No matter where you travel in London you would be hard-pressed to find an area unclaimed by violence. From Jack the Ripper to terrorist bombings, London has a high death toll.

One place where violence was prevalent is 10 Rillington Place. A house dubbed the house of horrors, where blood seeped out of every wall. This was the house of John Reginald Christie.

Christie was responsible for the murder of eight women, a child and an innocent man. His case was even more fascinating as his actions led to a major change in British law.

Who was John Reginald Christie?

Christie was born in Yorkshire in 1898, he was considered very intelligent with an IQ of 128. He grew up in a household dominated by a disciplinarian father and an overprotective mother. His upbringing resulted in him growing up sexually dysfunctional and control obsessed.

He left school at fifteen and joined the army to become a signalman in World War One. During his service, he was involved in a mustard attack which left him mute. Although, people have suggested this was a fake illness that he developed for sympathy and attention. After the war, he became a postman.

In 1920, Christie married Ethel Simpson. From the age of nineteen, he had started using prostitutes regularly, marriage did not stop this. Christie was impotent, earning him the nickname ‘can’t do Christie.’ This, along with his criminal activity, meant the marriage soon started to fail and Ethel moved to Sheffield to be with her mother. She returned to Christie ten years later as World War Two broke out. They moved into Rillington Place in 1938. Christie would volunteer as a War Reserve Policeman during the Second World War.

The murders start.

Christie started killing in 1943, he would lure women to him and then strangle and sexually assault them. His first victim was Ruth Fuerst she was twenty-one and sleeping with Christie. He strangled her and then buried her in the garden.

His second victim was Muriel Eady, thirty-two. She was a neighbour of the Christie’s. When she complained of a lung complaint, Christie said he could help her cure it. He invited her over and advised she used an inhaler he had. The inhaler contained carbon monoxide and she was soon unconscious. She was later strangled and added to the garden.

The killing of Timothy Evans.

Evans was a simple man with an IQ of seventy. Both Evans and his wife Beryl moved into the flat above Christie in Rillington Place in 1948. Soon after arriving, Beryl gave birth to their first daughter whom they named Geraldine. The young couple struggled financially, Evans was said to have a temper, who struggled to keep a job. When Beryl found out she was pregnant again, Christie convinced them that he could help by performing an illegal abortion on her.

The next day Christie informed Evans that there had been complications and that Beryl was dead. He advised Evans to leave and he would get rid of the body. Whilst he was gone, Christie offered to look after Geraldine. When Evans realised that his daughter had also vanished he went to the police, saying that he was responsible for their murders.

The police did a quick search of Rillington Place it was a matter of procedure. They stated they found nothing of concern. Had they looked they would have noticed the human thigh bone Christie had used to prop up a trellis.

Evans then implicated Christie in the murder, and another search was carried out. On the second search, the bodies of Beryl, her daughter and a foetus were found in the outhouse. The child had a man’s tie wound around her neck. Christie stated it was a tie he had seen Evans wear. On autopsy, it became clear that Beryl had been sexually assaulted before death.

Both Christie and Evans had equal access to the outhouse. Christie had a good reputation and Evans was a violent drunk. Evans was arrested for murder, and convicted on the evidence of the prosecutions star witness, Christie. Evans was hung on March 9th 1950 in Pentonville Prison.

The bodies pile up.

Two years after this incident in 1952, Christie murdered his wife, placing her under the floorboards in the kitchen. He added three more bodies to his body count. Rita Nelson was a pregnant prostitute. Christie convinced her he could help with her problem, inviting her to the flat where he killed her and placed her in an alcove in the kitchen. Kathleen Maloney was twenty-six and a prostitute, she was soon added to the alcove. His final victim was Hectorina McLennan also twenty-six who was the last body added to the kitchen collection.

Although neighbours would complain about the smell, the area was a slum so little notice was taken. Christie’s mental health started to decline and he left his job. He started losing weight and forged his dead wives signature to empty her bank account.