1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:21,796 Speaker 1: Pushkin. This episode contains depictions of sexual assault that some 2 00:00:21,996 --> 00:00:30,716 Speaker 1: listeners may find upsetting. Eighteen year old night porter John 3 00:00:30,796 --> 00:00:34,996 Speaker 1: Shine is navigating one of the narrow and twisting backstreets 4 00:00:34,996 --> 00:00:37,956 Speaker 1: of Piccadilly. It's pitch black. 5 00:00:39,036 --> 00:00:41,276 Speaker 2: Ah, you've got to. 6 00:00:41,316 --> 00:00:43,316 Speaker 3: Let me make love to you. 7 00:00:43,356 --> 00:00:44,716 Speaker 4: No, I already told you. 8 00:00:44,756 --> 00:00:45,636 Speaker 5: I'm not gonna let. 9 00:00:45,516 --> 00:00:49,836 Speaker 1: You Up Ahead in the darkness, there are unseen people. 10 00:00:50,956 --> 00:00:56,796 Speaker 1: If you want, Shine can hear a rustling noise from 11 00:00:56,796 --> 00:01:00,156 Speaker 1: a doorway. The beam of a flashlight darts for a moment, 12 00:01:00,676 --> 00:01:05,316 Speaker 1: but is then extinguished. As the teenager draws closer, the 13 00:01:05,396 --> 00:01:08,876 Speaker 1: light comes on again and illuminates the legs of a 14 00:01:08,916 --> 00:01:13,676 Speaker 1: woman lying on the ground. The person holding the flashlight 15 00:01:14,076 --> 00:01:20,396 Speaker 1: drops something and disappears. Around a corner. Shine lights a match. 16 00:01:21,556 --> 00:01:24,436 Speaker 1: What's wrong, he asked the woman sprawled at his feet. 17 00:01:25,436 --> 00:01:30,836 Speaker 1: Greta Hayward has been choked into unconsciousness. As she slowly 18 00:01:30,916 --> 00:01:35,076 Speaker 1: comes round, she tries to talk, but no words come out. 19 00:01:35,996 --> 00:01:38,276 Speaker 2: Hell, anybody help. 20 00:01:38,356 --> 00:01:42,196 Speaker 1: Greta's face is bloodied and dirty. Her clothes are ripped, 21 00:01:42,556 --> 00:01:47,516 Speaker 1: her buttons torn away, her skirt pushed high up towards 22 00:01:47,556 --> 00:01:52,116 Speaker 1: her waist. Answering, Shine's cries for assistance. A passer by 23 00:01:52,276 --> 00:01:53,476 Speaker 1: with a flashlight arrived. 24 00:01:53,556 --> 00:01:55,556 Speaker 6: I just saw her drinking with an airman. 25 00:01:57,156 --> 00:02:01,436 Speaker 1: Shine helps Greta to her feet, Still unsteady, he leans 26 00:02:01,436 --> 00:02:04,996 Speaker 1: her against the wall. He again asks how she is, 27 00:02:05,876 --> 00:02:08,276 Speaker 1: but she seems not to comprehend him. 28 00:02:08,276 --> 00:02:10,676 Speaker 4: My bag, what has hit on? 29 00:02:12,476 --> 00:02:14,876 Speaker 1: Wanting to get her to a police station as quickly 30 00:02:14,916 --> 00:02:18,676 Speaker 1: as possible, the young knight porter scans the ground around 31 00:02:18,676 --> 00:02:22,596 Speaker 1: them for Gretta's handbag, but sees only her gloves and 32 00:02:22,676 --> 00:02:27,316 Speaker 1: an airman's have a sack containing a gas mask inside. 33 00:02:27,676 --> 00:02:32,036 Speaker 1: Scribbled in indelible ink is the owner's service number five 34 00:02:32,196 --> 00:02:37,116 Speaker 1: two five nine eight seven, and the number leads to 35 00:02:37,236 --> 00:02:41,836 Speaker 1: a name. The Blackout Ripper is twenty seven year old 36 00:02:42,116 --> 00:02:48,436 Speaker 1: Gordon Frederick Cummins. Barely thirty minutes after Greta Haywood was 37 00:02:48,516 --> 00:02:52,556 Speaker 1: forced into that darkened doorway, detectives are calling the nearby 38 00:02:52,676 --> 00:02:56,436 Speaker 1: Royal Air Force Base and demanding the comings be arrested 39 00:02:56,436 --> 00:03:00,916 Speaker 1: on sight, But the airman isn't headed back to barracks. 40 00:03:01,956 --> 00:03:05,636 Speaker 1: His night on the town has only just begun. 41 00:03:07,036 --> 00:03:08,956 Speaker 3: Hello, would you like to go with me? 42 00:03:10,676 --> 00:03:10,916 Speaker 7: Yes? 43 00:03:11,276 --> 00:03:12,116 Speaker 3: For two pounds? 44 00:03:13,236 --> 00:03:13,636 Speaker 2: That's it. 45 00:03:22,516 --> 00:03:25,396 Speaker 1: This is the seldom told story of women in World 46 00:03:25,476 --> 00:03:28,676 Speaker 1: War Two who were killed not by the enemy but 47 00:03:28,716 --> 00:03:33,076 Speaker 1: by husbands, lovers and strangers wearing the uniform of their 48 00:03:33,156 --> 00:03:33,996 Speaker 1: own side. 49 00:03:35,156 --> 00:03:38,116 Speaker 8: It's also the tale of a particular string of murder 50 00:03:38,196 --> 00:03:42,996 Speaker 8: victims that history has swept from view. I'm Halle Rubinholt 51 00:03:43,396 --> 00:03:46,236 Speaker 8: and I'm Alice Fines, and you're. 52 00:03:46,076 --> 00:03:49,036 Speaker 1: Listening to bad women. The Blackout Ripper. 53 00:04:20,676 --> 00:04:25,236 Speaker 8: Greta Hayward's welths and contusions were still forming as doctor 54 00:04:25,316 --> 00:04:29,636 Speaker 8: Alexander Baldy appraised her injuries at west End Central Police Station. 55 00:04:30,756 --> 00:04:34,796 Speaker 8: As the Metropolitan Forces Divisional Surgeon for the area, doctor 56 00:04:34,836 --> 00:04:37,956 Speaker 8: Baldy was called on to examine all of Cummings victims. 57 00:04:38,716 --> 00:04:42,436 Speaker 8: He remembered vividly the icy cold of the bleak air 58 00:04:42,516 --> 00:04:47,916 Speaker 8: raid shelter where Evelyn Hamilton lay in Evelyn Oatley's gloomy 59 00:04:48,076 --> 00:04:52,396 Speaker 8: subdivided room on Wardour Street. Baldy had needed a flashlight 60 00:04:52,516 --> 00:04:56,476 Speaker 8: to help him determine her time of death. Margaret Lowe's 61 00:04:56,516 --> 00:05:00,196 Speaker 8: body was awaiting discovery in her flat on Gosfield Street. 62 00:05:00,836 --> 00:05:06,156 Speaker 8: The doctor would attend to that soon. In Greta Hayward's case, 63 00:05:06,596 --> 00:05:10,436 Speaker 8: doctor Baldy was able to match testimony bruises and abrasions 64 00:05:10,436 --> 00:05:15,036 Speaker 8: on living flesh. Her left eyebrow and cheek were injured, 65 00:05:15,396 --> 00:05:18,516 Speaker 8: but it was the redness and discoloration across the left 66 00:05:18,556 --> 00:05:21,796 Speaker 8: side of her neck that pointed to the blackout ripper's 67 00:05:21,956 --> 00:05:27,916 Speaker 8: tell tale preference for strangling his victims. The police surgeon 68 00:05:28,076 --> 00:05:29,756 Speaker 8: judged that Greta's marks. 69 00:05:29,476 --> 00:05:33,316 Speaker 2: Were consistent with her allegations have been grasped by the throat. 70 00:05:33,956 --> 00:05:38,236 Speaker 8: Greta shared her story of meeting Cummings at the Brasserie Universal. 71 00:05:39,556 --> 00:05:42,476 Speaker 8: She told of his insistence that they head outside to 72 00:05:42,516 --> 00:05:46,676 Speaker 8: another venue and his persistence that she relent and allow 73 00:05:46,796 --> 00:05:50,276 Speaker 8: him to have sex with her. She recalled how in 74 00:05:50,316 --> 00:05:53,756 Speaker 8: the blacked out streets he'd forced her into the doorway 75 00:05:54,156 --> 00:05:57,716 Speaker 8: and begun to sexually assault her, how he'd counted her 76 00:05:57,716 --> 00:06:02,276 Speaker 8: attempts to resist by grabbing her throat and squeezing tighter 77 00:06:02,956 --> 00:06:03,596 Speaker 8: and tighter. 