John George Haigh

1. John George Haigh “Acid Bath killer”
Forensics Criminal Presentation
By:Russell Van Duyn
Forensic Science, Period.4

2. Interesting Facts
o Haigh’s motivations for his crimes involved luring his prey to
a fate where their blood was consumed before being
dissolved in sulphuric acid.
o Haigh’s father thought the world was ‘evil’ and the family
needed to keep themselves separate from everyone else.
o Haigh’s parents belonged to a religious sect known as the
Plymouth Brethren, who were purist and anticlerical.
o Bible stories were the only form of entertainment. Even
participating in sports of any kind was forbidden.
o He had seen the exaggerated newspaper accounts
describing him as a blood-mad vampire and he was only
too happy to go along. As an added flourish, he once had
drunk his own urine while in his cell.

3. John George
Haigh Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-
Up9LTL3ZY

4. •
Background
John George Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and grew up
in the village of Outwood, West Yorkshire.
• His parents were John Robert ( engineer) and Emily, née Hudson
who were members of the Plymouth Brethren, a conservative
Protestant sect who advocated austere lifestyles.
• He was forced to live within a 10 ft fence that his father put up
around their garden to lock out the outside world.
• Worked on motor engineers, and after a year he left that job, and
took jobs in insurance and advertising.
• At age 21, he was sacked after being suspected of stealing from a
cash box.
• Haigh was later known to be manipulative and a compulsive liar,
prone to saying anything to separate himself from a compromising
position.
• Recurring dream of blood that caused him to feed on some of his
victims blood.

5. Bodies in
Crime & Scene Sulphuric
Acid. 
 Who? John Haigh
 Victim ---
-The Henderson family:
Archibald and Rosalie Henderson (12 February 1948)
-Henrietta Helen Olive Robarts Durand-Deacon, née Fargus (18 February 1949)
 Suspect - John George Haigh
 What? John grew up in a very religious household but as he grew up he was impriisoned for fraud so his family disowned
him and he moved to London. |There he was caught again and sent back to prison for four years. He was in and out of prison
for fraud until 1943. He had posed as an engineer and a doctor after pretending to be a solicitor. While in prison, he thought up
his „perfect crime‟ for getting rich quick. He would befriend rich people, kill them, dissolve their bodies in sulphuric acid so
there was no evidence, sell their property and possessions and keep the money. He experimented with mice in a prison
workshop and found the bodies dissolved without leaving a trace.
 After being released in prison in 1943, he rented a workshop in Gloucester Road. He set up with 40 gallon barrels, a steel bath
tub full of sulphuric acid and a face mask for himself. He met William McSwan in 1994 and he was his first victim. He took
William to his workshop, beat him around the head to kill him and dissolved his body in sulphuric acid. John told William‟s
parents William had told him he was fleeing to Scotland to avoid being called to serve in the Army. William‟s parents believed
him at first, but became suspicious when William did not return home. John silenced William‟s parents Donald and Amy
McSwan by killing them too, then dissolving the bodies. He forged paperwork to sell their property and possessions to keep the
profit. Later, he met his next victims, Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose by pretending to be interested in buying their
house.On February 12th 1946, John drove Dr Henderson to his workshop and shot him in the head. He then drove back to to
telling his wife that he had suddenly fallen ill and had asked John to pick her up. When Rose got to the workshop, he shot her
too. He dissolved both of the bodies in sulphuric acid overnight. This time, the bodies did not totally dissolve; Dr Henderson‟s
foot was left behind. John forged a letter to Rose‟s brother telling him they had moved abroad and paperwork selling their
property and possessions, again keeping the money. John needed more money so is next victim was an entrepreneur. He shot
her, stripped her of any valuables and again dissolved the body.Olive‟s friend had noticed she was missing. Olive had told her
she was going to John‟s workshop with him, and was not seen since so John was arrested.There, he confessed to all six
murders, plus three others. He believed he could not be convicted of the crimes because there were no bodies but he was
wrong and he was charged with six counts of murder.
 When? 1949
 Where? Stamford, Lincolnshire & London

6. Forensic Evidence
 Thirty-three witnesses
 Haigh had ordered ten gallons of  Haigh made his confession at the
acid. police station. Haigh makes a
 Sergeant Heslin breaks into the written statement that adds three
storehouse Haigh had and finds a more people to his list of six.
mackintosh, rubber gloves, a gas-  Bloodstained penknife in the
mask case, a rubber apron, cubbyhole of Haigh's car. Haigh is
carboys that had contained formally charged with murder.
sulfuric acid, and an acid-eroded  Dr Henderson’s left foot, along with
stirrup-pump. 28lbs of human body fat, 18 bone
 Sulfuric acid and animal fat are fragments, 3 gallstones, Olive
found on the gloves, mackintosh, Durand-Deacon’s dentures, a
and apron. Human bloodstains are plastic handbag handle and a
later found on the gas-mask case lipstick container.
and apron.
 Heslin also finds papers referring to
other people who are missing, and
a square case containing a
revolver with eight rounds of
ammunition; it has recently been
fired.

7. Legal Outcome
 He was charged with murder at the nearby courthouse in
what is now known as the Old Town Hall.
 Haigh pleaded insanity, since he had drunk the blood of
his victims.
Haigh
 Haigh guilty.
walking to
 Mr Justice Travers Humphreys sentenced him to death.
Court .
 It was reported that Haigh, in the condemned cell at
Wandsworth Prison, asked one of his prison guards, Jack
Morwood, whether it would be possible to have a trial run
of his hanging so everything would run smoothly.
 His request went no further itwas denied. Haigh was led to
the gallows and hanged by executioner Albert Pierrepoint
on 10 August 1949.
 They found him to have a paranoid personality that
struggled to tell the difference between fantasy and
reality.

8. References
 Crime Investigation Network (2005) CRIME
FILE - Famous criminal:John Haigh: The
Acid Bath Murderer Pg.1-1 CIN
 TRUtv; Katherine Ramsland (1998) SERIAL
KILLERS TRULY WEIRD & SHOCKING:John
George Haigh Pg.1-9 Retrieved April 24,
2012 from TRUtv