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Revisiting the Infamy of London's Wartime Ripper: Gordon Cummins | The MurderousMinds Podcast

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Can you count yourself among the fearless who can peer into the darkest corners of human nature? Journey with us into the twisted mind of the infamous 'Wartime Ripper', Gordon Cummins, as we unravel his tale of deceit, theft, and murder. Born in a tranquil North Yorkshire village, Cummins yearned for an aristocratic existence, a pursuit that led him down a sinister path, ultimately culminating in his arrest and conviction. 

Brace yourself to delve into the grisly details of the crimes that shocked 1940s London. Hear about Evelyn Hamilton, the unsuspecting pharmacist, Evelyn Oatley and Margaret Florence Lowe, the unfortunate sex workers, all victims of this ruthless predator. Their brutal mutilation and the peculiar evidence suggesting the slayer was left-handed paint a chilling portrait of these unspeakable crimes. The exploration continues as we examine the unsolved murder of Doris Olgudginet gruesomely dubbed by the media as the 'Wartime Ripper,' and the miraculous escape of Margaret Hayward. 

Finally, discover the intricacies that led to Cummins' downfall. Amidst the contradiction and doubt surrounding Cummins' alibi, London's Old Bailey stands firm. The courtroom echoes with the incriminating testimonies of Detective Chief Superintendent Frederick Sherrill and Sir Bernard Spillsbury - the experts who debunk Cummins' defense. Stand by as the jury delivers the fateful verdict, sentencing Cummins to death by hanging. So, are you ready to face the dark side of human nature?

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Thank you for tuning in to MurderousMinds, the chilling true crime podcast that delves deep into the darkest minds. Join us as we explore the captivating stories of notorious killers, analyze their motives, and unravel the mysteries behind their heinous acts. Stay connected with us on Patreon for updates, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes insights. Remember, listener discretion is advised.

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Welcome to Murderous Minds, a documentary series started by the Top 5's YouTube channel back in 2018, dedicated to exploring the twisted minds of serial killers. The following podcast episode is the audio version of our video series over on the Top 5's Patreon page. If you would like to watch the video instead of just listening, and would also like to support our show, then please head on over to Patreon using the link in the show notes. Thank you for joining, and now let's take a journey into the minds of murderers. When 18-year-old John Shine stumbled across a man 10 years as senior, rifling through the handbag of an unconscious young woman, he had no idea that he was about to help the police capture one of Britain's most vicious and infamous serial killers of the 1940s. For four months, gordon Cummins used the cover of Darkness provided to him by the wartime blackouts to walk the streets looking for victims whom he would brutally murder and mutilate, leaving their horrifically disfigured bodies to be found by their families or passersby. His identity had eluded investigators until a chance encounter with a teenage delivery boy Panicked Cummins and caused him to leave behind several key pieces of evidence which helped put a name to the man who had been dubbed the wartime ripper by the media. But who exactly was Gordon Cummins, and just how many deaths was he responsible for? In this documentary, we aim to shed light on the answers to these questions, as well as many more, as we take a look at the life and crimes of the wartime ripper.

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Gordon Frederick Cummins was born on February 18th 1914, in a tiny village of New Earswick, located in North Yorkshire, england, whose population today is estimated to be around 2755. A quiet and quaint part of the region, cummins and his family enjoyed living here, away from the poverty and squalor that was so rampant in big cities at the time. Cummins was one of four children born to a civil servant named John, who ran a school for delinquent children, and his wife Amelia, who was a stay at home mother. Like with many of these stories, cummins was raised in a household where his mother doted on the children, while his father, who was also a very private man, acted as a strict disciplinarian. Eventually, the family moved to Landover in South Wales, after John secured a job at Vicka Pritchard School as the headmaster and Cummins was enrolled at a private school where he received a thorough education. However, his teachers reported that he was an average student with average scores and noted that he was far more interested in the socialising aspect of school life than in academics. In 1929, the family moved yet again, this time settling in the village of Harleystone, located in Northamptonshire. Harleystone is a similar kind of area to Cummins' birthplace of New Earswick, a leafy and rural village that today boasts a population of around just 445.

