john-haigh-case-blog

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The acid bath killer

John Haigh was a sereal killer known in the 30′s-40′s in northen England. He killed 6 persons by following a kind type process, he was a crook and was cheating on his victims. Haigh started to have money issues which is the main motivation for his crimes. He was suffuring of narcissistic personality disorder which means that he had feeling of grandiosity, admiration seeker and was emotionless and felt no empathy. 

In some ways he has a complex personality that catched up the attention especially because we learned that he almost denounced himself as a sign of pride for what he did. 

We will focus on his crime, go back in the past with his childhood, an important period that can help to understand who was John Haigh and then, when he faced justice. 

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Born on July the 24th 1909 in Stamford, England, John George Haigh was the only son of John Robert Haigh and Emily Hudson. He grew up at Outwood in Yorkshire, where he knew, according to his own confession, a dark and lonely childhood. In fact his parent were from a religious community which was very conservative and asked a  strict and austere lifestyle. As an exemple f this lifestyle, the father of Haigh built a barrier of three meters high to « protect his family from the maleficent outside world.

His parent was lovely and sweet with their son, but because of the religion, the childhood of John was made of restrictions and his father lectured him a lot when he said or did something unpleasant. The patriarch went to explain that the mark he had on his forehead was the consequence of his youth mistakes and that the Devil marked him to punish him, he said that to his son to warned him of committing sins.

During his childhood, John did not understand why some other child could have radios, comics, and play games outside and couldn’t himself. The answer of his dad was the same : he related everything to the devil and the religion which affected John a lot.

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Then, John grew up, he quitted school at the age of 17 and when he was legal he started to chained unimportant jobs. Then he was hired in a garage, he was late often but some said that his charm played in his favor, the same said that he was secret, mysterious and no one knew him well to not say “know him really”.

On July 1934 he married Beatrice Hamer, but their marriage did not last because in the meantime, Haigh has been arrested for fraud, this was the first time he made up with police services. His ex wife gave birth while he was in prison and gave the little baby for adoption before she left Haigh.

In 1936, Haigh was release from jail and moved to London and became the driver of William McSwan (his first victim), McSwan  family owned amusement machines during a time, Haigh was very close to this family, and was almost a part of it. But Haigh did not stop with his scam business and was arrested several times this year and receive a four-year prison sentence for that.

The time he passed in prison made him think about the fact that he made a mistake, and concluded that letting his victims alive wasn’t a good idea. So he started to get interested by the French killer Georges Alexandre Sarret who used to put his victims in a sulfuric acid bath, and this marks the begining of the “blood call” for Haigh. 

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The Blood Call

In 1944, after being released a second time, Haigh did found a job of secretary in an engineering firm. By chance, he bumped into his former boss, William McSwan. By dint of rubbing the McSwan family again, Haigh began to envy their lifestyle. Later, we learn that William disappears, Haigh will admit that he has attacked until death and hidden in the basement. Subsequently, Haigh would have plunged him into a tank of sulfuric acid. After that, he pretended that William was hiding in Scotland to avoid military service. 

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Two days later, Durand-Deacon’s friend Constance Lane reported her missing.

Detectives soon discovered Haigh’s record of theft and fraud and searched the workshop. Police found Haigh’s attaché case containing a dry cleaner’s receipt for Mrs Durand-Deacon’s coat, and also papers referring to the Hendersons and McSwans. The workshop in Sussex rented by Haigh did not contain a floor drain, unlike the workshop he had rented at Gloucester Road in London. He therefore disposed of the remains by pouring out the container on a rubble pile at the back of the property. Investigation of the area by pathologist Keith Simpson revealed 28 pounds of human body fat, part of a human foot, human gallstones and part of a denture which was later identified by Mrs Durand-Deacon's dentist during the trial.

Haigh asked Detective Inspector Albert Webb during questioning, "Tell me, frankly, what are the chances of anybody being released from Broadmoor?" (a high-security psychiatric hospital). The inspector said that he could not discuss that sort of thing, so Haigh replied, "Well, if I told you the truth, you would not believe me. It sounds too fantastic to believe."

Haigh then confessed that he had killed Durand-Deacon, the McSwans and the Hendersons—as well as three other people: a young man called Max, a girl from Eastbourne, and a woman from Hammersmith. These claims could not be substantiated.

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The trial and the sentence

Haigh’s trial opened up on July 1949.

The accusation has shown that the murders were committed by financial interest. On the other hand, the main question was whether Haigh was sane.

Haigh pleaded not guilty because of his research in Law books that say that no one can be accused of murder if there is no corpses founded.

However, his scams followed him until the trial, as thirty-three witnesses were called to the bar to testify scams and concealment of objects he had stolen.

Which is disturbing is that Haigh was indifferent to what was happening to him, he had an psychologic expertise that showed that he wasn’t subject to paranoia or any mental disorder of this kind, that he was just a man with curious tendencies.

After that, the jury pronounced the sentence in 15min only and  convict him and sentence him to death. The president of the audience asked him if he had anything to add, to which he answered that he left without any regret this world filled with prejudices and that he accepted his condemnation. He left the court with a big smile. John Haigh, the acid bath killer, was executed three weeks later.

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After the killing of William McSwan, Haigh then took over McSwan's house and began collecting the rents for his parents, but he wanted the money from the properties. Donald and Amy became curious as to why their son had not returned as the war was coming to an end. On July 1945, he lured them to Gloucester Road (the same place where Haigh killed William) by telling them their son was back from Scotland for a surprise visit. He murdered them in his basement with blows to the head and disposed of them.

Then, Haigh made some new bloody nightmares which revealed a real obsession of killing. So, on February 1948, he made some new friends, The Hendersons. One day, John invites Dr. Henderson to visit his new local in Leopold Street, once both came in the local, Haigh shoot Dr. Henderson, then, he called Henderson’s wife telling his husband wasn’t feeling well and shoot her when she came up. After that, he put the bodies on an acid bath, as he did with the former victims. 

Haigh had debts. Therefore, in order to pay them back, Haigh started organizing visits to his workshop, to bring the victims and strip them to pledge their jewels and valuables.

This technic worked one last time with Olive Durand-Deacon. This rich lady met Haigh on a tea room and confessed about an idea of plastic nails that she had. John told her that he could make those nails in his workshop and invited Miss Durand-Deacon to follow him there. Once she came in the workshop, while she was searching something in her bag, Haigh shot her in the back. He took everything she had to sale it after. He put her in an acid bath just before that, he drank the blood of the lady in a little glass he prepared for this occasion. 

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As I grew up I realized, though imperfectly, that I was different from other people, and that the way of life in my home was different from that in the homes of others….This stimulated me to introspection and strange mental questionings.

John George Haigh, The Acid Bath Killer of England. (via gotkillerquotes)

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John Haigh wax figure in Madame Tussaud museum