Friends,
Arson investigators have a difficult job since the crime
in their case, fire, can do a number on your crime scene! (as can the firefighters
sometimes) That said, it leaves evidence behind also. You just have to know
where to look for it. Fires leave patterns, accelerants leave traces, and
people leave clues. This makes a tough task a little easier. Imagine returning
to the scene of a murder only to find out that it has been bombed into
oblivion. That, Dear Readers, was the task faced by the intrepid Inspectors
from Scotland Yard during the Second World War.
Though often we look at times of national catastrophe
or struggle as a uniting factor that brings people together, that does not
negate the fact that under it all a criminal element still lurks in the
shadows. In the case of the blacked out cities of Europe, those shadows grew
larger and the hiding places more numerous. Even Berlin, the city at the center
of Hitler’s Empire was rocked by a series of bizarre sex murders in 1940 though
the government kept it secret as the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) quietly worked the
case. In fact, as we will see, secrecy was a big issue in dealing with crimes
in wartime.
Sir Robert Peel created the Metropolitan Police in
London in 1829 while serving as Home Secretary. This paved the way for the
first large professional police force in the world. And, maybe more important,
it led to police officers being called “Bobbies” or “Peelers”. In fact, the
Irish (my people!) brought the term “Peeler” with them to the United States and
it was the first commonly used slang for police officers in eastern cities in
the US. Can’t say it is all that popular anymore. I never got called that
during my time in law enforcement. But it would have been cool if I had. By the
time England declared war on Germany in September 1939, the British police
force and the government intelligence branches (MI 5 and 6) were up to the
challenge. Just as they had with the Fire Service, the government hired
thousands of auxiliary policemen to help fill the spots left open by those who
left to enlist in the military. However, the detective inspectors tended to be
long term men who knew their way around a crime scene.
When I was a “peeler”, I worked weekends, holidays,
and night because crime doesn’t take a vacation or sleep. Nor does it disappear
just because your country is at war. As soon as war was declared, the British
police force helped the government in rounding up enemy aliens and people with
suspicious loyalties for internment. Some of those interned were British
citizens, but that did not stop them, just as it did not stop us from interning
Americans citizens with Japanese ancestry.
One question that we must consider is why did crime rates in England go
up during the war years? I suppose there are a variety of factors. First, large
numbers of people are thrown together in stressful circumstances. That is a
major part of it. Second, we have the fact that for soldiers and civilians
alike in England, death could come on any given night. This can give rise to a
certain sense of fatalism and an anything goes attitude. And then you add in
the increased opportunity for crime with blackouts and the like. Thus wartime
England was not as safe as you might think.
To begin with, the fact that London remained blacked
out for much of the war and people spent a lot of time in bomb shelters meant
that your everyday burglars had a field day. Rings of mostly youth with a few
professionals thrown in, would watch houses after dark. When the air raid
sirens went off, they would see if the people left to go to a public shelter.
If so, they could break into the house with little fear of detection. As an
added plus, if the house was hit by a bomb or incendiary, then it would
obliterate the evidence! Perfect! The British government took a dim view of
this as they also did looting bombed out homes but with their resources already
stretched thin, combating it proved to be a very tough task. Fraud and the
black market also consumed resources, but more important than that was the “serious”
crimes of rape and yes, even murder.
Time and space dictate that I can only share a few
cases with you. First, we have the Dobkin Case. Apparently Mr. Dobkin got tired
of his wife Rachel and decided to kill her. Plenty of murders have their
origins here it seems. Anyway, he murdered her and buried her body under the
rubble of a bombed out church hoping that if she was discovered, the
authorities would write it off as a bombing victim. Almost, Mr. Dobkin. Almost!
