1 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,640 Murder's the darkest and most despicable crime of all, 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,080 and yet we're attracted to it. 3 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,480 Grisly crimes like these would appal us 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,080 if we encountered them in real life. 5 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:24,320 But something happens when they're turned into stories 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,360 and safely placed between the covers of a book. 7 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,840 If you think about people's reaction 8 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,200 to notorious killers like Dr Crippen, 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,520 or to great detectives like Sherlock Holmes or Poirot, 10 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:41,960 you'll see that this preoccupation with murder has a very long history. 11 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,600 In this series, I'll trace its origins 12 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,080 back to the sprawling London of the early 19th century, 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,880 when newspapers first began to delight in reporting murder 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:57,440 to a frightened public. 15 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:03,240 An appetite for sensation developed as Britain became more literate, 16 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,840 and working-class people were starting to be able to read. 17 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,080 I'll show how all this had a huge influence on Charles Dickens, 18 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,600 who turned murder and its detection 19 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,520 into a suitable subject for literature, 20 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,320 and how the detective writers who followed, 21 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:23,960 from Conan Doyle to Agatha Christie, distanced murder 22 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:25,440 from sordid reality. 23 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,080 They turned it into an elegant kind of crossword puzzle, 24 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,320 involving the most respectable of suspects. 25 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,000 In this first programme, I want to begin not with fiction, 26 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 but with real-life murder, 200 years ago. 27 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,920 Grasmere, in the Lake District. 28 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:17,520 In 1811, the writer Thomas De Quincey 29 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:22,280 was renting a cottage from his friend, the poet William Wordsworth, 30 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:23,840 when something happened 31 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,240 to shatter the tranquillity of this lakeside village. 32 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,240 A young family had been murdered - 33 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:35,560 not here, but 300 miles away in the docklands of London. 34 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:40,880 Yet the news shocked Grasmere, because this was something new, 35 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,880 a senseless and motiveless murder by a stranger 36 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,120 of four people, all at once. 37 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,120 In the preceding year, 1810, 38 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:54,560 there had only been 15 convictions for murder in the whole of Britain. 39 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,040 De Quincey was struck by the effect this crime had 40 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,280 on the good people of Grasmere. 41 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:04,880 "One lady, my next door neighbour, 42 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,560 "never rested until she had placed 18 doors, 43 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,920 "each secured by ponderous bolts and bars and chains, 44 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:16,800 "between her own bedroom and any intruder of human build. 45 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:22,800 "At every sixth step, one was stopped by a sort of portcullis." 46 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:30,000 But De Quincey noticed something else besides fear 47 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,120 in the reaction to this murder. 48 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,160 There was an element of ghoulish enjoyment. 49 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,240 He felt that the British 50 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:42,520 were turning into a nation of what he called murder-fanciers. 51 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,240 Quincey began to define what made a good murder, 52 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,920 breathlessly describing the ultra-fiendishness of the crime 53 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,520 and revelling in the murderer's "tiger's heart". 54 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,120 The murder that repulsed and gripped in equal measure 55 00:03:58,120 --> 00:03:59,400 took place in December, 56 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,680 near the church of St George's in the East, 57 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,080 at 29, the Ratcliff Highway, Wapping. 58 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,600 The family who lived here were terribly young. 59 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,760 Timothy Marr was a former sailor. He was just 25. 60 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,120 His wife, Celia, had recently given birth to their baby boy, 61 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,960 and they also had an apprentice, James, who was 14. 62 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,520 On the evening of 7th December, just before midnight, 63 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,000 the Marr family sent out their servant, Margaret Jewell, 64 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,440 into the poorly-lit neighbourhood to buy oysters, 65 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:46,200 not then a luxury, but a cheap and nutritious type of street food. 66 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,000 Her journey was fruitless. 67 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,840 There were no oysters to be had at this late hour. 68 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,520 On her return, she found that she had been locked out. 69 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:00,320 Margaret banged on the front door 70 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,680 and called out for the Marrs to open up. 71 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:08,760 While Margaret the maid was waiting to be let in, 72 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:12,160 she heard a sound inside the house. 73 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,440 She heard footsteps, and the crying of the baby. 74 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,560 But nobody came to let her in. 75 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,280 She was still waiting outside at half past midnight 76 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:26,200 when the night watchman came by. 77 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,080 Their conversation and Margaret's banging 78 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,120 woke up the next door neighbour, a pawnbroker, 79 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,280 and it was he who eventually got access to the house 80 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:39,160 by climbing over the wall and coming in through the back door. 81 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,440 The Marrs' next door neighbour now started to search the house, 82 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,320 and very soon, he came across the body of James, the apprentice. 83 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,240 His head had been bashed in, 84 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,120 so much so that his brains were splattered on the ceiling. 85 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:02,760 Then he found Mrs Marr, Celia. 86 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,240 She was face down, crushed up against the front door. 87 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,280 Then behind the shop counter, there was Mr Marr, also face down, 88 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:13,360 just as dead as the rest of them. 89 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,480 A little crowd had gathered outside the front door, 90 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,440 so the neighbour now went running out. He shouted "Murder! Murder!" 91 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:25,040 These people outside knew the Marr family, and they had a question. 92 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:26,160 Where was the baby? 93 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,680 The baby was still in his cradle... 94 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:35,440 but his throat had been slit. 95 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,080 Into this scene of slaughter came Constable Charles Horton, 96 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,040 from the nearby marine police office at Wapping. 97 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:50,600 After searching the shop, 98 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,560 Horton concluded that no money had been taken. 99 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,160 He then explored the rest of the house. 100 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,360 When he reached the bedroom, he discovered the murder weapon, 101 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:07,720 a maul, leaning against a chair. 102 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:12,520 A maul is a special type of mallet used by ships' carpenters. 103 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:14,040 It was covered with blood. 104 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,760 The Marrs' shop and home was now turned into a morgue, 105 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,160 and it was also open to the public. 106 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,080 In the days following the murder, 107 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,880 hundreds of people traipsed through to look at the bloodstains, 108 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:38,440 even to gawp at the bodies which were laid out upon the beds. 109 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:43,720 All ranks in society came, from the richest to the very poorest. 110 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,400 This sort of access to a crime scene 111 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,480 would be utterly inconceivable today. 112 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:54,880 This parade of neighbours and strangers through the murder scene 113 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,320 was motivated by fear, by curiosity 114 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,600 and a feeling that they too should look for clues 115 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:02,520 and help to solve the crime. 