78 00:06:04,436 --> 00:06:06,716 Speaker 4: It was saying something all the time, but I can't 79 00:06:06,756 --> 00:06:10,916 Speaker 4: remember what it was. Do you remember that Some of 80 00:06:10,996 --> 00:06:14,436 Speaker 4: the words were you won't, you won't. 81 00:06:15,596 --> 00:06:19,716 Speaker 8: Greta's next memory was of regaining consciousness with young John 82 00:06:19,756 --> 00:06:23,596 Speaker 8: Shine standing over her. The teenager had not been able 83 00:06:23,636 --> 00:06:27,316 Speaker 8: to find Greta's handbag, but a police constable returned to 84 00:06:27,316 --> 00:06:29,076 Speaker 8: the scene of her ordeal to retrieve it. 85 00:06:29,676 --> 00:06:32,676 Speaker 4: I had intentionally note and about five shidients in silver. 86 00:06:33,396 --> 00:06:36,556 Speaker 4: I also had my ration book, keys and letters in there. 87 00:06:37,476 --> 00:06:41,516 Speaker 8: The handbag when it was returned to Greta was empty. 88 00:06:42,596 --> 00:06:46,516 Speaker 8: Cummings delighted in robbing his victims, taking money to add 89 00:06:46,516 --> 00:06:50,316 Speaker 8: to his already bulging bank roll, but also seeking out 90 00:06:50,316 --> 00:06:55,956 Speaker 8: trophies to keep mementos of his murders. Had Cummings been 91 00:06:56,076 --> 00:07:00,436 Speaker 8: ransacking Greta's purse when John Shine disturbed him, had the 92 00:07:00,476 --> 00:07:06,516 Speaker 8: Airman's greed momentarily diverted him and stopped him finishing Greta off. 93 00:07:09,956 --> 00:07:13,636 Speaker 1: Whatever happened in those few moments between Greta passing out 94 00:07:13,956 --> 00:07:17,996 Speaker 1: and John Shine's scaring Cummings away, the attack was a 95 00:07:18,036 --> 00:07:22,236 Speaker 1: breakthrough for the police hunting the Blackout ripper. The havasakid 96 00:07:22,276 --> 00:07:26,516 Speaker 1: left behind revealed his identity. It had a serial number inside, 97 00:07:26,916 --> 00:07:31,436 Speaker 1: but it also linked Cummings to other crime scenes in 98 00:07:31,516 --> 00:07:35,196 Speaker 1: the police laboratory. Dust and dirt residues from the air 99 00:07:35,276 --> 00:07:39,076 Speaker 1: raid shelter where the pharmacist Evelyn Hamilton was killed were 100 00:07:39,116 --> 00:07:42,916 Speaker 1: compared to traces on the gas mask bag and found 101 00:07:42,956 --> 00:07:48,556 Speaker 1: to have a similar appearance and the same characteristics. Unlike 102 00:07:48,596 --> 00:07:51,836 Speaker 1: the women killed by Cummings, the police did little to 103 00:07:51,916 --> 00:07:56,356 Speaker 1: explore the background of Greta Heywood. Her witness statements offer 104 00:07:56,436 --> 00:08:00,436 Speaker 1: few biographical details, save that she was married but living 105 00:08:00,476 --> 00:08:04,076 Speaker 1: apart from her husband, and that her date that evening 106 00:08:04,436 --> 00:08:08,236 Speaker 1: was an army officer she'd been meeting by appointment since 107 00:08:08,276 --> 00:08:14,556 Speaker 1: before Christmas. Detectives seem to have thought it wasn't worth 108 00:08:14,636 --> 00:08:19,196 Speaker 1: finding this captain or delving into Greta's marital problems, and 109 00:08:19,316 --> 00:08:23,116 Speaker 1: other official records shed precious little light on the life 110 00:08:23,196 --> 00:08:28,276 Speaker 1: of Margaret Mary Theresa Haywood. Greta's marriage certificate suggests that 111 00:08:28,316 --> 00:08:31,036 Speaker 1: she was born in nineteen o seven, that her maiden 112 00:08:31,116 --> 00:08:33,716 Speaker 1: name was Keen, and that her father was a dancer. 113 00:08:34,716 --> 00:08:37,756 Speaker 1: No other trace of her exists in the records, not 114 00:08:37,876 --> 00:08:43,396 Speaker 1: of her birth nor of her upbringing. However, Greta's marital 115 00:08:43,436 --> 00:08:47,716 Speaker 1: troubles can be pieced together from archival fragments. Her husband, 116 00:08:47,796 --> 00:08:50,876 Speaker 1: Henry A. Bank Clark, seems to have been residing with 117 00:08:50,956 --> 00:08:54,276 Speaker 1: a woman in her early twenties, a full decade younger 118 00:08:54,316 --> 00:08:58,156 Speaker 1: than Greta. The couple had not wed, but were living 119 00:08:58,156 --> 00:09:02,116 Speaker 1: as man and wife and already had a baby girl together. 120 00:09:04,356 --> 00:09:08,596 Speaker 1: Cumming's attack on Greta had been vicious and determined, and 121 00:09:08,636 --> 00:09:11,196 Speaker 1: as she said, with police detectives. 122 00:09:10,956 --> 00:09:14,276 Speaker 4: She admitted to feeling very bad. 123 00:09:14,916 --> 00:09:19,476 Speaker 1: Sitting across from Greta that night was Detective Sergeant Amy Ettridge, 124 00:09:19,476 --> 00:09:22,716 Speaker 1: one of the most senior women in the entire London force. 125 00:09:23,596 --> 00:09:26,796 Speaker 1: Back in the nineteen twenties, Amy had swapped a bank 126 00:09:26,876 --> 00:09:29,196 Speaker 1: position for a job that would offer her. 127 00:09:29,676 --> 00:09:31,476 Speaker 6: The open air life. 128 00:09:31,516 --> 00:09:34,036 Speaker 1: Her days as a beat cop were far behind her, 129 00:09:34,516 --> 00:09:38,036 Speaker 1: and now she investigated some of the most serious crimes 130 00:09:38,076 --> 00:09:41,836 Speaker 1: in the West End. The newspapers called her a heroine 131 00:09:42,116 --> 00:09:45,476 Speaker 1: who gently outwitted the bad men of the district. 132 00:09:45,996 --> 00:09:48,796 Speaker 6: Is not unusual for me to be working all night. 133 00:09:49,036 --> 00:09:53,436 Speaker 1: Said the detective, and that night seemed to be no exception. 134 00:09:54,236 --> 00:09:57,716 Speaker 1: The Blackout Ripper was somewhere out there in the dark, 135 00:09:58,276 --> 00:10:02,556 Speaker 1: still at large, still a deadly threat to women, but 136 00:10:02,596 --> 00:10:06,356 Speaker 1: the police now had a name, and thanks to Greta 137 00:10:06,716 --> 00:10:08,436 Speaker 1: a fulsome physical description. 138 00:10:09,396 --> 00:10:11,196 Speaker 4: I'm sure I should recognize him again. 139 00:10:11,636 --> 00:10:15,116 Speaker 1: Greta recalled the man's height and slim build, his light 140 00:10:15,156 --> 00:10:19,156 Speaker 1: blue eyes and sharp features, but his voice was what 141 00:10:19,356 --> 00:10:19,996 Speaker 1: stood out. 142 00:10:20,436 --> 00:10:22,356 Speaker 4: He was very well spoken. 143 00:10:23,596 --> 00:10:28,836 Speaker 8: Helaire Cummings held up a lit cigarette to illuminate the 144 00:10:28,876 --> 00:10:33,396 Speaker 8: face of twenty five year old Catherine Mulcahi. They stood 145 00:10:33,476 --> 00:10:37,716 Speaker 8: in the darkness outside Ordanino's, a hotel a few hundred 146 00:10:37,796 --> 00:10:42,156 Speaker 8: yards from where the airmen had just throttled Greta into unconsciousness. 147 00:10:43,436 --> 00:10:44,716 Speaker 9: Would you like to go with me? 148 00:10:45,356 --> 00:10:45,636 Speaker 7: Yes? 149 00:10:45,956 --> 00:10:46,636 Speaker 3: For two pound? 