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Britains Almost Perfect Murders - Season 1 - Episode 09: The Doctor of Death
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00:01The perfect murder, the unsolvable crime, does it really exist?
00:07In a TV first, we reveal the cutting-edge technology now used by British police to join the dots
00:15and reveal new evidence in all homicide investigations.
00:19I'm Tim Tate. I've been an investigative journalist for almost 50 years.
00:26I'm Sam Robbins, and I'm a criminal intelligence analyst.
00:30For over 20 years, I've worked alongside detectives on major murder investigations.
00:34Together, in this new series, we are going to discover the fatal mistakes
00:39which prevented the perfect murder from ever being committed.
01:19Few cases in the annals of historic crime have attracted as much interest as that of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen,
01:28the mild-mannered homeopath, hanged for murdering his wife in Edwardian London
01:35and for disappearing with his youthful mistress on a transatlantic liner.
01:42People are still definitely fascinated with the Crippen case.
01:45It wasn't just a cut-and-dry murder case.
01:48It has the hallmarks of an almost perfect murder because there was such meticulous effort
01:53to conceal the victim's identity, conceal the victim's body,
01:57and the deception about the victim's whereabouts,
02:00the fact that there is such an obscure method of death.
02:03If he'd just kept on with the fact that maybe he didn't know where she was and she had disappeared,
02:07this would have just been a missing persons case or a strange disappearance.
02:11It would never have turned into a murder investigation.
02:15It does have absolutely everything.
02:17There's a murder, a missing wife, respectable doctor, and science solving the riddle.
02:23It really has absolutely everything that you would expect from a detective fictional novel.
02:29But the fact this happened in real life, it's made it a media frenzy.
02:34The case was a media sensation and that's why it's remembered today
02:39because this was really the first major murder case that the public were able to follow
02:43as if it was a thriller.
02:45Every morning they would get a fresh update on this exciting pursuit across the waves.
02:52And this was largely because Inspector Dew deliberately wanted to involve the press.
02:57He had been a beat constable at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders
03:00and he felt that the way the police treated the press as irritations to be swatted away
03:07helped the murderer get away with it.
03:10And he was determined not to do the same thing.
03:15Hawley Crippen, the mild-mannered homeopath.
03:21That image and that case is one of the most famous in English criminal history.
03:30But what struck me from all that you've done and working through
03:34is that it's rarely been examined as a case of almost perfect murder.
03:40Yes.
03:41I think Hawley Crippen has always been viewed as the murderer that tripped themselves up.
03:47But the reality is that he came very, very close to getting away with murder.
03:54What do we know about Crippen?
03:57Hawley Crippen was an American national who started off his life in America
04:03and his career in America as a homeopath.
04:09Dr. Crippen was actually born in Coldwalshire, Michigan in 1862.
04:14Today we'd call him a quack doctor really.
04:16Although he trained in homeopathy, he wasn't what we'd call a regular doctor in this country.
04:19He had a degree in homeopathy, but he practiced as an eye and ear specialist,
04:26a deafness specialist, a dentist, none of which he had any qualification in at all.
04:32In fact, if you look at the transcripts of the trial,
04:35he's referred to throughout as Mr. Crippen,
04:37because he's not legally entitled to be called a doctor in Britain.
04:42In reality, the men who emerged as Crippen did with the coveted title of doctor
04:49were rarely better than snake oil salesmen.
04:53But still, they had the title of doctor and they had a veneer of respectability.
05:02He had a wife, he married quite young,
05:06had a son called Harley Otto Crippen, known as Otto.
05:10But sadly, his first wife died from a stroke at a young age,
05:15so unable to cope with looking after his son on his own.
05:20Crippen got in touch with his parents, who were living by this time in San Francisco,
05:24and persuaded him to take in young Otto.
05:26And they would actually raise him out in California.
05:32It wouldn't be very long after,
05:34Hawley met and married Cora Turner.
05:39And she was quite a bit younger than Crippen.
05:42So he met Cora in America.
05:44She was from Brooklyn in New York, and he was sort of working there.
05:48And then they got married very quickly.
05:51They had a fairly good relationship, from what we can gather as historians and that.
05:55And certainly he supported her idea of wanting to be
05:57a sort of a grand opera singer and an opera star.
06:00He paid for her to have singing lessons in New York.
06:04And they seemed very happy for many, many years.
06:08She was one of the legion of performers who then trod the boards
06:13on the burgeoning New York City Music Hall scene.
06:17And she performed under the stage name Belle Elmore.
06:24Crippen seems to have been smitten by this larger-than-life character.
06:28Whatever she did was fine by him.
06:30And she liked the idea of having a husband who had MD title and potential money that came
06:36with that to support her theatrical lifestyle.
06:41Crippen got a job with a homeopathic male order company, well-known company run by James Munyon.
06:48And in fact, he was so successful at this, he initially was appointed area manager in Philadelphia.
06:54And then he was later asked to go to London to run their branch office over there.
07:00So Crippen was very pleased with this.
07:02It gave him responsibility.
07:03And Cora was very happy as well because it gave her a chance to get on the stage in the
07:09London Music Hall scene.
07:12It's another one of those cases of strong women, isn't it?
07:16Exceptionally strong women.
07:18Once again, looking back at the time that this case took place,
07:22Cora was a really larger-than-life character,
07:27wanting to be on the stage, not very successful at wanting to be on the stage,
07:31at a time when, obviously, music halls were very popular.
07:35Popular in America, very popular in London.