116 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,000 Regency London, which was expanding rapidly, 117 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,000 had no centralised police force. 118 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,000 Policing relied on night watchmen and constables, 119 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,000 paid for by local parishes. 120 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,640 Magistrates had to depend on witnesses 121 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,520 willing to come forward with information. 122 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:25,040 The overcrowded streets of the East End teemed with foreign sailors. 123 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,160 Crime was rising, 124 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:30,040 but people were more worried about disease, destitution or war 125 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,360 than they were about being murdered. 126 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,640 But now, locals began to fear every stranger in their midst. 127 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,800 Without the murderer being quickly apprehended, 128 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:40,960 fear would soon turn to panic. 129 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,960 To discover more about the problems faced by the authorities 130 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,320 in a case like the killing of the Marrs, 131 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:54,360 I've come to meet Rosalind Crone 132 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,880 at the Marine Police Museum in Wapping, 133 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,000 still located in its original 1811 building. 134 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:07,880 What have you got there in that big book? 135 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:09,800 This is what we call a register, 136 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,120 which lists all the constables who were working 137 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,560 for the Thames River Police, or the Marine Police, 138 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:18,400 in the early 19th century. 139 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,600 So if we look down the ledger here, 140 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:22,800 we can see the name of Charles Horton. 141 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,560 And he's the man who responds to the Marrs' murder? He is. 142 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:29,760 He's the first constable on the scene. 143 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,040 The Marine Police were employed specifically 144 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:38,240 to protect the docks and ships' cargoes from light-fingered locals. 145 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,680 It was just by chance that their man, Horton, 146 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:42,920 was near to the Marrs' shop. 147 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,440 You've picked up the cutlass that men would have carried for... 148 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,760 Defence? Protection, yes. 149 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,920 And he would have had a little set of handcuffs, too. 150 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:53,360 I don't think they were expecting 151 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,640 to capture too many female criminals through those. 152 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,040 No, you'd slip out of those easily. Straight on and off. 153 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:01,600 And they were only one of many. 154 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,760 There were thousands of these small proto-police forces across London? 155 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,360 Yes. What we've got to remember about the early 19th century is, 156 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:11,960 we are dealing with old policing structures, 157 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:18,160 as opposed to a police force, which comes in in about the late 1820s. 158 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,800 So we have, basically, policing at a local level, 159 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:23,200 often the parish level, 160 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:26,200 with the employment of a small number of constables 161 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,840 and then a larger force of night watchmen. 162 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:33,280 We've got to remember that these constables are mainly reactive. 163 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,960 They're not active. They're not detectives. 164 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,920 And we are dealing with a murder here that was particularly horrendous 165 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,000 and pretty much unheard of among the local community. 166 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,760 This is a really shocking act. 167 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,160 What did people think of the response of the authorities? 168 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:51,200 Lacking. They hadn't caught anyone yet, 169 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,400 and it gave people a real sense of fear, 170 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:55,520 but also a sense of anger, 171 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,280 because the authorities looked like they weren't doing enough. 172 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:00,200 They hadn't caught the perpetrator. 173 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,560 He was still out there at large, and could commit another crime. 174 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:09,080 To find the killer, the authorities relied on rewards. 175 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,320 In Wapping, the magistrates first offered a reward of ã50. 176 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,800 Then other parishes and the Home Office 177 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:19,120 chipped in to increase this to ã700, a staggering sum. 178 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,200 How did the news spread outside the immediate neighbourhood? 179 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:26,880 How did it get outside London? 180 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:28,080 When a crime happened, 181 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,360 especially a particularly notorious crime such as this one, 182 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:35,080 with fairly salacious details, news spreads quickly - 183 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:36,560 first of all through newspapers, 184 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:39,280 newspapers that are mainly bought by more affluent people 185 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:40,960 because they're quite expensive. 186 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:46,720 A key thing is that you don't have to be able to read to get the news? 187 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,120 That's right. News is read aloud. 188 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,320 Newspapers are read aloud in public houses and coffee shops. 189 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,480 Some people in streets would club together to buy a newspaper 190 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:56,920 and read it to each other. 191 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,480 The Marrs' neighbours in the East End 192 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:11,200 showed an admirable sense of community in the face of their fear. 193 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,080 Seven days after the slaying of the Marrs, 194 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,920 thousands lined the streets to pay their respects. 195 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,680 The funeral cortege made its way through Wapping 196 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:27,920 to the parish church of St George's in the East. 197 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:36,440 There was a terrible sense of outrage and shock after this crime. 198 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:40,320 The victims were killed in their own home by strangers. 199 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,280 Nobody around here felt safe. 200 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:45,600 There was also a good deal of sympathy 201 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,760 for this young, hard-working, respectable family. 202 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:51,360 Only two months earlier, 203 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,640 Mr and Mrs Marr had been at the church 204 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:55,800 for the christening of their son. 205 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:59,760 Now, all three of them were buried in a single grave. 206 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,120 Their tombstone has disappeared, 207 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:07,280 but their epitaph read "Life is uncertain in this world". 208 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:29,680 Though deep in mourning, the East End was chilled by the realisation 209 00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:34,120 that a brutal murderer remained at large, and might strike again. 210 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,520 And then, only 12 days after the killing of the Marrs, 211 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:48,520 it seemed that the same murderer visited Wapping a second time. 212 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,360 On 19th December, a very strange sight was seen 213 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,800 outside the King's Arms pub in New Gravel Lane. 214 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,240 The lodger who lived on the top floor of the pub 215 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,200 started climbing out of the window. 216 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,200 He came down a rope that was made by his bedsheets. 217 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,240 People passing by in the streets stopped and stared at him, 218 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:10,080 wondering what was going on. 219 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:12,400 It became clear when they heard what he was saying. 220 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:14,400 He was shouting "Murder! Murder!" 221 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,240 A crowd soon gathered and forced its way in. 222 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,560 Inside, they found the bodies of the publican, John Williams, 223 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:27,640 his wife and his servant. 224 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,800 Like the Marrs, they had been hacked and beaten to death. 225 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:35,320 That night, there was pandemonium. 226 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,480 Fire bells were rung and drums were beaten in alarm. 227 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,280 Volunteers armed with cutlasses and pistols 228 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,160 searched houses and boats moored on the Thames. 229 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:48,080 Even London Bridge was closed. 