All language subtitles for 8bd576feefb44b55b970c4a5314f07b8_track3_eng

[tense music]

[barge man] look, a package.

[tense music]

Let's get it.

[suspenseful music]

Yeah.

Let's see what's inside.

[suspenseful music swells]

[men groan in disgust]

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

[announcer] step back in time,

[dramatic music]

Discover a place,

Investigate a crime,

And reveal,

A murderous history.

[ominous tone]

[electricity crackles]

[dramatic music]

[siren blaring in distance]

Hello, I'm iszi lawrence.

I'm a history presenter,
broadcaster, and author,

And what I want to
tell you is a story

Which shocked british society

To its core.

[dramatic music]

But, this isn't about
the country today.

This is about the
crime of the century

That played out here
over a 100 years ago

And forever changed
the way britain

Treated its most vulnerable.

-[bell tolls]
-in the 1890's,

You could argue that britain
was the hub of the planet.

[ambient music]

It was at the center
of the british empire,

-[horn blows]
-which by now,

Covered almost a quarter
of the world's surface.

Queen victoria, who gave
her name to the period,

Had been on the throne
for over 60 years,

And her long reign
saw industrial capitalism

Turn the country into
an economic powerhouse.

But, while some prospered,

[ominous music]

Many were left behind

With no safety net.

It's this setting that reveals

Probably the darkest
crime that I know,

And the most sinister side
of life in victorian britain.

[bell tolls]

[dog barking in distance]

Our story begins on
the 21st of January 1896,

A working class barmaid called
evelina marmon is pregnant.

[heavy panting]

[dramatic music]

She is about to give birth.

[groans deeply]

But, the father is
not in the picture.

The baby she's about
to bring into the world

Will be considered
a bastard child,

And this comes with
a host of problems.

[evelina groans]

[narrator] in the 19th century,

Respectable british society

Had harsh views on
unmarried mothers.

The victorians very much
idolized femininity,

And the principal role of women

Was to be a mother and
to the angel of the house,

So, basically, to care
for the domestic setting.

[narrator] women could not vote.

They were traditionally seen

As subordinate
to their husbands,

And were meant to follow
strict codes of etiquette,

Such as hiding the legs
above the ankle

And wearing
restrictive crinolines.

Even the most powerful
woman in the land,

Queen victoria,

Conformed to these ideals.

She remained faithfully devoted
to her husband albert,

Long after his death,

Wearing only black
for the next 40 years.

This set an example for women
in all levels of society.

[buckley] women whose
behavior didn't conform

Would really cause a scandal.

So, for example, women who
had sex outside of marriage

If they were
working class women,

They were often considered
to be fallen women,

And there were pitied.

Other people in society,
usually middle class people,

Would try to reform them,

And to help them
to lead decent lives.

[narrator]
but even many reformers

Would not help a fallen
woman who was pregnant.

If you found yourself
pregnant outside wedlock

And had no support
from the father,

Your options were
extremely limited.

Abortion was illegal.

Backstreet abortions
were available,

But extremely dangerous.

[dramatic music]

One option might be to
go back to your family

And hope that they
would take you in,

But, of course,
the stigma associated

With an unmarried
pregnant woman,

Might be such that,
that option would fail.

[dramatic music]

In the 19th century,
an awful lot of female suicides

Were the result of
finding yourself pregnant

In a world that was
very hostile towards you.

[dramatic music]

[baby whimpers]

[lawrence] evelina gives birth
to a healthy baby girl

Called doris.

Now while this would be
a time of celebration,

For most people,
for evelina it is not.

Both of elena's parents
have already passed away.

She has no one to rely on.

She has to work to look
after her daughter,

But how is she going
to do that?

She's a barmaid.

How's she going
to feed herself,

Let alone pay rent?

[dramatic music]

[narrator] britain's rapid
growth led to as many as

30% of people in some big
cities living in deep poverty.

[dog barks in distance]

Earlier in the century,

In efforts
to control population

And reduce financial burden,

The government had
introduced new poor laws,

Including one on bastardy.

[dramatic music]

This transferred full
financial responsibility

For a child onto its mother

And prevented her
from claiming money

From the father
or from the state.

So not only were single
mothers cast out,

They were punished,

While the man bore
no responsibility.