It took over a year for anyone to discover the body and owing to the fact that
she had obviously been dead a while, an autopsy was conducted. During said
autopsy, the intrepid pathologist Dr. Simpson discovered that the hyroid bone
was fractured, thus indicating Rachel died of strangulation. Oops! And as an
added oops, Mr. Dobkin covered her body in lime hoping to speed the
decomposition but he used the wrong type! (Builder’s lime rather than
quicklime) That may have actually preserved the body better than it would have
otherwise been! The jury convicted him in less than a half hour and he was
promptly hanged. Makes you wonder if other people tried this very thing and got
away with it, doesn’t it?
Though often called a serial killer, our next dealer
of death is really more of a spree killer. In serial murders, the killer has a “cooling
off” period in between according to the almighty F.B.I. Young Gordon Cummins
did not. He went on a six day murder spree earning him the very English name, “The
Blackout Ripper”. On February 10, 1942, the body of a 40 year old woman was
found in an air raid shelter. She had been strangled and her handbag was
stolen. Inspectors and the pathologist surmised that the killer may have been
left handed. The next day, a prostitute was found murdered in her apartment. The
victim had been strangled, had her throat cut, and had her sexual organs
mutilated with a can opener which was left at the scene. The scene was eerily
reminiscent of Scotland Yard’s most famous open case, Jack the Ripper, as it
looked like one of his crime scenes. Luckily, they were able to get prints off
the can opener. The Home Office clamped down on the story as they did not want
to spark a panic. However, worse was to come. And quickly.
Gordon Cummins
The next day, yet
another prostitute was discovered murdered in her apartment. The scene was one
of the most brutal you could encounter back then. She had been strangled with a
stocking. The killer took the time to mutilate her with several objects and to
violate her body with a candlestick. The next day, he struck again. This time
the victim was not a prostitute but a 32 year old married woman. She too was
strangled and mutilated. Word reached the press despite the wishes of the Home
Office and they dubbed the killer the “Blackout Ripper”. Unlike Jack, this guy
wouldn’t quit. He took a day off after his fourth murder and on Valentine’s
Day, he struck again. This time his dastardly deeds were interrupted by the
arrival of a delivery boy and his victim survived. She reported he was wearing
an RAF uniform and when he made his getaway, he left his gas mask and its case
behind! Hours later a prostitute reported she had been approached and then
attacked by a man in an RAF uniform too. She fought him off and he left his
belt behind during his escape.
His gas mask had a serial number and inspectors
tracked it to a Gordon Cummins. Upon searching his apartment, they found items
belonging to the victims and matched his prints to the one on the can opener. Naturally,
he was promptly convicted and even more promptly hanged, during the middle of
an air raid, no less! He may have killed other women and there were some within
Scotland Yard who believed he did.
Evelyn Oatley
The Blackout Ripper's beautiful second victim
As much as we would think that hard times bring a
country together, as you can see, the worst elements of our society are still
very much present for duty also. When the Americans arrived in England, our
cousins across the pond liked to blame the presence of our soldiers for the
increase in crime. They said at the time that the problem with the Americans
was that they were “overpaid, oversexed, and over here!” I doubt that had all
that much to do with the increased crime rates though it not doubt added to the
rate of unwed pregnancies, after all, some of the English women wore utility
knickers. One Yank and they were off! VD rates soared as did prostitution. I've seen estimates that one out of every ten American soldiers in Europe during the war contracted some sort of "unwanted guest" but I do not know how accurate those statistics are.
"Hey lady, on a scale of zero to America how free are you tonight?
So next time you peelers on patrol complain about
your hours or working conditions, remember that at least you are not required
to patrol while bombs fall all around you. And when you detectives complain
about the uncanny ability of patrol officers to make a cock up (to use an
English phrase) of your crime scene, be glad your scene won’t be obliterated by
a bomb before you are finished with it.
My name is Lee Hutch and I am a Half A$$ Historian
who never met an English girl wearing utility knickers, unfortunately.
P.S.: For more along these lines, check out Murder on the Home Front by Molly LeFebure and the PBS film by the same name.
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