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Age 15 or 16, cummins achieved a diploma in chemistry. He then attended Northampton College of Technology. Again, his teachers were critical of his attitude, noting that he often slacked off, became distracted and behaved in a disinterested manner, and he eventually dropped out on November 1, 1932. During the abandonment of his studies and now aged 18, cummins moved to Newcastle where he worked as an industrial chemist for just 5 months before he was let go due to his inability to concentrate and the fact that he was so easy to distract. In August of 1933, he then gained employment with a leather manufacturer named George Baker Co in Northampton, but his career was once again short-lived as he failed to follow simple instructions, had poor timekeeping and was easily distracted. His employers at both of these jobs noted Cummins was mostly preoccupied with young women when he was supposed to be working. According to some sources, the fairer sex had eluded him until his mid to late teens, and he appeared to be quite infatuated with them. Considered a handsome man, cummins did not have any trouble attracting ladies his age, but reportedly began stealing so that he could provide a lavish lifestyle for the women he dated, something which was largely unsustainable in the long run.

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In late 1934, cummins now 20, moved to London where he worked as a leather dresser in a clothing factory, which earned him £3 a week, or the modern-day equivalent of around £228. He later went on to train as a foreman at this same establishment. During his time in the English capital, the 20-year-old began to develop a taste for the rich and lavish lifestyle that he saw around him. He began desiring the life of an aristocrat, wishing to live a life of luxury and laziness where he wouldn't have to worry about surviving paycheck to paycheck and could afford whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. He began to frequent London's West End, hanging around inside upmarket hotels and clubs, and started lying about his identity. He told anybody who would listen that he was the illegitimate son of a rich heir and was being paid an ample sum of cash every week as an allowance from his unidentified heir. Cummins, of course, knew that this was a considerable lie, and so he sought to back up his claims by imitating the accent of an Oxfordian and embezzling and stealing money so that he could maintain the life he'd built for himself. He also rather obnoxiously insisted that he be referred to as the honourable Gordon Cummins, much to the chagrin of his peers. A less than upstanding citizen, cummins was also known to brag about his sexual exploits with local women. Ultimately, the 20-year-old's new and extravagant lifestyle became too much for his employers as it began impacting his work performance.

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Cummins was fired from the clothing factory on February 8th 1935, and afterwards moved into his brother's flat in Queens Mewes, baywater, while he decided what to do next. Shortly thereafter, he volunteered to join the Royal Air Force. He initially enlisted at the Aircrew Reception Centre in Regent's Park, london, where he was assessed for training alongside other new members. As well as currently serving members, cummins first trained as a rigger, where he would carry out flight checks on various aircrafts. Although he appeared to enjoy his time in the RAF and was seen as an ambitious man, he was not particularly popular among other servicemen, who disliked his swaggering attitude and his stories about his true lineage. In response to his tales and his haughty opinions. Other RAF members gave him the disparaging nickname of the Duke.

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In May of 1936, cummins met a woman named Major E Stevens at an Empire Air Day event in the village of Henlo located in Bedfordshire. The event was part of an annual air show that was held by the RAF and opened to the public. Stevens worked as a secretary for a West End Theatre producer, and the two immediately hit it off. After seven months of dating, the couple tied the knot at the Paddington Register office on December 28. Between 1936 and 1939, cummins was relocated from Suffolk to Scotland and shortly after the beginning of World War II he was transferred to Helingsburg, dunbartonshire.

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In April of 1941, he was moved to Cullen, wiltshire, where he reached the junior rank of leading aircraftman. His ultimate goal was to become a Spitfire pilot. Six months later he was posted to Cornwall, where he became known as the Count, once again due to his cockiness and extravagant stories. It was here in Cornwall that Cummins ran into his first real brush with the law, when he joined a social club named Blue Peter Club and began to assist the business owner by tending the bar on occasion. Within weeks he was dismissed by the owner because he was discovered to be serving free drinks to his fellow servicemen. Just after his dismissal, the owner noticed that around £35 worth of jewellery which is the modern-day equivalent of £1,882, was missing from her apartment. Both she and local law enforcement suspected that Cummins was behind the theft, but they were never able to prove his guilt due to a lack of evidence. Cummins had no criminal record or arrest history prior to his incarceration in 1942, and any violent crimes he may have carried out before 1941 are unknown. Before he was discovered to be a murderer, it was thought his only crimes were the theft and embezzlement he participated in to support the story he'd spun of being the illegitimate son of a wealthy aristocrat.

