Life StoryJohn George Haigh was born on 24 July 1909 in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The family moved to Outwood, West Yorkshire, where Haigh spent the next 24 years of his life. He was brought up in an incredibly religious household where references to ‘the Lord’ were used frequently to remind the young John that he was always observed by a higher and more superior being. Haigh himself claimed that his childhood was bleak and lonely. His only friends were his few pets. A tall fence around the
house, put up by his father, kept out prying eyes or any social contact with the outside world. Haigh's "family" belonged to a group known as the Plymouth Brethren, who were pure and subject to " divine grace" and not "law". He then started to believe that he was invincible and could get away with anything. Haigh was later known to be manipulative and a compulsive liar. In 1934 Haigh stopped attending his parents' church and married Beatrice Hammer, a 21-year-old woman he barely knew. Despite having been impressed by Haigh’s manners and charm, she was uncertain about his character but still went ahead with the marriage on 6 July 1934. Haigh's parents allowed the couple to live with them although the marriage lasted only about four months, ending when Haigh was arrested in October 1934 and sent to prison for fraud. It was while he was incarcerated that he thought up a new scheme to become rich quickly, instead of toiling for a living. His plan was simply to go after rich, older women. Haigh had also convinced himself that if there was no corpse, then there could be no conviction "corpus delicti". This was a misinterpretation of the Latin word "corpus" as a literal body rather than a figurative one. Such a belief no doubt prompted him into working with sulphuric acid in the prison's tin shop where he experimented on mice and made studies of the effects of acid on animal tissue. After Haigh was released from prison, he set out to carry his heinous plan. Melting 6 bodies one at a time in an oil drum filled with concentrated acid he would empty the sludge into his small garden thinking he had committed the "perfect crime". |
Police detectives found parts of bone, gallstones and in his shed a gas mask, corroded drums and a pistol; even some blood stains which matched that of his last victim. This was enough evidence on its own to sentence John George Haigh to death for mass murder even before he admitted to the crimes of 3 more victims.
Haigh was questioned for the murders and tried to argue for insanity, claiming that ever since he was a child his strange upbringing has resulted in nightmares of blood and crucifixes. He made out to be a vampire drinking a pint of each victim's blood before melting them in acid. His trial lasted just 15 minutes before he was sentenced to hang. |
Bibliography
http://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/haigh-john.htm
http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/john-haigh-the-acid-bath-murderer/biography.html
http://www.murderuk.com/serial_john_george_haigh.html
http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/john-haigh-the-acid-bath-murderer/biography.html
http://www.murderuk.com/serial_john_george_haigh.html