Gordon Cummins

In early 1935, Cummins volunteered to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). He enlisted at the Air Crew Reception Centre in Regent's Park, London, where both serving members of the RAF and new recruits were assessed for training. This intake spanned from 2 to 25 February. Cummins initially trained as a rigger, tasked with undertaking flight checks on aircraft. His superiors consideed Cummins to be an ambitious individual, although Cummins was not popular among his fellow servicemen, who resented his boastful attitude and claims to hail from nobility. These false claims to hail from an aristocratic background earned Cummins the nicknames "the Duke" and "the Count".[6] In 1936, he married a theatre producer's secretary named Marjorie Stevens.[7] The couple had no children.[8]

Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Cummins reached the junior rank of leading aircraftman,[6] although he held aspirations to become a Spitfire pilot.[9] At the time of his 1942 arrest for serial murder and attempted murder, Cummins had acquired neither a previous criminal record nor a known history of violence.[10]

The air raids upon London and other British cities throughout World War II resulted in enforced nighttime blackout measures

Cummins is suspected of committing his first murder on 13 October 1941. The victim was a 19-year-old clerk named Mabel Church, who is known to have frequently engaged in casual sexual relations with servicemen.[13] Her nude body was found by workmen in a bombed house on Hampstead Road the day after her murder. She had been strangled to death with her own camiknickers by an individual described by the pathologist who examined her body as being a left-handed individual, as the bruising around Church's neck indicated her murderer had more strength in his left hand than his right. In addition, her handbag had been emptied, with several contents missing.[14] Church had not been subjected to a sexual assault. Her death is believed to have occurred at approximately 9:15 p.m.[15]

At the time of this murder, Cummins was stationed in Colerne, Wiltshire, although when on leave, he is known to have frequently visited London, residing at an address in nearby St John's Wood.

On 10 November 1941, Cummins was posted to Cornwall. He was later transferred to the crew receiving centre in Regent's Park in early February 1942.[16]

On 8 February 1942, Cummins left an RAF establishment in St John's Wood to visit his wife, from whom he borrowed some money with the explanation he intended to visit the West End for a "night on the town".[17]

The following morning, the body of 41-year-old pharmacist Evelyn Hamilton was discovered by an electrician in a street-level air raid shelter in Montagu Place, Marylebone. Her clothes had been disarranged and her scarf wound about her head. Scuff marks on her shoes and broken sections of mortar indicated Hamilton had fiercely struggled with her attacker, who had raised her skirt above her hips and pulled her underwear below knee level. Her handbag—containing £80—had been stolen, although some of the contents were found strewn about the pavement outside the air raid shelter.[11]

The day prior to her murder, Hamilton had resigned from her position managing a Hornchurch chemists, and had planned to return to her native Newcastle. She was last seen alive by a waitress shortly before midnight the previous evening, drinking a glass of white wine to celebrate her 41st birthday. Her post-mortem revealed she had been manually strangled by a left-handed individual.[6] Hamilton had not been sexually assaulted or mutilated, although numerous small cuts had been inflicted to her right breast and a cut measuring one inch had been inflicted to her left eyebrow.[18]

Evelyn Oatley

On Monday, 9 February, the naked body of 34-year-old Evelyn Oatley (also known as Nita Ward) was discovered in her flat at 153 Wardour Street, Soho. Oatley was a former topless dancer and actress who had recently turned to prostitution.[n 1] Her nude body lay upon her bed. She had been strangled to death, her throat had been cut, and her abdomen, genitals and thighs had been extensively sexually mutilated with a can opener after death. A pair of curling tongs was also found close to her body.[11][6]

Fingerprints recovered from the bloodstained can opener (found near her body) and upon a broken mirror taken from her handbag which had also been used to mutilate her body confirmed suspicions that Oatley's murderer was a left-handed individual.[6] No match for this set of fingerprints could be found within the police fingerprint bureau, indicating Oatley's murderer had no police record.[20]

