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Britain's Almost Perfect Murders - Season 1 Episode 9 - The Doctor Of Death
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00:01The perfect murder, the unsolvable crime, does it really exist?
00:08In a TV first, we reveal the cutting-edge technology now used by British police to join the dots and
00:15reveal 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. For over 20 years, I've worked alongside detectives on major murder
00:33investigations.
00:34Together, in this new series, we are going to discover the fatal mistakes which prevented the perfect murder from ever
00:43being committed.
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01:59whereabouts the fact that there is such an obscure method of death if he just
02:04kept on with the fact that maybe he didn't know where she was and she had
02:07disappeared this would have just been a missing persons case or a strange
02:10disappearance it would never have turned into a murder investigation it does have
02:16absolutely everything there's a murder a missing wife respectable doctor and
02:21science solving the riddle it really has absolutely everything that you would
02:25expect from a detective fictional novel but the fact this happened in real life
02:31it just made it a media frenzy the case was a media sensation and that's why it's
02:38remembered today because this was really the first major murder case that the
02:42public were able to follow as if it was a thriller every morning they would get a
02:47fresh update on this exciting pursuit across the waves and this was largely
02:53because Inspector Dew deliberately wanted to involve the press he had been a beat
02:58constable at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders and he felt that the way
03:01the police treated the press as irritations to be swatted away helped the
03:08murderer get away with it and he was determined not to do the same thing
03:17and he was determined not to do the same thing but he was determined not to do the same thing
03:20but
03:20he was determined not to do the same thing but he was determined not to do the same thing but
03:22that image and that case is one of the most famous in English criminal history but what struck me from
03:32all that you've done and working through is that
03:35it's rarely been examined as a case of almost perfect murder
03:40yes I think Hawley Crippen has always been viewed as the the murderer that tripped themselves up but the reality
03:49is 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 and his career in America as a
04:05homeopath
04:09Dr. Crippen was actually born in Coldwater Michigan in 1862 today we'd call him a quack doctor really although he
04:16trained 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 a deafness specialist a dentist
04:28none of which he had any qualification in at all
04:31in fact if you look at the transcripts of the trial he's referred to throughout as Mr. Crippen because he's
04:38not 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 were rarely better than snake
04:52oil salesmen
04:53but still they had the title of doctor and they had a veneer of respectability
05:02he had had a wife he married quite young had a son called Harley Otto Crippen known as Otto
05:10but sadly his first wife died from a stroke at a young age so unable to cope to cope with
05:18looking after his son on his own
05:20Crippen got in touch with his parents who were living by this time in San Francisco and persuaded him to
05:25take in young Otto
05:26and they would actually raise him out in California
05:32wouldn't be very long after
05:34Harley met and married Cora Turner
05:39and she was quite a bit younger than Crippen
05:42so he met Cora in America she was from Brooklyn in New York
05:46and he was sort of working there and 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 a sort of a grand opera singer and an opera
06:00star
06:00he paid for her to have singing lessons in New York
06:03and they seemed very happy for many many years
06:08She was one of the legion of performers who then trod the boards on the burgeoning New York City Music
06:16Hall scene
06:17and she performed under the stage name Belle Elmore
06:24Crippen seems to have been smitten by this larger than life character
06:27whatever she did was fine by him
06:30and she liked the idea of having a husband who had MD title
06:34and potential money that came with that to support her theatrical lifestyle
06:41Crippen got a job with a homeopathic mail order company
06:45well known company run by James Munyon
06:48and in fact he was so successful at this
06:51he 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
07:04and Cora was very happy as well
07:06because it gave her a chance to get on the stage in the London Music Hall scene
07:13It's another one of those cases of strong women isn't it?
07:17Exceptionally strong women
07:18once again looking back at the time that this case took place
07:22Cora was a really larger than life character
07:26wanting to be on the stage
07:28not very successful at wanting to be on the stage
07:30at a time when obviously music halls were very popular
07:35popular in America, very popular in London
07:38and when the Crippins moved to London
07:40I think Cora had the view that she was going to become
07:43a huge either opera singer
07:45or a huge star, a star of the music halls
07:49that didn't quite work out for Cora
07:51and she wasn't that successful
07:54but she was a very strong advocate
07:57for 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 strong community
08:12and Cora did really well in terms of
08:16ingratiating herself in that community
08:18and was very well thought of
08:20in terms of what she did to help that community
08:25receive better wages
08:26and 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
08:41at 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
08:57and luxurious things
08:58and the house was very well decorated
09:00even though she was quite eccentric liking lots of things in pink
09:03but they seemed to live together quite well for a while
09:11What struck me is that Cora and Crippin
09:17they're a complete mismatch aren't they?
