John George Haigh: 1 Last Victim At The Onslow Court Hotel

Welcome back to my series about John George Haigh, literal monster and Hitler-lookalike who rampaged through post-war London with guns and barrels of acid.

In Part 1, John George Haigh killed the lovely McSwan family and got away with their fortune. In Part 2, the acid bath murderer killed the Hendersons but saved the dog. He took the Henderson’s money and moved to the posh Onslow Court Hotel in Kensington, where we’ll catch up with his horrific antics now. Wealthy widow Olive Durand Deacon will sadly cross paths with this monster.

The Acid Bath Murderer Moves to the Onslow Court Hotel

the onslow court hotel (now the Kensington Hotel) — The Kensington Hotel, formerly the Onslow Court Hotel. Image by LDT.

the onslow court hotel, olive durand deacon — The Kensington Hotel, formerly the Onslow Court Hotel. Image by LDT.

Here on Queen’s Gate in West London lies the Kensington Hotel, which used to be called the Onslow Court Hotel in the 1940s when our story takes place. After killing the Hendersons in 1948, Haigh moved here. And we’ll soon find out why.

It wasn’t uncommon for older Londoners and widows to move to hotels in this era. Typically they didn’t want the fuss or expense of running a household, and if you moved to a fancy hotel, you could still keep your social status without having to employ a staff and keep up an estate. Mrs Olive Durand Deacon was one of these wealthy widows who just wanted a simple London life at age 69. But her life would end after she became a victim of the acid bath murders.

Olive Durand-Deacon: The Last Victim of the Acid Bath Murders

Olive Durand Deacon was a complete badass: in her younger years she was a suffragette, fighting for the women’s vote, and even spent the night in jail once for throwing a brick through a window at a protest. Her husband had been a solicitor, and she kept their fortune after his death. She was also a kickass entrepreneur who had an idea for a business.

Haigh and Mrs Olive Durand Deacon got to chatting one evening in the hotel. Haigh claimed he was an inventor and engineer, with his very own workshop where he tinkered with his creations. Olive Durand Deacon told him about her idea for false fingernails, which is an incredibly innovative idea for the era. This is Lee Press-On nails before they even existed, and had she not been taken down by the acid bath murderer, she could have amassed an even bigger fortune.

Haigh said he could put together some prototypes for entrepreneur Olive Durand Deacon to check out. But what he was really doing was procuring more of his beloved sulphuric acid.

Olive Durand Deacon Lured to Crawley

the acid bath murderer workshop Crawley — The Crawley workshop where Haigh murdered the Hendersons and Durand-Deacon. From u/JohnnySorrowes on Reddit

A little while later, Haigh told Olive that he had her fingernail prototypes ready, and invited her to his workshop to take a look. She accompanied him to Crawley, wearing an amazing black Persian lamb coat and dripping in jewels. What she’s wearing will become important later.

What happened next is devastating. This powerful, kick ass woman – just trying to live her best life and start a business – was shot in the back of the neck and her body dissolved in acid.