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It is believed that Cummins' first two murders were carried out in October of 1941. His earliest victim was a 19-year-old clerk named Maple Churchill, whose body was discovered by workmen on the 14th of October in a bombed house on Hampstead Road. Maple was known to engage in casual sex with servicemen and was last seen the evening prior to her discovery. It is suspected that she was murdered around 9.15pm on the 13th and her body was then dumped. She was found nude and had been strangled to death with her own underwear. It was determined that the perpetrator was left-handed, as they appeared to have more strength in their left hand than their right. Despite her lack of clothing, she had not been sexually assaulted or interfered with before or after death. Furthermore, maple's handbag had been emptied and some of its contents had been stolen.

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Four days later, on October 17th, the body of a woman named Edith Humphries was discovered. Edith, a 48-year-old widow, had been murdered in her bed in her home at Gloucester Crescent, just off Regent's Park. She had made a comfortable living as a qualified accountant and spent her free time volunteering as a bookkeeper at the Auxiliary Fire Service at the Islington Station and had lived alone since her stepson had left home. Edith had been the victim of a brutal physical assault that consisted of her being beaten around the face and head. Her killer had then attempted to strangle her, but failed, and so they cut her throat instead. She had also received a single stab wound to a skull, which had punctured her brain. Despite the horrific nature of her wounds, edith was still alive when she was found. However, she died shortly after arriving at hospital. Investigators discovered that there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle at the scene, and that her front door had been left ajar. They also noted that several pieces of jewellery had been stolen from the home.

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While at the time of both these murders, cummins was stationed in Wiltshire, he was known to frequent the city of London while on leave. While here, he resided in the affluent district of St John's Wood, located near both crime scenes. Furthermore, there was no accurate record of his movements in any log books, so he was likely free to come and go from London as he pleased and his wife worked on the strand close to Piccadilly Circus. Although it is strongly believed that Cummins was involved in these murders, he was never charged with these crimes due to a lack of evidence. In January of 1942, following his outstanding performance during an aviation exam, cummins was transferred to the Aircrew receiving centre in Regent's Park where he was stationed with 300 other men. It was here that he continued to kill, flying entirely under the radar, his peers none the wiser. The media dubbed Cummins at the time and identified the Blackout Ripper, the Blackout Killer and the wartime ripper, due to the fact that he carried out his crimes during the wartime Blackouts and often mutilated as victims in the same way that Jack the Ripper had done decades prior. On Sunday, february 8th 1942, cummins visited his wife at their rented flat in Southwark, a district of central London where they ate dinner, and Cummins, now 28, asked if he could borrow some money for a night on the town. Marjorie gave him £1, the equivalent of £50 today and Cummins headed out at around 6.30pm the next morning.

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The body of 41-year-old Evelyn Margaret Hamilton was discovered in a street-level air raid shelter in Montague Place, marlborough, by an electrician named Harold Batchelor. When Evelyn's body was found, her clothing had been disturbed, but she had not been sexually assaulted before or after death. Those, as if Cummins had tried to make it look like the crime had been sexually motivated Her skirt had been pushed above her hips, her underwear pulled below her knees and her clothing on top had been moved to expose her right breast. There was a scarf wound around Evelyn's head and she had minor scratches and cuts to her right breast and left eyebrow. Scuff marks on her shoes and broken sections of mortar told investigators that her struggle had taken place prior to the 41-year-old's death, with much like Cummins' previous crimes. Evelyn's handbag had been stolen, along with the money she'd had inside. Many of the bag's contents were strewn across the pavement and the accessory itself was located days later on Wyntham Street. No fingerprints or other important evidence was recovered from her possessions.

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Following the discovery of her body, detectives worked to trace Evelyn's last movements. The 41-year-old was a pharmacist and the day before her demise she had resigned from her job in Horn Church where she'd been the manager of a chemist. Afterwards she'd travelled to London by train, but her movements over the next few hours are unknown. At around 6.40pm that evening she told a friend that she would leave London and head to Lincolnshire the following day, as she had been offered a job in Grimsby. Evelyn was last seen by a waitress at the Mason Lions Corner House in Marble Arch just before midnight, where she drank wine in celebration of her 41st birthday. Investigators believed she had been walking home when she was attacked, and her post-mortem examination revealed that the perpetrator was a left-handed individual.