09:19They really are in terms of personality
09:23You can almost tell can't you from his photo
09:25they're just like a mild mannered man
09:27into homeopathy a very gentle form of natural form of medicine
09:31and Cora is larger than life
09:34and really ruled the roost in that relationship
09:37in terms of her demands of Hawley
09:40there's definitely suggestions
09:42that she was maybe conducting affairs outside of the marriage
09:46within the musical community
09:48it was a very bohemian community
09:50who 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
10:01and it definitely fed into her personality and her wants as an individual
10:08Crippin's credentials didn't allow him to practice as a GP in London
10:12so he worked on this mail order business selling homeopathic products
10:16initially that was very good
10:18they had rooms in Piccadilly and then down in Bloomsbury
10:22but because Crippin had to support Cora with her theatrical career
10:26she wasn't bringing any money in herself
10:28most 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
10:46he ended up working initially in another mail order company
10:49and then eventually took a job, a company working for the deaf
10:55where he would eventually meet Ethel Laniv
10:59his accomplice as it was seen in the death of his wife Cora Crippin
11:04She always maintained in his statements later on that
11:07Ethel Laniv was 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
11:20and he just totally fell in love with this younger lady
11:23who 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
11:34I think it's fair to call it all-encompassing
11:36it very much feels like the relationship started and it became encompassing for both of them
11:44not necessarily just on Hawley 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, when tensions become unbearable
11:57Yeah, and Cora was definitely, her disdain for Hawley started to become very public
12:04and none so more than can be demonstrated by a dinner party that is held on the 31st of January
12:121910
12:15They're two really good friends, Paul and Clara Martinetti came round and had this dinner party
12:21and Cora is particularly vicious with Hawley verbally
12:25and it's very clear to the Martinettis that 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
12:39She vanished immediately thereafter
12:56The early hours of February the 1st 1910
13:01were the last time anyone would see Cora Crippin alive
13:06For 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, couldn't find her
13:23Cora didn't turn up on the following Wednesday to 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 Paulie 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
13:55On 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
14:12so suddenly the community are thinking
14:17where's Cora gone and why is Hawley pawning her jewellery?
14:21and then to make things worse themselves
14:24Ethel starts wearing Cora's very nice fur coats
14:28and 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
14:48than she let on
14:51She comes within a couple of days
14:52on 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 until mid-March
14:59but by that point
15:01she's definitely wearing Cora's furs and clothing
15:04and there's even neighbours who are a bit nosy
15:06give statements saying
15:07what we saw through the window
15:08her trying on dresses belonging to Cora
15:11so it's quite strange because at this point
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
15:20that she's not coming back
15:23On the 23rd of March 1910
15:26Crippin said it had a telegram
15:28that Cora had been ill for some time in California
15:31and had actually died of double pneumonia
15:34the previous day
15:37and this was quite a surprise
15:38they said well are you going to go there for the funeral
15:42the friends had said
15:43there'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
15:53One 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 Crippin'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
16:08and eventually
16:10some of the women actually in the march
16:12do go to Scotland Yard and report her missing
16:14in some strange circumstances
16:16and yet sadly nothing is done
16:21from Crippin's point of view
16:23he thinks he's come up with the perfect explanation, doesn't he?
16:27yes, I think he trips himself up by changing the story to 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 anymore
16:44and has gone back to America to be happy
16:46with her lover
16:48with her lover
16:48but he didn't leave it at that
16:51an inspector is called
16:52yes, and a very good inspector
16:55so Chief Inspector Dew
16:56he goes to go and talk to Crippin to try and establish the facts of Cora's disappearance stroke death
17:04Chief Inspector Dew goes initially to Hill Drop Crescent to find Crippin
17:09and he's not there, but Ethel is
17:11and he's like, oh, who are you?
