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London in 1910.

Capital of a great empire which covered a quarter of the earth's surface

and was guarded by the battleships of the Royal Navy.

Britain still basked in the triumphs of Queen Victoria's Ray

which had been celebrated at her diamond jubilee

one of the earliest national events to be filmed.

Victoria's son Ed with the seventh that brought a new style

more pleasure loving and relaxed.

And the nation mourned when the old king died in April

to be succeeded by his son George.

But for most people it still seemed a time of optimism and prosperity.

The sun shone warmly that summer and London streets were crowded.

On the 11th of July at Hill Drop Crescent, a respectable street in Holloway, North London,

the police called a second time to see an American city.

A respectable street in Holloway, North London, the police called a second time

to see an American doctor, Holly Harvey Crippen.

There were following up reports that his wife Cora, a music hall artist,

had returned unexpectedly to the United States and then died mysteriously.

The police were surprised to find the house deserted.

After searching it but finding nothing suspicious, they turned their attention to the garden.

Led by Detective Chief Inspector Walter Dew, this was dug up but revealed nothing.

But as Dew explained later, he was uneasy about the cellar

and started to feel between the crevices of the brick floor.

Some bricks came up easily and suddenly there was a nauseating stench.

Buried there was a mass of human flesh which had been covered in lime.

All that was left was the torso which had been filleted of all bones and wrapped in a pajama top.

Whether it was Mrs. Crippen who may not be established since the head, arms and legs were missing.

But an immediate search was begun for Dr Crippen and his secretary on suspicion of murder.

The macabre details of the case created a sensation and the press reveled in the hunt for the murderous and runaway lovers.

But there seemed no trace of them.

The story had begun on the 30th of June when an American actor couple, Mr. and Mrs. John Nash, went to Scotland Yard.

There they told Chief Inspector Dew of their concern about the sudden disappearance of their friend.

This was the second occasion that Dew had had reports of the sudden decision of the former musical actress Cora Crippen to return to America

and her death there shortly afterwards.

Friends had been surprised that they had only been told of her departure by her husband and not by her direct.

They were even more surprised when shortly after reports of her death, his secretary, Ethel Lanive, moved into his house and began using bells, clothes and jewelry.

Inspector Dew had agreed to visit the house at 39 Hill Drop Crescent to get more information from her husband.

Dr Crippen was not at home, so the detective travelled to see him at his surgery in New Oxford Street.

Crippen had seemed relaxed as he admitted that his marriage had not been a happy one.

He then revealed that he had invented the story of his wife's death, to cover up the fact that she had run away to America with one of their many lovers, this handsome music hall actor Bruce Miller.

Dew went back to Hill Drop Crescent with Crippen to look around the house.

He was slightly surprised that Mrs Crippen had taken so few belongings with her and asked her husband to try to contact her.

Two days later, wanting to check various details, he made his second fateful visit.

Following the discovery of the body, a watch was placed on all ports and the American police asked to check all passengers arriving in New York.

But after a week, there was still no trace of the fugitives.

A tension switched to continental Europe when a suspicious couple was spotted in Paris.

And police issued this heavily retouched, and as it turned out, totally misleading photograph of Crippen.

A handsome reward for information was also publicised.

Among the avid readers of the press reports was Captain Henry Kendall of the Canadian Pacific steamer Montrose.

His ship had left Antwerp a pound for Quebec on the 20th of July.

Two of the passengers intrigued Captain Kendall, a man named John Fylo Robinson travelling with his son.

Kendall noticed that the boy had unusually broad hips and appeared to have split his trousers.

As the Montrose sailed down the English Channel, Kendall noticed that although the father was not wearing spectacles, he had marks on his nose as if he normally did.

The captain compared the couple with the photographs which had been published in the newspapers and was soon convinced that they were Crippen and Le Nive.

As the ship neared lands end on the 22nd of July, Kendall decided to use his new-fangled Marconi ships wireless to report his suspicions.

He gave his radio operator, Llewellyn Jones, a message for the ship's owners.

This red have strong suspicions that Crippen, London's cellar murderer and accomplice are amongst the Loon passengers.

A star's taken off, growing big, accomplice dressed as boy, voice, manner and build undoubtedly a girl, both travelling as Mr. and Master Robinson.

The ship's owners passed on the message to Scotland Yard and inspected you as convinced that he had located his suspects.

The only question was how to capture them.

Due immediately went by train to Liverpool, home port of the elite white star line to Canada.

Their largest ship, the LaurentiC, was due to sail on the 23rd for Quebec and Montreal, and she was far swifter than the Montrose.

By taking the LaurentiC, Duke could reach Canada a day before Crippen and intercept him before his ship docked.

By the time Duke got underway, the Montrose was well out into the Atlantic with Captain Kendall passing back a stream of messages about the couple.

Daily reports appeared in the English newspapers.

I salated on the Montrose, Mr. and Master Robinson remained blissfully unaware of the excitement, as on the 27th, the LaurentiC pulled ahead of their ship.