[child laughs]

They felt that actually

If a young woman didn't
have any financial support

And were stigmatized
by the community,

Then that would
possibly deter them

From ever having the
child in the first place.

[tense music]

[narrator]
while the unpopular law

Was overturned by the 1890's,

The stigma remained,

And many women were still
reluctant to make a claim.

The final result, really,
for women like that,

Was at the workhouse.

[people clamoring]

[narrator] state run workhouses

Were victorian britain's
answer to poverty,

Where food and shelter
were exchanged

For grinding manual labor.

[metal thuds]

Being poor and destitute

Was commonly viewed
as a moral failing,

And a drain on public funds.

Life in workhouses
was intentionally grim,

So that people would be
desperate to stay out of them

And find other work.

Generally speaking,

A workhouse was as good or
bad as the people running it.

Some of the big
urban workhouses

Were absolutely brutal,

Cold rooms, neglect,
physical and verbal abuse.

[people shouting]

[narrator]
these prison-like conditions

Made them the last
resort for everyone,

Including single mothers,

Who often had to leave
their children there

In order to work.

[baby cries]

-[dramatic music]
-[children laughing]

Many women were desperate

For better options
for their babies.

-[children shouting]
-[children laughing]

[dramatic music]

[horses trotting]

[doris cries]

[lawrence]
evelina marmon is in trouble.

[doris cries]

Doris is now a
couple of months old,

But evelina cannot pay rent.

She's running out of money,

And she can't bare to send
doris to the workhouse.

What is she going to do?

Many women in evelina's
situation may have been pushed

To take drastic measures such
as abandoning their child.

[ominous music]

Mothers will choose
a quiet place

Where there weren't
very many people.

[suspenseful music]

Babies were found,
for example, under bridges,

Or on pieces of open ground,
in church yards.

[jackson] at the end of the day
if you abandoned a child,

You can tell yourself
that that child will be found.

That child will be
picked up by somebody

And will have a better life.

[narrator] sadly many
children who were abandoned,

Ended up dying of exposure.

[tense music]

In 1896, the metropolitan
police carried out a survey,

And they discovered
that in total

There were 208 abandoned babies

Found deceased in
the metropolis,

So that was just one
year and in one city.

[dramatic music]

[narrator]
at this time there were

Few laws to protect children.

Those that did exist

Were often poorly enforced,

Despite the work
of newly founded

Child protection organizations.

[lawrence] with such
little intervention,

Some mothers, like evelina,

Might be left to
resort to the darkest

And most horrifying
option of all.

But, is she really desperate
enough to kill her own child?

[doris cries]

-[ominous music]
-[thunder rumbles]

It's now the 30th
of March, 1896.

Two weeks later

And 40 miles up the
river thames from london,

What's about to be discovered

Will send ripples across
victorian britain.

[water sloshes]

-[dramatic music]
-[bird squawks]

[lawrence]
on this cold spring day,

A bargeman and his cargo boat

Are making their way
along the river thames

Towards a town called reading.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] in the 1890's,

The river thames at reading
was a very busy waterway.

Due to its proximity
to the capital,

Reading became
a vital trading port

Between london and other
cities to the west.

[dramatic music]

And just like today,

All passing water traffic
had to slow down

To go through the loc
beside caversham weir.

[birds squawking]

[insects chitterling]

[dramatic music]

[lawrence] as the bargeman
approaches the weir,

He notices a small package
bobbing in the water,

And he fishes it out.

What could it be?

Well, it could be anything.

There could be money in it,

And lost treasure, perhaps.

But as the bargeman looks
inside, he is appalled.

-[suspenseful music]
-for what he discovers,

Is the body of a small infant.

He's obviously
incredibly shocked

And incredibly shaken by it,

And he immediately
goes to the police.

[dramatic music]

-[horse whinnies]
-[horse trotting]

[narrator] by the 1890's,

The british police had been
around for over 60 years.

The first professional
force in britain,

London's metropolitan,
was set up in 1829,

To respond to
escalating crime rates

With a long and
visible arm of the law.

[people shouting]

They were a new concept,
a new idea,

Which was designed to sweep away
the old systems of policing.

It was hierarchical.

It was uniformed.

