Earlier this year the Metropolitan Police released figures showing there were a total of 393 unsolved murders between 1997 and 2018 (or using their definition, ‘undetected’). The number of undetected murders peaked in around 2001 before decreasing to single figures between 2011 and 2015, then increasing again to a new peak in 2018. The percentage …
Author archives: murdermap
Domestic Murders 2012 to 2018
Domestic homicides – that is murders and manslaughters where the killer and the victim are either partners or family members – tend to account for 20 per cent of the total every year. However there is a lot of variation over time which does not necessarily follow the general trend. For example, in 2017 there …
The Acid Bath Murderer: John George Haigh
Between 1944 and 1949, John George Haigh killed at least six people after becoming convinced he could carry out the perfect crime. Believing that without a body it would be impossible to be convicted of murder, he dissolved his victims in sulphuric acid. The resulting sludge could then be poured… You must be a paid …
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The Nude Murders: ‘Jack the Stripper’
Between 1964 and 1965 six women were found dead in and around the River Thames. All of them had been strangled and all were naked, leading to their description as the ‘Nude Murders’. The first victim was 30 year-old Hannah Tailford, discovered in the river under a pier at Upper… You must be a paid …
Guinness and Cyanide: 1968
It seemed like a normal evening at the Beehive pub in St John’s Hill, Battersea. Just a few regulars nursing their drinks while the hits of 1968 played on the jukebox. Then at around 9pm the barmaid Eileen Pooley took a drink out of her half pint of Guinness and… You must be a paid …