Nobody had any doubt that Mr. Robinson was Crippen, once the agent who had booked his passage identified his photograph.

And the British public watched excitedly as the LaurentiC increased her lead over the Montrose and approached the Canadian coast.

On board the Montrose, Mr. and Master Robinson were said to be avoiding too much contact with other passengers, but seemed relaxed and friendly.

Throughout, Duke was given regular reports.

And on the 29th, the LaurentiC entered the St Lawrence, more than a day ahead of the Montrose.

As the LaurentiC approached Quebec on the 30th, the Montrose was still well away from father point, where Duke planned to board her and arrest Crippen.

He went ashore to prepare his trap for the unsuspecting couple.

Working with the Canadian authorities, Duke arranged to disguise himself as a ship's pilot and board the steamer as she passed father point.

Captain Kendall confirmed that the couple was still totally unsuspecting.

On the morning of the 31st of July, the pilot boat carrying Inspector Duke and a group of Royal Canadian mounted police drew alongside the Montrose.

Good morning, Dr. Crippen, as all Duke had to say before Crippen recognized him.

Crippen glanced at the warrant and muttered murder and mutilation.

Oh God, as he was handcuffed.

Within minutes, Duke was able to telegraph London, announcing Crippen's arrest and that of Ethel Aniv.

She was found reading in her cabin.

A boatload of reporters had followed Duke onto the ship and stories of the arrest were soon appearing all over the world.

This particular case had a special appeal because it was the first time that a radio telegraph had been used in the arrest of a criminal.

Crippen and Le Niv were taken ashore at Quebec, where Crippen admitted in court that he was the man being sought and agreed voluntarily to the ship.

Crippen returned to England.

It now emerged that after Duke had first visited Hill Drop Crescent, Crippen had panicked.

He persuaded Ethel to flee with him by convincing her that gossip in England would make their lives miserable.

She cut her hair and, as this later photograph shows, disguised herself as a boy.

On Saturday the 9th of July, the couple went into central London to begin their escape.

They planned to go to mainland Europe and then find a boat to Canada.

First step was the boat train for the coast.

This connected them with an evening boat across the North Sea to the Hook of Holland.

Subsequent police investigations were to suggest that it was during this voyage that Crippen may have disposed of the head, arms and legs of his wife by throwing them over the side in a weighted suitcase.

But whatever happened, the doctor always strenuously denied that Ethel and Eve ever had any knowledge of his wife's murder and the real reason for their flight.

On arrival in Brussels, the couple checked into a hotel under the name of Robinson.

But their hopes of a leisurely holiday during which to plan their future in America were dashed when Crippen saw reports of the discovery of his wife's body.

They left the hotel and dashed to Antwerp to find a boat to the new world.

Now it was a group of grim-faced prison waters that crossed the Atlantic to bring back the fugitives. They were heavily guarded, although at no time did either Crippen or Le Niv make any attempt to escape.

After spending 19 days in prison in Canada, the heavily disguised couple were smuggled aboard the liner McGantic for the journey back to England.

Chief Inspector Dew personally led Crippen on board.

During the voyage, the couple were kept in separate cabins and closely guarded by detectives.

Chief Inspector Dew was able to amuse himself with the other passengers and enjoy his moment of glory.

On the 28th of August, the liner McGantic docked in Liverpool.

The couple were brought ashore, watched by enormous crowds.

The couple were taken to the

Scuffles broke out as attempts were made to attack the man portrayed by the press as a ruthless wife-killer and seducer.

As a result, extra detectives were put aboard the train which was to take the couple south to London.

Throughout the journey and afterwards, Crippen insisted that he knew nothing about the remains in the cellar, that he had not killed his wife and that she was probably still alive somewhere.

He was to stick to this story throughout the remand hearings and the subsequent trial, and his refusal to consider any other defence was to seal his fate.

Unprecedented crowds queued outside Bowstreet Magistrates Court on the 29th for the remand hearing.

Crippen and Lanieve appeared together under heavy police guard.

Crippen repeated his denial of any knowledge of the remains or of his wife's whereabouts, and the magistrate agreed that the couple should be tried separately.

Crippen was unfortunate in his choice of solicitor, the notoriously dishonest Arthur Newton, who was later to be struck off.

Newton failed to agree terms with the famous defender Edward Marshall Hall.

Instead, he hired the plodding and relatively inexperienced Alfred Tobin, who was to prove no match for the prosecution team led by the formidable Richard Muir.

As the press and public scrambled for seats at the trial, Crippen seemed to have a death wish.

He refused to admit that he might have killed his wife either accidentally or under provocation from her drinking and infidelity.

Right after the moment he was taken into the Old Bailey, it was possible that a skilled attorney could have argued for a verdict of manslaughter.

Instead, as the trial began on the 18th of October, Crippen continued to deny everything and pleaded not guilty.

The court heard from Inspector Dew how he had discovered the body and how the murderer had made the fundamental error of covering the remains in ordinary lime, which preserved the flesh when soaked with water rather than quick lime, which would have destroyed it.