150 00:10:48,476 --> 00:10:53,116 Speaker 8: Catherine described herself as a married homemaker, but on occasion 151 00:10:53,276 --> 00:10:56,396 Speaker 8: she took men back to her flat for sex, perhaps 152 00:10:56,396 --> 00:11:01,116 Speaker 8: once or twice a month. She estimated that apartment was 153 00:11:01,156 --> 00:11:05,036 Speaker 8: a little way distant from Piccadilly, too far to walk. 154 00:11:05,756 --> 00:11:10,116 Speaker 8: Catherine tentatively raised the prospect of hailing a cab, hoping 155 00:11:10,156 --> 00:11:12,796 Speaker 8: the extra expense wouldn't scare this client off. 156 00:11:13,116 --> 00:11:18,436 Speaker 6: Bac Sape Southwick Street, driver number twenty nine. 157 00:11:19,756 --> 00:11:23,636 Speaker 8: Perhaps impressed by the airman's posh accent and his willingness 158 00:11:23,676 --> 00:11:27,716 Speaker 8: to stump up for the taxi fair, Catherine openly mused 159 00:11:27,756 --> 00:11:30,796 Speaker 8: about the two pound fee she negotiated in haste. 160 00:11:31,116 --> 00:11:34,156 Speaker 6: I wish I could do five pounds tonight. 161 00:11:34,756 --> 00:11:38,076 Speaker 8: As the taxi motored west out of Piccadilly and towards 162 00:11:38,116 --> 00:11:42,916 Speaker 8: the dark expanse of Hyde Park, Cummings couldn't resist, once again, 163 00:11:42,996 --> 00:11:45,076 Speaker 8: bragging about his fat bank roll. 164 00:11:45,716 --> 00:11:48,716 Speaker 3: Don't worry, I have thirty. 165 00:11:48,356 --> 00:11:49,036 Speaker 2: Pounds on me. 166 00:11:49,956 --> 00:11:52,876 Speaker 8: He peeled off three more pound notes and handed them 167 00:11:52,916 --> 00:11:57,156 Speaker 8: to Catherine. This woman was now bought and paid for. 168 00:11:58,556 --> 00:12:01,756 Speaker 8: He immediately knelt at her feet, pushed her skirt up, 169 00:12:02,156 --> 00:12:05,836 Speaker 8: and forced his way between her thighs. The young woman 170 00:12:05,876 --> 00:12:07,836 Speaker 8: protested she wanted him to. 171 00:12:07,836 --> 00:12:13,636 Speaker 6: Stop, now, would be there in a moment, Please stop. 172 00:12:14,316 --> 00:12:18,916 Speaker 8: But Cummings continued his assault, and the taxi driver likely 173 00:12:19,036 --> 00:12:21,876 Speaker 8: didn't even turn around to check on the commotion. 174 00:12:26,476 --> 00:12:28,996 Speaker 7: He's learned to kind of permanently look the other way 175 00:12:29,436 --> 00:12:30,396 Speaker 7: with issues like that. 176 00:12:31,476 --> 00:12:35,476 Speaker 8: Historian Julia Late is an expert on the wartime sex trade. 177 00:12:35,916 --> 00:12:39,956 Speaker 8: As mentioned in previous episodes, the police were cracking down 178 00:12:39,996 --> 00:12:43,396 Speaker 8: on brothels and women were increasingly forced to work out 179 00:12:43,436 --> 00:12:48,196 Speaker 8: of rented rooms. For those with a clientele of trusted regulars, 180 00:12:48,756 --> 00:12:52,356 Speaker 8: this arrangement worked well, but if a woman was meeting 181 00:12:52,396 --> 00:12:56,036 Speaker 8: a churn of servicemen on the streets, then the inconvenience 182 00:12:56,076 --> 00:12:58,836 Speaker 8: of shuttling back and forth to a flat if an 183 00:12:58,836 --> 00:13:03,356 Speaker 8: affordable one could be leased close to Piccadilly, was a headache. 184 00:13:03,956 --> 00:13:06,716 Speaker 7: And so women would pick up clients and get into 185 00:13:06,756 --> 00:13:09,116 Speaker 7: taxi cabs with them, and the taxi would drive around 186 00:13:09,196 --> 00:13:11,956 Speaker 7: the block while they had sex, and then they'd get 187 00:13:11,996 --> 00:13:12,436 Speaker 7: out again. 188 00:13:12,956 --> 00:13:15,516 Speaker 8: The use of cabs by sex workers had been part 189 00:13:15,596 --> 00:13:19,316 Speaker 8: of London life for centuries, but the introduction of sweeping 190 00:13:19,356 --> 00:13:22,636 Speaker 8: emergency powers at the outbreak of the war gave the 191 00:13:22,676 --> 00:13:26,076 Speaker 8: authorities new tools with which to tackle this phenomenon. 192 00:13:26,516 --> 00:13:28,756 Speaker 7: They knew they couldn't call them brothels, and so they 193 00:13:28,796 --> 00:13:31,676 Speaker 7: went after them with a defense of the realmac regulation 194 00:13:31,796 --> 00:13:34,636 Speaker 7: for wasting petrol. It's just this sort of eternal game 195 00:13:34,676 --> 00:13:37,796 Speaker 7: of cat and mouse, and the war really puts extra 196 00:13:37,836 --> 00:13:39,196 Speaker 7: pressure on both sides of that. 197 00:13:40,476 --> 00:13:41,916 Speaker 1: Stop it's not decent. 198 00:13:42,956 --> 00:13:44,276 Speaker 5: Sit back down beside me. 199 00:13:44,956 --> 00:13:47,876 Speaker 8: The caves of Piccadilly were accustomed to their role in 200 00:13:47,916 --> 00:13:50,396 Speaker 8: the sex trade. They kept their eyes on the road 201 00:13:50,796 --> 00:13:53,876 Speaker 8: and their ears tuned to their meters, clicking up the fair. 202 00:13:54,276 --> 00:13:55,516 Speaker 6: Not in front of the driver. 203 00:13:56,236 --> 00:13:57,116 Speaker 2: What will he think? 204 00:13:57,956 --> 00:14:02,276 Speaker 8: Cummings finally returned to his seat beside Catherine, just as 205 00:14:02,276 --> 00:14:06,476 Speaker 8: the driver took them past Hyde Park, acre upon acre 206 00:14:06,676 --> 00:14:11,516 Speaker 8: of shadowy open ground, tanged gold bushes and thickets of trees. 207 00:14:12,476 --> 00:14:15,916 Speaker 8: The airmen suggested halting the taxi so that he could 208 00:14:15,916 --> 00:14:19,236 Speaker 8: take Catherine into this black void in the heart of 209 00:14:19,276 --> 00:14:28,276 Speaker 8: the city. The prospect made Catherine afraid, very afraid the 210 00:14:28,316 --> 00:14:30,676 Speaker 8: blackout Ripper will return in a moment. 211 00:14:48,156 --> 00:14:53,116 Speaker 1: On especially cold nights, women congregated outside the famous Dorchester 212 00:14:53,196 --> 00:14:56,596 Speaker 1: Hotel on Park Lane. They came not to catch a 213 00:14:56,596 --> 00:15:00,116 Speaker 1: glimpse of its celebrity guests, nor to sample its lavish 214 00:15:00,156 --> 00:15:04,676 Speaker 1: amenities and the fabled Turkish baths, but for a warm 215 00:15:04,756 --> 00:15:08,516 Speaker 1: air vent around the back that they nicknamed the hot Plate. 216 00:15:09,196 --> 00:15:12,876 Speaker 1: Legs off, anything to take the chill from their bones. 217 00:15:13,036 --> 00:15:17,756 Speaker 1: Before they crossed the road back into Hyde pans high. 218 00:15:17,636 --> 00:15:18,436 Speaker 5: Blocks of ice. 219 00:15:18,996 --> 00:15:21,076 Speaker 4: My f I can't feel them anymore. 220 00:15:21,876 --> 00:15:26,396 Speaker 6: God, I horrible in it. It's so cold bloody hell. 221 00:15:27,676 --> 00:15:30,236 Speaker 7: And the reason they're there is because they can't afford 222 00:15:30,516 --> 00:15:33,756 Speaker 7: to pay for the inside accommodation, so they're using the 223 00:15:33,796 --> 00:15:35,196 Speaker 7: park as a place to have sex. 224 00:15:36,036 --> 00:15:39,796 Speaker 1: London's green spaces had for centuries been associated with illicit 225 00:15:39,876 --> 00:15:46,156 Speaker 1: laisons and the professional sale of sex. On the eve 226 00:15:46,276 --> 00:15:49,396 Speaker 1: of War, one hotelier on the edge of Hyde Park 227 00:15:49,836 --> 00:15:52,916 Speaker 1: complained in court that women selling sex outside of his 228 00:15:53,076 --> 00:15:56,596 Speaker 1: establishment were scaring away guests down. 229 00:15:57,476 --> 00:16:00,156 Speaker 4: I'm in a little chat, is there, Loo Get in, 230 00:16:00,556 --> 00:16:03,196 Speaker 4: Come on, let's get in. Do you want some company? 