John Reginald Halliday Christie

John Reginald Halliday Christie was a British serial killer in the 1940s and '50s. He was arrested and hanged in 1953 after being involved in one of the most sensational murder trials in British legal history, in which his tenant Timothy Evans was executed for the murders of Evans' wife and child; some critics have speculated that Christie actually committed the murders and framed Evans for it. While neither Christie's guilt nor Evans' innocence have ever been conclusively proven, the case sparked massive public outrage, contributed to the suspension of the death penalty in Britain in 1964, and later abolition, and remains controversial to this day.

Controversy

While Christie was never convicted of killing Beryl or Geraldine Evans, public opinion widely found him guilty of the murders, casting serious doubt onto the fairness of Evans' trial and execution. Christie, after all, had been a key witness against him; if Christie was truly guilty, then Evans was executed on the basis of perjury. Kennedy cites the unlikelihood that two strangler-murderers were living and killing in the same apartment building at the same time, and the fact that Beryl's rape had been suppressed in the trial; other critics cite Evans' confession and motive of wanting to dispose of an unwanted pregnancy. To date, there exists no definitive evidence to prove or disprove either theory.

Related Topics:
Perjury - Evidence

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In 1970, the movie 10 Rillington Place was released, based largely on Kennedy's book, starring Richard Attenborough as Christie and John Hurt as Evans

Related Topics:
1970 - Richard Attenborough - John Hurt

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