07:37And when the Crippins moved to London,
07:41I think Cora had the view that she was going to become a huge either opera singer
07:45or a huge star, a star of the music halls.
07:49That didn't quite work out for Cora, and she wasn't that successful,
07:54but she was a very strong advocate for actors and musical professionals in terms of wages.
08:02And she became the treasurer of the music halls in London.
08:06The performers were almost like a community, weren't they?
08:10Yes, very, very strong community.
08:12And Cora did really well in terms of ingratiating herself in that community
08:18and was very well thought of in terms of what she did
08:22to help that community receive better wages.
08:27And it's a bit like a union representative
08:29in terms of what she did for the music hall community.
08:35So the Crippins were sort of quite active in London society, really.
08:38They were going to lots of parties.
08:40Then they were having lots of parties in their house at 39 Hill Drop Crescent,
08:43which was the scene of the crime eventually.
08:44They were very popular.
08:47And their life together seemed very happy.
08:50It was quite prosperous for a certain amount of time
08:53because Dr Crippin was always buying his wife jewellery and furs and luxurious things,
08:58and the house was very well decorated,
09:00even though she was quite eccentric, liking lots of things in pink.
09:04But they seemed to live together quite well for a while.
09:11What struck me is that Cora and Crippin are a very complete mismatch, aren't they?
09:19They really are, in terms of personality.
09:23You can almost tell, can't you, from his photo,
09:25just like a mild-mannered man into homeopathy,
09:29a very gentle form of natural form of medicine.
09:31And Cora is larger than life and really ruled the roost in that relationship
09:37in terms of her demands of Hawley.
09:40There's definitely suggestions that she was maybe conducting affairs
09:45outside of the marriage within the musical community.
09:48It was a very bohemian community who liked to have relations with each other.
09:53Yeah, and Cora was not immune from this.
09:57No, I think she was very open to it,
10:00and it definitely fed into her personality and her wants as an individual.
10:08Crippin's credentials didn't allow him to practise as a GP in London,
10:12so he worked on this mail-order business
10:14selling homeopathic products.
10:16Initially, that was very good.
10:18They had rooms in Piccadilly and then down in Bloomsbury,
10:21but because Crippin had to support Cora with her theatrical career,
10:26she wasn't bringing any money in herself,
10:27most of his money was going there.
10:29And most of his time was also spent with Cora.
10:33And the company felt that there was a chance that he might put their success in jeopardy.
10:39He wasn't solely concentrating on the business,
10:41so they fired him.
10:43And he was forced to find all sorts of different jobs.
10:47He ended up working initially in another mail-order company
10:49and then eventually took a job at a company working for the deaf,
10:55where he would eventually meet Ethel Leneve,
10:59his accomplice, as it was seen, in the death of his wife, Cora Crippin.
11:04He always maintained in his statements later on that Ethel Leneve
11:08was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to him.
11:11He hadn't really been happy with Cora.
11:12They were having difficulties since they got to London
11:15and Cora was pursuing her own life, really, doing her own things.
11:19And he just totally fell in love with this younger lady
11:22who was a lot younger than him, and she was ten years younger than his wife.
11:28But by all accounts, this is a very real relationship.
11:33I think it's fair to call it all-encompassing.
11:37It very much feels like the relationship started
11:40and it became encompassing for both of them,
11:44not necessarily just on Holy Crippin's side,
11:47but also Ethel as well, to the point where she would do anything for him.
11:52There comes a point, doesn't there,
11:54when tensions become unbearable?
11:58Yeah, and Cora was definitely...
11:59Her disdain for Hawley started to become very public,
12:05and none so more than can be demonstrated
12:08by a dinner party that is held on the 31st of January 1910.
12:14They're two really good friends.
12:16Paul and Clara Martinetti came round and had this dinner party.
12:20And Cora is particularly vicious with Hawley,
12:24verbally, and it's very clear to the Martinettis
12:27that there is tension in that marriage.
12:31Paul and Clara Martinetti left at about half past one,
12:35and they were the last known people to have seen Cora alive.
12:40She vanished immediately thereafter.
12:56The early hours of February the 1st, 1910,
13:00were the last time anyone would see Cora Crippin alive.
13:07For the next two or three days, she was nowhere to be found.
13:13She had vanished almost completely,
13:17and her friends became worried when they couldn't contact her,
13:22couldn't find her.
13:24Cora didn't turn up on the following Wednesday
13:26to a meeting of the Music Hall Guild,
13:30and everybody was sort of wondering where she was.
13:32But by that point, they'd already had a letter given by Crippin,
13:36sort of passed on to them via Ethel,
13:38to say that she was actually going away to America
13:41because there was somebody poorly in her family,
13:44and she needed to go and see them.
13:45And she was sorry it was so late,
13:46and there was not much notice,
13:48but that she would speak to them soon,
13:50but she had to go, literally imminently, to America.
13:54On the 2nd of February,
13:57Hawley pawns some of Cora's jewellery,
14:00and not for an insignificant amount of money either.
14:04And on the 9th of February,
14:06he goes to the pawnbrokers and pawns another set of jewellery,
14:10which brings him a fair amount of money in.
14:13So suddenly the community are thinking,
14:17where's Cora gone, and why is Hawley pawning her jewellery?
14:21And then to make things worse than themselves,
14:24Ethel starts wearing Cora's very nice fur coats and her finery.
14:31Before Cora even goes missing,
14:33Ethel informs her mum and her family
14:36she has married Dr. Crippin.
14:39What's going on here?
14:41Is she complicit with the disappearance later on?
14:44Is she complicit with this murder?
14:45I guess we'll never know.