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Just one day after Evelyn Hamilton's death on February 10th, at 8.30am, two men working as meter readers in Wardall Street, soho, found the body of 34-year-old Evelyn Oatley, who was dead in her bed. Evelyn Oatley was a married aspiring actress who participated in sex work to help supplement her income while her husband fought in the war. Similarly to Edith Humphries, evelyn had been viciously beaten and strangled into unconsciousness before her throat was cut. But that wasn't all.

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It was clear that Cummins' violence was escalating, as Evelyn had been horrifically mutilated. Her abdomen, genitals and thighs had been extensively sexually mutilated with the use of a razor blade and a tin opener. Post-mortem, six of these wounds had been inflicted around her vaginal cavity with the tin opener, and Evelyn had been sexually violated with a torch, which was still inside her body at the time of her discovery. Her blood smeared, curling tongue and razor blade lay near her head. Like with Cummins' other crimes, evelyn's handbag had been routed through its contents, split onto the floor of her bedroom. Seven clean, unused Gillette razor blades were found on her nightstand and her door had been closed but not locked after the killer made his escape. There were no defensive wounds on Evelyn's body, again suggesting a link to previous crimes. The culprit was found to be left-handed. This was discovered by Detective Chief Superintendent Frederick Sherrill, who noticed the fingerprints on the tin opener and a broken mirror fragment, the latter of which was located inside Evelyn's handbag and had also been used during the mutilation. However, authorities were unable to find a match to the prints of her killer, suggesting he had no police record, something we have already noted about Cummins.

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Evelyn worked as a nightclub hostess and had turned to sex work part-time while her husband was away. She used the alias Letta Ward, and three separate eyewitnesses told law enforcement that she had been approached by a young airman outside a restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue on the evening before her murder. The man was described as being clean shaven, with a mustache and chestnut brown hair. He was around 5'8 in height. When Evelyn asked him what his sexual preferences were, he reportedly told her I like blondes. Evelyn was last seen alive by a neighbour in the company of the young man entering her building at around 11.40pm. The neighbour, a woman named Ivy Poole, claimed that she was awoken shortly after midnight by Evelyn's radio. As its volume had been abruptly turned up. However, she decided not to investigate the noise.

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This is next victim, a 43-year-old sex worker named Margaret Florence Lowe, who was discovered dead in her flat on Gosfield Street, marlborough, on February 13th. She had last been seen alive at around 1.15am on the morning of February 11th when neighbours noticed her in the company of a client. He was later heard exiting the building whistling to himself. Margaret's body lay undiscovered for two days until her 15-year-old daughter, barbara, came to visit. Barbara was told by neighbours that nobody had seen her mother in two or three days, and they also pointed out that a package for her had remained at her door and untouched since its delivery on the 11th.

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Margaret was a widowed mother of one, originally from Southend on sea. Her husband died in 1932, and afterwards Margaret sold the family's business. She then enrolled her daughter in boarding school and relocated to London where she began working as a house cleaner in 1934. Shortly afterwards she began engaging in sex work using the alias Peggy Campbell. A devoted mother. Margaret would clear her schedule every third weekend when her daughter came to visit and spend the whole weekend visiting restaurants, the cinema and local tourist attractions with her.

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When Margaret failed to answer the door to her daughter, the police were called to the scene, where they found Margaret's body beneath her bedsheets. Like the other victims of the wartime ripper, she had been heavily beaten and strangled, this time with a silk stocking that was knotted beneath the right side of her jaw, with visible froth around her nose and mouth. She had been posed before the killer had departed. She was on her back with her legs apart and her knees bent. A notable forensic pathologist named Sir Bernard Spillsbury examined the 43 year old's body, stating that her attacker was a savage sexual maniac who indulged in a wicked lust to perpetrate the most diabolical injuries on the women he killed. Spillsbury added that, without a doubt, evelyn Oatley's killer was the same as Margaret's.