They were able to arrest
and detain people.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] by the 1890's,
most towns and cities,

Including reading,
had a police force

And even their own
specialized detective branches

Dedicated to
investigating crime.

[dramatic music]

[lawrence] detective constable
james anderson

Is brought in to investigate,

And he works with
a police surgeon

To conduct a post-mortem
on the infant.

This case hits at
the core of anderson

Because he is a father himself.

He has five children,

And his youngest is
only two-years-old,

And so he wants to
do everything he can

To find out who abandoned
the baby and why they did it.

[ominous music]

[watson] it would have been
really very difficult

To identify an unknown child
or its mother,

Because the forensic techniques
that we now take for granted,

Were in their infancy,

For example, the use of
fingerprints or blood testing.

But that doesn't mean that
the police were without options.

They were actually very
skilled investigators,

And officers were
trained to examine

All aspects of a crime scene,
the body certainly,

But also items found
on or near the body.

[dramatic music]

They firstly find that
she was a baby girl

Of a healthy weight.

But what was interesting

Was that she was inside
a lot of wrapping.

Someone had gone
to great lengths

To disguise her body
as much as possible.

So to somebody walking past,

She just looked like
any old bundle, really,

Nothing important.

[dramatic music]

But just because somebody
wanted to disguise

That this infant had died,

Doesn't necessarily mean
that there was foul play.

[watson] in fact,
there are many possible reasons

For why someone
might've done this.

A mother or indeed a father

Might have had a child
die of natural causes,

But wanting to avoid
the cost of a funeral,

Or the cost of a doctor,

They might decide to quietly
dispose of it in such a manner.

[dramatic music]

[buckley]
the infant mortality rate

Was high throughout
the victorian period,

Largely due to poverty,
disease, and malnutrition,

And, in fact, in some
parts of the country,

Particularly the urban areas,

It could rise to 25%
of children dying

Before they reach
their first birthday.

[jackson] unfortunately,
to see dead babies

On the streets of
victorian britain,

The literature would suggest
that it was as common

As seeing road kill is today.

[people chattering in distance]

[dramatic music]

[lawrence] but then they
discover a damning clue.

It's clear that this child
did not die of natural causes,

Because around her little
throat is a piece of cord,

A bit of white tape
that's been wrapped around

And tied in a knot by her ear.

[suspenseful music]

And it's clear that she's
been strangled to death.

[suspenseful music]

But what they don't know
is who did it and why.

[doris cries]

Just two weeks earlier

Evelina marmon,
a 25-year-old barmaid,

Had been struggling with
her infant daughter doris,

And she was about to
take a drastic step.

[suspenseful music]

[doris cries]

[pensive music]

But instead of committing
a crime she'd live to regret,

She writes a notice in
a newspaper that says,

"wanted: Respectable woman
to take a young child at home."

[narrator] a century
before the internet,

Newspapers were one
of the only ways

To advertise products
on a national scale.

With literacy rates
at an all-time high,

Ads could reach a wider
readership than ever before,

And in a society where
the state offered

Such meager support
for single mothers,

This free market gave
them one viable option.

So there were no formal
adoption agencies

Operating throughout
the victorian period,

And there were few regulations.

It was perfectly legal to pass
your child onto someone else.

If you wished to keep

An illegitimate child secret,

Then the only thing
you could really do

Was advertise in the newspaper.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] mothers would
list their offspring

In the miscellaneous
section of the newspaper,

Either as a nurse child,

A term for a foster child,

Or for permanent adoption.

At the same time, childless
couples would place ads

Looking for children to take in

And usually adopters
charged a fee

For this type of transaction.

It was almost as if children
were objects for sale.

[carriage rattles on street]

[bell tolls in distance]

[solemn music]

On the 18th of March, 1896,

Evelina is checking
the newspaper

To see if she can
find her advert,

And as she's searching,

She gets distracted by another
advert just below hers.

It says, "couple with
no child want care of,

Or would adopt one, ten pounds."

[gentle music]

Now, ten pounds is
a huge amount of money

To somebody like evelina.

Around $1,500.
U.S. Dollars today.

I mean, that would take
several months wages

For her to earn
that source of money,

But here is a
lovely young couple

Willing to give
her daughter a home.

