Speaker 1: Pushkin. The woman was weary. She'd spent the evening at
Speaker 1: the Lion's Corner house in Piccadilly, and the large clock
Speaker 1: outside Cafe Monaco told her it had just gone two
Speaker 1: in the morning. Time to go home today and ermine
Speaker 1: approached her, a man with rather sharp pointed features beneath
Speaker 1: a sweep of dark hair. Which way are you going?
Speaker 1: They were heading roughly in the same direction, and so
Speaker 1: the woman agreed to share her cab with him. I
Speaker 1: should have been back by eleven o'clock, the amin murmured
Speaker 1: inside the vehicle, but he cannot have been very concerned
Speaker 1: about being a wall for He then asked, could I
Speaker 1: spend an hour with you? I will give you two
Speaker 1: pounds as a present. Between jobs. At the time, the
Speaker 1: woman occasionally took men back to her flat for money,
Speaker 1: and this seemed like a reasonable offer, so she permitted
Speaker 1: him to accompany her up the stairs to her apartment.
Speaker 1: We can't be sure of the address, nor even the
Speaker 1: woman's name. Those particulars were entered on a police report
Speaker 1: about her brush with death, but then redacted with thick
Speaker 1: black swipes of a pen for reasons unknown. We do
Speaker 1: know that the woman noticed that her guest boots were shabby.
Speaker 1: Too shabby, she thought, given his posh manner of speech.
Speaker 1: When she went to remove her skirt, he stopped her.
Speaker 1: That won't be necessary. I only want to talk. I've
Speaker 1: been drinking too much. The woman was surprised, but she
Speaker 1: was happy to play along. The airmand told her that
Speaker 1: he'd been at the Brassery Universal that evening and left
Speaker 1: his gas mask behind. Whren't you get into trouble being
Speaker 1: out in the street without one, asked, No one will
Speaker 1: see me at this time of night. The woman studied
Speaker 1: his face. He looked tired, especially around the eyes, and
Speaker 1: it seems she wanted to be kind. I have one
Speaker 1: ear you can have. She gave him a spare military
Speaker 1: gas mask she just happened to have lying around, And
Speaker 1: they sat and chatted a little while longer, but all
Speaker 1: the while the man that slipped no detail of the
Speaker 1: true events of the last few hours. For the man
Speaker 1: sat quietly talking in this flat had tried to strangle
Speaker 1: Gretta Heyward in the street, and then Catherine mulcahey in
Speaker 1: her own bed, and undiscovered in her flat by Hyde Park,
Speaker 1: Doris Choane's body they torn and broken, just as he'd
Speaker 1: left her. As four am approached, the man made his move,
Speaker 1: making sure he had the woman's name, telephone number, and
Speaker 1: probably noting down on her address. With care, Gordon Cummins
Speaker 1: crossed the room and left. He had what he needed
Speaker 1: from this woman. He would let her live, for she
Speaker 1: was his alibi. Donning his overcoat and picking up his
Speaker 1: new gas mask, the darkness of the night swallowed him
Speaker 1: up once more. This is the seldom told story of
Speaker 1: women in World War Two who were killed not by
Speaker 1: the enemy, but by husbands, lovers, and strangers wearing the
Speaker 1: uniform of their own side. It's also the tale of
Speaker 1: a particular string of murder victims that history has swept
Speaker 1: from view. I'm Helli Rubinhold and I'm Alice Fines and
Speaker 1: you're listening to bad women the blackout Ripper. Where's that?
Speaker 1: In hifteen minutes late? Already Wine Cuntry's going to the
Speaker 1: Dog's honest. The Edgeware Road from the traffic bicycles wove
Speaker 1: through a long line of buses and taxis that nose
Speaker 1: to tail inched north from Hyde Park towards the suburbs.
Speaker 1: You drive and Grandma be up now, Johnny, come along
Speaker 1: I haven't gone enough to do for a good boy,
Speaker 1: and don't keep stopping. Harried housewives pounded the pavements, scolding
Speaker 1: their children as they struggled under the burden of that
Speaker 1: day's grocery shopping. When we going, your father wouldn't bother
Speaker 1: you've been to me today. It rang with the excited
Speaker 1: chatter of theater goers off to see variety acts at
Speaker 1: the Metropolitan, and it pulsated too, with vice in hotels
Speaker 1: and furnished rooms. Even in Hyde Park itself, women sold
Speaker 1: sex to working classmen and more affluent clients alike. The
Speaker 1: Edgeware Road was grimier and seedier than nearby soho accommodation
Speaker 1: here could be had, chiefly making it an economical workplace
Speaker 1: for women looking to earn tidy profits in the sex trade.