231 00:16:03,316 --> 00:16:08,956 Speaker 1: As many as twenty women had gathered nearby, and there 232 00:16:08,996 --> 00:16:11,316 Speaker 1: were even going as far as to grasp at the 233 00:16:11,396 --> 00:16:12,876 Speaker 1: lapels of passing men. 234 00:16:13,316 --> 00:16:16,236 Speaker 2: Get your hands off me this instant. I've a good 235 00:16:16,276 --> 00:16:17,516 Speaker 2: mind to call the constable. 236 00:16:17,916 --> 00:16:19,356 Speaker 4: What bloody good will that do? 237 00:16:21,476 --> 00:16:24,636 Speaker 1: Police efforts to crack down on the sex trade only 238 00:16:24,676 --> 00:16:28,516 Speaker 1: pushed these women from bustling and well liit areas towards 239 00:16:28,596 --> 00:16:33,756 Speaker 1: the unfenced and deserted parkland. Bad women, said one senior 240 00:16:33,796 --> 00:16:36,236 Speaker 1: officer in charge of policing Hyde Park. 241 00:16:36,356 --> 00:16:39,436 Speaker 2: Often migrate to hear from other districts in the hope 242 00:16:39,436 --> 00:16:42,156 Speaker 2: of carrying on their immorality undetected. 243 00:16:42,996 --> 00:16:47,396 Speaker 1: The blackout made detection even more unlikely, and the decision 244 00:16:47,436 --> 00:16:51,236 Speaker 1: of America's General Eisenhower to set his headquarters up right 245 00:16:51,316 --> 00:16:56,036 Speaker 1: beside the park flooded the area with potential clients. The 246 00:16:56,076 --> 00:16:59,396 Speaker 1: women frequenting this quarter, The women who availed themselves of 247 00:16:59,476 --> 00:17:03,116 Speaker 1: the hot plate's occasional warmth, became mockingly known as the 248 00:17:03,236 --> 00:17:08,196 Speaker 1: Hyde Park Rangers, sisters and neighbors of the Piccadilly Commandos. 249 00:17:09,676 --> 00:17:14,236 Speaker 1: Not everyone viewed this situation with levity. One scandalized London 250 00:17:14,236 --> 00:17:17,916 Speaker 1: newspaper dispatched a team to the park to carry out 251 00:17:17,916 --> 00:17:22,436 Speaker 1: a census of the nightly activities. Within one hour of dusk, 252 00:17:22,756 --> 00:17:25,716 Speaker 1: they witnessed a dozen laisons. 253 00:17:25,556 --> 00:17:29,596 Speaker 3: Get a nightfull mate, sling your bleeding occupur bet couples 254 00:17:29,596 --> 00:17:33,036 Speaker 3: were lying on the grass, visible to anyone walking by. 255 00:17:33,716 --> 00:17:34,836 Speaker 3: I'll pass around the eye. 256 00:17:34,676 --> 00:17:36,636 Speaker 6: If begin to watch taking a late pie. 257 00:17:38,196 --> 00:17:42,396 Speaker 1: And the ages of some of those involved shocked these observers. 258 00:17:43,196 --> 00:17:47,276 Speaker 3: Most of the young girls described as amateurs were between 259 00:17:47,556 --> 00:17:50,436 Speaker 3: fifteen and sixteen years of age. 260 00:17:50,836 --> 00:17:54,476 Speaker 1: A particular concern was the number of girls orphaned or 261 00:17:54,516 --> 00:17:58,476 Speaker 1: living apart from their families who had swapped group homes 262 00:17:58,556 --> 00:18:02,156 Speaker 1: or other public institutions for the excitement of Piccadilly and 263 00:18:02,196 --> 00:18:03,516 Speaker 1: its environs. 264 00:18:03,556 --> 00:18:06,276 Speaker 7: So these are what we would now call juvenile delinquents 265 00:18:06,276 --> 00:18:09,316 Speaker 7: who are running away from the residential schools that they've 266 00:18:09,356 --> 00:18:13,196 Speaker 7: been stuck into, hitchhiking down to London and hooking up 267 00:18:13,236 --> 00:18:16,436 Speaker 7: with soldiers, maybe for money, maybe for just a good time. 268 00:18:16,956 --> 00:18:20,636 Speaker 1: The local elected official, a former fighter pilot called Captain 269 00:18:20,676 --> 00:18:25,996 Speaker 1: Cunningham Reid, publicized one particularly disturbing case of a vulnerable 270 00:18:26,036 --> 00:18:29,156 Speaker 1: fifteen year old girl who'd fled a grim government run 271 00:18:29,196 --> 00:18:32,276 Speaker 1: hostel where she was sick of being exploited for long 272 00:18:32,356 --> 00:18:34,556 Speaker 1: hours of unpaid scrubbing and cleaning. 273 00:18:34,716 --> 00:18:37,116 Speaker 2: There go and love another squeak. 274 00:18:37,476 --> 00:18:40,876 Speaker 1: She was found drunken and capable in Hyde Park at 275 00:18:40,876 --> 00:18:41,396 Speaker 1: one am. 276 00:18:41,396 --> 00:18:43,276 Speaker 3: He can certainly knock you back for a yogan. 277 00:18:43,156 --> 00:18:44,836 Speaker 1: Surrounded by a group of soldiers. 278 00:18:44,916 --> 00:18:46,916 Speaker 3: Does you'll be top top saving big darling? 279 00:18:48,316 --> 00:18:50,556 Speaker 2: She can be much more fun out in the parhark. 280 00:18:52,076 --> 00:18:55,716 Speaker 1: It was into dark and cold and lawless Hyde Park 281 00:18:56,236 --> 00:18:59,636 Speaker 1: that the blackout rip hoped to take A petrified. 282 00:18:59,316 --> 00:19:02,236 Speaker 6: Catherine Mulkahee, don't be silly. 283 00:19:02,556 --> 00:19:05,756 Speaker 1: She told the airmen they should stay in their taxi 284 00:19:05,876 --> 00:19:12,916 Speaker 1: and keep to their original plan. Be in my room. 285 00:19:13,956 --> 00:19:17,076 Speaker 1: The inside of the room at twenty nine Southwick Street 286 00:19:17,276 --> 00:19:21,516 Speaker 1: was dark. The electric meter needed feeding, though Cummings claimed 287 00:19:21,596 --> 00:19:25,716 Speaker 1: not to have a spare coin despite his protestations that 288 00:19:25,756 --> 00:19:29,316 Speaker 1: they didn't need light, Catherine lit a scrap of paper. 289 00:19:30,796 --> 00:19:33,636 Speaker 1: She didn't want to be in the pitch black with Cummings. 290 00:19:34,276 --> 00:19:38,236 Speaker 1: Something was very wrong about this man and this transaction, 291 00:19:38,956 --> 00:19:43,076 Speaker 1: and it frightened her. He'd given the money over too easily, 292 00:19:43,916 --> 00:19:46,996 Speaker 1: almost as if he thought he'd soon get it back. 293 00:19:52,156 --> 00:19:55,396 Speaker 8: Catherine's life up to this point might well have taught 294 00:19:55,436 --> 00:19:58,476 Speaker 8: her to be on her guard. Those who knew her 295 00:19:58,676 --> 00:20:02,756 Speaker 8: talked of her deep reserves of strength and resolve. She 296 00:20:02,836 --> 00:20:06,236 Speaker 8: was born in Penny Gregg, one of the famously tough 297 00:20:06,356 --> 00:20:10,396 Speaker 8: coal mining communities clustered along the Ronde Vs in South Wales. 298 00:20:11,556 --> 00:20:14,196 Speaker 8: Her father had worked at one of the village's deep mines, 299 00:20:14,756 --> 00:20:17,556 Speaker 8: crouching in the gloom to hack and hew away at 300 00:20:17,556 --> 00:20:21,436 Speaker 8: a shining ribbon of coal, but he'd probably missed the 301 00:20:21,516 --> 00:20:26,356 Speaker 8: arrival of his daughter in nineteen sixteen. On her birth certificate, 302 00:20:26,436 --> 00:20:30,156 Speaker 8: he cited as a private soldier in a local Welsh regiment, 303 00:20:30,876 --> 00:20:34,396 Speaker 8: likely posted far from Rohonda as World War One raged. 