The Christie Case

[Honest John]

I am sorry I did not properly answer all your query earlier on. Brabin states that when Kennedy was conducting his very valuable interviews with people in 1959-60 he spoke to Robert Hookway and it was he who claimed Beryl was possibly having an affair with Christie. Brabin doubts this and Kennedy doesn't include it in his book. It seems unlikely to me. Was Christie impotent? Quite possibly he was, but his wife was unable to conceive with her other known sexual partner, so possibly not. There is much about this case that we'll never know for sure - perhaps this is one of its fascinations.

[contrafib]

I think your last point is the reason why this and other forums keep going, just as with Jack The Ripper. Nevertheless, i think your book will surprise many who are very entrenched in the rather set in stone accepted details of the case. I know that there were one or more programmes about the case made in the 60's, when Evans was posthumously pardoned (for the murder of his daughter, anyway) and the case was back in the news, but have any of these survived? There was rare footage of Michael Parkinson outside Rillington Place on the BBC website's 'on this day' website, but this has since been replaced with an audio clip of Evans's mother. Shame we never heard from Hookway, Lucy Endecott, Joan Vincent etc.., too late now i suppose.

[Honest John]

Hot off the press: the publishers want to publish in October 2012 not in 2013 as previously indicated, so expect the book earlier than planned - not a huge problem as it is virtually ready anyway; just one final read through required.

[contrafib]

Great news. Without giving too much away, will we find that the official details known about Christie to this point are very inaccurate or is it just small details?? I'm aware that the car stolen from vicar, and Battersea prostitute stories are not entirely accurate, and also we know that Christie occupied Evans's flat originally and so moved to R Place in 1937.
And, will we learn more about some of the minor players in the story??
Anyway, i'll look forward to it. How many pages roughly??

[Honest John]

Dear Contrafib; the book is to be 80,000 words long - I would have like more, but the publishers set a restriction. With 500 words a page, that should be 160 pages.

Christie emerges, I hope, from the book as a human being, not a monster, though canonisation is not my aim. As Curtis-Benett said at the trial - 'I am not saying he is a nice man, if I did you would tell me to shut up'.

Hard to say about the level of detail. I should think that if I say that much of what you'll learn is not a radical departure from perceived wisdom, but there are many aspects of his life which haven't been made 'public' and some which are elaborated, if that makes sense.

Lots more information about Christie's family, his wife and his victims.

House to Remember is very disappointing.

[Sherlock]

Hello Honest John

I can't wait to get a copy of your book when it comes out next year. It should be a fascinating read!!

It is interesting that it will show that in many respects Christie was an ordinary man and not a monster. For example, one of his redeeming features seems to be that he was apparently fond of animals and children. As I have said before, this could conceivably militate against the possibility of Christie being the murderer of Geraldine Evans, as it would therefore seem relatively unlikely that he would attack a child and he had no known history of violence towards children. Moreover, the abuse that he suffered at the hands of his own father might even have made him sensitive to the suffering of children!!!!!!

One wonders if he was able to relate to children better than he could to adult women?

Among the scattered pieces of information I have come across on the web concerning Christie's family are that his father Ernest John Christie was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, and that a distant relative like his great-great-great grandfather was born in Kilmarnock in Scotland.

Until fairy recently there was a website with a picture of Christie's father on it. I think it was concerned with the St John's Ambulance Assocation with which he was involved.

It is known that his maternal grandfather David Halliday was a founder of Halliday and Midgley, Halifax's first boot manufacturer. It would be interesting to know when this firm went out of business!!

It also appears that Christie was able to drive and may therefore have had a valid driving licence. I have read that when he worked in the Ultra Radio Works at Park Royal he was employed as an electric van driver at one point, and I have also read that he met the lady whom he later assaulted with a cricket bat when he was driving a coach to Margate. Also, the fact that he stole a car indicates that he was able to drive.

It is also said that the father of Ruth Fuerst, his first known victim, was named Ludwig Fuerst and was an artist in Vienna. It would be interesting to know something of his career, but I have been unable to find any reference to him on the web, so presumably his work was not well-known.

It would also be interesting to know more about Hectorina MacLennan, his Scottish victim. I understand that contrary to popular belief there is no evidence that she was a prostitute, although she seems to have led a very unsettled lifestyle in London and lived with several partners, including Alexander Baker. I have read that she was born in Aultbea in Ross-Shire; therefore her early childhood must have been quite different from what she later experienced in London.

Perhaps the book will answer these and other questions concerning Christie, his family and victims.