Speaker 1: Perhaps this was why Doris Robson chose two forty Edgeware
Speaker 1: Road as her home in her late twenties. She appears
Speaker 1: to have seen an advert for a large bedsitting room
Speaker 1: very comfortable, and set herself up there. Doris had been
Speaker 1: born in England's northeast. She'd likely experienced prejudice growing up
Speaker 1: because raised by a single mother and an aunt, she'd
Speaker 1: been born out of wedlock, she was illegitimate, a bastard.
Speaker 1: While some were kind to single mothers, moralizers pronounced them
Speaker 1: bad women, warning that their offspring would tainted and would
Speaker 1: only grow up to be trouble. But now Doris was
Speaker 1: making her own way in the world, and she'd totally
Speaker 1: cast off that childhood identity. She introduced herself to her
Speaker 1: new next door neighbor, Peggy Hemmings, not as Doris, but
Speaker 1: as Olga. Perhaps Doris wanted to create an air of
Speaker 1: continental mystique and sophistication. Olga suggested roots in central or
Speaker 1: eastern Europe, the name of an ex child white Russian countess.
Speaker 1: Even tall, willowy and fair haired, Doris was said to
Speaker 1: be refined and well educated. She was also hot tempered.
Speaker 1: Olga was temperamental and at times was very moody. Neatly
Speaker 1: dressed and manicured, Doris projected an image of glamor, but
Speaker 1: occasionally the mask slipped and her poison confidence would falter.
Speaker 1: When she walked, she stooped a little, as though embarrassed
Speaker 1: by her statuesque frame and hoping to appear more dainty.
Speaker 1: Doris seems to have enjoyed life in London and was
Speaker 1: known to peruse the grand West End department store Selfridges.
Speaker 1: Oh I like that suit, isn't it? Oh? I love
Speaker 1: Lily of the Valley, my favorite scent. But apparently her
Speaker 1: modest upbringing had left a lasting impression. According to Peggy,
Speaker 1: Doris was thrifty, seldom she brought any new clothes and
Speaker 1: was careful when spending. Even though Peggy didn't know Doris
Speaker 1: by her real name, she believed they shared a unique
Speaker 1: and profound bond. I do not think that any woman
Speaker 1: knew her private affairs as I did. Doris indeed kept
Speaker 1: her secrets closely guarded, presenting one face to certain people
Speaker 1: in her life and a different face entirely to others.
Speaker 1: The polo part is very popular, sir, but I will
Speaker 1: also recommend Filia de Solmone wonderful. The bar at Danino's
Speaker 1: was one of Doris's favorite haunts for you, Madam, and
Speaker 1: the luxurious hotel and restaurant marketed itself as the center
Speaker 1: of the world and boasted an exquisite cabaret, the finest
Speaker 1: cuisine in Europe, and nightly dancing. The establishment stood proudly
Speaker 1: behind Grand Colonnades on Regent Street at the confluence of racy, Soho,
Speaker 1: ritzy Piccadilly and stately Mayfair. According to one friend, Doris
Speaker 1: liked to pick up clients here because there are niether class,
Speaker 1: and those clients had to be of a nicer class
Speaker 1: because her services were expensive. Olga was not the ordinary type,
Speaker 1: said Peggy Hemmings. She had whips and tight fitting corsets,
Speaker 1: and often, she told me, she enjoyed unusual methods. Doris's
Speaker 1: methods may not have been the norm, but they were
Speaker 1: far from unusual. In fact, they were a long established
Speaker 1: feature of the London sex scene. In the Victorian era,
Speaker 1: certain brothels had become well known for providing so called perversions.
Speaker 1: Establishments like Mary Jeffrey's house in Chelsea were frequented by
Speaker 1: a prominent and influential clientele who visited for bondage, caning
Speaker 1: and whipping. And when in the nineteen thirties Parisian Mark
Speaker 1: Watts came to London, she was surprised to discover just
Speaker 1: how many of her clients had a pension for masochism
Speaker 1: and domination. One wanted her to file her nails to
Speaker 1: points and gouge at his skin until he led Others
Speaker 1: asked to be bound and beaten. Mart had worked all
Speaker 1: over the world, but even she was surprised by the
Speaker 1: frequency of these requests. In Italy and Spain and even
Speaker 1: North Africa, I had never seen anybody who wanted this.
Speaker 1: Doris might have been taking her West End clients back
Speaker 1: to the comparatively dingy Edgeware Road, but she was charging
Speaker 1: them handsomely for the privilege. She left a little book
Speaker 1: of names and telephone numbers of the men that visited her.
Speaker 1: She used to get good money for what she did.
