John Reginald Halliday Christie was born on 8th April, 1899 in Halifa, Yorkshire. John's father was a carpenter and he was the 5th of seven kids. His father was very strict and had little to no tolerance towards his kids. John was a bit of a loner growing up and was often bullied by other kids.
What really affected John's upbringing, was his grandfather's funeral which he attended when he was only 8. It was his first experience with death and John later stated that it had a profound effect on him. In his teen years he would roam around the cemetery in his past time to be closer to the dead.
At the age of 15 he left school and worked as a movie projectionist for a while. At 18 he was called up to the army to serve in WWI.
In 1919, John left the army and joined the post office. That is when he met a woman by the name of Ethel and they got married. But apparently it didn't last very long for them due to John's infidelity.
So later he moved to London. During this time John went to jail many times for small crimes. In 1938, the couple got back together and moved to the ground floor of 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill.
Things were going good for them for a while but then in 1939, John was called up again to serve in WWII. This time he worked as a special constable in the war reserve police. John said that the uniform gave him a lot of power.
In 1943, John's wife left the town for a bit. So John decided to get back to his old self. One night he brought a 17 year old sex worker home. And when she wasn't looking, he proceeded to strangle her with a rope. First he tried to dispose of the boy in his house but failed. Then he waited for his neighbors to fall asleep then he dragged her body outside and buried the body in his garden. The girl's body was found nearly a decade later.
Later he went on to work as a clerk. And there he met a 31 year old woman and one night he invited her over to his house. He made her feel comfortable before making her unconscious with coal gas fumes. Then he proceeded to assault her and later strangled her with a stocking. Then he buried her beside his first victim.
In 1948, a truck driver, Timothy Evans along with his wife Beryl and their 14 month old moved next to John and Ethel. The couples soon became friends. One day Beryl told John that she was pregnant but couldn't keep the baby. So John told her that he can perform an abortion on her.
But during the abortion something went extremely wrong and Beryl passed away. Many believe that John intentionally killed her.
Weirdly enough, Beryl's husband went to the police station and told them that he had killed her and shoved her body down the drain.
So the police went to the house to investigate. They found her body in the bathroom and they even found her 14 month child's body beside her. When the police told Timothy this he was shocked and completely flipped his story. He told them that in reality, John was the one who had killed his wife and children.
Regardless, they took him to court and he pled guilty. In 1950 he was hanged for murder that he probably did not commit. It was said that he had a very low IQ and that was exactly what John took advantage of.
In 1952, the couple was on very bad terms again. So on the morning of December 4, 1952 John decided to kill his wife. John strangled Ethel in her sleep and killed her. Then he buried her under the floorboards of their flat.
Few days after, when John needed money he sold all his belongings, including his dead wife's things and started a life of full freedom. John during this time murdered more women. So, he would go out at night, bring sex workers back to his place, torture them and eventually murder them.
It was alleged that John had sexual relations with the victims body. Later he would either stuff their bodies in the alcove of the kitchen or in the floorboards like his wife.
In 1953, John moved out of his house of horrors and went traveling through west London. But apparently for John, when the new owners of the apartment moved in, it didn't take them long to discover the bodies. They called in the police and soon they found the bodies of all his victims. They started a manhunt for John.
But he was found sooner rather than later. One night when he was roaming around the streets a police officer saw him and arrested him.
After his arrest John claimed that those murders were all mistakes and were all accidental. Regardless he pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
John's trial began on 22nd June, 1953 and after 3 days he was sentenced to death for 4 murders. On July 15th, 1953 John was hanged at Pentonville prison.
And that was the end of the Whisper Killer of England.
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