17:12and she says, well, I'm the housekeeper
17:14I mean this is a blatant lie, we know she's his mistress and it's been moved in
17:17but that's what she says, she's actually Crippin's at work, Dr Crippin's at work
17:21so he goes, right, okay, let's go to Albion House and let's go and chat to him
17:24so they go actually over to his office and actually meet him
17:29he gave a full statement over the course of the day and over an Italian lunch which the police said
17:35he ate
17:36seemingly without a care in the world
17:38he gave a statement which was very, very frank, very, very open, very, very, very willingly given
17:44but nonetheless which confessed openly to this long string of deceptions
17:51Crippin broke down and said, I made up this story
17:54in reality, Cora had left me and he couldn't stand the shame
17:57so he made up the story about her passing away to cover that shame
18:01Crippin, at this point, by all accounts, was 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, he walked around the rooms with them
18:18they looked in the cellar, he went in the cellar with them
18:20without betraying any sign of nervousness or apprehension at all
18:24so after Inspector Dew had been to see Crippin and heard the story
18:28they accepted that
18:30they went back to Scotland Yard
18:32but Crippin wasn't aware of this, he panicked
18:37next tipping point on the timeline
18:40is what Crippin does next
18:43yes, so
18:44had Crippin have held his nerve
18:48and had stayed in the address
18:51yes, the Chief Inspector might have gone back for 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
19:05Crippin starts to panic
19:07and eventually he decides that the best course of action
19:10isn't to really say nothing
19:12it's actually to flee the scene
19:14so Crippin and 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 ten days in Brussels
19:24then they eventually went on the SS Montrose
19:27to go to Quebec in Canada
19:28where they had planned to have a new life
19:34so one of the most sensational aspects of this whole case
19:37is the fact that Ethel was dressed as a boy
19:39and was pretending to be Crippin's son
19:41they were under the name of Master and Mr Robinson
19:44John Robinson and his son
19:46that must have been so hilarious
19:48because 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 Crippin and Leneve
20:03hightail it out of the country
20:07meanwhile
20:09Chief Inspector Dew is on the alert
20:12he is
20:14he is
20:14so Crippin
20:15disappearing from the
20:16disappearing from the country
20:18or most certainly disappearing from that address
20:19at that point
20:20it was a tipping point
20:22for Dew to say
20:22we're going to go and do a proper search
20:25of 39 Hill Drop Crescent
20:30so they did another closer investigation of the house
20:33and down in the cellar
20:35they realised some of the bricks on the floor
20:38were 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, there was no head
21:04absolutely 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
21:14to be certain of the sex
21:16of the victim
21:18because all the genitalia had gone
21:23so upon murdering his wife
21:25he then had the difficult task of 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 to disguise her
21:36he removed her head and hands
21:38he removed all of the bones
21:40from her body
21:41and it obviously showed his kind of anatomical knowledge
21:45and 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
21:54and the fact that this had been his wife
21:55he'd shared some years with
21:58and then to bury her in the cellar
22:00again shows a complete disregard for her
22:02as a person
22:04he'd fallen out of 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
22:12The 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
22:36to lead to identification
22:38either 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
22:51and perhaps dietary conditions
22:54so all of those things
22:57having been removed
22:58to some extent
23:00tend to suggest that the person
23:02was trying to get away with the perfect murder
23:07We don't know the reasons why Crippen
23:09decided to dispose of the body in his own basement
23:12he went to the lengths of removing all the bones
23:15it's made an error in that he bought the wrong kind of line
23:19with which to cover the body
23:21and actually it preserved it rather than gotten rid of it
23:25but certainly probably this is something that he planned quite meticulously
23:29and he's really thought through how this was all going to piece together
23:35Things escalated because this then became from a missing persons case
23:39to a potential murder investigation
23:55The police had the remains and other objects found in the cellar removed
24:00and taken for closer investigation by the forensic scientists of the day
24:05although there was no genitalia and no head to identify
24:09whether the victim was even male or female
24:12there was enough in the found in the cellar to implicate Crippen
24:18And Chief Inspector Dew issued a wanted bulletin for Hawley Crippen
24:25and that information found its mark
24:28It found its mark in the captain of the transatlantic liner
24:35on which Crippen had booked himself and Laniv passage
24:41the SS Montrose
24:44By this point, Crippen and Laniv were wanted fugitives on the run
24:49the whole world was chasing them via the press
24:54The captain of the Montrose
24:56The captain of the Montrose had strong suspicions
24:58that in fact two passengers
25:00calling themselves Mr. Robinson and son
25:03were in fact Crippen and Ethel Laniv
25:06and as a result Captain Kendall sent the following telegram
25:10to the British authorities
25:13have strong suspicions that Crippen, London's cellar murderer and accomplice
25:17are among saloon passengers
25:19accomplice dressed as boy
25:20manner and build
25:22undoubtedly a girl
25:25And this is the first time in history
25:27wireless telegraphy was ever used to capture a criminal
25:32A ship like the Montrose carries hundreds of passengers
25:36Why would this couple have come to the attention of the captain?