Speaker 1: For instance, ten pounds would not be exceptional for one meeting.
Speaker 1: Compared to the wages of the Great Depression, ten pounds
Speaker 1: would be roughly equivalent to two thousand dollars today. That
Speaker 1: book of names and telephone numbers was important too. Doris
Speaker 1: met her clients and bars and restaurants, but she also
Speaker 1: liked to make appointments over the telephone. The use of
Speaker 1: such technology was increasingly common in sex work. More people
Speaker 1: had phone lines than ever before, and crucially, they could
Speaker 1: make calls from within the privacy of their own homes.
Speaker 1: Call girls even placed carefully veiled adverts in the windows
Speaker 1: of convenience shops and in newspapers letting potential clients know
Speaker 1: how they might be reached. In September nineteen thirty five,
Speaker 1: twenty nine year old Doris met retired businessmen on Ri
Speaker 1: Jouanne at a restaurant on the West ends Oxford Street.
Speaker 1: Lovely to meet you, Pleasures all mine. Henri had been
Speaker 1: married and divorced once before. The introduction was made by
Speaker 1: a mutual friend. It was love at first sight on
Speaker 1: both sides, also went the story. In reality, Henri had
Speaker 1: been one of Doris's clients, visiting her rooms at two
Speaker 1: forty Edgeware Road. Henri was over thirty years older than Doris.
Speaker 1: He'd been born in Paris, but had grown up in Britain,
Speaker 1: and his sister and parents lived in London too. Even so,
Speaker 1: he didn't hold British citizenship until nineteen oh seven, when
Speaker 1: at the age of twenty six, he was naturalized. I
Speaker 1: Henrial fra Juanna to swear that I will be faithful
Speaker 1: and bear true allegiance to His Majesty the King Edward,
Speaker 1: his heirs and successors. Historian doctor Ginger Frost says the
Speaker 1: decision to pledge their loyalty to the crown and become
Speaker 1: legally British might have been a response to a new law.
Speaker 1: The British passed an act in nineteen o five called
Speaker 1: the Aliens Act, which forced those who were not British
Speaker 1: citizens to register and you had to check in if
Speaker 1: you changed your address or anything like that, and if
Speaker 1: you committed a crime or gott committing a crime as
Speaker 1: an alien, you could be deported. They were so determined
Speaker 1: to get rid of anybody was problematic. They would even
Speaker 1: deport paupers. So if you landed on the workhouse and
Speaker 1: you were an alien, they would consider deporting you. It
Speaker 1: seemed unlikely that Henri would end up in the workhouse.
Speaker 1: He'd enjoyed a career as a successful businessman and lived
Speaker 1: in the sumptuous districts of Kensington and Mayfair, but becoming
Speaker 1: British would have made life simpler for him, and a
Speaker 1: few years later, in nineteen thirteen, Henri had a brush
Speaker 1: with the law that might have made him feel relieved
Speaker 1: to now be a citizen. The motor cars zoomed along
Speaker 1: the country lane. A panic cyclist, who had never seen
Speaker 1: or heard such a vehicle in his life, feared he
Speaker 1: would be crushed, and he drove into the hedge at
Speaker 1: the roadside. Police Constable Russell watched as the car hurtled
Speaker 1: into the distance. He noted that the automobile was going
Speaker 1: too fast for anyone to stop it. It was proceeding
Speaker 1: at a furious rate of perhaps thirty miles an hour.
Speaker 1: The frightened cyclist picked himself out of the thicket and
Speaker 1: dusted himself down. Constable Russell went to talk to him.
Speaker 1: All rise the men inside the vehicle were tracked down
Speaker 1: and summoned to the local police court. Alfred Sutherland chauffeur
Speaker 1: for driving a motor car at a dangerous speed, Alri
Speaker 1: Jouanne for a similar offense and aiding and abetting Sutherland.
Speaker 1: But the prosecution had a problem. It couldn't be sure
Speaker 1: who had been at the wheel. Henri and his chauffeur
Speaker 1: said they'd been taking it in turns to drive. If
Speaker 1: Sutherland could not be convicted, then Henri could not be
Speaker 1: guilty of aiding and abetting him. Eventually, the bench levied
Speaker 1: a fine of five pounds on the defendants and Henri
Speaker 1: was free to go on his way. His display of
Speaker 1: hutspur had won out. That Henri owned a car in
Speaker 1: the very early days of private automobiles, suggests that he
Speaker 1: was an adventurous man of some means. Indeed, he had
Speaker 1: an eclectic portfolio of enterprises and was in business with
Speaker 1: his sister law at a luxury dress shop in Mayfair,
Speaker 1: said to be patronized by the leading lights of English society.
