John George Haigh: Catching One Of The Most Prolific UK Serial Killers

In my series on John George Haigh – one of most horrific UK serial killers of all time – we’ve explored all of the victims of the acid bath murders. Now we get to the fun part: catching this human monster.

Catch up on the whirlwind story of the acid bath murderer in previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, then come back here for the finale.

Pop by my google map to see all of the Acid Bath murder locations in one place.

The Acid Bath Murderer: His Last Victim Reported Missing

Uk serial killers: the acid bath murderer prowled the onslow court hotel — The Former Onslow Court Hotel. Image by LDT.

the former onslow court hotel where uk serial killers found victim — The Former Onslow Court Hotel. Image by LDT.

Where we left off, queen badass Olive Durand-Deacon was lured to her death at Haigh’s Crawley workshop.

Back at the Onslow Court Hotel (today called The Kensington Hotel) Olive’s Durand-Deacon’s friend Constance Lane reported her missing. And guess who inserted himself into the search? John. Goddamn. Haigh.

He’s the one who drove Constance to the police station to make the report. But his absolute narcissism would be the end of him, it turns out.

catching uk serial killers: constance lane — Constance Lane via Murderpedia

The Acid Bath Murderer Inserts Himself into the Investigation

At the station, Sergeant Alexandra Lambourne (yes, a female police sergeant in 1948 – absolute queen) became suspicious of Haigh and how weird and light hearted he was about Olive Durand Deacon’s disappearance. Police started to investigate him and found receipts for the sale of Olive’s jewelry to a pawnbroker and a dry cleaning receipt for her fur coat.

Hmmmm…why would he pay to clean her coat? Maybe because it was covered in blood because this devil-in-disguise shot her.

They also found the address of his Crawley workshop, where his Pandora’s box of evil would really open up.

The Evidence: Acid Doesn’t Dissolve Everything

catching uk serial killers: john george haigh's workshop in crawley — *Investigators search the yard of the Crawley workshop and find…lots. Image via Murderpedia*

Investigators searched Haigh’s workshop and the surrounding yard and discovered (trigger warning here)…body parts…that the acid hadn’t fully dissolved.

I’m not going to relay the super gory details but you can imagine the kinds of things that wouldn’t dissolve in acid. Since the property didn’t have a sewer drain, Haigh had been tipping the barrels out in the yard. Just casually pouring vats of acid all over the place. Talk about fly tipping.

Confessions of a Vampire

uk serial killers - john george haigh heads to court — *Haigh being led into court. The monster is smiling. Image via Murderpedia*

Upon his arrest for suspicion of murder, Haigh confessed to the murders of Mrs Durand-Deacon, the Hendersons and the McSwans. But then it got really weird.

Haigh said his motive was because he wanted to drink their blood, and the press absolutely ate up this vampire story. The presses were churning and papers were flying off the newsstands, and more and more nonsense was pumped into public opinion. But obviously he was full of shit, and no matter what the press said, they had so much evidence on him that he didn’t stand a chance.

catching uk serial killers - the evidence Olive Durand Deacon left behind — *Evidence found in the workshop. Purse, gloves, and…gallstones.* Mrs. Durand-Deacon’s gallstones.
The Acid Bath Murderer: Objects relating to the murder of Mrs Olive Durand-Deacon by John Haigh, 1949 © Museum of London

Haigh’s Conviction and Execution

executing uk serial killers - john george haigh is hung — *The crowd outside Wandsworth Prison waiting for news of Haigh’s execution, August 10, 1949. Image from CapitalPunishment.co.uk*

The jury immediately saw through Haigh’s attempt to plead insanity and convicted him of murdering the 6 victims in only 17 minutes of deliberation. Haigh was sentenced to death, and hung from the gallows at Wandsworth prison on August 10, 1949. Thankfully, the world lost a human monster that day.

Remembering Haigh’s Victims Today: All the London Locations

We remember the victims in this tragedy: William, Donald, and Amy McSwan, Rosalie and Archibald Henderson, and Olive Durand Deacon. May they rest in peace far away from the monster who killed them.

Pop by my map to see all these locations in one easy place.

The McSwan Family: 79 Gloucester Road. It’s now a KFC. Take your chicken to the basement to sit in the same place William, Donald and Amy were murdered and maybe buy them a Coke. They did not deserve this brutal end. You can also visit The Goat pub in Kensington where McSwan and Haigh had a meal the night he was murdered.

The Hendersons: their former home at 22 Ladbroke Square is a private residence. Their former Doll’s Hospital and flat above at 16 Dawes Road in Fulham is now a dental office and probably, definitely haunted because: Doll’s. Hospital.

Olive Durand-Deacon: Pop by the bar at the Kensington Hotel (formerly the Onslow Court Hotel) and buy Ms. Durand-Deacon, suffragette and absolute badass entrepreneur, a glass of champagne while wearing fabulous false fingernails.