Inside 10 Rillington Place: John Christie and me, the untold truth

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Fortunately, the public and the press didn’t let his confession of Beryl Evans’ murder go unanswered. Despite his criminal history, Christie wasn’t considered a suspect. It had been nearly two decades since Christie was convicted of a crime, and from the outside, it seemed as if he had turned his life around. His status as a veteran and former constable certainly helped him appeal to the jury. In 1954, the year after Christie's execution, Rillington Place in Notting Hill, west London, was renamed Ruston Close, but number 10 continued to be occupied. In 1958, a Mr. King moved into the flat the Christies had occupied. King is reported to have said he was often woken in the night sensing an oppressive, dark energy of a woman in the room; he bought incense in an attempt to cleanse number 10. Christie was demobilised from the army on 22 October 1919. [16] He joined the Royal Air Force on 13 December 1923, but was discharged on 15 August 1924. [17] Marriage [ edit ] From the archive, 26 June 1953: Death sentence on John Christie". The Guardian. 26 June 1953 . Retrieved 10 January 2023.

Kennedy (p. 34) reports that even with his wife, Christie's sexual activity was sporadic. He says that because prostitutes offered a service, they were undemanding and did not become emotionally involved with their clients, which could appease sexually dysfunctional people such as Christie. Richard Attenborough was offered the lead by Leslie Linder while preparing his film Young Winston. Attenborough wrote "It’s difficult to describe Leslie Linder. As Johnny Redway’s ex-partner, he was an agent, and he was also a restaurateur: at the same time he was an impresario, a film producer, a keep-fit fiend, and a man bursting with creative ideas." Attenborough was attracted by the role in part because there was a push to reintroduce the death penalty. [3]When police searched 10 Rillington Place, the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine were found in the shared washhouse. In a different story under heavy questioning by police Evans said he had killed his wife. He went on trial in January 1950. Evans said at trial he didn’t kill Beryl, he once again said John Christie was the one who killed his wife. He was however found guilty. On March 9, 1950, Timothy Evans was hanged for murder. Christie was so brazen that at one point he accidentally dug up a human femur and used it to prop up a broken trellis in the garden. This gives the reader the impression that the judge did not give a summation and left the jury with only the barristers’ last words to consider before they brought in their verdict. Filming also took place in the village of Merthyr Vale, the real life hometown of Timothy Evans. The pub scenes were filmed at the Victoria Hotel on Burdett Road in east London. The pub was subsequently demolished as part of the redevelopment of the area in 1972–73.

In 1949, Tim and Beryl Evans move into 10 Rillington Place, west London, with their infant daughter Geraldine. Beryl is pregnant again and attempts an abortion by taking some pills. When she informs Tim, they have a violent argument, which Christie breaks up. Soon after, Christie offers to help Beryl terminate the pregnancy. He pretends to read a medical textbook one day in an effort to convince Tim of his expertise. Tim is essentially illiterate and cannot tell that Christie is lying. The Evanses agree to let Christie perform the procedure. Q7: How much do you remember of the house at 10 Rillington Place? The discovery of John Christie’s murderous acts there and where he had hidden bodies in the house and garden, that must be very difficult knowledge when you had spent time there as a child? Evans was tried at the Old Bailey on January 11, 1950, and was found guilty by the jury after only 40 minutes deliberation. He was hanged on March 9.As Rillington Place no longer exists, the BBC One drama was filmed in BBC Scotland’s Dumbarton Studios and on the streets of Glasgow. Benwell, Max (24 November 2016). "Rillington Place: What John Christie's Residential Burial Ground Looks Like Now". The Independent . Retrieved 21 December 2016.

He is also thought to have been responsible for the murders of his fellow tenant Beryl Evans and her baby daughter Geraldine – murders which were originally blamed on Beryl’s husband Timothy. In 1948, Timothy Evans and his wife Beryl moved into the flat above John and Ethel Christie. By then, their marriage was nearing a breaking point, and the stress of parenthood put further strain on their relationship. Unfortunately, these stressors culminated in the most grisly of outcomes.

The Murder Of Beryl Evans And The Trial That Followed

Mary Westlake is Timothy Evans’s half-sister, herself born in September 1929, and so was evidently still alive last March and, to her credit, paying her remembrances to Timothy even though the unsuccessful campaign for his conviction to be quashed had long-since reached an end.

Timothy Evans, who had a low IQ, confessed on four separate occasions that he was responsible, claiming he had killed his wife in a fit of temper. But after being charged with murder he told officers: ‘Christie did it.’ His brother-in-law Timothy Evans remains the only killer to receive a royal pardon for a murder he committed. Christie gave evidence against Timothy Evans at the Old Bailey in 1950 and Evans was found guilty and hanged. Hurt is perfectly cast as Evans, his fretful face and haunted eyes like a rabbit in headlights, totally out of his depth and overtaken by events. He stands no chance against the snobbery of the English court witheringly depicted in the film. His illiteracy, his exaggerations, and his otherness (as a working-class Welshman) cause his protests of innocence to be entirely dismissed. The well-spoken doctors of the medical board patronise him as “a primitive sort of creature” and “not an unpleasing little fellow”. Though Christie is by no means upper class, his war service and his fawning obsequiousness establish him as a trustworthy patriot in the blinkered eyes of the Judge and jury (despite Evans’ defence eviscerating him over his past convictions for dishonesty and violence).

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According to the Radio Times, it’s thought that he did this because of his low self-esteem and a desire to fit in with those around him. Simpson, Keith (1978). Forty Years of Murder: An Autobiography. London: Harrap. ISBN 978-0-245-53198-9.