[pensive music]

So she quickly writes back
to the advert to this couple,

In the hope that they'll
be able to give doris

A happy and healthy upbringing.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] but often
ads weren't placed

By real adoptive
parents at all.

They were actually placed by
people known as baby farmers.

Baby farming was a common
and legal victorian practice,

Whereby, children would be
farmed out to a stranger

In exchange for regular cash

Or a one-off fee
from the mother,

Almost like a
for-profit orphanage.

[buckley] baby farmers
were generally

Former nurses or midwives,

And they offered
a range of services.

So it might be that
working parents

Place their child with a
baby farmer on a daily basis,

So it was like
victorian daycare,

Or, alternatively,
a baby farmer

Could arrange
a formal adoption.

[narrator] there was
a mutual understanding

That baby farmers often
used false identities

In order to keep
such exchanges private.

In cases of adoption,

This ensured
a clean transaction,

So mothers would not
be tempted

To take back
their children later.

For many mothers,

Especially those with
illegitimate children,

Baby farming was a lifeline,

Providing a secret forum,

In which, to manage
their shameful crisis.

[horses trotting on street]

[people chattering in distance]

[gentle piano music]

[lawrence]
a couple of days later,

Evelina receives a letter.

[gentle music]

"dear madam, in reference

To your letter of adoption
of a child, I beg to say,

I shall be glad to
have a little baby girl,

One that I can bring
up and call my own.

First, I must tell you
we are plain homely people,

Fairly good circumstances.

We live in our own house

And have a good
and comfortable home.

We're out in the country,

And sometimes I'm
alone a great deal.

A child with me
will have a good home

And a mother's love and care.

Yours, mary harding."

This woman seems to have fallen

Out of heaven
into evelina's lap.

She sounded a perfect
mother for her baby doris.

I mean, most people can't even

Afford a room in
the 19th century!

This lady had an entire house!

How could evelina say no?

[whistle blows]

[dramatic music]

It's now 11 days later,

And evelina has agreed to meet

Mrs. Harding to
exchange the baby.

Now you have to
imagine the scene.

This is the first time
these two women meet,

[dramatic music]

And evelina has
to hand her baby

Over to a complete stranger.

She may have had doubts,

But she's in
a desperate situation.

[solemn music]

[doris whimpers]

Somehow she's managed to raise

This enormous sum of ten pounds.

Maybe she borrowed the money,

Or maybe she even stole for it.

[doris whimpers]

[doris cries]

And before she
can change her mind,

She leaves.

A couple of days
after the exchange,

Evelina receives
a letter from mrs. Harding

Telling her how
well doris is doing,

And evelina is reassured
and writes back

And asks after doris again.

[ominous music]

But she receives no reply,

And so she waits a few days,

And then sends another letter.

[suspenseful music]

And, again, receives no reply.

I mean, maybe she's
getting paranoid,

But she starts to deeply
worry about her daughter.

[sobbing gently]

"why isn't ms.
Harding writing back?

Is doris still okay?"

[sobbing gently]

[dramatic music]

[birds chirping]

The police are investigating
the death of an infant,

Who's been found in the thames.

They know that this
child was murdered,

But they still don't
know who it belonged to

And why they wanted to kill it.

So they first go to
all of the local homes

And asks if anybody's
missing a baby

Or if anybody knows any
children who are missing.

[dramatic music]

[wise] the workhouse
would have been

One of the obvious
first places to look

Because if a young woman had

Given birth in
secret and alone,

She would probably be in
need of medical attention.

[narrator] there was
very little public health care

In victorian britain.

While the rich could
afford private doctors,

Most people went to
charitable hospitals

Where they paid a fee
according to their income,

And for the very poorest,

The infirmary wing of the
workhouse was the only option.

But there are no missing
infants that they can find,

So anderson goes back
to the packaging.

Now it was dried.

He was able to peel it
apart very carefully,

And he has a look through
the different layers of paper.

And he discovered
that one of them

Has a faded address on it.

And he's just able to make out
the address of mrs. Thomas,

Pickets road, reading.

[watson] finding a name
and address on the packaging

Gives the police a really
good place to start.

If the name isn't that
of the actual mother,

It might be that of someone
who's related to her,

And the address might
be that of a landlady.