230 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,400 The desperate magistrates now demanded 231 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,840 that anyone at all suspicious be picked up - 232 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,600 foreigners, vagrants, all the usual suspects. 233 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,480 Valuable time was wasted on false leads. 234 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:06,000 And people were starting to grow angry with the authorities, 235 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,520 who failed to protect their community 236 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,120 from what now looked like a serial killer. 237 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,200 But at last, there was a breakthrough. 238 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:18,920 A sharp-eyed police constable 239 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,320 noticed a clue on the murder weapon itself, 240 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,200 not before time, you might think. 241 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,960 He spotted initials on the handle, JP, 242 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:30,640 and a woman came forward to say that she knew who JP was. 243 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,960 It was John Peterson, a sailor from Hamburg. 244 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,800 But, it has to be said, he had the perfect alibi. 245 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,760 On the night of the killings, he had been away at sea. 246 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,800 Another lodger, a 27-year-old seaman called John Williams, 247 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,160 quickly became the prime suspect, 248 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,720 from no other evidence than that he'd had access to the maul. 249 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:58,040 Williams was arrested 250 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,320 and taken to Cold Bath Fields prison for questioning. 251 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,440 Two days after Christmas, 252 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,400 the prison guards found his lifeless body 253 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,000 hanging from an iron bar in his cell. 254 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,400 Because John Williams had committed suicide, 255 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:22,960 everybody instantly jumped to the conclusion 256 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,000 that this was an admission of guilt. 257 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,560 He killed himself to cheat the hangman. 258 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,960 The police and the magistrates were delighted with this outcome. 259 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,680 They'd really needed to reassure Londoners 260 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,880 that the killer was off the streets and that the case had been solved. 261 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:42,440 At the same time, though, they had been denied the proper trial 262 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,280 and execution to provide a sense of closure. 263 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,400 On New Year's Eve, 1811, 264 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:55,600 a cart bearing John Williams' body left the prison 265 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,680 and made its way through the streets of Wapping. 266 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:03,520 It was a very public display 267 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,200 that the authorities had at last got their man. 268 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,720 Shops were shut, and blinds were drawn. 269 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,680 There is little evidence that Williams really was guilty, 270 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:18,360 but scapegoat or not, 271 00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:21,720 his dead body was used to placate the people of Wapping. 272 00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:27,440 When the procession reached the home of the Marrs, it came to a halt. 273 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:32,040 The cart with the murderer's body was now directly outside their home. 274 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,360 Here's the murder weapon, the bloodied maul, 275 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:38,960 positioned by his head. At this point, 276 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,560 one of the members of the crowd leaped up onto the cart, 277 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:44,760 and they twisted his body around 278 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,800 so that he had to look at the home of his victims. 279 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,760 It was as if the crowd were forcing him 280 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:54,120 to confront the consequences of his actions. 281 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,160 This ritual of punishment ended here 282 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:02,360 at the crossroads of old Cannon and Cable Street. 283 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,640 At the end of the procession, the crowd did find its voice. 284 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,320 There were groans and cheers and shouts 285 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,920 as John Williams' body was lowered into a shallow grave 286 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:16,040 at the centre of the crossroads, 287 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,080 and then a stake was hammered through his heart. 288 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,600 This was traditionally what you did to a suicide, 289 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,960 to stop his or her ghost from wandering around. 290 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,920 But John Williams' skeleton did go wandering. 291 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,760 A couple of decades later, gas pipes were installed along here, 292 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:35,480 and the workmen digging the hole discovered his bones. 293 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,720 His skull somehow ended up in the possession of the landlord 294 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,280 at the Crown and Dolphin. 295 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,040 The horror in Wapping reached all corners of the country 296 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:54,760 through illustrated, one-sheet publications called broadsides. 297 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,520 These sold in their hundreds of thousands. 298 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,200 Newspaper proprietors realised that sensational killings 299 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,640 could boost circulation enormously. 300 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,920 But fact and fiction became blurred. 301 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,120 By the time the Ratcliff Highway story reached the Lake District, 302 00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:22,400 the murders had taken on an almost mythic quality, 303 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:24,440 a process that did not go unnoticed 304 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,840 by Grasmere's most curious resident, Thomas De Quincey. 305 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,440 Thomas de Quincey was a complete oddball. 306 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:36,200 He was addicted to opium, 307 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:40,440 and spent a lot of his time in a sort of crazy, creative dream. 308 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,800 He was an unconventional, but rather brilliant writer. 309 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,520 Some people think the two things are connected. 310 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,280 When he was living here at Dove Cottage, he would produce 311 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:54,200 the best-known piece of writing about the Ratcliff Highway killings. 312 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:02,360 Thomas De Quincey's essay on murder was basically a great, big tease. 313 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:05,960 He was setting out to provoke all the newspaper readers 314 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:10,680 who had sucked up the details of the real-life crimes and relished them. 315 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,640 De Quincey claimed that there was this imaginary murder club 316 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,080 for people who took things even further. 317 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:18,960 They were connoisseurs of crime, 318 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:22,040 and they believed that murder ought to be elevated 319 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:26,280 into one of the fine arts. This was all satirical, of course. 320 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,440 At their meetings, they talked about their favourite murderers, 321 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:31,840 and top of the tree was John Williams, 322 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,240 the most accomplished practitioner yet of this new act. 323 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:43,240 "Mr Williams has exalted the ideal of murder to all of us. 324 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,840 "He has carried his art to a point of colossal sublimity. 325 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:53,160 "All other murders look pale beside the deep crimson of his. 326 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:56,280 "Leave aside morality after the deed is done. 327 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,240 "Why not enjoy a good murder?" 328 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,560 De Quincey's satirical musings on the dark side of human nature 329 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,320 might well have been fuelled by his heavy, 330 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,400 if not excessive, use of opium. 331 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:19,800 This amazing thing is Thomas De Quincey's set of opium scales. 332 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,600 Today, his drug-taking sounds really squalid and debauched. 333 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,560 But actually, opium was quite an established part 334 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,280 of 19th-century life. It wasn't illegal. 335 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,160 You could buy the powder at the chemist's, 336 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:36,400 or you might take it in liquid form. 337 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:38,400 This is tincture of opium. 338 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,760 There's actual drugs in there. 339 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:45,360 And this is Kendal Black Drop, a famous local brand. 340 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,240 You might give this to your baby if it cried, 341 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:49,400 or to kill the toothache, 342 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,880 which was how Thomas de Quincey himself got started. 