25:41Another mistake Crippen makes whilst taking this journey
25:44is that he doesn't book into the class of passenger
25:49that was very popular at the time that was just steerage
25:52where they could have potentially have just faded into the background
25:55and been another father and son taking a journey
25:58he books into a class of travel
26:01where there weren't that many passengers
26:03so the access in the boat area
26:06meant that there were less people around
26:08which meant that they stood out even more
26:10So how's this extraordinary story playing out in the press?
26:16The press were reporting on a daily basis
26:19the fact that this slow motion cat and mouse were taking place
26:24and probably what delighted the Edwardians even more
26:27who loved nothing more than a crime story
26:30was the fact that the captain on the SS Montrose
26:35was going collecting in the newspapers
26:38so that Crippen and Ethel
26:40couldn't be alerted to the fact that Inspector G was onto them
26:43So this is happening in real time?
26:45Yes. What unfolds next
26:47must have delighted the Edwardians
26:50because it was reported on a daily basis
26:53that this cat and mouse chase then ensues
26:59So the result of this telegram
27:01which made its way to the Metropolitan Police and Walter Dew
27:04he made his way to Liverpool
27:07where despite having several days head start
27:11the ship that Dew took, the Laurentic
27:14was a much faster liner
27:17and it was going to Quebec
27:20and while Crippen was making his way in the Montrose across the Atlantic
27:24thinking he'd left everything behind him
27:27Walter Dew was on this faster ship
27:30making good pace to catch up with him
27:33Dew knew that once they landed in Canada
27:37it would be easy for them to go down and slip across the border
27:42into the United States where Crippen remained a citizen
27:48If Crippen got across the border
27:51it would require lengthy, torturous and expensive legal proceedings
27:56to extradite him even if that proved to be possible
28:00so it was all on the race between these two steamships
28:05It must have been the longest and slowest police chase in criminal history
28:15They are arriving shortly into Canada
28:19and Inspector Dew goes aboard
28:22and they get Crippen
28:23and he says, you know, good afternoon Crippen
28:26and he recognised him straight away
28:27and realised the game was up
28:29They arrested Crippen and Leneve
28:32and the pair were taken back to London in handcuffs
28:36on the next available steamer
28:41The press were waiting at the dock
28:42as soon as they came off the ship
28:44there were thousands of people waiting for them to get off the ship
28:49So back in England, both Ethel and Leneve and Crippen
28:52both faced the charges of murder of Cora Crippen
28:56After a few weeks, Ethel's charge was actually reduced to accessory after the fact
29:03so she wasn't actually up for murder in the end
29:08The Crime Museum at Scotland Yard still retained some of the exhibits
29:12from the original Crippen case
29:13and I was very fortunate as a historian to work there as a volunteer for several years
29:16so every day I got to see the original exhibits
29:19from the hair curlers to the pyjama jacket itself
29:22to lots of other ephemera and things connected with the case
29:25and the actual shovel we believe that was used by Dew
29:28in order to actually extract the body from the cellar
29:30so there's lots of exhibits still around
29:32which were used at the trial at Scotland Yard
29:35I'm also very lucky as a historian
29:37because I actually own several exhibits which I purchased at auction
29:40belonging to Cora and Dr Crippen
29:44So we have a very rare, original, wanted poster
29:48which you can see in Metropolitan Police Murder and Mutilation
29:52These posters, the majority of them would have been outside the police stations themselves
29:57but also the actual image itself was then also reproduced
30:01and sometimes hand bills and sometimes just general newspapers as well
30:05They've got two poison bottles and you can always tell poison bottles