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The mutilations, this time around, were considerably worse than those that had been inflicted upon Evelyn Oatley, with some being imposed while Margaret was alive but on the verge of death. She had been slashed and disfigured with numerous tools, including a razor blade, a vegetable knife, a table knife and a poker. All of these instruments were found either protruding from or beside her body. In a similar fashion to Jack the Ripper, margaret's abdomen had been opened, exposing her internal organs, while a deep, gaping wound about 10 inches in length had been inflicted to the right side of her groin. A wound next to it still had a large bread knife protruding from it, while a wax candle had been inserted into Margaret's vagina and a uterus had been slashed.

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Cummins' next victim was one of two who managed to escape his grasp before they could be murdered. On February 12th, a 25 year old sex worker named Catherine Maccahi was approached by Cummins as he worked on the corner of Regent Street. Catherine agreed to his proposition and was paid £2, which is £100 today in advance for her services. The couple then flanked down a taxi and returned to Catherine's flat. Once inside, she lit her gas fire and began her dressing, but kept her boots on. She would go on to later claim that a strange smile appeared on her client's face as she took off her clothing and lay down on her bed. She gestured for Cummins to join her, and he removed his own clothes before approaching Catherine. However, when he climbed on top of her, he abruptly slammed his knees into her stomach while wrapping his hands around her throat, the weight of his body keeping her pinned to the bed In a fight for her life. Catherine kicked Cummins' stomach with her foot and broke free from his grasp as he fell to the floor. The 25 year old then fled her flat, screaming for help as she ran to the home of a neighbour. Shortly afterwards, after getting dressed, cummins approached the neighbour's apartment and thrust the equivalent of £400 at Catherine, stating I'm sorry, I think I had too much to drink this evening. Catherine, for her part, screamed loudly, accusing Cummins of being a murderer, and then left the scene, leaving his RAF webbing belt behind.

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Later that same day, cummins encountered another sex worker, 32 year old Doris Olgudginet. Doris was a married woman whose husband was a former client of hers. She only occasionally resorted to sex work to earn a little bit of extra money to supplement the cash she was given by her husband, who was a hotel manager, and she would only engage in the work when he was staying away overnight as part of his job. A friend of Doris, beatrice Lang, last saw the young woman alive at around 10.20 on the night of February 12th, when they sat in a corner house tearoom together and drank a shot of whiskey. Each Beatrice said that her friend mentioned having intentions of seeing a regular client of hers whom she'd named the captain. She and Doris parted ways in Oxford Street. Shortly after this, the 30-year-old met up with Cummins and the pair went to her two-room ground flat on Sussex Garden, bayswater.

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Doris' body lay undiscovered until the evening of February 13th when her husband Henry returned home from work. At first nothing seemed to miss, that is until he tried to enter the bedroom and was surprised to find that the door was locked. He attempted to pry it open but failed, and so he resorted to phoning the police. Constable William Payne was sent to the scene, where he instructed Henry to stay put in the hallways. As he attempted to break down the door, payne was successful and for his efforts was met with a blood bath. Contained inside the bedroom, doris had been placed lying diagonally across the bed with her left hand between her legs and no clothing but an open back nightgown. Like Margaret, a silk stocking had been knotted beneath her chin. Shocked by what he was seeing, payne exited the room and warned Henry to stay out of it until his seniors arrived.

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Bernard Clair was the detective sent to examine the crime scene. Arriving just after eight o'clock in the evening, doris's end, like those of the other victims of the blackout ripper, had been excessively violent. Her jaw had been broken before she was strangled to death with the stocking and her body had been severely mutilated. After death, her abdomen, genitals, left breast and thighs had been disfigured using a razor blade and a knife. One of the most horrific wounds was a six-inch vertical gash between her navel and genitalia. Another injury inflicted to Doris' vagina was six and a half inches and the flesh beneath her left breast had been carved away. The knife used to disfigure her had been left behind, placed on her thigh. Several items had been stolen, including a gold watch and cash. That was the equivalent of £250 today.