343 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,920 He would take his laudanum, 344 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,640 or tincture, in a glass of brandy, 345 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,080 thereby getting addicted to alcohol at the same time. 346 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,520 And his consumption was extraordinary - 347 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:09,360 8,000 drops a day, we hear, or a whole ounce. 348 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,320 This isn't opium, it's ginger, but that's a whole ounce. 349 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,000 He would take that in a single day. 350 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,760 If you did that without being used to it, it would clearly kill you. 351 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:26,680 Drug-inspired or not, De Quincey gives us a fundamental insight 352 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,000 that we all enjoy a good murder, 353 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,480 although sometimes we're reluctant to admit it. 354 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:36,520 De Quincey skewered this idea that we consume murder, 355 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:41,480 that we judge them, that we like a good one, with vulnerable characters 356 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:43,200 and interesting developments. 357 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:48,600 But if a crime is dull and brutish, as he said, we damn it unanimously. 358 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,320 And this sense that we enjoy murder 359 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,760 runs from De Quincey's time right until the present day. 360 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,760 20 years after the murder in Wapping, 361 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,560 another killing was turned 362 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,080 into one of the 19th century's most potent stories. 363 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:13,920 It would be mythologized 364 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,680 and transformed into popular entertainment 365 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,840 within weeks of the murder itself. 366 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,880 This story played to the growing obsession with violent crime. 367 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,520 It would be acted out not in the turbulent East End, 368 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,960 but in the sleepy Suffolk village of Polstead. 369 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,800 It was here, in 1827, 370 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,640 that a crime took place that still resonates today. 371 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,120 Maria Marten and the murder in the red barn. 372 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:55,200 Maria Marten was the daughter of the local mole catcher. 373 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,720 She lived on the edge of the village with her family 374 00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,360 and her illegitimate child. 375 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,240 In a much grander house at the centre of Polstead 376 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,080 lived the man who would kill her. 377 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,240 This is the much grander house lived in by William Corder. 378 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:16,000 His father was a prosperous and God-fearing yeoman farmer. 379 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,560 In some of the stories that later sprang up around this case, 380 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,560 William Corder was described as the squire of the village, 381 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,200 but this actually makes him sound straighter than he really was. 382 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,480 He did have criminal contacts in London, 383 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:30,320 and when he'd been at school, 384 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,760 his friends had given him a nickname that reflected his sneaky ways. 385 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,480 They called him Foxy. 386 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,880 The third character in the story was the red barn itself, 387 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,640 which stood in a field just outside Polstead. 388 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,320 There is a very melodramatic explanation 389 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,200 of the name of the red barn. 390 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,400 As the sun set, the evening light is supposed 391 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:07,800 to have turned the barn the colour of blood, 392 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,280 giving it the reputation amongst the locals as a place of evil. 393 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:15,880 So it was an ideal place 394 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,720 for secret meetings between William Corder and his lover. 395 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,400 They weren't going to be observed. 396 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,560 Friday, 18th May was the last time 397 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,680 that anyone in Polstead saw Maria alive. 398 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,880 That night, she had a secret rendezvous with William Corder 399 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,920 under the cover of darkness at the red barn. 400 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,680 She thought that they were planning to run off together. 401 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:52,280 For a whole year, as far as Maria's parents knew, she really had eloped. 402 00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:57,520 William Corder even wrote to them saying "I have left her at Ipswich". 403 00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:59,240 Maria couldn't write herself, he said, 404 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:00,640 because she had hurt her wrist. 405 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,680 In April 1828, Maria's stepmother began to have nightmares. 406 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,000 "I have dreamt on three nights that she was murdered 407 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,360 "and buried in the red barn", she said. 408 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,440 This apparent intervention by providence 409 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,840 in the form of Maria's stepmother's dream 410 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,400 would become an important part of the story. 411 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,160 Her father now began a search, 412 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,320 and soon found Maria's decomposing body 413 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,320 in the exact spot the dream predicted. 414 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,480 The prime suspect was, of course, William Corder. 415 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:46,360 He was arrested by the constables in Brentford, outside London, 416 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:49,080 where he had set up home with a new wife. 417 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,760 In the phenomenon De Quincey had identified, 418 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,640 the sordid red barn murder 419 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,720 now provided excellent raw material for entertainment. 420 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,200 And in the 1820s, the most theatrical way 421 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,760 of telling the story of notorious murders was melodrama. 422 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,280 This stylised form of theatre was performed here 423 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:15,840 at the Old Vic in London, 424 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,640 which had opened ten years before the events in Polstead. 425 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,280 The proper name of the theatre was the Royal Coburg, 426 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,760 but because of all the gory murder mysteries they put on here, 427 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,360 everybody called it the Blood Tub. 428 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:32,400 Let's find out how that murder in sleepy Suffolk 429 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:34,880 got turned into a smash hit melodrama. 430 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,320 Melodramas were a heady mix of music and acting. 431 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,520 They had sensational plots, 432 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,640 with actors representing good and evil, 433 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,760 all to a raucous musical accompaniment. 434 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,000 For a modern audience, they were rather like pantomime. 435 00:27:56,120 --> 00:27:58,000 To learn how real-life murder 436 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,720 was turned into this wildly popular form of entertainment, 437 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,280 I've come to meet the actor Michael Kirk. 438 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,240 Michael, what exactly is melodrama? 439 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,080 I suppose if we were describing melodrama nowadays, 440 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,760 we would probably describe it as over the top. 441 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:19,240 A story of great love, great passion...and they meant it. 442 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,000 It was very, very important. 443 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:26,600 The story of a melodrama is, "If we don't do this, we die." 444 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:27,840 It's that important. 445 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,440 And did the audience not mind the basic implausibility? 446 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:34,680 Because we get coincidences, 447 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,160 we get people seeing things in dreams, ghosts. 448 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,320 I think they loved it, because it was so popular. 449 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:45,000 And they loved to know what was going on. 450 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,280 They didn't want mystery or anything like that. 451 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,600 They wanted to know who the villain was, who the heroine was, 452 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:57,960 and that was very important. And they wouldn't just sit there and watch. 453 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,520 They would so much want to be part of the play. 454 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:09,440 The catcalls and the mayhem allowed people to let off steam. 455 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:10,720 Safe in their seats, 456 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,160 the audience always enjoyed seeing justice being done, 457 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,200 the murderer being punished and order restored. 