14:46I personally think she definitely knew more than she let on.
14:51She comes within a couple of days,
14:53on the 2nd of February,
14:54to just sort of look over the house,
14:55to become a housekeeper, if you like.
14:57She doesn't properly move in till mid-March,
14:59but by that point she's definitely wearing Cora's furs and clothing,
15:04and there's even neighbours who are a bit nosy,
15:06give statements saying,
15:07well, we saw through the window her trying on dresses belonging to Cora.
15:11So it's quite strange, because at this point, you know,
15:13she's still officially alive and well in America,
15:16off with somebody else,
15:17and yet it seems very final in that house
15:19that she's not coming back.
15:23On the 23rd of March, 1910,
15:26Crippen said it had a telegram
15:28that Cora had been ill for some time in California
15:31and had actually died of double pneumonia the previous day.
15:37And this was quite a surprise.
15:38They said, well, are you going to go there for the funeral?
15:41The friends had said,
15:43and they said, well, there's not going to be a funeral.
15:45She's going to be cremated.
15:47And again, this was a further surprise,
15:49because they knew that cremation was against her religious beliefs.
15:54One of the friends actually goes to America to try and trace it.
15:57There's no record of her death anywhere,
15:59and even Dr. Crippen's son, Otto, who's living in the States,
16:03he knows nothing about this.
16:05So things start to get a bit suspicious.
16:07All her friends start to get suspicious.
16:09And eventually, some of the women actually in the march
16:12do go to Scotland Yard and report her missing
16:14and some strange circumstances,
16:16and yet, sadly, nothing is done.
16:21From Crippen's point of view,
16:23he thinks he's come up with the perfect explanation, doesn't he?
16:27Yes.
16:27I think he trips himself up by changing the story
16:31to the fact that she's died.
16:32I think initially, as he tells that story,
16:35he could have left it at that,
16:37and people maybe would have bought into it,
16:39the idea that she's got such disdain for him,
16:42she doesn't want to be with him any more,
16:44and has gone back to America to be happy.
16:47With her lover?
16:47With her lover, but he didn't leave it at that.
16:51An inspector is called.
16:52Yes, and a very good inspector.
16:55So Chief Inspector Dew,
16:57he goes to go and talk to Crippen
16:59to try and establish the facts of Cora's disappearance stroke death.
17:04Chief Inspector Dew goes initially to Hill Drop Crescent
17:07to find Crippen,
17:09and he's not there, but Ethel is,
17:11and he's like, ooh, who are you?
17:12And she says, well, I'm the housekeeper.
17:14I mean, this is a blatant lie.
17:15We know she's his mistress, and it's been moved in.
17:17But that's what she says.
17:19She's actually, Crippen's at work.
17:20Dr. Crippen's at work.
17:21So he goes, right, okay, let's go to Albion House,
17:23and let's go and chat to him.
17:24So they go actually over to his office
17:26and actually meet him.
17:29He gave a full statement over the course of the day
17:32and over an Italian lunch,
17:34which the police said he ate seemingly without a care in the world.
17:38He gave a statement which was very, very frank,
17:42very, very open, very, very, very willingly given,
17:45but nonetheless which confessed openly
17:48to this long string of deceptions.
17:51Crippen broke down and said, I made up this story.
17:54In reality, Cora had left me,
17:56and he couldn't stand the shame.
17:57So he'd made up the story about her passing away
18:00to cover that shame.
18:01Crippen, at this point, by all accounts,
18:05was extremely unpanicked.
18:07He gave the statement freely and calmly.
18:11Inspector Dew said, can we come back and inspect the house?
18:14He said, yes, come back.
18:15They looked in all the rooms.
18:16He walked around the rooms with them.
18:18They looked in the cellar.
18:19He went in the cellar with them
18:20without betraying any sign of nervousness
18:22or apprehension at all.
18:24So after Inspector Dewar had been to see Crippen
18:27and heard the story, they accepted that.
18:30They went back to Scotland Yard.
18:32But Crippen wasn't aware of this.
18:34He panicked.
18:37Next tipping point on the timeline
18:40is what Crippen does next.
18:43Yes, so had Crippen have held his nerve
18:47and had stayed in the address,
18:51the chief inspector might have gone back
18:53for a second visit,
18:54but had he held his story and held his nerve,
18:58he may have got away with it,
19:00but that is absolutely what he doesn't do.
19:05Crippen starts to panic
19:07and eventually he decides
19:09that the best course of action
19:10isn't to really say nothing,
19:12it's actually to flee the scene.
19:15So Crippen and the Leneve decided to go on the run
19:17and they were going to go to Canada.
19:18That was their plan.
19:19So they spent several days on the continent.
19:22They had 10 days in Brussels.
19:24Then they eventually went on the SS Montrose
19:27to go to Quebec in Canada
19:28where they have got a plan to have a new life.
19:34So one of the most sensational aspects
19:36of this whole case is the fact
19:37that Ethel was dressed as a boy
19:39and was pretending to be Crippen's son.
19:41They were under the name of Master and Mr. Robinson,
19:45John Robinson and his son.
19:46It must have been so hilarious
19:47because people started to realise
19:50the affection that these two people were showing
19:52was a little bit too much
19:53and they were actually holding hands at one point
19:56so the affection was clearly being noticed.
20:00So Crippen and Leneve
20:03high-tailed it out of the country.
20:07Meanwhile,
20:09Chief Inspector Dew is on the alert.
20:13He is.
