts.

I will be back with a case of an unsolved murder in Lincolnshire in the coming days so I will see you again very soon.

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