458 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,680 They would expect to jeer the villain, 459 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,360 cheer the young village maiden. 460 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:26,640 It would have been a bloodbath out there. 461 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,680 I think it must have been every man for himself. 462 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,040 And I actually don't think we ought to talk about it any more. 463 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:34,680 We ought to go up there and give it a go. 464 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,280 So it's time for curtain up for Maria Marten, 465 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:42,800 or The Murder In The Red Barn. 466 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,840 Scene the third, inside the red barn. 467 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,640 Corder, discovered digging a grave. 468 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:54,000 Villain's music. 469 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:55,320 SOMBRE MUSIC 470 00:29:55,320 --> 00:30:00,680 All is complete. I now await my victim. Will she come? 471 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,040 Oh, yes. A woman is fool enough 472 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:08,080 to do anything for the man she loves. 473 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,560 Hark! It is her footsteps bounding across the field. 474 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:16,000 She comes with love in her heart, a song on her lips. 475 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:22,280 Little does she think that death is so near. 476 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:24,920 William not here? 477 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:31,800 Where can he be? What ails me? I feel fear in my heart. 478 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:36,320 My limbs tremble. I will return to my home. 479 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:37,800 Stay, Maria. 480 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,280 William! I'm so glad that you are here. 481 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,680 You don't know how frightened I've been. 482 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,960 Did anyone see you cross the fields? Not a soul. 483 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:55,760 I followed your instructions. That's good. Now, Maria, 484 00:30:55,760 --> 00:31:01,040 do you remember threatening to betray me about the child to the constable? 485 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,480 It was but a girlish threat. 486 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:08,240 Tremolo fiddles. 487 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:11,320 But don't talk about that now. Let's leave this place. 488 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,000 Not yet, Maria. 489 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,160 Look what I have made here. 490 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:22,040 A grave! William, what do you mean? 491 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:26,560 To kill you! To bury your body there. 492 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:31,240 You are a clog upon my actions, 493 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,760 a chain that keeps me from reaching ambitious heights. 494 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,320 Spare me! Oh, spare me! 495 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,680 It is no use. My mind's resolved. 496 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:44,000 You die tonight! 497 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,080 Aaagh! 498 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,400 Oh, you wretch! 499 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:55,000 Oh! May this crime forever be accursed. 500 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:57,520 Thunder and lightning. 501 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,040 THUNDER CRASHES 502 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:00,600 Thank you. 503 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:04,960 APPLAUSE 504 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,400 It wasn't only in cities and towns 505 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,880 that people could enjoy murderous melodramas. 506 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:18,600 They also appeared in the repertoire of travelling marionette theatres. 507 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,240 The story of the red barn was being performed at country fairs 508 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:26,200 even before William Corder stood trial. 509 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:31,360 Oh, Maria, hello! You've come! You've come! 510 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:34,840 And these belonged to a company that actually toured East Anglia? 511 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:39,080 Yes, so we know that this company performed Maria Marten. 512 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:43,080 What was it like to go and see a puppet show? 513 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,360 Oh, incredibly exciting. 514 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,120 Not only was it exciting to see the characters, 515 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,440 it was also exciting to see the scenery, 516 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:52,920 because they had proper puppet scenery. 517 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:57,520 It was a miniature version of being in any theatre. 518 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,000 So this is not for children and it's not just funny, 519 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,920 these are important points? Absolutely. 520 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:08,120 They did a whole range of different types of plays. 521 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,600 They did everything that was exciting or amusing the people. 522 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,520 So they did the melodramas and the murders. 523 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,840 People in outlying rural areas 524 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:22,560 would have really looked forward to the marionette theatre coming. 525 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,040 Even from a distance, 526 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,280 you can tell that William Corder here is the villain. 527 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,000 He's got a very villainous moustache. 528 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,000 Yes, and he's got glassy, staring eyes. 529 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:41,120 Oh, William! I cannot wait until we are together. 530 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:45,040 Well, that's what you think, but I haven't brought you here for love. 531 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:49,040 I've brought you here, my girl, to kill you! 532 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,880 Oh, William! Do not treat me so! 533 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,160 Die, woman! 534 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,920 Back in real life, once William Corder had been captured, 535 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:06,080 his story continued. He was brought back to Bury St Edmunds, 536 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,800 the nearest assize town to Polstead. 537 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,240 The trial began on 7th August 1828, 538 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:18,320 in the Shire Hall of Bury St Edmunds. 539 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,280 William Corder initially pleaded not guilty, 540 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,440 but later on, he did confess. 541 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,840 He claimed that he had shot her in the eye by accident, 542 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:30,080 and that the gun had gone off in his trembling hands. 543 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,280 The trial lasted just two days, 544 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,600 and the jury took only 35 minutes to reach their decision. 545 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:42,200 Guilty. 546 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:45,560 On the day of his hanging, 547 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,200 a huge crowd gathered outside the jail, 548 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:51,440 in the hope of catching a glimpse of the villain. 549 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,600 It took William Corder a long time to die, around ten minutes, 550 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,080 and that was with the hangman pulling down on his legs. 551 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,640 As the newspapers said, he died hard. 552 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:09,920 His body was barely cold 553 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:12,920 before the story of William Corder 554 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,200 was featuring in street ballads and alehouse songs. 555 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:22,440 At the Cock Inn in Polstead, I'm meeting Vic Gammon 556 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:26,920 to hear how the story of Murder In The Red Barn was turned into music. 557 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:36,920 ♪ It's William Corder, it is my name 558 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:41,040 ♪ I brought my friends to grief and shame 559 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:45,480 ♪ Unlawful passions caused my fall 560 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:50,160 ♪ And now my life must pay for all. ♪ 561 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:55,440 Now, there's a whole lot of William Corder songs, aren't there, that's not the only one? 562 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,000 No, I've found about four of them. 563 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,400 There's one really famous one. The Murder Of Maria Marten 564 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,240 is the one that really circulated in a large way. 565 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:04,960 It was a national hit, then? 566 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,760 It was a national hit, that's a good way to put it. 567 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,320 It's really the interest in the case, 568 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,880 plus the fact that there was at that time, the 1820s, 569 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:17,480 a strong popular singing tradition - 570 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,960 people singing for themselves, for recreation, for fun - 571 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,360 that meant things like this were a hit. Well, let's have a sing. 572 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:25,960 Yes, let's. 573 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,840 ♪ Come, all you thoughtless young men 574 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,080 ♪ A warning take by me 575 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:38,960 ♪ And think upon my unhappy fate to be hanged upon the tree 576 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:43,640 ♪ My name is William Corder 577 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,880 ♪ To you I do declare 578 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:50,600 ♪ I courted Maria Marten 579 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,520 ♪ Most beautiful and fair. ♪ 580 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,520 Supposing I was a servant in London in 1928 581 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:00,160 and I wanted to learn this song, how would I go about doing it? 582 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,520 The most likely way you would learn it 583 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:04,520 is from a street ballad singer. 