30:09there's ridges in case you were partially sighted or blind
30:11so you wouldn't actually accidentally take medicine you're not supposed to
30:15so these medical bottles, this medical pill making equipment
30:18all belong to Dr Crippen, it all came from his office
30:21but probably my favourite thing, which I'm very privileged to own
30:24is actually a pair, and he had a few
30:26a pair of his actual spectacles, his glasses there
30:29which you can see in the box
30:35While Chief Inspector Dew was involved in his police chase
30:41his colleagues back at Scotland Yard
30:44had been working on the mysterious torso
30:47the body had traces of a drug called scopolamine
30:55So the thing about poisons is that they're usually in a form
30:59that can be readily administered either through food or drink
31:02and in this case scopolamine was quite readily available
31:07it was naturally used as either an anaesthetic
31:11or something that could be administered to reduce the consciousness of an individual
31:16and obviously in high doses then that would have a catastrophic effect
31:22so assuming that there was a mechanism by which he could administer this drug
31:28then to all intents and purposes that could be done quite surreptitiously
31:33because it could be hidden in food or drink
31:38Earlier in January, he'd actually bought some from Lewis Burrows and Sons in Oxford Street
31:43so he'd actually ordered some and then two days later
31:46because they'd never had that amount in stock
31:48I mean he argued he needed it for homeopathic remedies and things like that
31:51and he was going to make up packets to sell to people or whatever
31:54but they never did that, he never had any patients
31:56they went through his patient registers
31:58there's nothing to show that he ever actually used it
32:01as part of his homeopathic remedies
32:03and he signed the poisons registers
32:06it's a bit crazy really
32:08why in a way if this was premeditated
32:10would you actually choose to use the poison you've actually legitimately signed for?
32:16So we often see poisonings more associated with female killers than males
32:20so Crippin is quite different in this respect in that he used the poison against his wife
32:25and I think it reflects a little bit more on his character
32:28that he was quite a devious person
32:30and it just kind of indicates the type of person he was
32:33that he, you know, kind of quite cruelly poisoned his wife
32:36and then disposed of her body
32:39So yes the body was clearly poisoned
32:41but we still don't know if there are other methods of dispatch if you like
32:44so there was a piece of string so some suggest maybe he actually strangled her
32:48gunshots were actually heard that night allegedly by neighbours
32:51so did he shoot her? Is that why her head wasn't there?
32:54There were so many fascinating forensic aspects of this case
32:59because there were so many bits of evidence found with the body in the cellar
33:03so for example there were actual pieces of Cora's hair in Heinz curlers
33:08and that was one of the reasons why they believed they identified it was Cora in the basement
33:12because Cora bleached her hair and the hair in the basement actually had bleach on it
33:16it was dark brown and then it had bleach and it was in the curlers
33:18so that's one of the identifying markers that they gave really for Cora
33:24Enter the home office pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury
33:27the leading scientist of the day
33:30what has he found which is the crucial piece of evidence?
33:34So underneath the flagstone there was still an intact piece of skin
33:39and on that skin was a scar that suggested that whoever was under that flagstone had been
33:46had an operation that scar then matched a similar scar which would have appeared on Cora's body
33:53because she had an operation in that abdominal area
33:55Well that's game set and match isn't it?
33:58Not necessarily so it was contested that it wasn't a scar at all
34:03it was some kind of birthmark so it was contested
34:07And Crippen is pleading his innocence all the way through?
