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Real Story's Tapes True Crime is your new True Crime podcast fix.

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For many centuries, London was a dangerous place.

It was a magnet for the very worst kind of people.

Jack the River dominated the headlines, but he wasn't the only killer around.

Murder was afoot.

The fear of death was everywhere.

But police had their work cut out to track the culprits down.

In this series, we'll be investigating some of the city's most notorious and intriguing

crimes.

The female dependent?

Sexual intrigue, vicious murder, as well as the latest technology, fed the nation's insatiable

desire for gruesome stories of London's dark side.

Edwardian London saw great changes in the city.

The capital was the financial center of the world, and the whole new era was being ushered

here.

But at the same time, some rather unsavory characters were making their way here.

Fortunately, the metropolitan police was changing dramatically, and had a whole new set of methods

to track them down, and just as vitally, to convict them in court.

You had a system called Bertillon-Narge after Alfos Bertillon.

How this word was that cards were made out and a criminal was measured.

The length of his fingers, the size of his head, the size of his ears, the size of his

body.

You can imagine putting all these down on cards and then trying to get some form of identification

when you've got thousands of cards to compare was almost impossible.

So fingerprints are going to change all that in 1905.

First murder, solved and Britain by fingerprints, murdered in Depthford High Street.

There was a thumbprint on the cash box, and that led to the conviction of the straddle

brothers, and this led to an almost sort of scientific approach, which started to build

Scotland Yards international reputation.

The new police force and the realm of forensic science would be tested on terrible crimes

that were to take place in London.

Two of the most notorious were in Camden Town.

Camden, at this time is described as being very noisy and dirty.

Lots of lorries, horse-drawn vehicles, pubs and the common people who go into them.

Camden has always been a place that attracted a wide variety of characters.

One from the bare knuckle fighter, Tom Sayer, to the great novelist Charles Vickins, moved

to this part of North London.

In the early 20th century though, the local community in Camden would be shocked to the

core by two brutal killings.

The first in 1907 became known as the Camden Town murder.

It was a crime that harks back to the time of Jack the River 20 years earlier, because

it involved the murder of a prostitute named Emily Dimick, who had a throat slashed in

her home by a client.

Her body was discovered the next day by her partner, and the story grabbed the public's

attention.

The case aroused the interest of the artist Walter Sickett.

He painted a series of works on the Camden Town murder.

A man named Robert Wood was apprehended and charged with the crime based on some writing

on a postcard found in the victim's room.

But a brilliant defence by the famous barrister Edward Marshall Hall would see him found innocent

in court.

The case remains unsolved.

Just a couple of years later though, Edward Marshall Hall would again be called to the

defence, this time in the case of Dr. Crippen.

He was an American, trained to be a doctor.

He came to England, but his medical qualifications weren't recognised.

And so he went to work for Patton Company, dealing with various medicines.

The dividing line between patent medicines and being a quack doctor is a bit blurred.

But nevertheless, I'm sure there'd be many people who took what Dr. Crippen gave them

and were very grateful.

She became friendly with Cora Macamopsky.

She wanted to be a singer.

She used to perform on the music hall stage, which was very popular in those days.

And she went by the name of Belle Elmore.

She wanted to sing Grand Opera, but she didn't have the voice or the talent.

The story of Harvey Hawley Crippen remains one of the most enduring crimes of the 20th

century.

The key mysteries surround the case, which have puzzled amateur sleuths for years.

This is a sordid and absorbing tale of love lives gone horribly wrong.

It all begins when Dr. Crippen and his wife Cora move into number 39, Hill Drop Crescent,

in Camden.

A bright and stylish girl you see, Belle of Good Society.

Not too strict, but rather free.

Yet as right as a right can it be.

Never forward, never bold, not too shy and not too cold.

But the very thing I'm told that in your arms you'd like to fold.

What do you think, darling?

It's nice.

You know I hate that word.