[knocking on door]

[lawrence] anderson immediately
goes to pickets road

To see if he can track
down mrs. Thomas,

But when he knocks on the door,

He finds that she's not inside.

She's moved on.

Anderson is undeterred.

He'd noticed that the packaging

Also had a postage stamp on it.

This means it's been
through the postal system,

Which must mean it's been
through reading station.

[dramatic music]

So anderson goes
to reading station,

And the clerk there
wonderfully,

Not only recognizes the name,

He also has a forwarding
address for mrs. Thomas.

She doesn't live at
pickets road anymore.

She's moved to the
other side of town

To a street called
kensington road.

[dramatic music]

[buckley] kensington road
is quite close

To the center of
the town of reading,

And in the 1890's,

It was a densely populated area

With tightly packed
tenement housing,

Often rented by workers
from the factories.

[tense music]

[narrator] many british
towns and cities

Had crowded working-class
neighborhoods like this one,

Which sprang up to serve
growing industries.

[dramatic music]

Properties were usually rented,

And these areas often had
transient populations,

Making it more difficult
to track people's movements.

[dramatic music]

[lawrence] the police go
to kensington road.

But before they act,

They set up surveillance
on the house.

They want to establish

If mrs. Thomas is
the child's mother

And how she is
connected to the murder.

[narrator]
long before security cameras,

Investigations in
these neighborhoods

Relied on intelligence
from witnesses.

But by the late 19th century,

Undercover surveillance
was also being developed

As a way of gathering
stronger evidence.

[insects chirping]

[lawrence]
from their investigations,

It soon becomes apparent,

That a lot of shady activity
has been going on.

There have been reports of women
arriving and leaving the house,

Sometimes with infants
sometimes without,

And anderson starts to suspect

That mrs. Thomas may
be a baby farmer.

[narrator] while baby farming
itself was not illegal,

There were regulations that
baby farmers had to follow.

Baby farms were required

To be registered with
the local authorities,

And there were
limits on numbers

Of how many children
they could care for.

However, these rules were
not strictly enforced

And very rarely complied with.

[narrator] in order
to maximize profit,

Many baby farmers
took in more children

Than they were meant to,

Or sold them on quickly
to other baby farmers

For a higher price.

[lawrence] the police
believe mrs. Thomas

May have been operating
just such a business,

And, more importantly,

They suspect the deceased infant

Might have passed through here
before she was killed.

Anderson knows
he has to act fast.

He needs access to the house,

But he can't spook her.

She is a major flight
risk at this point,

So he comes up with
a cunning scheme.

[tense music]

[narrator] in the 19th century,

It wasn't only
fictional detectives

Like sherlock holmes

Who practiced crafty
methods of investigation.

Real life police detectives

Also pioneered new and highly
experimental techniques.

-[horses trotting]
-[dramatic music]

Detectives at this time really
had to be quite innovative.

It was a constant cat
and mouse game between them

And the criminals
they were pursuing.

So they had to adopt techniques

And methods that the
criminals might not expect.

One of these was
to don a disguise

To attempt to find
out what was going on

To try to trick criminals into
giving themselves away.

[dramatic music]

[lawrence] in order to catch
mrs. Thomas in the act,

Anderson sends a decoy,

A woman pretending that
she needs a baby farmed out.

[jackson] women in policing
is still in its infancy.

So it's very likely to
have been family or friends

Or potentially even
the wives of the officers

That were involved.

[gentle music]

[lawrence] when mrs. Thomas
opens the door,

She's a bit wary,

But eventually
invites her inside.

The two women negotiate,

And in the end, the decoy
agrees to bring the baby

To mrs. Thomas's
house that evening.

And now the final stage is set.

Mrs. Thomas has
given herself away.

At the appointed hour,

It's not the woman
who knocks at the door.

[suspenseful music]

[knocking on door]

It's the police,

And they go about searching
mrs. Thomas' house.

What they discover will blow
the investigation wide open

And horrify victorian society.

-[dramatic music]
-[bell tolls]

[people chatting]

As the police search
mrs. Thomas' house,

They find strong evidence

That she is indeed a baby farmer

And a prolific one at that.