On Tuesday, 10 February, a 43-year-old widowed prostitute, Margaret Florence Lowe (also known as Pearl), was murdered in her flat at 11 Gosfield Street, Marylebone. She had been strangled to death upon her divan bed with a silk stocking which was still knotted around her neck. Her body had been extensively slashed and mutilated with a variety of implements including a razor blade, a knife and a poker, found beside her body. Forensic experts recovered fingerprints from a brass candlestick, a glass, and a half-drunk bottle of stout found at the crime scene. Her murder was quickly linked to that of Oatley.[21]

Upon examining Lowe's body, Forensic pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury remarked that her injuries were "quite dreadful", adding that her murderer was "a savage sexual maniac" who "indulged in a wicked lust to perpetrate the most diabolical injuries on the women he killed".[6][22]

On Wednesday, 11 February 1942, 32-year-old Doris Jouannet (also known as Doris Robson) was murdered in the two-room ground-floor flat at 187 Sussex Gardens, Bayswater, that she shared with her elderly husband. She had been strangled with a scarf and her abdomen, genitals and thighs extensively mutilated with a razor blade in a similar manner to the bodies of Oatley and Lowe. Her naked body was discovered by her husband lying upon their bed.[6]

Jouannet led a double life: she secretly worked as a prostitute when her husband—who managed a West End hotel—slept overnight at the hotel.[23]

On the evening of 13 February 1942, Cummins accosted a young married woman named Margaret Hayward in Piccadilly. After sharing a drink and a sandwich at the London Trocadero, the two walked in the direction of Haymarket. Haywood later stated that at this point, Cummins became "unpleasantly forward" toward her, at which point she said goodbye and tried to leave. Cummins chased after her, seized her by the throat and pushed her into a shop doorway near Piccadilly Circus. Haywood was then strangled into unconsciousness.[25]

As Cummins rifled through her handbag, he was disturbed by a delivery boy carrying bottles of drink into the nearby Captain's Cabin pub, forcing him to flee the scene, leaving his RAF-issue gas mask in the doorway.[6][26]

Hours after his assault upon Margaret Hayward, Cummins accosted a young prostitute named Kathleen Mulcahy in Regent Street. Mulcahy agreed to take him to her flat in nearby Southwick Street. The two travelled to her flat via taxi, with Cummins giving her five £1 notes in advance. Upon entering her flat, Mulcahy lit her gas fire and began removing her clothes but did not remove her boots.[27][n 2] She later stated a "strange smile" appeared on Cummins's face as she removed her clothing. He removed his coat and belt, then approached Mulcahy and attempted to strangle her. Mulcahy fought her attacker, breaking free of his grasp, kicking his shins and screaming so loudly Cummins ceased his assault.[6][26]

Possibly as a means of deterring Mulcahy from reporting the assault to police, Cummins gave her a further five £1 notes before grabbing his coat and fleeing, leaving his RAF webbing belt at her address.[29]

Cummins lodged an appeal against his conviction, although the Lord Chief Justice rejected this appeal in early June.[34] He was executed by Albert Pierrepoint at Wandsworth Prison on 25 June 1942.[35] His execution was conducted during an air raid.[6][32]

Charges for the other three murders remained on the file. Scotland Yard later stated they believed Cummins had likely murdered two first women in October 1941 while stationed in Colerne and prior to his November 1941 posting to Cornwall: Mabel Church (19) on 13 October and Edith Humphries (48) on 17 October.[10][36]

• Honeycombe, Gordon (1982). The Murders of The Black Museum: 1870-1970. Hutchinson Publishing. pp. 371–377. ISBN 978-0-863-79040-9.
• Read, Simon (2006). In the Dark: The True Story of the Blackout Ripper. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-425-21283-7.

• The Crime & Investigation Network have broadcast an episode focusing on the Blackout Murders as part of their Murder Casebook series. Presented by Fred Dinenage, this 45 minute episode was first broadcast in November 2012 and features interviews with criminologist David Wilson.[37]