584 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:06,480 There were hundreds of these people, 585 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,640 even in the mid-19th century in London. 586 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:11,640 They're not just buskers, 587 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:16,080 because they would both sing and sell the ballad at the same time, 588 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,080 and that's the way you would learn the tune. 589 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:23,400 We have accounts of large crowds of people standing 590 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,320 listening to ballad singers. 591 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:26,520 It's a really good idea, 592 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,360 because if everybody across Britain is singing this, 593 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,920 it's like a massive public safety warning, 594 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,560 saying "Don't go murdering ladies and burying them in barns. 595 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,840 "It will be bad for you. You will die". 596 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,240 Yes! You can look at it that way, 597 00:37:40,240 --> 00:37:43,640 or you can look at it on the way that the popular press 598 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:48,480 both delights in and takes a sort of distanced view 599 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,800 of gory happenings and so on. 600 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,280 There's both the fascination and the warning element in there. 601 00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:55,840 They're both quite strong. 602 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:58,240 The lesson of the song is, though, don't do it, isn't it? 603 00:37:58,240 --> 00:38:01,280 Although they are taking a bit of pleasure 604 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:02,760 in the "bleeding, mangled body". 605 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:05,560 Shall we try the "bleeding, mangled" verse? Yeah, I like that one. 606 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:10,040 ♪ With heart so light she thought no harm 607 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:13,320 ♪ To meet him she did go 608 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:20,520 ♪ He murdered her all in the barn and laid her body low 609 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,640 ♪ And after the horrible deed was done 610 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:27,680 ♪ She lay weltering in her gore 611 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:31,320 ♪ Her bleeding, mangled body he buried 612 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,800 ♪ Beneath the red barn floor. ♪ 613 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:37,280 That's ridiculously ghoulish! 614 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:40,320 The blood, the body, the mangling, ugh! 615 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,480 Murder is not a nice thing, and this is relishing in that detail. 616 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:44,920 The voice of an angel. 617 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:45,960 GLASSES CLINK 618 00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:02,120 Melodramas and broadsides and ballads 619 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,560 had made Polstead infamous. 620 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:08,400 Murder tourists arrived, wanting to visit the village 621 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,520 to see the red barn, and even to touch the grave of poor Maria. 622 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:19,680 This board here tells us that Maria Marten is buried nearby. 623 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:23,040 She was aged just 25 years. 624 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,120 We can't see her actual gravestone 625 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:28,200 because it was chipped to pieces by souvenir hunters, 626 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,160 and there isn't a trace of it left. 627 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,360 As in many a crime story, 628 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:39,680 the murder in the red barn shows that we are more interested 629 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,280 in the character and the deeds of the murderer 630 00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:43,760 than those of the victim. 631 00:39:45,240 --> 00:39:48,560 William Corder's crime created a weird industry 632 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,000 in what we might call murder souvenirs. 633 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,560 Anyone who had the cash 634 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:57,320 could buy one of these ceramic models of the red barn, 635 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:00,280 take it home and have it on your own mantelpiece. 636 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:02,000 Slightly more exclusive 637 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:06,240 were knick-knacks made out of the timbers of the red barn itself. 638 00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:10,200 This is a little snuffbox in the shape of a shoe. 639 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:14,920 The items associated with the crime were more valuable. 640 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:19,600 These were the actual pistols. These are what he used to shoot her. 641 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,280 Ascending up the scale of gruesomeness, 642 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,440 this is a book about William Corder, 643 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:27,880 written by a journalist from The Times. 644 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:31,840 You'd think it was just a book, until you open up the cover 645 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,720 and you read that the leather binding is made 646 00:40:35,720 --> 00:40:38,360 from the skin of the murderer, 647 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:42,000 taken from his body and tanned by a surgeon 648 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,440 from the Suffolk Hospital. 649 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:49,040 But top of the tree, absolutely most gruesome of all, 650 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,880 this is the back of William Corder's head. 651 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,440 It's the skin from his scalp. 652 00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:58,520 You can see on it the little hairs, 653 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,520 and just over here is the murderer's ear. 654 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,160 Phrenologists were also keen to study Corder's head, 655 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,760 because they thought the lumps and bumps on it 656 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,000 represented the homicidal aspects of his personality. 657 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,280 What is this? 658 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:21,560 This is a full 3-D bust of William Corder, taken from death. 659 00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:23,880 It does bear some of the grim signs 660 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:27,600 of his death by strangulation and asphyxiation. 661 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:28,800 If you look at the front 662 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,320 where you can see the lips and the nose are swollen, 663 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:35,840 that is where all the blood vessels are bursting in his face. 664 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,720 Here, you can see someone struggling through death. 665 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:43,880 Tell me what happened to William Corder's body afterwards. 666 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:46,440 He would have probably been left to hang for about an hour, 667 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,960 just to make sure he was certainly dead. 668 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:51,160 Then he would have been taken down to the Shire Hall, 669 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,760 where basically, they would have publicly anatomised him. 670 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,160 So I'm getting an impression of this dead body 671 00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:58,920 being brought into the Shire Hall over there, 672 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:04,680 and swarms of people coming to examine it, all in public? Yes. 673 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:06,640 Presumably, it would have been 674 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:09,640 the same sort of grand day out as the execution. 675 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:11,200 If you missed the execution, 676 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,840 you could go along and watch the body being cut up. 677 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:14,960 It was, in essence, 678 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:19,280 your chance to see a celebrity of the nefarious sort. 679 00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,400 Would you say that he has contributed 680 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:23,960 to the local tourist industry? Absolutely. 681 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,440 Since he's been on display here for the last hundred years, 682 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:29,240 people come in every day saying, 683 00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:31,600 "Have you still got the book bound in skin? 684 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:33,120 "Have you got the bit of skin?" etc. 685 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:34,400 And to be honest, 686 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:36,520 the likes of the community of Polstead 687 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:38,960 still celebrate the story of William Corder 688 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:40,840 and the murder in the red barn. 689 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:45,520 It's really funny to hear you saying "We celebrate our local murderer"! 690 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:50,480 I think it's because the story has gone under so many transitions 691 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:54,360 to become basically so fabricated that it is a story. 692 00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:57,160 And I think we're celebrating the story, 693 00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:01,280 as opposed to the reality of the nastiness of the crime. 