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Like Margaret Lowe, sir Bernard Spillsbury was the one in charge of Doris' autopsy. He carried it out on February 14th at the Paddington mortuary and discovered that the 32-year-old had suffered in a similar way to Lowe, in that her mutilations had begun as she was on the brink of dying. Spillsbury concluded that the killer had employed a level of restraint as he mutilated Doris above the waist, but that he had become frenzied while attacking her below it. It was around this time that the media finally took notice of the crimes, although fellow sex workers had been very aware of the recent string of murders and began only going with clients they already knew, refusing to take on anybody new. The newspapers soon linked the murders of Doris, margaret and Evelyn Odley, and this led to the media dubbing the unidentified slayer the wartime ripper, among other names. This outrageous and attention-grabbing moniker helped spread the story of newspapers across the nation, capturing the attention of the general public. It was February 13th 1942, the same day that Doris' body would be discovered that Cummins attacked his final victim Although, like Catherine Malachie, she would end up being lucky enough to escape with her life Thirty-year-old, soon-to-be-divorced Margaret Hayward, affectionately known as Greta by her loved ones was early for a date when she bumped into Cummins.

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She initially rebuffed Cummins' attempts to flirt, but eventually accepted his proposal of going for a drink while she waited for a date to arrive. The pair shared a drink and a meal together in the Piccadilly area of the city, and later Greta would recall that he was unpleasantly forward. Forceful and brazen Cummins attempted to solicit sex from Greta, who angrily told him she was not a sex worker. He then flaunted his money in front of her in an attempt to get her to change her mind, but she refused. As they walked towards Haymarket together, cummins pushed the thirty-year-old into a doorway and groped her before asking her to go to an air raid shelter with him. Once more, greta stood her ground, telling him that she didn't know if there were any nearby and adding in any case, I wouldn't go in when with you. When Cummins attempted to fondle her, she pushed him away. Unsurprisingly, the serviceman didn't take kindly to the young woman's defiance. In retaliation for her rejection, cummins slid his hands around Greta's throat and pushed her back into the doorway where he strangled her into unconsciousness, all the while repeatedly muttering he won't, as Cummins scryphled through Greta's handbag in the darkness of the night, a young man, john Shine, barely 18, and working as a delivery boy, stumbled across him.

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John was delivering bottles of alcohol to a nearby pub, and his presence forced Cummins to flee the scene In panic and haste. The serviceman left behind his RAF-issued gas mask and have a sack in the doorway where he'd assaulted Greta. John shone his torch around and spotted the 30-year-old's leg sticking out from the doorway, her body limp on the ground. He ran to her assistance and discovered that she had regained consciousness and helped pull her to her feet. He offered to take her to the hospital and as the pair went on their way, they ran into a policeman who suggested that they return to West End's Central Police Station where they could give witness statements to investigators about the attack. Greta would then be accompanied to the hospital.

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Cummins, for his part, visited a local pub after his plans were foiled. Here, he realised that he'd left behind his gas mask and his have a sack, the latter of which had his regimental number printed inside, meaning that it would be traced back to him. He reportedly stole another airman's mask and haversack. Before returning to base later that night, john Shine handed over the gas mask and haversack to the police while he was giving his witness statement. He explained that he had found the items in the doorway where Greta was lying unconscious, and Greta added that they had belonged to the serviceman who had attacked her. The RAF regimental number printed inside the haversack 525987 was traced back to Cummins, still stationed at Regents Park, who had not yet returned to his living quarters.

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On the morning of Valentine's Day, cummins was questioned by detective Sergeant Thomas Shepherd. He claimed that he was innocent and that he had in fact spent his night in a pub on Baker Street in the company of another RAF member whose name he couldn't remember. He then stated that he'd begun talking to a woman while at the bar, but he alleged that he had only a hazed recollection of their interaction because of how much he'd had to drink, that he may have had one of these recollections about the pair walking down the street together. According to Cummins, however, he did not chase down this woman for romantic affection, nor did he attempt to solicit sex from her. Instead, he realized how late it had gotten and he returned to base because he had violated his curfew. He stated that he had no memory of attacking Greta, but offered to pay her compensation and demonstrated feelings of regret for the event. Dc Shepherd noticed that Cummins' knuckles were cut and bruised on his left hand. When asked where the injuries had come from, the serviceman replied that they were a result of maintenance work he carried out on a plane engine. Cummins was then asked to write a statement about his involvement on the 13th, which he did, but afterwards he was arrested in Hale on remand on a charge of GBH.