So I had a meeting with Mrs. Kern out today.

We, well actually I decided Mrs. Kern out was real sorry.

I've decided I'm leaving Munions.

Would you mind?

Munions just isn't right for me anymore.

It's time I focused my energies where it matters.

You know on my other ventures, like we talked about.

The Harvard Toothpullers?

Yayle, it's yayle.

And you know what, the dentistry is going from strength to strength.

In fact with a little capital investment, a couple hundred pounds.

Cora.

Cora.

Belle, darling.

It's my money too.

Cora, rabundié.

Tararabundié.

Tararabundié.

You're my wife.

Tararabundié.

Tararabundié.

Tararabundié.

Crippen, besides working for a patent medicine company, also worked for a death centre.

And it's there you met a young typist called Ethel O'Niv.

The two of them began the fair.

Crippen had been promising her.

One day it would be better for them this.

All of a sudden in February, according to her landlady, she cheered up.

Good morning, Dr. Crippen.

I want you to move in with me.

What about your way?

You used to buy me dinner after work.

Think of first he was just avoiding going home.

He used to say he and Cora, his wife, had drifted apart in sympathy.

The last taking off became rather pleasant routine.

Dr. Crippen was keeping up his routine well.

He and his wife Cora entertained their theatrical friends, among whom were the Martinetes, at

their home in a hill drop present.

Mr. Martineti was sort of an aging musical artist, and Mrs. Martineti was on a sort of

ladies club for music hall artists.

Hello.

Come in.

Oh, I do so long for spring.

Smells divine in here.

Where's the...

Let me take your coat.

I don't mind it.

Excuse me.

At least if I collapse, I'll know there's a dot bit in the house.

Of course I'm married.

We all have our little dramas from time to time.

But I thought they got on well.

I'm looking into the wings.

I can't even see Lillie now.

No, she's right off.

It's your worst nightmare as a performer.

Just before her entrance, I could not believe it.

No one in the audience even noticed.

Yes, I'm quite sure.

You were wonderful.

Oh, thank you, darling.

Isn't he a dear?

So who's for a game of wist?

Certainly, yes.

We stayed until around 130.

But Paul was still under the weather, and darling Belle suggested that we stay the night.

That was so like her.

When I insisted on getting him home, I didn't want to bother her.

I just wish we'd stayed.

But I suppose he would have found his cue another night.

Crippen made sure he put on this show of love and affection

when the Martinetti couple came over to 39 hill drop crescent for dinner.

But it was all a mask.

The events that were unfold would see one of the most notorious killers

of the 20th century flee across the Atlantic to Canada.

Within would be his mistress, Ethel Lanive, who had disguised herself as a boy.

The desperate duo would be pursued by one of Scotland Yard's finest,

who was determined to bring them in.

Camden, January 31, 1910.

In a townhouse at 39 hill drop crescent,

Dr Crippen and his wife were joined by the Martinetti's for dinner,

followed by an enjoyable game of wist.

The Martinetti's had been musical performers, just like Belle Elmore,

and they left at around 130 a.m.

And the story of Dr Crippen began.

You've been so sweet.

I'm not going to know for sure what happened that night.

The supposition is Dr Crippen murdered Crippen by giving her something to drink.

There are two theories a shot was heard, and he may have shot her.

But in the body it was found traces of Hyacin.

Hyacin was used to calm main floor patients in very small amounts.

Dr Crippen had ordered a substantial amount of Hyacin from the local chemist.

The truth is we simply don't know what happened next.

A large dose of Hyacin can have varied effects,

especially when mixed with alcohol.

Belle likely became frantic and delirious even.

Some neighbors reported hearing gunshots and screams coming from the direction

of Crippen's house that night, so maybe Crippen panicked and shot her.

Those reports were unconfirmed, however, so it's possible that she simply fell

unconscious, slipped into a coma, and died.

What is certain is that Belle was never seen again after that night.