The pathologist, Bernard Spillsbury, seen here on the left, began his formidable career with this case by identifying a scar on the remaining flesh and attributing it to an operation Crippen had undergone.

Traces of the drug Hyocene were found in the flesh, and the chemist described how Crippen had bought this drug from him a few days before Cora's disappearance and had signed the poison register.

A hair clip and peroxideed hair found in the grave were identified as belonging to Cora Crippen.

Crippens claimed that the body must have been put in the cellar before he rented Hilldrop Crescent in 1905 was disproved when the police showed from the Pajama label that Jones Brothers had only added the word limited after that date.

As the defence began to try to rebut this damning forensic evidence, more details emerged about the Crippens background.

Holy Harvey Crippen had been born in 1862 in Coldwater, Michigan. His father owned the biggest store in town.

Crippen was an only child and set his heart on becoming a doctor.

He took his degree at the University of Michigan, qualified as a doctorate at the homeopathic hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, and took further medical training at a hospital in Manhattan.

While in New York, he met and married Charlotte Bell, then a student nurse. It appears that the marriage was difficult. Charlotte was a strong Catholic and insisted on visiting the confessional every time they slept together.

By 1888 the couple had moved west to San Diego, where they had a son Otto. Four years later, Charlotte died of apoplexy while nine months pregnant.

Crippen sent his son to live with his grandparents in San Jose, California, and moved back to New York.

Crippen opened a surgery in Brooklyn. Now aged 30 he was a respectable looking figure, who seemed to have an excellent medical career in front of him.

Within six months of setting up in New York, he met a lively 19-year-old aspiring opera singer of Polish descent named Kunigunda Makamatsu, who was calling herself Cora Turner.

She fell in love with a distinguished and apparently prosperous 30-year-old doctor with his New York practice, and they were swiftly married.

But the early 1890s were a time of economic depression in the United States. Crippen soon found that his bills were unpaid, and Cora persuaded him to start selling patent medicines.

He entered into a successful partnership with another quack doctor, and in 1897 he set off a cross-the Atlantic to start up a branch office in London.

He was offered the enormous salary of $10,000 a year, and his partner described him as one of the most intelligent men I ever knew.

Cora did not accompany him to London. Their marriage was under strain, as she abandoned her operatic ambitions and went into the music hall, where she surrounded herself with handsome young men.

When she did arrive several months later, she decided to try to break into the English music hall scene, where American acts were very popular.

She called herself either Bell Elmore or Cora Mutsky. Unfortunately, her ambition proved greater than her ability.

As she grew fatter, she became cruelly known as the Brooklyn Matsos Ball.

Crippen attempted to help her, but when his partner saw his name on an advertisement, he was sacked from his lucrative job.

He was forced into a series of dubious medical practices, and ended up working with the Yale tooth specialists run by an American called Gilbert Rylance, who had a degree in dentistry.

Cora was now blaming him for her lack of success, drinking heavily, spending extravagantly, and openly taking a succession of lovers, including the music hall actor Bruce Miller.

She publicly flaunted her unfaithfulness and delighted in humiliating her husband.

Crippen's only consolation was to fall in love with his secretary, Ethel Lanive, with whom, after four years of working together, he began an affair.

She became pregnant, but suffered a miscarriage.

Crippen's acquaintances described how Cora continually bullied him in public. His meekness and lack of spirit constantly amazed them.

The Martinelles, who dined with the Crippens on the night Cora disappeared, were among those who described her behavior.

Given this background, Crippen could have made a plea for the jury's sympathy, but he continued to deny everything, even when faced with the forensic evidence.

His only concern seemed to be to ensure that Ethel Lanive was not connected to the murder.

And he described their love affair as the only good thing that had ever happened to him.

The jury withdrew on the fourth day of the trial.

And an expectant crowd waited outside the Old Bailey for their return.

They were back after 27 minutes, and predictably returned a verdict of guilty.

Lord Chief Justice Alveston put on his black cap and sentenced Crippen to death. His only words were, I still protest my innocence.

The trial of Ethel Lanive was to be a very different matter.

She appeared a few days later at the Old Bailey before the same judge.

Lanive was brilliantly defended by F. E. Smith, who persuaded the jury that she had been entirely ignorant of the murder and blinded by love.

The jury took only a short time to acquit her of any involvement.

Ethel was hurried away to freedom, and although she did sell her story to the press, she successfully changed her name, married, and she was a very good friend.

And eventually died with her secret undiscovered in Dalich in 1967 at the age of 84.

Captain Kendall duly received his £250 reward for his detection work.

And Scotland Yard received a bill for all the telegrams that he had sent from the Montrose.

The Court of Appeal was unanimous in turning down Crippen's plea for mercy.

And home secretary Winston Churchill felt that he had no other choice but to sign the warrant for execution.

Crippen was hanged on the morning of 23 November 1910 at Pentonville Prison.

In Madame Tussauds, here's the most visited waxwork, the very name of Crippen has become synonymous with murder.

But why this mild and loyal man should have become the personification of evil is perhaps the greatest mystery of the case.