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The police were not done investigating Cummins by any means. Inspecting the billet passbook in which servicemen had to note down their comings and goings throughout the day, authorities discovered that Cummins had reported back to his living quarters before 10.30 on the evening of several of the wartime ripper murders. They noted, however, that the entries were written in pencil, meaning that they could be changed at any time. They also found that many of his entries were blank, showing that he had regularly failed to sign back into base upon his return. Other RAF members explained that the men often covered for each other Questioning the serviceman. Further, investigators discovered that in the week leading up to his arrest, cummins had been spending a lot of money and had not been shy about it. It was also revealed that the 28-year-old frequently left his living quarters via a firescape. On the nights the murders had occurred, he had snuck off the base using this route with a fellow airman named Felix Samson. Neither of the men had returned until the early hours of the morning.

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Perhaps the most damning evidence of all, however, was the fact that Cummins had kept several trophies from his victims. A search of his possessions revealed that he had stolen and kept items from various crime scenes, including a metal cigarette case engraved with the initials LW, which had belonged to Evan Oatley. It had been found along with a photograph of Evelyn's mother. Furthermore, although modern forensic evidence was in its infancy at the time, at least by today's standards, experts were able to pull a whole host of it from Cummins's clothing and possessions. Traces of blood were detected from a shirt, found inside his kit bag, as well as the inner surface of his belt, and the turnips of his trousers revealed traces of a brick-dust mixture that could be located at the air raid shelter where Evelyn Hamilton's body was found. Additionally, chippings of the mortar also found here were recovered from his haversack. More evidence came to light when it was discovered that the serial number of two new banknotes given to Catherine Malahi traced back to Cummins, who'd been issued them on February 12th. In addition to this proof, fingerprints from at least three of the crime scenes were matched to one another and then to Cummins. Later, greta confidentially identified the 28-year-old as her attacker, although Catherine Malahi was unable to do so. Still, despite the mounting corroboration, cummins maintained his innocence, claiming that Greta was mistaken and that he was being framed by another airman who'd switched his gas mask and have a sack with his.

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Cummins remained incarcerated at HM Prison Brixton, where he was interviewed by police about his involvement between February 9th and February 13th. He claimed that he was not familiar with any of the victims and said that he didn't recognise any of their faces from the photographs that he was shown. Investigators continued to question him, though, and eventually confronted him with the keepsakes he'd had in his possession. In response, cummins stated the items had been taken from a service respirator case I was carrying when arrested, but which was not mine. He stated there must have been a mix-up and that he'd picked up the wrong have, a sack where his own items had been switched. However, the authorities were not convinced by his story, and Cummins was charged with the murders of Evelyn O'dley, margaret Lowe and Doris Jannet. The following day, further charges were laid against him in the subsequent days, including those for the assault of both Catherine and Greta, and on March 27th he was also charged with the murder of Evelyn Hamilton.

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Cummins went on trial for the murder of Evelyn O'dley on April 24th 1942. The event took place at London's Old Bailey and he was tried before Judge Cyril Asquith, a prominent member of the British justice system at the time. Unsurprisingly, cummins entered a plea of not guilty at the beginning of the trial. The prosecution was made up of men such as Travers' Christmas Humphreys, while the defence consisted of Dennis Nourpreet, both of whom had notable careers in the 40s and 50s. However, the trial never really took off because an error was made right at the beginning when the jury was shown a crime scene photograph from the murder of Margaret Lowe. As a result of this blunder, the jury was excused and a new trial was set for April 27th. At this point, dennis Nourpreet, cummins' defence lawyer, exited the trial and was replaced by two new attorneys, john Flowers and Victor Durand.

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During the event, the 28-year-old exhibited all the behaviours of which he had been criticised previously arrogance, disinterest and a habit of being easily distracted. He often participated in light-hearted, frivolous banter with his lawyers and frequently turned away from proceedings to smile and wavered his wife Marjorie. The first witness brought in by the prosecution was Detective Chief Superintendent Frederick Sherrill, the man who discovered the left-handed bloody fingerprints at Evelyn Oatley's crime scene. Cummins' defence lawyer argued that the fingerprints on the tin opener were too faint for them to be exactly matched to their client. However, sherrill waved off these alleged discrepancies by showing enlarged photographs of the prints from the crime scene and those taken from Cummins and explaining that any issue between the two would be very noticeable on these photographs. He also added that fingerprints can expand by as much as 4mm depending on how much pressure is applied. Sir Bernard Spillsbury also testified at the trial, telling the jury that Evelyn's cause of death was the deep wound to her throat and that she would have bled to death within five minutes.