The next morning Crippen went to work as usual, and when he returned home,

the rest of his plan was put into action.

To the committee of the musical, ladies gild.

Dear friends, forgive me a hasty letter and any inconvenience I may cause you.

But I have just had the bad news of the illness of a near-relative.

And at only a few hours' notice, I'm obliged to go to America.

Yours faithfully, Belle Elmore.

Dr Crippen put it out that Cora had been called back to America.

Ethel moved in to Dr Crippen's house, and soon Ethel Reneeve is seen wearing

Crippen's fur, she's wearing Crippen's jewelry.

Crippen may have thought that all his problems had vanished in an instant,

but thankfully, Belle was better liked by her friends than by her husband.

Despite Crippen's hopes, Belle's friends had not forgotten her.

It just isn't like Belle.

I mean, not even a note.

You're right.

The thing is, she's been unwell.

Yeah, I just heard from my people this morning, her lungs, so you see...

Oh, the poor thing.

And for a singer too, how terrible.

I don't know that it's as bad as all that.

She said it wasn't.

So you have heard from her.

What?

Belle told you that.

Yeah, but...

Well, she's up in the mountains.

Out in California, the wild's up there, so, you know...

Well...

You sent her our best wishes.

She'll be back in fine voice soon, I'm certain.

Our bells are fighter.

Oh, yeah.

She sure is.

All of a sudden, Dr Crippen decided that the story he had concocted of his wife's

urgent trip to Los Angeles was no longer sufficient on its own.

He told her friends that she'd been taken seriously ill herself and was not expected

to survive.

Then he sent a television to Mrs. Martinetti to inform her of chorus death and cremation.

Her actors were beginning to grow amongst Belle's friends.

One friend who noticed her disappearance was the famous strong woman, Kate Williams, who

went by the stage name Volkana.

Not somebody who'd want to be on the wrong side of.

Her act in the musical was as a strong woman, lifting great weights of barbells and fat

clothing.

Volkana came back from America.

They had looked to try and catch up with what had happened to chora at home but had

drawn a complete blank.

So they discussed amongst their friends and then went to Scotland Yard to express their

doubts.

The London community with which Dr Crippen and his wife had become friendly had been rocked

to the very core just over a decade earlier.

The well known actor William Terrace was stabbed outside the Delphi Theatre.

His killer was another actor Richard Archer Prince who had been his friend.

Prince was declared insane and sent to Broadmoor Asylum.

His sentence angered the theatrical community.

So Henry Irving went so far as to say Terrace was an actor so his murderer will not be executed.

The William Terrace murder though had been a relatively straightforward affair for the

London police.

The Crippen mystery would be far more challenging.

But fortunately a man called Walter Dew was on the case.

He was no stranger to shocking murder having been one of the team that tried to capture

Jack the Ripper 20 years earlier.

Dew was only a young policeman at the time of the Jack the Muffler murders.

He joined 1882 about six years before the murders.

He said that he had talked about the tension in the area.

You'd only got to say Jack the Ripper and you could get an explosive incident.

When some lunatic runs out of the street shutty, I am Jack the Ripper.

I am Jack the Ripper.

Immediately a lynch mob is formed.

Dew and other policemen grab hold of this lunatic.

They barricade themselves in a house waiting for reinforcements.

One outside the lynch mob is howling to get hold of this person and string them up

on the nearest lamppost.

In the case of Dr Crippen, Walter Dew's first move was to head over to Hill Drop Crescent

to get some answers to Cora's disappearance.

Is it work?

And you are his...

He'd come back later, he'll be here.

We'd talk to him then.

He should come back.

We would very much like to speak with him now.

Miss Lynneve.

Erm, he's at work?

They could tell a few.

They could tell a few.

Where is it your employer works?

The police would have their work cut out to bring him to justice.

The case would be a sensation for press and public.