694 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:05,280 And it has all the bearings of a great, entertaining play. 695 00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:09,840 The tale of Maria Marten showed 696 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:12,440 how a crime of passion in rural Suffolk 697 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:15,840 could become a national source of entertainment. 698 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:17,640 It elevated William Corder 699 00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:21,320 into one of the most notorious murderers of the century. 700 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:24,880 20 years later, it would be a famous murderess 701 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:28,200 who would similarly enthral the public. 702 00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:31,760 This attractive and apparently cold-hearted woman 703 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:33,760 became infamous for her part 704 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,840 in the crime known as the Bermondsey Horror. 705 00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:41,280 Maria Manning was living 706 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:44,960 at No.3, Miniver Place, Bermondsey, South London, 707 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:46,840 with her husband, Frederick. 708 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:49,160 The year was 1849. 709 00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:52,840 Frederick and Maria Manning 710 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:55,920 were a newly married couple in their late twenties. 711 00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:59,160 Frederick had been a guard on the railways, 712 00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:02,640 and then he had failed in business as a publican 713 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:04,640 and now he was unemployed. 714 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:08,320 His wife, Maria, was much more exotic. 715 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:11,160 She was Swiss, and she had lived the high life as a lady's maid. 716 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:14,760 She had travelled abroad and stayed in stately homes. 717 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:17,280 But she too had fallen on hard times. 718 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:20,480 Now she was making ends meet as a dressmaker. 719 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:24,560 A frequent visitor to the Mannings' house in Miniver Place 720 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:28,040 was Patrick O'Connor. He worked for the Customs, 721 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,840 and he was rumoured to be a very wealthy man. 722 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:35,520 The three of them certainly had a curious relationship. 723 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:39,720 In fact, it was scandalous. This was almost certainly a love triangle. 724 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:45,800 On Thursday, 9th August, Patrick O'Connor told friends 725 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,520 that he had been invited to have dinner with the Mannings. 726 00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:52,760 This was the last time he was seen alive. 727 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:59,120 Sometime during that evening, he was ruthlessly killed. 728 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:02,680 Then, using his keys, Maria went to his lodgings 729 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:07,720 and stole his valuables, including his stock and share certificates. 730 00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:09,080 Four days later, 731 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:14,200 O'Connor was reported missing to a now centralised Metropolitan Police. 732 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,680 On Friday the 17th of August, 733 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:23,840 two police constables got access to 3 Miniver Place. 734 00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,560 They were PC Barnes of the K Division 735 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:30,320 and PC Burson of the M Division, both for the Metropolitan Police. 736 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:33,720 Inside the house, they found a state of confusion. 737 00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:36,520 Whatever furniture had been here had disappeared 738 00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:38,080 and the Mannings were gone. 739 00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,720 The constables reported back that the nest were still here 740 00:45:41,720 --> 00:45:43,000 but the birds had flown. 741 00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:47,440 Their search then took them into the back kitchen. 742 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:51,440 The two police constables had eagle eyes. 743 00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:52,720 In the kitchen, 744 00:45:52,720 --> 00:45:56,560 they noticed that one of the flagstones was loose near the hearth. 745 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:59,600 They soon had it up and there was O'Connor. 746 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:04,520 He was naked, he's been trussed up, he'd been tossed in quicklime 747 00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:06,680 and his dead body was now blue. 748 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:11,640 The hunt for the murderers was now on, 749 00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:16,320 led by the newly formed detective branch of the Metropolitan Police 750 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:18,640 under inspector Charles Field. 751 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:23,360 The Bermondsey horror was a chance for them to prove themselves. 752 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:27,520 First, Field's men had to track the Mannings down. 753 00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:28,720 But where were they? 754 00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:33,600 The Mannings had split up and run in different directions. 755 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:36,040 It seems that Maria had gone off first without 756 00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:40,320 the knowledge of her husband, but with the couple's stolen wealth. 757 00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:43,440 The Mannings had robbed O'Connor and they'd killed him, 758 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:46,720 and on top of that, Maria had double-crossed her husband. 759 00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,320 Maria fled north to Scotland 760 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:54,240 while the hapless Fredrick caught a steamer to the Channel Islands. 761 00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:58,720 To discover more about how the detectives were able to trace 762 00:46:58,720 --> 00:47:02,880 the Mannings, I met up again with Rosalind Crone in south London. 763 00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:08,960 In 1811, when we have the Ratcliff Highway murders, 764 00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:11,480 there's a slightly chaotic response from the authorities 765 00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:14,760 but things are very different by the times of the Mannings, aren't they? 766 00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:18,080 Yes. What we see is a much more joined-up system of policing, 767 00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:21,440 but more significantly they're joined by a new detective force. 768 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:25,680 Now, the Metropolitan Police force in 1829 are meant to be very much 769 00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:28,200 a preventing crime force, 770 00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,880 so they patrol beats and keep a watch over people and property. 771 00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:35,840 The detective force, founded in 1842, is meant to detect crime. 772 00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:37,760 It's a slightly different function. 773 00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:39,800 But they're only a small office at this stage - 774 00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:43,480 about eight man in total in their office in Scotland Yard. 775 00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:46,480 So we've got this new detective squad and they're allowed, actually, 776 00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:48,640 to go after the criminals for the first time. 777 00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:50,760 How did they actually catch Maria? 778 00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:54,240 First of all, the detective sergeant who's sent out to have a 779 00:47:54,240 --> 00:47:57,600 look at the house, is able to track down the cab driver who takes 780 00:47:57,600 --> 00:47:59,120 Maria to the station. 781 00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,600 He's able to figure out that she goes to Euston station 782 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:09,880 and gets on a train bound for Edinburgh. 783 00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:16,160 Then he's able to use telegraphic communications to wire up 784 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:19,080 a message to his colleagues in the Edinburgh police, 785 00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:22,640 putting out a description of Maria which they circulate 786 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:24,360 and are able to track her down. 787 00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:29,920 Maria was arrested in Edinburgh. 788 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:33,880 Shortly afterwards, Frederick was apprehended in St Helier. 789 00:48:35,240 --> 00:48:38,880 This was a coup for the new team at Scotland Yard. 790 00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:42,360 Their success in capturing the Mannings was the first time 791 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:45,480 the public became conscious of their emerging role 792 00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:47,120 investigating homicide. 793 00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:57,360 Beside this square was the site of Horsemonger Lane Gaol 794 00:48:57,360 --> 00:48:59,320 where the Mannings spent their last days. 795 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:04,360 The Mannings became national celebrities, 796 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:07,360 especially the dark, bewitching Maria. 797 00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:13,600 The Times newspaper alone ran 72 articles on the case, and an 798 00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:18,560 illustrated book about the couple sold a colossal 2.5 million copies. 799 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:25,280 What was it that made Maria Manning so fascinating? 800 00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:27,960 Now, Maria Manning - well, part of her fascination is, 801 00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:31,600 of course, because she's a woman and the idea of a female murderess 802 00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:34,640 flies in the face of Victorian notions of femininity. 803 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:37,800 But it's also because she's foreign, and also 804 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:41,160 because she has been a lady's maid in some of the grand houses 805 00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:44,160 and dresses beautifully in these black silk gowns 806 00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:45,840 and she's very attractive. 