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Felix Samson, who had snuck off the base with Cummins on several occasions, claimed that between 10.30 and 11.00, on the night of Evelyn's murder, the pair had bumped into two women whom they'd solicited for sex. The pair agreed to meet again afterwards. Samson returned to the restaurant at around 11.30pm and waited until almost midnight for Cummins before he left. When he arrived back at the base at around 6 in the morning he discovered that Cummins was already there and was asleep. According to Samson, cummins told him that he had arrived back at about half past 3 or 4 in the morning, then said the woman I went with didn't satisfy me, so I went and found someone else. This was a contradiction to the account that Cummins had given investigators when he told them that the two men had met up again at 10 pm After they'd enjoyed the company of the sex workers.

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As if to bolster the idea that he was an extremely arrogant man, cummins testified in his own defense at his trial. He claimed that he was not responsible for Evelyn's murder and that he'd been with another woman when she was killed. Cummins admitted that he had lied to the police about his movements on the night and Samson approved, but asserted that he was intimidated by investigators and that's why he didn't tell them the truth. He alleged that, after confessing to having spent some time with Evelyn on the night in question, the investigating officer, dci Edward Greenow, told him we have a rope around your neck and we are going to hang you with it. Cummins added that Evelyn was alive and well when he'd last seen her, but also that he was too drunk on the night to know his exact whereabouts at exact times, he stated. I had not a watch myself and of course in the dark one cannot see public clocks.

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Closing arguments were presented by both parties on April 28th At 4.35pm. Having deliberated for just over half an hour, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder. Reportedly, cummins did not react to the news, but his wife, marjorie, began to cry. Marjorie, for her part, told the jury that the couple's marriage was very, very happy and that her husband has never been anything but kind and tolerant to me in every respect. He is a normal man who does not consort with other women and he is certainly not a sex maniac or a pervert. She also added he is not a drunkard. Occasionally he would binge, but when he is drunk he would just become quiet, withdrawn and would pass out. She maintained his innocence even after his death.

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Cummins also maintained his own innocence. When he was asked if there was any reason why he should not face the death penalty, he responded with I am completely innocent, sir. He was then sentenced to death by hanging. While awaiting his execution, cummins spent time at Wandsworth prison. He lodged an appeal against his conviction, but this was rejected in June of 1942. He was executed at the prison on June 25th 1942 by Albert Pierpoint, a hangman whose career spanned 25 years. Cummins died in the middle of a German air raid and his body was buried on the prison grounds. Today, he is the only convicted murderer in British history to have been executed during an air raid.

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Some behaviours of sociopaths include a lack of empathy, lying for personal gain, impulsive behaviour, trouble with responsibilities, engaging in petty crimes such as theft, and manipulating others with intelligence or charm. Looking at this list, it seems like Gordon Cummins truly ticked all the boxes. Stepping back and absorbing the entire story of Cummins, it's difficult to argue against the idea that he was an inherently bad person, filled with arrogance, vanity and unbridled rage that was solely directed at women. It's almost bizarre to hear his wife's testimony, where she claimed that he was kind and normal, as his crimes show someone who is the polar opposite of both of these things. Although he was never convicted of the other murders, it is strongly believed that Cummins had a minimum of six victims, but many have wondered if there are more.

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For many people who read about his crimes, it seems unlikely that Cummins one day just snapped and began to kill. Generally, killers start out slow and small, and if this is the case for Cummins, then how many more women were murdered by the wartime ripper? It's been 80 years, almost a century, since his apprehension and his death, so it's unlikely we will ever know the full truth behind this madman, his actions and the number of victims. Chief Superintendent Frederick Sherrill said of the crime spree. Not since the panic-ridden days of 1888, when Jack the Ripper was abroad in the East End, had London known such a reign of terror. But strangely, despite the crimes of the wartime ripper echoing those that terrified the citizens of Victorian London, gordon Cummins has, over time, largely faded into obscurity. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Murderous Minds Podcast. If you would like to vote on upcoming episodes and watch our documentaries, then consider supporting us on Patreon. We hope you found this episode informative. Thank you again for joining us and stay safe everyone.