Crippen had dispatched his wife, set up an elaborate story to promote his innocence,

and moved his mistress, Ethel Lynneve, into the marital home.

But Inspector Dew had grown very suspicious.

He made Ethel take him to see Dr Crippen before she had a chance to telephone ahead and warn

of the inspectors impending arrival.

This time though, he was to get his man.

Dr Crippen had murdered his wife Cora and moved his mistress, Ethel, into their house

at 39 Hill Drop Crescent, Camden.

He had concocted an elaborate story, which began to slowly unravel once Inspector Dew

started digging.

And she died in Los Angeles, is that correct?

Must be three months back now.

Gosh, yeah, March 23rd.

And you're certain of that, Dr Crippen?

I think I would remember a thing like that, don't you?

It's just the authorities there have no record of your wife's death.

Well, that is strange.

I can.

Gosh, I suppose I had better tell the truth.

My wife isn't dead.

She left me.

I feel a real fool, let me tell you.

You think advertising in the States might help, you know, a reward for information,

that sort of thing?

It might.

I'm just keen to help, you know, however I can, Officer.

Inspector.

You don't jump to the conclusion murder has been committed, merely because a wife has

disappeared and her husband has told lies about it.

But he had lied.

Crippen was clearly spooked and decided that the best course of action would be to leave

the country with ethyl immediately.

Certain people with no knowledge of police procedure and even less of the law blamed

me for letting Crippen go.

I ought to have arrested him, they said.

But there had been no shred of evidence against him.

That is futile to talk of arresting a man until you know there has been a crime.

Walter, you made further inquiries over the weekend and called again a hill drop crescent

on the Monday morning to find both Crippen and Ethel underneath were no longer there.

The neighbours haven't seen them, sir, but we spoke to one of his colleagues.

He says the doctor was at his office Saturday morning.

Crippen gave him two pounds, told him to go and buy a boy's suit, tie and braces, a

brown bowler hat and size five boots.

What size shoe do you suppose Miss Lanive takes?

I want descriptions of both of them, circulated to all ports, domestic and foreign.

Yes, sir.

My quarry had gone and the manner of his going pointed to guilt.

Here was the real clue.

His decision was a sudden one that I felt convinced.

He was scared.

As instructions were sent out to track down Dr Crippen and his mistress Ethel Lanive, who

had both suddenly disappeared, Inspector Walter Dew made further searches at the Crippen household.

The first searches of the house showed no sign of Cora and no evidence of a struggle

or any kind of disturbance.

The police were persistent, certain that Crippen wouldn't have fled so quickly for no reason.

Eventually their persistence paid off.

Police made a grim discovery in the cellar.

Human remains covered in quick life.

The bones, head, limbs and sex organs had been cut away.

The skull, arms various bones are missing and there's just this mangled piece of flesh.

They called in the expert pathologists from Imperial College, they made tests on the

flesh and found that it contained traces of Hyacin.

Large amounts of Hyacin were extracted.

Its identity was confirmed by being tested on a cat.

Apparently a cat's eyes dilate in the presence of Hyacin.

L. Elmore could be identified only by a small piece of flesh from her abdomen.

It bore a scar consistent with an ovierectomy that she had undergone.

The pathologist was a young man called Bernard Spildreth.

He contradicted the other specialists in calling and he'd found this scar tissue.

The significance is that Mrs. Martinetti had seen a scar on Cora Crippen's abdomen.

Apparently she'd had an operation.

This was very relevant to the case.

Some of the parts of the flesh were wrapped up in what turned out to be identified as

Crippens for Jarmus and it then turned into a murder hunt.

A warrant was put out for Dr Crippen and Ethel Linneve.

Most sightings were reported all over the country and nobody knew for sure where they

were.

This case caused enormous interest in the newspapers.

It was an American doctor having an affair with his typist.

It involved the music hall and a singer.

So there was this great publicity and lots of people came up with various leads on where

Dr Crippen might have gone to including places on the continent.