20:14So Crippen disappearing from the country
20:17or most certainly disappearing from that address
20:19at that point,
20:20it was a tipping point for Dew to say
20:22we're going to go and do a proper search
20:24of 39 Hill Drop Crescent.
20:29So they did another closer investigation of the house
20:33and down in the cellar
20:35they realised some of the bricks on the floor
20:37were actually loosened
20:39as though they'd been recently taken up.
20:41They had these bricks lifted up.
20:45What must have hit them first
20:46was the stench of human remains.
20:48It must have been horrific.
20:50Eventually they find a shovel
20:51and they actually dig this basic pit.
20:54What they find is the horrific human remains.
20:57Now they don't know exactly what they found
20:58because what's really shocking
21:00is that there's no obvious bones.
21:02There were no limbs.
21:03There was no head.
21:05Absolutely shocking.
21:06So there's not only a murder has occurred clearly
21:09but horrific mutilation of the body.
21:12It wasn't even possible to be certain
21:15of the sex of the victim
21:18because all the genitalia had gone.
21:23So upon murdering his wife
21:25he then had the difficult task
21:26of getting rid of the body
21:27which is something he would have probably planned
21:29alongside the actual commission of the crime itself.
21:33But he went to some lengths
21:34to disguise her.
21:36He removed her head and hands.
21:38He removed all of the bones from her body
21:41and it obviously showed
21:42his kind of anatomical knowledge
21:44and his ability to undertake this task.
21:47But in order to do this really
21:49he had to detach himself
21:51and dehumanise his victim completely
21:53and the fact that this had been his wife
21:55he'd shared some years with
21:57and then to bury her in the cellar
22:00again shows a complete disregard for her
22:02as a person he'd fallen out
22:04of any kind of love or respect for her
22:07and she was really just a difficulty
22:09he needed to overcome
22:10to pursue his new life.
22:13The dismemberment of a body
22:14is not something to be taken lightly.
22:16It's a very catastrophic experience
22:20not only for the victim obviously
22:22but for the person perpetrating that crime.
22:26So the fact that that was done
22:29suggests that the person doing it
22:33was aware of the potential of the body
22:35to lead to identification
22:37either through facial recognition
22:40or skull features
22:42or the bones of the body
22:44that can help in establishing sex
22:47and ancestry
22:49and height
22:50and perhaps dietary conditions.
22:54So all of those things
22:56having been removed to some extent
23:00tend to suggest that the person
23:02was trying to get away
23:03with the perfect murder.
23:07We don't know the reasons
23:08why Crippen decided to dispose
23:10of the body in his own basement.
23:12He went to the lengths
23:13of removing all the bones.
23:15He's made an error
23:16in that he bought the wrong kind of line
23:18with which to cover the body
23:21and actually preserved it
23:23rather than gotten rid of it.
23:25But certainly probably
23:26this is something
23:27that he planned quite meticulously
23:29and he's really thought through
23:30how this was all going to piece together.
23:35Things escalated
23:36because this then became
23:38from a missing persons case
23:39to a potential murder investigation.
23:55The police had the remains
23:58and other objects
23:59found in the cellar removed
24:00and taken for closer investigation
24:02by the forensic scientists
24:04of the day.
24:05Although there was
24:06there was no genitalia
24:08and no head to identify
24:09whether the victim
24:11was even male or female
24:12there was enough
24:13found in the cellar
24:15to implicate Crippen.
24:18And Chief Inspector Dew
24:20issued a wanted bulletin
24:23for Hawley Crippen.
24:25That information
24:27found its mark.
24:29It found its mark
24:30in the captain
24:32of the transatlantic liner
24:35on which Crippen
24:37had booked himself
24:39and Laniv passage,
24:41the SS Montrose.
24:44By this point,
24:46Crippen and Laniv
24:47were wanted fugitives
24:49on the run.
24:50The whole world
24:51was chasing them
24:52via the press.
24:53The captain
24:55of the Montrose
24:56had strong suspicions
24:57that in fact
24:58two passengers
24:59calling themselves
25:01Mr Robinson and son
25:03were in fact
25:04Crippen and Ethel Laniv.
25:06And as a result,
25:07Captain Kendall
25:08sent the following telegram
25:10to the British authorities.
25:13Have strong suspicions
25:14that Crippen,
25:15London's cellar murderer
25:16and accomplice,
25:17are among saloon passengers.
25:19Accomplice dressed as boy,
25:21manner and build,
25:22undoubtedly a girl.
25:25And this is the first time
25:26in history
25:27wireless telegraphy
25:28was ever used
25:29to capture a criminal.
25:33A ship like the Montrose
25:34carries hundreds of passengers.
25:36Why would
25:38this couple
25:39have come to the attention
25:40of the captain?
25:41Another mistake
25:42Crippen makes
25:43whilst taking this journey
25:44is that
25:45he doesn't book
25:46into
25:47the class of passenger
25:49that was
25:50very popular at the time
25:51that was just steerage
25:52where they could have
25:53potentially
25:53have just faded
25:54into the background
25:55and been another father
25:57and son taking a journey.
25:58He books into
26:00a class of travel
26:01where there weren't
26:02that many passengers
26:03so the access
26:04in the boat area
26:05meant that there were
26:06less people around
26:08which meant that
26:08they stood out
26:09even more.
26:10So how's this
26:12extraordinary story
26:13playing out
26:14in the press?