[contrafib]

Here's quite a bit of info. to get your teeth into!!

http://www.robshistory.co.uk/johnreginaldhallidaychristie.html

[Honest John]

I don't think a driving licence was compulsory until about 1930. Interesting that a number of killers were lorry drivers - Robert Black and John Sutcliffe for instance. Christie and Evans were also drivers. The only known picture of Ernest Christie is in his uniform and a copy should appear in the book, as well as one of his wife and the young Christie (well, 21).

Christie was accused of the murder of the little girl at Windsor, but although the file is closed still, I was shown the extract from it referring to Christie.

[Honest John]

Thanks for the link. I remember trawling through the census last year for all this; it shows, contrary to received opinion, he had six siblings and all survived into adulthood. However, I don't know when the sister who went to London died. No one of that name appears on the death registers, but possibly she reverted to her maiden name or remarried.

[Honest John]

The meeting that did not happen in March 1953 between Rae and Christie is referred to by Neil Root in Frenzy as well as in the book you refer to. I have to say that I have never come across any reliable source about this to authenticate it. The evidence puts Christie in south London not north. I am tempted either to refute this story as a myth or not to refer to it at all. But I would be happy to hear from anyone else about this.

[contrafib]

Hi John (and others),

If you wouldn't mind, there's one thing about the case that i would like your opinion on. In LK's book, there's a line which says 'on (date), Beryl told Lucy Endecott that Christie was going to abort her'. This seems to be significant if true, but is it verifiable??
I wonder whether anything was heard of Miss Endecott or Joan Vincent. They seemed to have a ring-side seat so to speak, for the relationship between Evans and his wife. Tim apparently spent a night or two alone with Lucy, reports differ, which seemed a bizarre twist to that particular story.

[Limehouse]

Hello Honest John

I can't wait to get a copy of your book when it comes out next year. It should be a fascinating read!!

It is interesting that it will show that in many respects Christie was an ordinary man and not a monster. For example, one of his redeeming features seems to be that he was apparently fond of animals and children. As I have said before, this could conceivably militate against the possibility of Christie being the murderer of Geraldine Evans, as it would therefore seem relatively unlikely that he would attack a child and he had no known history of violence towards children. Moreover, the abuse that he suffered at the hands of his own father might even have made him sensitive to the suffering of children!!!!!!

One wonders if he was able to relate to children better than he could to adult women?

Among the scattered pieces of information I have come across on the web concerning Christie's family are that his father Ernest John Christie was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, and that a distant relative like his great-great-great grandfather was born in Kilmarnock in Scotland.

Until fairy recently there was a website with a picture of Christie's father on it. I think it was concerned with the St John's Ambulance Assocation with which he was involved.

It is known that his maternal grandfather David Halliday was a founder of Halliday and Midgley, Halifax's first boot manufacturer. It would be interesting to know when this firm went out of business!!

It also appears that Christie was able to drive and may therefore have had a valid driving licence. I have read that when he worked in the Ultra Radio Works at Park Royal he was employed as an electric van driver at one point, and I have also read that he met the lady whom he later assaulted with a cricket bat when he was driving a coach to Margate. Also, the fact that he stole a car indicates that he was able to drive.

It is also said that the father of Ruth Fuerst, his first known victim, was named Ludwig Fuerst and was an artist in Vienna. It would be interesting to know something of his career, but I have been unable to find any reference to him on the web, so presumably his work was not well-known.

It would also be interesting to know more about Hectorina MacLennan, his Scottish victim. I understand that contrary to popular belief there is no evidence that she was a prostitute, although she seems to have led a very unsettled lifestyle in London and lived with several partners, including Alexander Baker. I have read that she was born in Aultbea in Ross-Shire; therefore her early childhood must have been quite different from what she later experienced in London.

Perhaps the book will answer these and other questions concerning Christie, his family and victims.

Hi Sherlock,

Ok - so Christie may well have been fond of children and animals, but isn't it equally likely that Evans was more than fond of his own child and therefore unlikely to harm her?

[Honest John]

LK does indeed say this, based on Baker's investigative journalism. Yet Brabin states that she denied the story was true and so there seems no definite statement that Christie claimed he would perform an abortion. LK very unreliable source. Lucy married a Mr Dyson in about 1957 and they went to live in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Don't know what happened to Joan. She was married to Charles Vincent who worked in his parents' grocery shop. Joan sometimes served Christie.

[Sherlock]

Hi Limehouse

Of course, that is a very fair point. The mere fact that Christie appeared to be fond of children does not by itself mean that he was incapable of murdering Geraldine Evans.

Christie also claimed to love his wife, but this did not deter him from murdering her in 1952.

[Sherlock]

Hello again Limehouse

And it also ought to be remembered that as far as is known there is no evidence of Timothy Evans having harmed his daughter in any way before her death. Indeed, one gets the impression that he was fonder of her than he was of his wife!!