304 00:20:34,436 --> 00:20:41,156 Speaker 8: On returning to the pit in nineteen nineteen, Thomas wasn't 305 00:20:41,156 --> 00:20:43,556 Speaker 8: the same man who'd left to fight in the war. 306 00:20:44,356 --> 00:20:47,676 Speaker 8: He was awarded a partial pension because of a dilated heart, 307 00:20:48,116 --> 00:20:50,476 Speaker 8: which had been aggravated by his time in the service. 308 00:20:51,436 --> 00:20:54,716 Speaker 8: Despite this ailment, the coalhuer had little choice but to 309 00:20:54,756 --> 00:20:59,196 Speaker 8: return to that underground seam and resume his backbreaking profession. 310 00:21:00,476 --> 00:21:04,716 Speaker 8: Catherine grew up amid bleak slag heaps, belching chimney stacks 311 00:21:04,756 --> 00:21:08,996 Speaker 8: and whirring mine shaft elevators. The economic and political b 312 00:21:09,796 --> 00:21:14,956 Speaker 8: was no less grim, poor wages and dangerous working conditions 313 00:21:15,076 --> 00:21:19,836 Speaker 8: dogged minus angry disputes flared and bitter strikes were called. 314 00:21:21,956 --> 00:21:25,756 Speaker 8: In nineteen twenty one, Thomas was listed as out of work. 315 00:21:26,756 --> 00:21:31,036 Speaker 8: Global coal prices had collapsed and collery owners had slashed 316 00:21:31,036 --> 00:21:36,716 Speaker 8: wages in half, closed pits and sacked minus. Some render 317 00:21:36,796 --> 00:21:39,516 Speaker 8: men were reduced to digging at any coal close to 318 00:21:39,556 --> 00:21:43,396 Speaker 8: the surface, tunneling down to find fuel that might heat 319 00:21:43,436 --> 00:21:48,196 Speaker 8: the family hearth. Thomas eventually returned to the coal mines, 320 00:21:48,716 --> 00:21:51,276 Speaker 8: though at first as a mere laborer rather than as 321 00:21:51,316 --> 00:21:54,916 Speaker 8: a coal heuer. It's possible that this job title reflected 322 00:21:54,956 --> 00:22:00,436 Speaker 8: both a drop in wages and in status. Nineteen twenty 323 00:22:00,476 --> 00:22:05,596 Speaker 8: seven brought a double tragedy. In February, tuberculosis claimed the 324 00:22:05,636 --> 00:22:08,836 Speaker 8: life of Catherine's thirty one year old mother, and in 325 00:22:08,876 --> 00:22:14,796 Speaker 8: gun Thomas's hart finally failed. Eleven year old Catherine was 326 00:22:14,836 --> 00:22:21,316 Speaker 8: an orphan aged nineteen, Catherine had left the Welsh Valleys 327 00:22:21,396 --> 00:22:25,156 Speaker 8: behind and was living in London, married to Patrick mulcahey, 328 00:22:25,436 --> 00:22:29,116 Speaker 8: a waiter. The couple set up home north of Hyde Park, 329 00:22:29,676 --> 00:22:34,516 Speaker 8: near Paddington, railway station. There's no evidence that Catherine sold 330 00:22:34,556 --> 00:22:38,956 Speaker 8: sex at this point, but such activities certainly weren't unheard 331 00:22:38,996 --> 00:22:41,156 Speaker 8: of in the locale, says Julia Late. 332 00:22:41,916 --> 00:22:44,636 Speaker 7: So Paddington is it's sort of an offshoot of the 333 00:22:44,636 --> 00:22:47,196 Speaker 7: West ten sex trade in some ways, but it tends 334 00:22:47,236 --> 00:22:50,356 Speaker 7: to be associated with what the police would call a 335 00:22:50,396 --> 00:22:53,996 Speaker 7: lower class of prostitution. It tends to be associated with 336 00:22:54,076 --> 00:22:58,756 Speaker 7: younger women, though not always with poorer women with lower prices. 337 00:22:58,956 --> 00:23:01,476 Speaker 7: And one of the reasons for that is because there's 338 00:23:01,556 --> 00:23:04,556 Speaker 7: cheaper accommodation there. There's lots of cheap hotels, there's lots 339 00:23:04,556 --> 00:23:08,116 Speaker 7: of cheap furnished rooms all around that area, and there's 340 00:23:08,236 --> 00:23:11,356 Speaker 7: also a lot of sort of military barrack around that area, 341 00:23:11,476 --> 00:23:14,516 Speaker 7: so a lot of soldiers to sell sex too. And 342 00:23:14,556 --> 00:23:15,596 Speaker 7: finally there's the park. 343 00:23:16,996 --> 00:23:20,316 Speaker 8: Catherine's marriage to Patrick seems to have been on again, 344 00:23:20,476 --> 00:23:24,116 Speaker 8: off again in character. During the war, she was living 345 00:23:24,196 --> 00:23:28,396 Speaker 8: under an assumed name Kathleen King, and it's not clear 346 00:23:28,476 --> 00:23:31,436 Speaker 8: if she shared her flat at twenty nine Southwick Street 347 00:23:31,436 --> 00:23:36,756 Speaker 8: with her husband. Patrick certainly wasn't there on Thursday February twelfth, 348 00:23:36,836 --> 00:23:43,516 Speaker 8: nineteen forty two. 349 00:23:43,076 --> 00:23:47,276 Speaker 1: With five pounds paid and stashed away in her kitchen. Katherine, 350 00:23:47,676 --> 00:23:50,916 Speaker 1: now naked except for boots in her necklace, said she. 351 00:23:50,996 --> 00:23:53,196 Speaker 6: Was anxious to get the business over. 352 00:23:54,156 --> 00:23:58,596 Speaker 1: Cummins, also naked, made an odd request that Catherine lie 353 00:23:58,636 --> 00:24:03,596 Speaker 1: on the floor, which she declined. She instead got into bed, 354 00:24:04,276 --> 00:24:08,636 Speaker 1: hoping the sex would be over quickly. The man pressed 355 00:24:08,636 --> 00:24:12,396 Speaker 1: on top of her, but instead of caressing her, he 356 00:24:12,516 --> 00:24:15,516 Speaker 1: clasped his hands around Catherine's throat. 357 00:24:16,116 --> 00:24:19,916 Speaker 6: His two thumbs were pressing on my windpipe. I could 358 00:24:19,916 --> 00:24:23,196 Speaker 6: not make a sound. I struggled and managed to loosen 359 00:24:23,236 --> 00:24:28,836 Speaker 6: his grip on my throat. 360 00:24:28,836 --> 00:24:33,356 Speaker 1: Fighting for her life, Catherine screeched for help before Cummings 361 00:24:33,396 --> 00:24:36,596 Speaker 1: again clamped his hands round her neck and began to 362 00:24:36,836 --> 00:24:39,636 Speaker 1: throttle her. I was still wearing my boots. 363 00:24:40,036 --> 00:24:42,676 Speaker 6: I pulled my leg up high and kicked him in 364 00:24:42,716 --> 00:24:43,236 Speaker 6: the stomach. 365 00:24:43,756 --> 00:24:49,236 Speaker 1: Hard winded, Cummings fell off the bed, landing on his head. 366 00:24:49,956 --> 00:24:53,396 Speaker 1: Catherine made a break for the door into the common stairwell. 367 00:24:53,996 --> 00:24:55,916 Speaker 9: Mother please. 368 00:24:56,316 --> 00:25:04,396 Speaker 1: Catherine implored her female neighbors to summon help, but initially 369 00:25:04,436 --> 00:25:08,676 Speaker 1: they were too petrified to act. Finally, an elderly lady 370 00:25:09,156 --> 00:25:12,716 Speaker 1: armed with a vase stood guard over Catherine until her 371 00:25:12,756 --> 00:25:16,396 Speaker 1: client gathered his clothes counted out more pound notes by 372 00:25:16,436 --> 00:25:22,636 Speaker 1: way of compensation, mumbled about being drunk, and made to leave. Catherine, 373 00:25:22,876 --> 00:25:26,756 Speaker 1: now wrapped in a tablecloth, was in no doubt about 374 00:25:26,796 --> 00:25:28,116 Speaker 1: what had just happened. 