The most promising lead came from a quite unexpected source.

A ship on the Atlantic, the SS Montrose, that was headed to Canada.

Its captain, Henry Kendall, had only 20 passengers travelling in second class on his ship and

he had become extremely suspicious of two of them.

It wasn't a very good way for them to have been anonymous.

They're using eight asses.

Ethel Linneve had a haircut she disguised as Crippens' son.

The boat was equipped with the new Marconi wireless telegraph.

So Kendall actually used this telegram to relay his suspicions to Scotland Yard.

Henry Kendall, captain of the SS Montrose, sent the following message to his head office

in Liverpool.

Montrose, one 30 miles west of lizard, have strong suspicion that Crippen, London, Selenurda

and accomplice are amongst Selen passengers.

Mustache shaved off, growing beard, accomplice dressed as a boy, voice, manner and build,

undoubtedly a girl.

Kendall.

Walter Duhr had a tough decision to make.

Whether to trust these unconfirmed reports by telegraph from a ship in the middle of the

Atlantic.

He decided he had to act and boarded another ship, the much faster Laurentic, that was

due to arrive in Canada before the Montrose.

What made it a sensational case was that Duhr used the wireless telegraph to send reports

back to England and these were going in the newspapers and Crippen was of course with

the little Linneve completely unaware of this going on.

So the press were having a wonderful time with all this information.

This ship raced across the Atlantic, landing in Canada two days before the Montrose was

due to arrive.

The murder of Cora Crippen and the flight of her husband were now a worldwide sensation.

The press on both sides of the Atlantic were desperate for any detail about the case.

Murder, adultery, theatre, technology.

It was the perfect story.

A large crowd gathered in Quebec to greet the arriving SS Montrose.

Duhr put on the uniform of a pilot officer and was rode out to the ship accompanied by

two officers of the Quebec City Police.

For warned of his arrival the ship's captain greeted him on the bridge and accompanied

him to a private cabin.

There, Duhr waited until the Canadian policeman could bring him the man suspected of being

the missing murderer.

Duhr could only wait.

Walter Duhr dressed up as a ship's captain.

Bored at the Montrose, spoke to the captain and of course there wasn't really any doubt

that it was Crippen and Ethel.

They were then returned on the Laurentiks sister ship, the magenta, back to Liverpool.

Ethel and Ethel knew he was really pleased to be able to get out of boys' clothes and

she said, what did you, was very kind because he allowed her to send out for some proper

woman's clothes and what did you suggestion?

We got this hacked with a veil so that her face would be protected from the press cameras.

On their return to London, Dr Crippen and Ethel and Eve would face the full force of British

justice.

They were also find a public thirsting for every detail of this sensational murder and

a song written in their dubious honor.

Dr Crippen killed Belle Elmore, ran away with Miss Le Nive, right across the ocean blue,

followed by Inspector Dieu, Ship Sahoy, naughty boy.

Dr Crippen and Ethel and Eve were now back in London.

They had attempted to flee to Canada on the ship SS Montrose with Ethel assuming rather

oddly the identity of a young boy.

They had almost got away with it but were thwarted by Inspector Walter Dieu, who was

awaiting their arrival in Canada with handcuffs at the ready in order to bring them back to

London.

Crippen was put on trial for the murder of his wife at the Old Bailey on October 18,

1910.

Hallé Crippen, you are indicted and also charged on the coroner's inquisition with the willful

murder of Cora Crippen on the 1st of February last.

Are you guilty or not guilty?

Not guilty, my lord.

Dr Crippen was in many ways a modest man.

In others he was egotistical.

I shall always believe he was vain enough to think he had committed the perfect crime.

Expert opinion was provided by both the defence and the prosecution and it often conflicted.

One side would say that the carving up of the body found under the cellar required great

expertise and practice, while the other side would say well anybody could do that with

a bit of medical training.