Not only are there the
receipts of all the adverts

That she's been placing
in the newspapers,

There's also the coupons
from the pawnbrokers

From where she's been
pawning children's clothing.

There are letters
inquiring after children.

There are also letters asking

If she's still offering
places for adoption,

And these are all dated
within the last few months.

This is an entire
administrative work

Left here open presented
to the police on a platter.

[buckley] from the evidence
found in kensington road,

It would seem that
she may have had up to

Around 20 children
pass through her home.

[dramatic music]

[lawrence] but where,
the police wonder,

Are the missing children?

Perhaps they'd been
adopted out already?

I mean, that's
perfectly possible

Within this transient
world of baby farming,

But they suspect that
something much darker

Might be going on.

Not only is it her name on
these documents, mrs. Thomas,

There are also other
names like mrs. Harding,

But these aren't her
real names at all,

And under questioning,

The woman reveals
that her real name

Is amelia dyer.

[ominous music]

[buckley] amelia dyer
was 57 years old,

And she was a former
nurse from bristol.

She used a variety
of false names,

Including her
mother's maiden name

And her first husband's surname.

In 1896, amelia dyer
had been in reading

For approximately six months.

She'd arrived in
the summer of 1895,

And she stayed until the
spring of the following year.

[narrator]
although some baby farmers

Used false names
for legitimate reasons,

Ones that used many aliases

And moved around frequently
were often hiding

Even worse illicit practices.

The sad reality for children

Who were placed in
the baby farmer's care

Is they were often
starved to death.

Worse still,

The baby farmers drugged
these poor children

To keep them quiet
while they were suffering.

There were a range of
products that you could buy

At your local chemist
to pacify infants.

There were laudanum
based products, opiates.

One such was called
godfrey's cordial,

Which was also known
as mother's quietness.

[narrator]
poverty stricken mothers

Often gave such remedies
to their children

To soothe them to sleep
while they went out to work.

[dramatic music]

But unscrupulous baby farmers

Used constant doses
of such narcotics

To keep children in
their care sedated

So they could feed them less.

[ominous music]

Their sole focus was
to skim off the profits,

Get rid of the children,

And make as much money out
of this business as possible.

[lawrence] deliberate neglect
was difficult to prove,

But what the police find
next would change everything.

A small ring of
white sewing tape,

The same type of tape

That was wrapped around the neck

Of the baby that they
found in the thames.

This suggests dyer didn't
just neglect a child.

She deliberately strangled it.

Detective constable anderson

Now has enough evidence
to arrest amelia dyer.

[dramatic music]

[people chattering in distance]

[bell tolls]

[suspenseful music]

The police, while amelia dyer

Is safely locked
in reading jail,

Writes to all of
the people that

She's had correspondence with.

Maybe they've taken
back their children,

Or maybe they know that
they've been adopted elsewhere.

[dramatic music]

And they also go to the spot

Where they found the
infant in the thames

And they begin
to dredge the river

To see if they can
find more evidence.

[tense music]

Soon into searching,

The police uncover
something truly shocking.

[suspenseful music]

Another brown paper package,

Only this one,
more effectively, weighed down,

Again, they search,

And, again,
they find another package.

And then again, they find,
yet, another package,

And this one's much larger.

It is in fact a carpet bag.

-[suspenseful music]
-[flies buzzing]

Detective constable anderson
now has to wonder,

"is amelia dyer
a multiple murderer?"

[suspenseful music]

The police have been
investigating amelia dyer

For 11 days,

And their darkest fears
have been realized.

The packages found in
the river at reading

Contained four more infants

All strangled in the
same manner as the first.

The similar methods
used would suggest

That amelia dyer
had killed them all,

But they need witness testimony

In order to secure
that conviction.

[suspenseful music]

And now the police
start to hear back

From some of the
mothers that amelia dyer

Had correspondence with,

And one of those mothers
was evelina marmon,

Who'd been writing to amelia
about her daughter doris.

Now it's only been a few days

Since doris was given to
mrs. Harding on that platform,

And evelina thinks that
something must have gone wrong.

This is why the police
were in touch with her,

But something has
gone far more wrong

Than evelina could
possibly imagine.

[train whistle bows]

[dramatic music]

For when evelina arrives
at reading police station,

She's taken straight
to the mortuary.