26:16The press were reporting
26:17on a daily basis
26:19the fact that
26:20this slow motion
26:22cat and mouse
26:23were taking place
26:24and probably what
26:25delighted the Edwardians
26:26even more
26:27who loved nothing
26:28more than a crime story
26:30was the fact
26:31that the captain
26:33on the SS Montrose
26:35was going collecting
26:37in the newspapers
26:37so that
26:39Crippen and Ethel
26:40couldn't be alerted
26:41to the fact
26:41that Inspector G
26:42was onto them.
26:43So this is happening
26:44in real time?
26:45Yes.
26:46What unfolds next
26:47must have delighted
26:49the Edwardians
26:50because it was
26:51reported on a daily basis
26:53that this cat and mouse
26:54chase then ensues.
26:59So as a result
27:00of this telegram
27:01which made its way
27:02to the Metropolitan Police
27:03and Walter Dew
27:04he made his way
27:06to Liverpool
27:07where despite having
27:08several days head start
27:10the ship that Dew
27:13took, the Laurentic
27:14was a much faster liner
27:17and it was going
27:18to Quebec
27:19and while Crippen
27:22was making his way
27:23on the Montrose
27:23across the Atlantic
27:24thinking he'd left
27:26everything behind him
27:27Walter Dew
27:27was on this father ship
27:29making good pace
27:31to catch up with him.
27:33Dew knew
27:34that once they landed
27:36in Canada
27:37it would be easy
27:39for them
27:39to go down
27:40and slip across
27:41the border
27:42into the United States
27:44where Crippen
27:45remained
27:46a citizen.
27:48If Crippen
27:49got across the border
27:51it would require
27:52lengthy
27:53torturous
27:54and expensive
27:54legal proceedings
27:55to extradite him
27:57even if that
27:58proved to be possible.
28:00So it was all
28:01on the race
28:02between these two
28:03steamships.
28:05It must
28:06have been
28:07the longest
28:08and slowest
28:10police chase
28:11in criminal history.
28:15They are arriving
28:17shortly
28:17into Canada
28:19and
28:19Inspector Dew
28:20goes aboard
28:22and they get
28:23Crippen
28:23and he says
28:24you know
28:24good afternoon Crippen
28:25and he recognised
28:26him straight away
28:27and realised
28:28the game was up.
28:29They arrested
28:30Crippen
28:31and Laniv
28:32and the pair
28:33were taken back
28:34to London
28:34in handcuffs
28:36on the next
28:37available steamer.
28:41The press
28:41were waiting
28:42at the dock
28:42as soon as
28:43they came off
28:44the ship
28:44there were
28:45thousands of people
28:45waiting for them
28:46to get off the ship.
28:49So back in England
28:50both Ethel and Eve
28:51and Crippen
28:52both faced
28:53the charges
28:54of murder
28:54of Cora Crippen.
28:56After a few weeks
28:57Ethel's charge
28:58was actually
28:59reduced
29:00to accessory
29:01after the fact
29:02so she wasn't
29:03actually up
29:04for murder
29:04in the end.
29:08The Crime Museum
29:09at Scotland Yard
29:10still retains
29:11some of the exhibits
29:11in the original
29:12Crippen case
29:13and I was very fortunate
29:14as a historian
29:14to work there
29:15as a volunteer
29:15for several years
29:16so every day
29:17I got to see
29:18the original exhibits
29:18from the hair curlers
29:20to the pyjama jacket
29:21itself
29:22to lots of other
29:23ephemera and things
29:23connected with the case
29:24and the actual shovel
29:26we believe
29:26that was used
29:27by Jew
29:28in order to actually
29:29extract the body
29:29from the cellar
29:30so there's lots
29:31of exhibits still around
29:32which were used
29:33at the trial
29:34at Scotland Yard.
29:35I'm also very lucky
29:36as a historian
29:37because I actually
29:37own several exhibits
29:39which I purchased
29:40at auction
29:40belonging to Cora
29:41and Dr Crippen
29:44So we have a very rare
29:46original wanted poster
29:48which you can see
29:49in Metropolitan Police
29:50Murder and Mutilation
29:52These posters
29:53the majority of them
29:54would have been
29:54outside the police stations
29:56themselves
29:56but also
29:57the actual image itself
29:59was then also
30:00reproduced
30:00in sometimes handbills
30:03and sometimes
30:03just general newspapers
30:05as well
30:05They've got two poison bottles
30:07and you can always tell
30:08poison bottles
30:09there's ridges
30:10in case you were
30:10partially sighted
30:11or blind
30:11so you wouldn't
30:12actually accidentally
30:13take medicine
30:14you're not supposed to
30:14so these medical bottles
30:16this medical pill making equipment
30:18all belonged to Dr Crippen
30:20it all came from his office
30:21but probably my favourite thing
30:23which I'm very privileged to own
30:24is actually a pair
30:25and he had a few
30:26a pair of his actual spectacles
30:28his glasses there
30:29which you can see
30:30in the box
30:35While Chief Inspector Dew
30:37was involved
30:39in his police chase
30:41his colleagues
30:42back at Scotland Yard
30:44had been working
30:45on the mysterious torso
30:47the body
30:49had traces
30:50of a drug
30:52called
30:52scopalamine
30:55So the thing about poisons
30:57is that they're usually
30:58in a form
30:59that can be readily administered
31:00either through food
31:01or drink
31:02and in this case
31:04scopalamine
31:04was quite readily available
31:07it was naturally
31:08used as either
31:10an anaesthetic
31:11or something
31:11that could be administered
31:12to reduce the consciousness
31:15of an individual
31:16and obviously
31:17in high doses
31:18then
31:19that would have