375 00:25:29,036 --> 00:25:30,076 Speaker 2: You're the man. 376 00:25:30,156 --> 00:25:32,596 Speaker 6: Who's been murdering women around here. 377 00:25:32,756 --> 00:25:35,476 Speaker 1: She called out, as Cummins trudged down the stairs and 378 00:25:35,596 --> 00:25:47,676 Speaker 1: out into the blackout, leaving the street door open behind him. 379 00:25:47,796 --> 00:25:51,716 Speaker 8: Just a few rocks away, Doris Chouane was bidding goodbye 380 00:25:51,796 --> 00:25:55,596 Speaker 8: to her husband on Rie at Paddington Tube station. The 381 00:25:55,636 --> 00:25:58,476 Speaker 8: couple had managed to spend part of the evening together 382 00:25:58,636 --> 00:26:02,916 Speaker 8: there nearby flat, but an exhausted Henrie was now catching 383 00:26:02,956 --> 00:26:05,956 Speaker 8: a train to return to work at the Royal Court Hotel. 384 00:26:07,596 --> 00:26:10,156 Speaker 8: The sixty six year old to have been enjoying a 385 00:26:10,196 --> 00:26:17,796 Speaker 8: comfortable retirement for the couple's finances had taken a battering. Reluctantly, 386 00:26:18,036 --> 00:26:20,996 Speaker 8: Henry was spending less time with his young wife than 387 00:26:21,036 --> 00:26:25,796 Speaker 8: he thought wise. Doris, he feared, had also returned to work, 388 00:26:26,436 --> 00:26:32,076 Speaker 8: in her case, selling sex. This evening, Doris had wanted 389 00:26:32,116 --> 00:26:34,516 Speaker 8: to get some fresh air, so she walked on reed 390 00:26:34,556 --> 00:26:37,996 Speaker 8: to his tube stop. He fretted about her, and he 391 00:26:38,076 --> 00:26:41,756 Speaker 8: wanted her to turn around and go straight home, but 392 00:26:41,836 --> 00:26:46,836 Speaker 8: she didn't, and before reaching her front door at Sussex Gardens, 393 00:26:46,876 --> 00:26:57,436 Speaker 8: she would encounter Cummings. The blackout Ripper will be back 394 00:26:57,596 --> 00:27:09,116 Speaker 8: in a moment. Doris's story begins hundreds of miles from London, 395 00:27:09,876 --> 00:27:12,356 Speaker 8: in a world that felt like it would never be 396 00:27:12,476 --> 00:27:18,796 Speaker 8: touched by the terrors of war. Indeed, December sixteenth, nineteen fourteen, 397 00:27:19,156 --> 00:27:23,596 Speaker 8: began like any other peaceful morning. The people of Hartlepool, 398 00:27:23,676 --> 00:27:27,316 Speaker 8: on England's northeast coast woke to the chill winter gloom, 399 00:27:27,676 --> 00:27:30,676 Speaker 8: rose from their beds and sat down to breakfast, or 400 00:27:30,756 --> 00:27:34,916 Speaker 8: made their way through the misty streets, children to the classroom, 401 00:27:35,116 --> 00:27:38,996 Speaker 8: adults to their places of toil. The North Sea was 402 00:27:39,076 --> 00:27:47,516 Speaker 8: still shrouded in dense fog. Then something unusual flashes of 403 00:27:47,636 --> 00:27:51,236 Speaker 8: light way off in the distance, illuminating that thick curtain 404 00:27:51,276 --> 00:27:59,396 Speaker 8: of cloud, And was that thunder. White hot metal was 405 00:27:59,596 --> 00:28:04,316 Speaker 8: raining through the air, screaming, whistling, fragmenting as it met 406 00:28:04,396 --> 00:28:14,676 Speaker 8: with wall or stone paved streets. The lethal shards sliced 407 00:28:14,716 --> 00:28:20,476 Speaker 8: through brickwork, roof, timber, and fleshed. A single shell tore 408 00:28:20,636 --> 00:28:26,356 Speaker 8: through four houses, wrecking the buildings and lasting the bodies 409 00:28:26,396 --> 00:28:34,516 Speaker 8: of the people inside. One family was at their breakfast 410 00:28:34,596 --> 00:28:36,676 Speaker 8: table when a shell burst. 411 00:28:36,316 --> 00:28:39,076 Speaker 1: Through the ceiling, seeing their daughter instantly. 412 00:28:42,556 --> 00:28:46,076 Speaker 8: Another man fleeing his home found the bodies of his 413 00:28:46,156 --> 00:28:49,756 Speaker 8: two little grandchildren by the front door, crushed beneath the 414 00:28:49,796 --> 00:28:54,276 Speaker 8: debris of their crumbling home. Other townsfolk met their ends 415 00:28:54,316 --> 00:28:58,556 Speaker 8: sleeping in their beds and were atomized along with their furniture. 416 00:29:00,076 --> 00:29:03,196 Speaker 8: The hometown of eight year old Doris Robson was being 417 00:29:03,276 --> 00:29:07,996 Speaker 8: pounded and pulverized by the mighty guns of three German battleships. 418 00:29:09,316 --> 00:29:12,916 Speaker 8: The cowering locals feared that this was just a prelude, 419 00:29:13,276 --> 00:29:16,876 Speaker 8: for the enemy was at that very moment stealing up 420 00:29:16,876 --> 00:29:21,636 Speaker 8: the beach, ready to invade and capture the town. Britain 421 00:29:21,756 --> 00:29:24,676 Speaker 8: had been at war with Germany for months now, for 422 00:29:24,756 --> 00:29:28,036 Speaker 8: this bombardment was the first time that its civilians had 423 00:29:28,036 --> 00:29:33,556 Speaker 8: come under fire, and the enemy did not discriminate little children. 424 00:29:33,836 --> 00:29:38,516 Speaker 8: Doris's peers and playmates were struck down as holding hands, 425 00:29:38,716 --> 00:29:47,676 Speaker 8: they ran for cover. After forty long minutes, the onslaught 426 00:29:47,796 --> 00:29:54,436 Speaker 8: was over Stunned, petrified, shaken, the men, women and children 427 00:29:54,476 --> 00:29:58,116 Speaker 8: of Horleypool began to emerge from their hiding places to 428 00:29:58,236 --> 00:30:02,756 Speaker 8: peer at the wreckage on Doris's Street, the row of 429 00:30:02,876 --> 00:30:07,316 Speaker 8: terraced houses was battered and pop marked, dragged holes gaping 430 00:30:07,396 --> 00:30:11,756 Speaker 8: where once there had been walls, windows and doors. Other 431 00:30:11,876 --> 00:30:15,996 Speaker 8: dwellings said the papers had been completely ripped open. 432 00:30:16,236 --> 00:30:19,196 Speaker 2: And their interiors could be seen from the streets. 433 00:30:19,956 --> 00:30:23,276 Speaker 8: A local gasworks had also been struck and then exploded 434 00:30:23,316 --> 00:30:27,316 Speaker 8: in the attack, plunging what remained of Hartlepool into darkness. 435 00:30:27,356 --> 00:30:31,916 Speaker 8: That night, the Germans had not set foot on British soil, 436 00:30:32,036 --> 00:30:35,396 Speaker 8: as had been feared, but more than a thousand shells 437 00:30:35,396 --> 00:30:38,676 Speaker 8: had been fired. Over one hundred people were dead and 438 00:30:38,796 --> 00:30:42,556 Speaker 8: hundreds more wounded, among them. 439 00:30:41,876 --> 00:30:44,996 Speaker 2: A large number of women and children, mostly of the 440 00:30:45,036 --> 00:30:45,876 Speaker 2: poorer class. 441 00:30:46,836 --> 00:30:50,756 Speaker 8: The people of Hartlepool and of two neighboring towns had 442 00:30:50,796 --> 00:30:55,636 Speaker 8: tasted the horrors of modern war. The fighting had seemed distant, 443 00:30:56,116 --> 00:30:59,676 Speaker 8: relegated to the battlefields of far away France and Belgium, 444 00:31:00,356 --> 00:31:03,276 Speaker 8: but now they were forced to confront the distressing truth 445 00:31:03,796 --> 00:31:06,636 Speaker 8: that even the barrier at the sea and the walls 446 00:31:06,676 --> 00:31:13,436 Speaker 8: of their own homes could not protect them from the enemy. 