[gasping]

[sobs]

She cries out that
she can't believe this.

Her daughter had been
in perfect health

Only a few days ago.

How could she have died?

-[dramatic music]
-[evelina sobs]

But on the same day
that evelina had received

That last letter
from mrs. Harding

Saying how well doris was,

At that very moment,

Doris was already dead.

She was one of two children

Found in the carpet bag.

There is now more
than enough evidence

To bring amelia dyer to trial.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] amelia dyer's trial

Took place at
london's old bailey,

The capital's main
criminal court.

Dyer's case caused
a national media frenzy.

Women had been tried
for infanticide before,

Often if they
were poor mothers,

Receiving some level
of public sympathy

For their desperate situation.

But the nature of dyer's
crimes was different.

She had killed other people's
children in cold blood.

By now the infant count
was up to seven.

Amelia dyer's only
defense was insanity,

But this did not ring true.

It doesn't ring true today.

After all, she had tried
to hide her crimes.

She knew what she
was doing was wrong.

This wasn't the act
of an insane woman.

This was the act of someone
incredibly meticulous.

It only took the jury

Four and a half minutes
to find her guilty.

-[tense music]
-[gavel bangs]

[watson] victorian trials
were very fast,

And jury decision making
was really very swift.

But four and a half minutes,

That really is
exceptionally fast,

Even for the victorians.

[lawrence] on the 10th of June,
just before 9:00 a.M.,

At newgate prison in london,

-[tense music]
-[amelia gasps]

[rope creaks]

Amelia dyer was hanged.

But there is one more
twist to the story.

[gentle music]

During the investigation,

The police had gone back
to amelia's past in bristol,

And what their colleagues
told them from that city

Shocked them to the core.

They discovered
that amelia dyer

Had almost a 30-year career

As a baby farmer.

[suspenseful music]

[buckley] she'd largely escaped
the notice of the police

In bristol
except for an occasion in 1879,

Which is almost two decades
before she's finally arrested,

When she was investigated
for the sudden death

Of four children in her care.

[insects chirping in distance]

Now, in fact, they couldn't
find any evidence

That amelia dyer
had deliberately killed them,

And after that,
she just carried on

With her baby farming business,
and managed to do that

Without attracting
the attention of police

Until she arrived in
reading in the 1890's.

[insects chirping in distance]

[lawrence] the most shocking
detail of this whole case

Is, think about it, in reading,

They found seven babies.

Now it was only over
the period of a few months

But she had nearly
a 30-year career.

Even if she only killed
one child a month,

That could be as many as 400
children in her lifetime,

A truly terrifying,
sickening statistic.

[ominous music]

[insects chirping in distance]

[narrator]
the sad reality is that

Dyer was not alone in
these murderous exploits.

Cases of multiple
murder at baby farms

Had been reported
since the 1860's.

[dramatic music]

And some mothers
were even complicit,

Driven by desperation to
give away their newborns

On the understanding that
they would be killed.

Victorian society
had created a dark world,

In which child murder
could go unchallenged.

But the sheer scale of
amelia dyer's crimes

Was the wake-up call
the authorities needed.

I think what amelia dyer
does is she holds a mirror

Up to victorian society

That the poor, in general,

And poor children,
in particular,

Can be treated as commodities

To be shipped around
and murdered,

And that this is not the actions
of a civilized society.

[narrator] as the victorian
period came to a close

And a new century dawned,

Better regulations redefine

The care of children
in britain,

And baby farming gradually
became a curiosity of the past.

It's interesting that
this case is so unknown.

Nobody talks about it.

I mean, this is only a few
years after jack the ripper,

Who only killed five women.

I mean, perhaps it's because
the victims are children

That we just find
it so unpalatable.

We don't want
to think about it.

[dramatic music]

But I think it's
incredibly important

That we remember this case

Because what amelia dyer
shows is a societal problem.

It's what happens when
we don't have a safety net.

When you don't have anybody
looking after the poor,

When you don't have
a societal contract

That stops people from
slipping through the cracks,

Then terrible crimes like
this are allowed to happen.

[dramatic music]

Amelia dyer should
never be forgotten

As possibly britain's most
prolific serial killer.

[suspenseful music]