31:20a catastrophic effect
31:22so
31:24assuming that
31:24there was a mechanism
31:25by which
31:26he could administer
31:27this drug
31:28then
31:29to all intents
31:30and purposes
31:30that could be done
31:31quite surreptitiously
31:33because it could be
31:34hidden in
31:34food or drink
31:38Earlier in January
31:39he'd actually bought
31:40some from
31:41Lewis Burroughs and Sons
31:42in Oxford Street
31:43so he'd actually ordered some
31:45and then two days later
31:46because they'd never
31:46had that amount in stock
31:47I mean he argued
31:48he needed it
31:49for homeopathic remedies
31:50and things like that
31:51and he was going to
31:51make up packets
31:52to sell to people
31:53or whatever
31:54but they never did that
31:55he never had any patients
31:56they went through
31:57his patient registers
31:58there's nothing to show
32:00that he ever actually used it
32:01as part of his
32:02homeopathic remedies
32:03and he signed
32:04the poisons registers
32:05so it's a bit
32:07a bit crazy really
32:08why in a way
32:08if this was premeditated
32:10would you actually
32:11choose to use the poison
32:12you've actually
32:13legitimately signed for
32:16So we often see
32:17poisonings more associated
32:18with female killers
32:20than males
32:20so Crippett is quite
32:21different in this respect
32:22in that he used
32:23the poison against
32:24his wife
32:25and I think it reflects
32:26a little bit more
32:27on his character
32:27that he was quite
32:28a devious person
32:30and it just kind of
32:31indicates the type
32:32of person he was
32:33that he you know
32:34kind of quite cruelly
32:35poisoned his wife
32:36and then disposed
32:37of her body
32:39so yes the body
32:40was clearly poisoned
32:41but we still don't know
32:42if there are other
32:43methods of dispatch
32:43if you like
32:44so there was a piece
32:45of string
32:45so some suggest
32:46maybe he actually
32:47strangled her
32:48gunshots were actually
32:49heard that night
32:50allegedly by neighbours
32:51so did he shoot her
32:52is that why
32:53her head wasn't there
32:54there were so many
32:56fascinating forensic
32:57aspects of this case
32:59because there were
32:59so many bits of evidence
33:01found with the body
33:02in the cellar
33:03so for example
33:04there were actual
33:05pieces of Cora's hair
33:06in Heinz curlers
33:08and that was one
33:08of the reasons
33:09why they believed
33:10they identified
33:10it was Cora in the
33:11basement because
33:12Cora bleached her hair
33:13and the hair in the
33:14in the basement
33:15actually had bleach on it
33:16it was dark brown
33:17and then it had bleach
33:17and it was in the curlers
33:18so that's one of the
33:19identifying markers
33:20that they gave really
33:21for Cora
33:24Enter the Home Office
33:25Pathologist
33:26Sir Bernard Spilsbury
33:28the leading scientist
33:29of the day
33:29what has he found
33:30which is the crucial
33:31piece of evidence
33:33so underneath
33:34the flagstone
33:35there was still
33:36an intact piece
33:38of skin
33:39and on that skin
33:41was a scar
33:42that suggested
33:43that whoever
33:44was under that
33:45flagstone
33:45had been
33:46had an operation
33:48that scar
33:49then matched
33:50a similar scar
33:51which would have
33:52appeared on Cora's
33:53body
33:53because she had
33:53an operation
33:54in that abdominal area
33:55well that's game
33:56set and match
33:57isn't it
33:57not necessarily
33:59no
33:59it was contested
34:00that it wasn't
34:02a scar at all
34:03it was some kind
34:03of birthmark
34:04so it was
34:06contested
34:06and Crippen
34:07is pleading
34:08his innocence
34:09all the way through
34:10all the way through
34:11yes
34:13the trial
34:14the trial was a huge
34:14media sensation
34:17worldwide press
34:18were reporting
34:18this
34:19they'd already
34:19reported the chase
34:20and the frantic
34:21capture of these
34:22fugitives
34:22but the trial itself
34:23over 4,000 people
34:25actually applied
34:26to try and get tickets
34:27to sit and watch
34:28the trial
34:28inside the Old Bailey
34:30and this is
34:31unprecedented
34:48this was really
34:49the first
34:50notable example
34:51of one of the
34:53great curses
34:53of our modern age
34:55which is trial
34:55by media
34:56and that the trial
34:57really wasn't
34:58the beginning
35:00but the end
35:00of a long process
35:02in which he'd already
35:02been found guilty
35:03in the world's media
35:07they actually split
35:08the court
35:09time into two
35:10morning and afternoon
35:10sessions
35:11and you could have
35:12a red ticket
35:13for the morning session
35:14to hear some of the trial
35:15and a blue ticket
35:16for the afternoon session
35:17and it lasted
35:19for five days
35:19and was absolutely
35:21sensational
35:23from the first
35:24there were
35:25people who
35:26strongly doubted
35:27Crippen's guilt
35:28but the forensic evidence
35:30seemed to be
35:32so totally against him
35:34that it was never
35:35seriously entertained
35:37there was a popular
35:38expression in Britain
35:39and Crippen was innocent
35:40meaning pull the other one
35:43at the trial
35:45Crippen basically
35:46presented
35:47a mysterious
35:49figure
35:50in that he was
35:51very unruffled
35:53very very calm
35:54not seemingly distressed
35:56as one would expect
35:57a man in his position
35:58to be
35:58but at the same time
36:01the only defense
36:02he would offer
36:03was one of complete