There were also conflicting arguments about the piece of flesh.

Did it actually have the scar that Bell Elmore was known to have from an operation?

It was like a Y-shaped scar, some of which could be a crease, other parts of which was

surgical.

It was folded over and there was argument whether the scar was in fact a fold of flesh

or whether it was a scar.

Spills we convinced the jury that it was a scar.

That scar was consistent with an operation.

Her sister travelled over from America and gave evidence that the old Bailey to this effect.

The interesting thing is in recent years, as sort of DNA has been done on the remains,

Cora's DNA doesn't match up any of the surviving family.

DNA evidence suggested that the flesh was male, all of which adds to the controversy.

At the time of the Crippen trial though, the evidence presented to the court was groundbreaking

and people were going to be naturally hesitant about accepting it.

But in Bernard Spillsbury, the prosecution had an expert who was going to change the

face of forensic science.

Bernard Spillsbury gave evidence about the higher sin and actually it was the first famous

case in which Bernard Spillsbury had given this expert evidence as a pathologist.

It became very eminent in the next 30 years and became very famous indeed.

Crippen had a formidable court opponent in Bernard Spillsbury but he did have Edward Marshall

Hall known as the Great Defender on his team.

Hall had successfully defended Robert Wood three years earlier in the case of the Camden

Town murder.

After some discussion however as the trial approached, Hall decided not to lead Crippen's

defense.

Crippen was in real trouble.

The prosecution was led by Richard Muir who secured conviction in the Stratton Brothers

case, the first men to be convicted of murder on fingerboard evidence.

When Muir was appointed prosecutor, Crippen is reported to have said, I wish it had been

anyone else.

I fear the worst.

Crippen was damned by the actions he took both before and after Bell's disappearance.

From the early morning of the 1st of February, you were left alone in your house with your

wife.

Is that correct?

Yes.

She was alive?

Yes.

And well.

She was.

Do you know of anybody in the world who has seen your wife alive since?

I do not.

Do you know of anybody who has received a letter from her since?

I do not.

Do you know of anyone who could swear they ever saw your wife leave that house alive?

I told Mr. Dew all the facts.

But you have made no inquiries.

I have made no inquiries.

It would be most important for your defense if someone could be found who saw your wife

after the Martin Etis did.

You do realize that?

I do.

And you have made no inquiries.

I have made no inquiries.

In my whole dealings with him, I saw nothing which by the wildest stretch of the imagination

could suggest a capacity for so terrible a crime.

But I never entertained a doubt about his guilt.

The jury took just 27 minutes to reach their verdict.

Guilty.

Ethel Lene was tried separately as an accessory after the fact.

But in truth, the prosecutor's heart was not in it.

The case was a slender one.

And she was acquitted.

I think Ethel may have known what had happened.

I don't think she could have been that completely innocent.

That she foolishly walked around wearing Mrs. Crippens jewellery and Mrs. Crippens furs.

She must have had knowledge of the murder.

I can't believe that she took these things and didn't ask how or why they'd been left

behind.

It was an accident, killing Cora.

It must have been.

I would still marry him.

They have their rules.

I won't be getting you in trouble again.

You do well.

Yeah, they're taking care of me.

Darling.

You have been my one comfort all these years.

My one comfort.

God bless you, my darling.

Crippen appealed against his death sentence to the then home secretary Winston Churchill.

Churchill went over the case in detail, but decided against commuting the sentence to

life imprisonment.

He did, however, allow this final personal meeting between Crippen and Ethel at Pentonville

prison before the execution.

One was hanged on the 23rd of November 1910.

He may be long dead, but fascination for the man lives on.

His story has been retold many times in varying literary and film adaptations.

The case was a sensation in his day, but unanswered questions remain.

What really happened in that house that night?

How much did Ethel really know?

Occasional attempts are made to prove Crippen's innocence, but there can be little doubt of

the guilt of the killer of Candon Tan.