447 00:31:14,356 --> 00:31:19,316 Speaker 1: Recruitment drives capitalized on the devastation this bombardment had wrought. 448 00:31:20,356 --> 00:31:22,836 Speaker 3: En list now and helped to avenge the murder of 449 00:31:22,876 --> 00:31:25,836 Speaker 3: innocent women and children at Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. 450 00:31:26,116 --> 00:31:28,756 Speaker 1: Exhorted the posters. 451 00:31:28,276 --> 00:31:30,996 Speaker 3: Show the enemy that we will exact a full penalty 452 00:31:31,196 --> 00:31:32,516 Speaker 3: for this cowardless slaughter. 453 00:31:33,036 --> 00:31:36,036 Speaker 1: The men of Britain were being urged to defend a 454 00:31:36,076 --> 00:31:40,796 Speaker 1: particular vision of the home, an idealized tableau of domesticity, 455 00:31:41,196 --> 00:31:46,716 Speaker 1: with mother and children gathered round the family half. In reality, 456 00:31:47,236 --> 00:31:50,476 Speaker 1: not all families, and not all lone mothers were deemed 457 00:31:50,516 --> 00:31:54,676 Speaker 1: worthy of protection. It was only those women married to 458 00:31:54,716 --> 00:31:58,396 Speaker 1: absent soldiers, for instance, who were eligible to receive benefit 459 00:31:58,436 --> 00:32:01,356 Speaker 1: payments in the form of a separation allowance during the 460 00:32:01,396 --> 00:32:05,116 Speaker 1: war years, and even they stood to forfeit that payment 461 00:32:05,476 --> 00:32:08,076 Speaker 1: if it could be proven that they had committed adultery 462 00:32:08,076 --> 00:32:12,116 Speaker 1: in their husband's absence. When Doris was born in March 463 00:32:12,236 --> 00:32:15,796 Speaker 1: nineteen oh six, in the place on her birth certificate 464 00:32:15,796 --> 00:32:18,876 Speaker 1: where her father's name ought to have been inscribed, there 465 00:32:18,916 --> 00:32:22,636 Speaker 1: was simply a slash of ink. Her mother, Mary Robson, 466 00:32:23,316 --> 00:32:23,956 Speaker 1: was unwed. 467 00:32:24,516 --> 00:32:27,076 Speaker 9: There's a lot of prejudice against unmarried mothers. 468 00:32:27,276 --> 00:32:30,676 Speaker 1: Doctor Gingerfrost is a research professor of history at Samford 469 00:32:30,756 --> 00:32:32,036 Speaker 1: University in Alabama. 470 00:32:32,276 --> 00:32:36,476 Speaker 9: The assumption is that she's sexually incontinent rather than in 471 00:32:36,516 --> 00:32:38,596 Speaker 9: a relationship and it failed, or something like that. 472 00:32:39,396 --> 00:32:43,756 Speaker 1: Given that Hotleypool was still a relatively small town, Ginger 473 00:32:43,796 --> 00:32:47,476 Speaker 1: says that Mary Robson's community would likely have known that 474 00:32:47,596 --> 00:32:51,996 Speaker 1: Doris's father was absent. Both mother and child would have 475 00:32:52,036 --> 00:32:55,996 Speaker 1: been shamed, there would have been whispers in the streets, slattin, 476 00:32:56,316 --> 00:32:59,236 Speaker 1: and Mary might have even found it impossible to secure 477 00:32:59,236 --> 00:33:03,316 Speaker 1: a job. Some women in Mary's situation were cast out 478 00:33:03,316 --> 00:33:06,956 Speaker 1: by their families and ended up in the workhouse. Others 479 00:33:06,996 --> 00:33:09,676 Speaker 1: even drowned themselves when they discovered were to have a 480 00:33:09,796 --> 00:33:13,476 Speaker 1: child out of wedlock. The unmarried mother was considered a 481 00:33:13,556 --> 00:33:18,156 Speaker 1: deviant and feared. Social scientists held that single mothers were 482 00:33:18,476 --> 00:33:23,716 Speaker 1: feeble minded and would create morally inferior offspring. They were 483 00:33:23,756 --> 00:33:27,996 Speaker 1: influenced by eugenics, the then popular pseudoscience that preached that 484 00:33:28,076 --> 00:33:31,476 Speaker 1: good and bad traits could be passed from generation to generation. 485 00:33:32,316 --> 00:33:35,436 Speaker 2: There is evidence that such a child is more likely 486 00:33:35,476 --> 00:33:38,316 Speaker 2: to become a criminal or a prostitute than is the 487 00:33:38,436 --> 00:33:40,556 Speaker 2: child born within marriage. 488 00:33:40,916 --> 00:33:44,276 Speaker 1: Mary was not among those unfortunate women who were wholly 489 00:33:44,316 --> 00:33:49,196 Speaker 1: rejected by their families. Prejudice against single mothers was widespread, 490 00:33:49,636 --> 00:33:54,556 Speaker 1: but they weren't universally vilified. Here's historian Pat Vane. 491 00:33:54,996 --> 00:33:58,556 Speaker 5: There's always a tendency for the kind of moralists who 492 00:33:58,636 --> 00:34:03,596 Speaker 5: scream about things to be remembered more than coordinary people 493 00:34:03,636 --> 00:34:06,556 Speaker 5: who don't make such a fuss as that. There always 494 00:34:06,556 --> 00:34:11,156 Speaker 5: were moralizers who were terribly star to single mothers, and 495 00:34:11,396 --> 00:34:15,156 Speaker 5: I thought they were shameful and immoral, but also boxy. 496 00:34:15,236 --> 00:34:18,956 Speaker 5: Plenty of other people who were pared to support them 497 00:34:19,036 --> 00:34:24,156 Speaker 5: and understood how it could come about that somebody might 498 00:34:24,156 --> 00:34:26,436 Speaker 5: be raped or relationship might fail. 499 00:34:27,516 --> 00:34:31,076 Speaker 1: Mary and her sister Isabella raised Doris together in a 500 00:34:31,156 --> 00:34:34,396 Speaker 1: home near the sea. The women were originally of working 501 00:34:34,436 --> 00:34:37,796 Speaker 1: class stock. Their father had worked in the minds, but 502 00:34:37,916 --> 00:34:40,716 Speaker 1: Isabella had a good enough level of education to become 503 00:34:40,756 --> 00:34:45,396 Speaker 1: a school teacher. Mary meanwhile, stayed at home, tending to 504 00:34:45,436 --> 00:34:46,556 Speaker 1: the household duties. 505 00:34:49,276 --> 00:34:55,356 Speaker 8: Illegitimacy and its attendant shame often fostered secrecy. As a result, 506 00:34:55,756 --> 00:34:58,876 Speaker 8: we can't be sure what Doris felt about that cruel 507 00:34:58,996 --> 00:35:01,996 Speaker 8: slash on her birth certificate, or even what she knew 508 00:35:02,036 --> 00:35:07,596 Speaker 8: of her parentage. Some illegitimate children enjoyed happy childhoods, but 509 00:35:07,756 --> 00:35:14,596 Speaker 8: others faced mercy iillus bullying. Ginger Frost has read some 510 00:35:14,676 --> 00:35:16,596 Speaker 8: first hand accounts of such cruelty. 