34:10All the way through, yes
34:13The trial was a huge media sensation
34:17Worldwide press were reporting this
34:19they'd already reported the chase and the frantic capture of these fugitives
34:22but the trial itself, over 4,000 people actually applied to try and get tickets to sit and watch the
34:28trial inside the Old Bailey
34:30and this is unprecedented
34:48This was really the first notable example of one of the great curses of our modern age which is trial
34:55by media
34:56and that the trial really wasn't the beginning but the end of a long process in which he'd already been
35:03found guilty in the world's media
35:07They actually split the courts time into two morning and afternoon sessions
35:11and you could have a red ticket for the morning session to hear some of the trial
35:15and a blue ticket for the afternoon session
35:18and it lasted for five days and was absolutely sensational
35:23From the first there were people who strongly doubted Crippen's guilt
35:28but the forensic evidence seemed to be so totally against him that it was never seriously entertained
35:37There was a popular expression in Britain and Crippen was innocent, meaning pull the other one
35:44At the trial Crippen basically presented a mysterious figure in that he was very unruffled, very, very calm
35:54Not seemingly distressed as one would expect a man in his position to be
35:59But at the same time, the only defense he would offer was one of complete innocence and complete ignorance
36:08So the case against Crippen was really built up on a number of almost small circumstantial things
36:17The fact that he'd fled rather than stick to his story
36:21And in terms of science, they didn't have an identity of Cora Crippen obviously
36:26But they were relying on this scar which was on the torso, on the remains that matched Cora
36:33The defense tried to say that there were hair follicles in the scar
36:36which shouldn't be there if it was on the abdomen
36:39And Spilsbury said they would be there, it was puckered skin
36:42Exactly as you'd expect and it was the right size and location for a lower abdomen scar
36:48that Cora Crippen had been known to have
36:52So the other really huge important piece of evidence within the remains was actually a pyjama jacket
36:59Which actually was sort of folded around, we think, around the remains
37:01And actually this really helped convict Crippen
37:04It was possibly one of those important pieces of evidence against him
37:07Because surviving on it was a label saying Jones Brothers Holloway
37:12Under the bed they found three sets of pyjamas
37:15And the third set didn't have its pyjama top
37:18And they got all the experts from the people who actually physically made and manufactured these
37:22And they discovered that this was not actually produced the material
37:26And these sets of pyjamas were not produced until 1908
37:30Which meant the excuse that Crippen was coming up with
37:33Well I don't know who put that in there
37:34The murder and that body and those pyjamas could have even been in the house
37:37Before I even got there in 1905
37:39But that pyjama jacket with that label proved beyond shadow of a doubt
37:42That it must have been produced after 1908
37:45So definitely when Crippen was in the house
37:49We take forensic science for granted now in DNA and that sort of thing
37:53In 1910 it was very, very new
37:56And as a result that the jury and newspapers in fact reporting on the trial
38:01They were just completely blown away
38:03This science can't be wrong, they can't make mistakes, this definitely happened
38:08And Crippen was found guilty on the evidence of Bernard Spilsbury
38:12That this scar definitely belonged to Cora Crippen
38:17In the end Crippen was found after 27 minutes only guilty
38:22And he was sadly sentenced to death
38:27And was executed on the 23rd of November at Pentonville Prison
38:37Crippen went to his grave, maintaining absolute innocence
38:41And I think very tellingly in his final statements
38:45He's not saying I was undone by fate or anything kind of wishy-washy
38:52He's still talking about the evidence, he's talking about the experts
38:56And he's asking not to be forgiven but to be believed
39:01It didn't avail him anything
39:04He was taken to the scaffold, the noose was placed around his net
39:09And the hangman dropped him into eternity
39:16We will never truly know how guilty Ethel was and what she knew
39:21I personally think she definitely knew more than she let on
39:23From wearing, you know, costume jewellery and jewels and furs and clothing belonging to the victim
39:31Telling people she was married when she clearly wasn't
39:34And her whole willingness to go along with Dr Crippen to dress as a boy
39:38To escape to start a new life, to leave her family behind her
39:41I definitely think she knew more than she let on
39:46What made the murder he committed almost perfect, not perfect?