36:05innocence
36:05and complete ignorance
36:08so the case
36:09against Crippen
36:10was really built up
36:13on a number of
36:14almost
36:15small
36:16circumstantial things
36:17the fact that he'd fled
36:18rather than
36:19stick to his story
36:21and in terms of science
36:23they didn't have an identity
36:25of Cora Crippen
36:26obviously
36:26but they were relying
36:27on this scar
36:28which was on the torso
36:30on the remains
36:31that matched Cora
36:33the defense
36:33tried to say
36:34that there were hair follicles
36:35in the scar
36:36which shouldn't be there
36:37if it was on the abdomen
36:38and Spillsbury said
36:40they would be there
36:41it was puckered skin
36:42exactly as you'd expect
36:43and it was the right size
36:45and location
36:46for a lower abdomen scar
36:47that Cora Crippen
36:48had been known to have
36:52so the other
36:52really huge
36:53important piece of evidence
36:54within the remains
36:56was actually
36:57a pyjama jacket
36:58which actually
36:59was sort of folded around
37:00we think around the remains
37:01and actually
37:02this really helped
37:03convict Crippen
37:04it was possibly
37:04one of those
37:05important pieces of evidence
37:06against him
37:07because surviving on it
37:09was a label
37:09saying Jones Brothers Holloway
37:12under the bed
37:13they found
37:14three sets of pyjamas
37:15and the third set
37:16didn't have its pyjama
37:17top
37:18and they got
37:19all the experts
37:20from the people
37:20who actually physically
37:21made and manufactured
37:22these
37:22and they discovered
37:23that this was not
37:25actually produced
37:25the material
37:26and these set of pyjamas
37:27were not produced
37:28until 1908
37:29which meant
37:31the excuse that
37:32Crippen was coming up with
37:32well I don't know
37:33who put that in there
37:34the murder and that body
37:35and those pyjamas
37:36could have even been
37:36in the house
37:37before I even got there
37:38in 1905
37:39but that pyjama jacket
37:40with that label
37:41proved beyond shadow
37:42of a doubt
37:42that it must have been
37:43produced after 1908
37:45so definitely when
37:46Crippen was in the house
37:48we take forensic science
37:50for granted now
37:51in DNA
37:52and that sort of thing
37:52in 1910
37:53it was very very new
37:55and as a result
37:57that the jury
37:58and newspapers
37:59in fact reporting
38:00on the trial
38:01they were just
38:02completely blown away
38:03this science can't be wrong
38:05they can't make mistakes
38:06this definitely happened
38:07and Crippen was found guilty
38:10on the evidence
38:11of Bernard Spielsbury
38:12that this scar
38:13definitely belonged
38:14to Cora Crippen
38:17in the end
38:18Crippen was found
38:19after 27 minutes only
38:20guilty
38:21and he was sadly
38:23sentenced to death
38:27and was executed
38:29on the 23rd of November
38:30at Pentonville Prison
38:37Crippen went to his grave
38:38maintaining absolute innocence
38:41and I think very tellingly
38:44in his final statements
38:45he's not saying
38:48I was undone by fate
38:50or anything kind of wishy-washy
38:52he's still talking about the evidence
38:54he's talking about the experts
38:56and he's asking
38:57not to be forgiven
38:59but to be believed
39:01it didn't avail him
39:03anything
39:04he was taken to the scaffold
39:06the noose was placed
39:07around his neck
39:09and the hangman
39:10dropped him
39:11into eternity
39:16we will never truly know
39:18how guilty
39:19Ethel was
39:20and what she knew
39:21I personally think
39:22she definitely knew more
39:22than she let on
39:23from wearing
39:24you know
39:26costume jewellery
39:27and jewels
39:28and furs
39:29and clothing belonging
39:30to the victim
39:30telling people she was married
39:32when she clearly wasn't
39:34and her whole willingness
39:35to go along with Dr Crippen
39:37to dress as a boy
39:37to escape
39:38to start a new life
39:39to leave her family behind her
39:41I definitely think
39:42she knew more than she let on
39:46what made the murder
39:49he committed
39:49almost perfect
39:51not perfect
39:52panic
39:54panic that the police
39:56were onto him
39:57and the moment
39:59that he
40:00decides to leave
40:02that address
40:02the game is up
40:03that's the point
40:04from which there is no return
40:05I think
40:06I think that's the tipping point
40:07the pawning of the jewellery
40:09etc
40:09was careless
40:10you know
40:12in terms of
40:13allowing Ethel
40:14to wear Cora's clothes
40:15careless
40:16fleeing for America
40:19that's the tipping point
40:20for me
40:21is the panic
40:28so whether Crippen
40:29was a psychopath
40:30it's up to some debate
40:32he certainly displayed
40:34many of the traits
40:35of a psychopath
40:36he was very sort of charming
40:37he was very able to
40:39manipulate people
40:41and situations
40:42and he didn't really have
40:43any regard
40:44for the consequences
40:46sometimes
40:46of his actions
40:48in terms of empathy
40:49towards other people
40:51however
40:51he was also somebody
40:53who
40:53at the hands of his wife
40:55had suffered some humiliation
40:56had been
40:58sort of manipulated himself
40:59so that doesn't necessarily
41:00always fit with
41:01the behaviour
41:03and the character
41:04of a psychopath
41:07I think like many killers
41:09there's an element
41:10of narcissism
41:11in their personality traits
41:12and I think Crippen
41:13probably thought
41:14he was going to get away