511 00:35:17,196 --> 00:35:19,796 Speaker 9: Usually it started at school. Usually the other kids all 512 00:35:19,836 --> 00:35:22,396 Speaker 9: know because their parents, so they overhear them. And then 513 00:35:22,436 --> 00:35:25,076 Speaker 9: they kids use things, right. If you've got red hair, 514 00:35:25,076 --> 00:35:26,316 Speaker 9: they make fun of you for that. If you were 515 00:35:26,356 --> 00:35:27,876 Speaker 9: in glasses, they make fun of you for that. If 516 00:35:27,876 --> 00:35:30,316 Speaker 9: you're too tall, if you're too short. It goes on 517 00:35:30,356 --> 00:35:32,516 Speaker 9: and on, and that's the thing you pick on with 518 00:35:32,556 --> 00:35:35,436 Speaker 9: those kids. And they would call them bastard to their 519 00:35:35,476 --> 00:35:39,196 Speaker 9: face at times, and they hated hearing it. It shamed 520 00:35:39,236 --> 00:35:41,956 Speaker 9: them for something they didn't even really understand. There's all 521 00:35:42,036 --> 00:35:45,276 Speaker 9: kinds of prejudices like that that illegitimate children complain of 522 00:35:45,356 --> 00:35:48,036 Speaker 9: growing up for something they didn't even do. And some 523 00:35:48,076 --> 00:35:49,556 Speaker 9: of them didn't know a lot of them all their 524 00:35:49,596 --> 00:35:52,676 Speaker 9: grandparents were their parents, and it was other children who 525 00:35:52,716 --> 00:35:55,556 Speaker 9: enlightened them because they don'verheard their parents talking about it. 526 00:35:56,116 --> 00:35:59,436 Speaker 8: The label of bastard could cast a long shadow over 527 00:35:59,556 --> 00:36:02,676 Speaker 8: not just the early years of these children, but their 528 00:36:02,836 --> 00:36:03,716 Speaker 8: entire lives. 529 00:36:04,356 --> 00:36:08,196 Speaker 9: Lots of them fantasize about rich, wonderful parents showing up 530 00:36:08,276 --> 00:36:10,756 Speaker 9: and taking them away from all of this. Of course, 531 00:36:10,796 --> 00:36:13,036 Speaker 9: didn't happen because most of them, the fathers, were just 532 00:36:13,076 --> 00:36:14,516 Speaker 9: as poor as their mothers. 533 00:36:16,876 --> 00:36:20,236 Speaker 8: The novelist Catharine Cookson was born the same year as Doris, 534 00:36:20,676 --> 00:36:24,716 Speaker 8: also in England's poor northeast. She too bore the stain 535 00:36:24,836 --> 00:36:29,956 Speaker 8: of illegitimacy, and even as an adult, Cookson recoiled at 536 00:36:29,996 --> 00:36:32,916 Speaker 8: the very word illegitimate. 537 00:36:32,956 --> 00:36:37,036 Speaker 4: This frightening word, this word that had bred fear, that 538 00:36:37,116 --> 00:36:40,476 Speaker 4: had brought shame into my life, this word that had 539 00:36:40,516 --> 00:36:45,196 Speaker 4: started all the trouble. The dictionary word illegitimate meant not 540 00:36:45,476 --> 00:36:51,556 Speaker 4: authorized by law, improper, not born in lawful wedlock, bastard 541 00:36:51,796 --> 00:36:54,396 Speaker 4: wrongly inferred abnormal. 542 00:37:01,196 --> 00:37:05,436 Speaker 8: Mary and Isabella Robson managed their house alone. There was 543 00:37:05,476 --> 00:37:10,036 Speaker 8: no father, no man, no patriarchal protector, and their roof 544 00:37:10,196 --> 00:37:14,916 Speaker 8: offering his stamp of respectability. All the same, Doris grew 545 00:37:14,996 --> 00:37:19,476 Speaker 8: into a poised and collected young woman, Quiet, occasionally moody. 546 00:37:20,036 --> 00:37:23,076 Speaker 8: She was said to carry herself with a certain elegance, 547 00:37:23,436 --> 00:37:28,436 Speaker 8: to have a refined bearing. Perhaps the Robson sisters encouraged 548 00:37:28,476 --> 00:37:32,196 Speaker 8: aspiration in Doris and a sense of possibility, for she 549 00:37:32,276 --> 00:37:35,236 Speaker 8: seems to have hungered for a world beyond the small 550 00:37:35,276 --> 00:37:38,836 Speaker 8: port town in which she'd been raised, or perhaps she 551 00:37:38,996 --> 00:37:42,516 Speaker 8: simply wished to escape the legacy of her birth and 552 00:37:42,556 --> 00:37:48,236 Speaker 8: the disapproving whispers. Either way, London beckoned with its bustle, 553 00:37:48,476 --> 00:37:53,076 Speaker 8: bright lights, and promises of prosperity. We'll hear more of 554 00:37:53,116 --> 00:37:57,796 Speaker 8: Doris's story in our next episode, charting her transformation into Olga, 555 00:37:58,276 --> 00:38:01,316 Speaker 8: a woman accommodating the niche desires of a high end 556 00:38:01,316 --> 00:38:05,396 Speaker 8: clientele in the London Sex Trate. We'll also learn about 557 00:38:05,396 --> 00:38:08,916 Speaker 8: how she landed a rich husband thirty years her senior, 558 00:38:09,476 --> 00:38:12,436 Speaker 8: allowing her to hang up her whips and retire from 559 00:38:12,436 --> 00:38:17,036 Speaker 8: selling sex. But that is not the end of Doris's tale, 560 00:38:17,596 --> 00:38:21,836 Speaker 8: for as on that December day in nineteen fourteen, the 561 00:38:21,916 --> 00:38:26,076 Speaker 8: horrors of war would come again, Her world of comfort 562 00:38:26,116 --> 00:38:29,396 Speaker 8: would be turned on its head, and Doris would once 563 00:38:29,436 --> 00:38:42,996 Speaker 8: again find herself on streets that were dark and dangerous. 564 00:38:43,956 --> 00:38:48,636 Speaker 1: Bad women. The Blackout Ripper is hosted by me Halle Rubinholt. 565 00:38:48,076 --> 00:38:49,316 Speaker 8: And me Alice Findes. 566 00:38:49,836 --> 00:38:52,516 Speaker 1: It was written and produced by Alice Fines and Ryan Dilley, 567 00:38:52,756 --> 00:38:56,916 Speaker 1: with additional support from Courtney Guarino and Offur Gomberts. Kate 568 00:38:56,956 --> 00:39:00,556 Speaker 1: Healy of Oakwood Family Trees aided us with genealogical research. 569 00:39:01,196 --> 00:39:04,316 Speaker 8: Pascal Wise Sound designed and mixed the show and composed 570 00:39:04,396 --> 00:39:07,516 Speaker 8: all the original music. The show was recorded at Ordoor 571 00:39:07,516 --> 00:39:11,116 Speaker 8: Studios by David Smith and Tom Berry. You also heard 572 00:39:11,116 --> 00:39:14,956 Speaker 8: the voice talents of Ben Crow, David Glover, Melanie Guttridge, 573 00:39:15,196 --> 00:39:18,956 Speaker 8: Stella Harford, Jemma Saunders and Rufus Wright. Much of the 574 00:39:19,036 --> 00:39:22,436 Speaker 8: music you had was performed by Ed Gocken, Ross Hughes, 575 00:39:22,636 --> 00:39:25,956 Speaker 8: Christian Miller and Marcus Penrose. They were recorded by Nick 576 00:39:25,996 --> 00:39:29,796 Speaker 8: Taylor at Porcupine Studios. Pushkin's Ben Holiday mixed the. 577 00:39:29,756 --> 00:39:33,756 Speaker 1: Tracks and you heard additional piano playing by the great 578 00:39:33,996 --> 00:39:38,116 Speaker 1: Berry Wise Hi Berry. The show also wouldn't have been 579 00:39:38,156 --> 00:39:42,276 Speaker 1: possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Heather Fane, Carli mcgliori, 580 00:39:42,796 --> 00:39:48,076 Speaker 1: Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Eric Sandler, and Daniela Lukhan. We'd 581 00:39:48,076 --> 00:39:50,916 Speaker 1: also like to thank Michael Buchanan Dunn of the Murder 582 00:39:50,996 --> 00:39:55,596 Speaker 1: Mile podcast, Lizzie Mckerroll, Kathyn Walker at the Royal Pharmaceutical 583 00:39:55,676 --> 00:40:00,076 Speaker 1: Society and the Earbe Historical Society. Bad Women is a 584 00:40:00,116 --> 00:40:03,716 Speaker 1: production of Pushkin Industries. Please rate and review the show 585 00:40:03,956 --> 00:40:06,436 Speaker 1: and spread the word about what we Do, and thanks 586 00:40:06,476 --> 00:40:07,476 Speaker 1: for listening. 587 00:40:09,196 --> 00:40:09,756 Speaker 7: At the 588 00:40:11,516 --> 00:40:11,956 Speaker 3: Seven