807 00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:49,840 It seems to me that she's unacceptably ambitious - 808 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,040 she's not happy to just be a servant, 809 00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:55,080 she wants to get married to a rich man, and even better than that 810 00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:57,720 she wants to marry another man that she didn't actually hook. 811 00:49:57,720 --> 00:50:00,600 She's got two men on the go. Yes, yes, that's right. 812 00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:11,440 On 25th October 1849, the Mannings, husband and wife, 813 00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:15,280 were brought to the greatest theatre in the land. 814 00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:19,680 The Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey. 815 00:50:24,640 --> 00:50:27,000 For the ever curious British public, 816 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:29,920 this latest melodrama was reaching its climax. 817 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,480 They'd met a new hero, the detective, 818 00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:36,640 who could hunt down and capture the killer. 819 00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:39,480 And murder itself had entered the modern age. 820 00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:41,600 The perpetrators fleeing by train, 821 00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:45,440 the sleuths tracking them down by telegraph. 822 00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:49,320 The stage was set for the finale the nation had been waiting for. 823 00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:56,280 Numerous distinguished visitors would now turn up to watch the show. 824 00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:58,280 There are members of the House of Lords 825 00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:00,680 and some very grand foreign diplomats 826 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:02,560 like the Austrian Ambassador 827 00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:05,920 and the first secretary to the Prussian delegation. 828 00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:09,240 All the action would happen in Court Number One. 829 00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:26,120 Maria made the fateful climb from the cells below 830 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:30,480 to put in her most important public appearance. 831 00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:35,000 She was dressed to kill in her usual close-fitting dress 832 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:36,840 of fine, black satin. 833 00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:44,160 The charges are read out. 834 00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:48,520 Frederick George Manning is accused of murdering Patrick O'Connor, 835 00:51:48,520 --> 00:51:51,000 aided by his wife, Maria Manning. 836 00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:52,960 Both of them plead not guilty. 837 00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:01,640 The court heard that O'Connor had been shot through the eye 838 00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:06,880 and received 17 blows to the head that had smashed his skull. 839 00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:11,280 There were details to suggest that this was a premeditated crime. 840 00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:13,760 In the weeks before O'Connor's disappearance, 841 00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:16,480 the Mannings had bought a crowbar from an ironmonger 842 00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:21,520 in King William Street, a shovel from a shop in Tooley Street 843 00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:24,480 and quicklime from a builder in Bermondsey Square. 844 00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:29,360 And it wasn't the only damning evidence that Maria faced. 845 00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:32,760 By the second day, she seemed to be on trial not only for being 846 00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:35,480 a killer, but also for being a woman. 847 00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:39,440 To save his client from the gallows, 848 00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:44,200 Frederick's defence barrister chose to blame Maria for the crime. 849 00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:47,840 He demonised her as that most terrible of creatures, 850 00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:49,760 a female of loose morals, 851 00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:53,200 quite capable of doing the foul deed on her own. 852 00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:58,240 We're all in the habit, he says, of associating the female 853 00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:03,200 character with the idea of mildness and obedience. 854 00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:07,360 The female is capable of reaching a higher point in virtue than 855 00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:12,840 the male, but when she gives way to vice, she sinks far lower. 856 00:53:14,600 --> 00:53:16,880 The court deliberated for two days 857 00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:21,080 and then the jury withdrew for 45 minutes. 858 00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:25,120 When they came back, it was with a verdict of guilty. 859 00:53:30,720 --> 00:53:33,200 Frederick Manning is given the opportunity to address 860 00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:36,920 the whole court but he turns it down. 861 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:41,320 Maria is given the same chance and she takes it. She lets rip. 862 00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:46,200 There is no justice for a foreigner in this country. 863 00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:50,960 I have no protection from the judges or my husband. 864 00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:56,920 In the middle of this explosive rant, Maria grabs the herbs, 865 00:53:56,920 --> 00:54:01,560 used as air fresheners in the court, and hurls them at the judge. 866 00:54:01,560 --> 00:54:04,720 I am unjustly condemned by the court. 867 00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:08,520 Shameful England. 868 00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:14,120 Maria Manning and her black satin dress 869 00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:17,520 would cast a really long shadow over years to come. 870 00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:21,240 She became known as the Lady Macbeth of Bermondsey 871 00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:23,280 and she inspired Charles Dickens. 872 00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:27,520 He refashioned her as Hortense the lady's maid, who turns out to 873 00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:30,160 be the killer in Bleak House. 874 00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:32,840 She was immortalised in wax. 875 00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:36,920 Her figure at Madame Tussauds became so popular that it was 876 00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:41,480 still on display there when I first visited the gallery in the 1970s. 877 00:54:46,720 --> 00:54:49,960 The case was a sensation of the age. 878 00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:55,520 Yes, there was sex, greed and treachery, but there was much more. 879 00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:59,840 There was detection by methodical police work, bringing with it 880 00:54:59,840 --> 00:55:03,800 a new and satisfying kind of resolution for the public. 881 00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:21,440 The execution of the Mannings took place on 13th November, 882 00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:24,760 up on the roof of the Horsemonger Lane Gaol. 883 00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:28,880 This was pure theatre - a huge crowd was expected, 884 00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:30,360 so three days beforehand, 885 00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:35,080 the surrounding streets were all cleared and barricades were erected. 886 00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:39,240 On the day, it was estimated that 50,000 people turned up, 887 00:55:39,240 --> 00:55:42,200 with 500 policemen to maintain order. 888 00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:44,840 Hangings were getting increasingly scarce, 889 00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:47,960 particularly for females, so this double dose of husband 890 00:55:47,960 --> 00:55:51,040 and wife was a complete treat for execution lovers. 891 00:55:53,320 --> 00:55:57,280 Changes in the law back in the 1820s meant that the death penalty 892 00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:00,720 was now reserved only for treason or murder. 893 00:56:00,720 --> 00:56:04,640 Previously, it had been applied to a whole range of crimes. 894 00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:09,920 So by 1849, a public hanging was a real occasion, 895 00:56:09,920 --> 00:56:13,080 which is why Charles Dickens chose to observe this one. 896 00:56:16,840 --> 00:56:20,320 He and a group of his friends rented a room overlooking the jail 897 00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:24,720 and they held a sort of party as events unfolded. 898 00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:28,440 Now, Dickens was fascinated by murder and murderers. 899 00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:30,600 He was also in favour of capital punishment. 900 00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:33,680 He believed that they should hang for their crimes. 901 00:56:33,680 --> 00:56:37,960 But what really upset him on this occasion was the ghoulish 902 00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:40,520 and disrespectful behaviour of the crowd. 903 00:56:44,600 --> 00:56:48,520 Outside the jail, the crowd waited for showtime. 904 00:56:48,520 --> 00:56:52,200 They sang mocking songs and ate commemorative biscuits. 905 00:56:54,960 --> 00:56:58,280 We hear that inside, in private, there was 906 00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:02,000 a final reconciliation between Frederick and Maria. 907 00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:05,120 They ascended to the gallows as husband and wife. 908 00:57:10,720 --> 00:57:15,120 The Mannings were hanged side by side, on a scaffold 909 00:57:15,120 --> 00:57:18,760 that had been lifted up to give maximum visibility 910 00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:22,720 and theatricality to the grim business. 911 00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:27,000 Maria was defiant and stylish to the end, 912 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:31,320 wearing her black satin dress and gloves for her final appearance. 913 00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:35,080 She died with dignity. 914 00:57:43,720 --> 00:57:46,240 The case of the Mannings was a turning point 915 00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:48,600 in the history of crime. 916 00:57:48,600 --> 00:57:50,960 It had been a case played out in public, 917 00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:57,000 a ghastly melodrama with the nation sucking up every gory detail. 918 00:57:57,000 --> 00:57:59,680 But it was also a case that had been solved 919 00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:02,280 by the new Metropolitan Police force, 920 00:58:02,280 --> 00:58:06,080 its constables and especially its detectives. 921 00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:10,120 A new chapter in the history of murder was about to begin.