41:15with this
41:16not necessarily thinking
41:17that he was cleverer
41:18than everybody else
41:19but that
41:20he felt he was
41:21in an intolerable situation
41:23so for murder for him
41:24because he would never
41:25have been able
41:25to get divorced from Belle
41:26she was Catholic as well
41:28it's another thing
41:28that people don't remember
41:30so he saw
41:31his only way out
41:32of an intolerable situation
41:33to be with the woman
41:34he loved
41:34and for financial reasons
41:35as well
41:36was to commit murder
41:39he almost got away
41:41the remains
41:42were almost unidentifiable
41:45we don't know
41:48if he'd done it
41:49why he didn't
41:51transport that last
41:53bit of flesh
41:54to wherever he put
41:55everything else
41:56it seems
41:57very mysterious
41:59and really a point
42:00in his favour
42:01then he would have been
42:03looking at an almost
42:04perfect murder
42:07at that point
42:09this is a great piece
42:11of Edwardian
42:12detective story
42:13isn't it
42:14it's got all the elements
42:15it's got sex
42:15it's got lack of money
42:16it's got buried bodies
42:18it's got
42:19a slow motion police chase
42:21yes
42:22but that might be
42:24where it ended
42:24except that it isn't
42:26no
42:27so there
42:29there has been
42:29doubt cast
42:31over the fact
42:33that
42:34the body
42:35underneath
42:36the flagstone
42:37was Cora's
42:41in the last few years
42:43Crippen's guilt
42:44has been doubted
42:45and questioned
42:45by various people
42:47when about 20 years ago
42:49some DNA was extracted
42:50from one of the slides
42:52from which Professor
42:53Bernard Spilsbury
42:54the eminent pathologist
42:55who was involved
42:55in the investigation
42:56some of his slides
42:58are still available
42:58at the Royal London
42:59Hospital Archives
43:00and certain people
43:01from various institutes
43:03in America
43:03came over
43:04had access
43:04to one of the slides
43:05they claimed
43:06to have extracted DNA
43:08from this
43:09according to them
43:10they managed to track down
43:11three grand nieces
43:12of Cora Cripping
43:13and they claimed
43:15that the DNA
43:16didn't match
43:16for the family
43:17and also
43:18more shockingly
43:19that it may have been
43:20male
43:23I think that we need
43:24to be very cautious
43:26about how we interpret
43:27results from
43:28historical slides
43:30like this
43:31and maybe
43:31be careful
43:33that we don't
43:34jump to a very
43:34conclusive
43:35outcome
43:37in terms of
43:38what the DNA
43:38means
43:39it was
43:41a small
43:42part of
43:43the abdomen
43:44some scar tissue
43:45from the skin
43:46that was subjected
43:48to our
43:49contemporary tests
43:50and
43:51in doing that
43:53we're already
43:54on the back foot
43:55really
43:55because the material
43:56has been subjected
43:57to histology
43:59it's been exposed
44:01to chemicals
44:02in order to
44:03stain
44:04the cellular
44:05structures
44:05it's been exposed
44:07to the DNA
44:08probably of tens
44:09if not more
44:11people
44:11who are not
44:12necessarily connected
44:13with the crime
44:15itself
44:15and our technology
44:17is so sensitive
44:18that it can detect
44:19material from
44:21trace levels
44:22of material
44:23so there's always
44:24that chance
44:24that the material
44:26under that
44:27microscope slide
44:28contains material
44:30from other sources
44:34if that DNA
44:35testing
44:36is correct
44:37what does that
44:39mean
44:40so that would
44:42potentially
44:43mean that
44:44Crippen
44:44is not guilty
44:46of the murder
44:47of Cora
44:48and that she did
44:49actually abscond
44:51to
44:51or abscond
44:52to somewhere
44:52and set up
44:54home there
44:54and that actually
44:56Cora had the
44:57last laugh
44:57in that relationship
44:59in terms of
45:00Crippen
45:00going to the
45:02gallows
45:02for her
45:03murder
45:05which
45:06in
45:07the sort of
45:08twist that
45:09makes my head
45:10spin
45:10means that there
45:11was a perfect
45:12murder
45:13but it was a
45:13judicial one
45:14yes
45:15yes
45:15very much so
45:16so if it's not
45:17Cora
45:18underneath
45:19that flagstone
45:20who is it
45:22and who committed
45:23that murder
45:25and was
45:26Crippen
45:26innocent
45:27and was
45:27Crippen
45:28innocent
45:31the thing
45:32about the
45:32Crippen
45:32case is
45:33there's so
45:34many what
45:34ifs
45:35or buts
45:36is it
45:36Cora Crippen
45:37if not
45:38Cora Crippen
45:39whose are
45:39those remains
45:41why did
45:41Crippen
45:42disappear
45:42if he was
45:43so sure
45:44that he
45:45hadn't
45:45murdered
45:46his wife
45:46there's so
45:47many ifs
45:48and buts
45:48and the fact
45:49that he
45:49tried to
45:49disguise
45:50himself
45:50and he
45:50almost got
45:51away
45:51with the
45:52perfect
45:52murder
45:53there's so
45:54much going
45:54on
45:55that led
45:56and continues
45:57to lead
45:58that story
45:59to be of
45:59high interest
46:00even today
46:03I think it
46:04was remembered
46:04not so much
46:05as an almost
46:05perfect murder
46:06but as an
46:06almost perfect
46:07murder case
46:08because it
46:09was so neat
46:10and so
46:10intriguing
46:11and so
46:12well tied up
46:13by the police
46:14but given
46:15what we now
46:16know
46:16about the
46:18remains
46:18some very
46:20very serious
46:21questions
46:21need to be
46:22asked
46:22to be
46:23to be
46:24to be
46:24as
46:50as
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