39:53Panic
39:54Panic that the police were onto him
39:57And the moment that he decides to leave that address, the game is up
40:03That's the point from which there is no return
40:05I think that's the tipping point
40:07The pawning of the jewellery, et cetera, was careless
40:11You know, in terms of allowing Ethel to wear Cora's clothes, careless
40:16Fleeing for America
40:19That's the tipping point for me, is the panic
40:28So whether Crippen was a psychopath, it's up to some debate
40:32He certainly displayed many of the traits of a psychopath
40:36He was very sort of charming
40:37He was very able to manipulate people and situations
40:42And he didn't really have any regard for the consequences sometimes
40:47Of his actions in terms of empathy towards other people
40:51However, he was also somebody who at the hands of his wife
40:55Had suffered some humiliation, had been sort of manipulated himself
40:59So that doesn't necessarily always fit with the behaviour and the character of a psychopath
41:07I think like many killers, there's an element of narcissism in their personality traits
41:12And I think Crippen probably thought he was going to get away with this
41:16Not necessarily thinking that he was cleverer than everybody else
41:19But that he felt he was in an intolerable situation
41:23So for murder for him, because he would never have been able to get divorced from Belle
41:26She was Catholic as well, it's another thing that people don't remember
41:30So he saw his only way out of an intolerable situation
41:33To be with the woman he loved, and for financial reasons as well, was to commit murder
41:39He almost got away, the remains were almost unidentifiable
41:45We don't know if he'd done it
41:50Why he didn't transport that last bit of flesh to wherever he put everything else
41:56It seems very mysterious and really a point in his favour
42:01Then he would have been looking at an almost perfect murder
42:08At that point, this is a great piece of Edwardian detective story, isn't it?
42:14It's got all the elements, it's got sex, it's got lack of money, it's got buried bodies
42:18It's got a slow motion police chase
42:22Yes
42:22But that might be where it ended, except that it isn't
42:27No, so there has been doubt cast
42:32Over the fact that the body underneath the flagstone was Cora's
42:42In the last few years, Crippen's guilt has been doubted and questioned by various people
42:47When, about 20 years ago, some DNA was extracted from one of the slides
42:52From which Professor Bernard Spilsbury, the eminent pathologist who was involved in the investigation
42:56Some of his slides are still available at the Royal London Hospital Archives
43:00And certain people from various institutes in America came over, had access to one of the slides
43:05They claimed to have extracted DNA from this
43:09According to them, they had managed to track down three grand nieces of Cora Crippings
43:13And they claimed that the DNA didn't match for the family
43:17And also, more shockingly, that it may have been male
43:23I think that we need to be very cautious about how we interpret results from historical slides like this
43:31And maybe be careful that we don't jump to a very conclusive outcome in terms of what the DNA means
43:39It was a small part of the abdomen, some scar tissue from the skin
43:47That was subjected to our contemporary tests
43:51And in doing that, we're already on the back foot, really, because the material has been subjected to histology
43:59It's been exposed to chemicals in order to stain the cellular structures
44:06It's been exposed to the DNA, probably, of tens, if not more, people
44:11Who are not necessarily connected with the crime itself
44:15And our technology is so sensitive that it can detect material from trace levels of material
44:23So there's always that chance that the material under that microscope slide
44:28Contains material from other sources
44:34If that DNA testing is correct, what does that mean?
44:40So that would potentially mean that Crippen is not guilty of the murder of Cora
44:49And that she did actually abscond to, or abscond to somewhere and set up home there
44:55And that actually Cora had the last laugh in that relationship
44:59In terms of Crippen going to the gallows for her murder
45:06Which, in the sort of twist that makes my head spin, means that there was a perfect murder, but it
45:13was a judicial one
45:14Yes, yes, very much so
45:17So if it's not Cora underneath that flagstone, who is it, and who committed that murder?
45:25And was Crippen innocent?
45:27And was Crippen innocent?
45:31The thing about the Crippen case is there's so many what-ifs or buts
45:36Is it Cora Crippen?
45:37If not Cora Crippen, whose are those remains?
45:41Why did Crippen disappear if he was so sure that he hadn't murdered his wife?
45:46There's so many ifs and buts, and the fact that he tried to disguise himself and he almost got away
45:51with the perfect murder
45:53There's so much going on that led and continues to lead that story to be of high interest, even today
46:03I think it was remembered not so much as an almost perfect murder, but as an almost perfect murder case
46:08Because it was so neat and so intriguing and so well tied up by the police
46:14But given what we now know about the remains, some very, very serious questions need to be asked
46:52Is that much of the history of the crime scene?
47:01It must be a reality that the situation here and the corruption is done
47:01It must be a reality that the crime scene is quite a lot of people now
47:01And it must be a place named كان the crime scene
47:01And it was like poverty, it must be an't be a danger
47:02So, we're still a surprise, it seems to be a coincidence
47:03And it's not quite the case, it must be the only case
47:04The crime scene where we originally since almost any isn't the case
47:05I didn't have a problem
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