Speaker 1: Monsieur and Mademoiselle Renee will be present each afternoon to
Speaker 1: advise clients on the latest phases of Parley London styles.
Speaker 1: Henri went on to own the Grand Hotel at Concarneaux
Speaker 1: on the coast of Brittany, France, and after he sold
Speaker 1: this business he was able to retire and live off
Speaker 1: his investments. When he fell in love with Doris in
Speaker 1: the autumn of nineteen thirty five. He'd been a gentleman
Speaker 1: of leisure for some years. Though Henrie was content to
Speaker 1: buy sex from Doris, such women were not to be
Speaker 1: considered marriage material, and so when he asked her to
Speaker 1: be his wife, additional terms were laid on top of
Speaker 1: the standard marriage contract. When I married my wife, it
Speaker 1: was agreed that she should cease her mode of life
Speaker 1: and regain her respectability. Doris enjoyed her work, so she
Speaker 1: must have felt she had something to gain by submitting
Speaker 1: to this. She seems to have been drawn to the
Speaker 1: comfort and security of Henri's lifestyle. Perhaps too, she felt
Speaker 1: that she might be able to circumvent their agreement and
Speaker 1: have things her way. Within a couple of months of meeting,
Speaker 1: they'd wed by license at Paddington Register Office. On their
Speaker 1: marriage certificate, fifty nine year old Rie made himself forty five.
Speaker 1: Doris subtracted two years from her own age and also
Speaker 1: invented a father, one who was squarely a respectable professional man,
Speaker 1: John Robson, she claimed was a medical practitioner. A proud
Speaker 1: advert placed in the Hartleypool Northern Daily Mail announced to
Speaker 1: those back home that little Doris Robson, the daughter of
Speaker 1: an unwed mother, was now missus Joanne, as if to
Speaker 1: underline the dangers of the profession she was leaving. On
Speaker 1: the day that Doris married on Rie, a woman called
Speaker 1: Josephine Martin, thought to be Russian born but known as
Speaker 1: French Fiefi, was found strangled in the Soho flat where
Speaker 1: she worked, a silk stocking tied about her neck. The police,
Speaker 1: who'd arrested French Fife many times on prostitution charges, thought
Speaker 1: that a client was likely responsible but her murder remained unsolved.
Speaker 1: If Henri had read any of the many columnches of
Speaker 1: newsprint devoted to the killing, he no doubt reassured himself
Speaker 1: that the life he was providing for his new bride
Speaker 1: would surely keep her safe from such a grim fate.
Speaker 1: Bad women. The blackout Ripper will be back after this
Speaker 1: short break. Henri and Dorris lived at fourteen back Her Street,
Speaker 1: part of an affluent estate of squares and crescents at
Speaker 1: the edge of Hyde Park. Henri gave his wife sentimental gifts,
Speaker 1: not necessarily luxury items, but objects with a story, like
Speaker 1: the distinctive white metal wristwatch he'd purchased years ago from
Speaker 1: a jeweler in France. The face had no hands and
Speaker 1: showed only the hours and the minutes. It was a
Speaker 1: source of mirth for the couple. I could not tell
Speaker 1: the time very well with it. Henri believed that Doris
Speaker 1: was keeping her word and had left the sex trade.
Speaker 1: My wife behaved herself and I had no reason to
Speaker 1: think she was consorting with other men. But curiously, Doris's
Speaker 1: friend Peggy said that they continued to rent workspace together
Speaker 1: and that Olga kept in touch with her regular clients.
Speaker 1: A particular friend of hers was an elderly man who
Speaker 1: lived at Kensington. Whenever she moved, she always told him
Speaker 1: was Doris, continuing to work, but keeping a secret from Henri.
Speaker 1: The couples sometimes decamped to hotels on Britain's south coast,
Speaker 1: so if Doris had occasionally stayed behind in London, she
Speaker 1: might to have had the odd opportunity here and there
Speaker 1: to see men. In nineteen thirty eight, Henrie's mother passed
Speaker 1: away and he inherited money from her estate. He seemingly
Speaker 1: could not resist returning to his old entrepreneurial ways. Henrie
Speaker 1: and Doris purchased a cafe called Anne Wynn in the
Speaker 1: charming seaside town of Eastbourne, but the venture was ill fated.
Speaker 1: By October it had failed, and the cafe's fixtures and fittings,
Speaker 1: mahogany tables and chairs, the cash till, the cutting edge
Speaker 1: electric mixer, a Fridgidare ice cream maker, and even its
Speaker 1: extensive stocks of jams, syrups, flavorings and chocolate were sold
Speaker 1: at option. Back in nineteen twelve, an employee of Henri's
Speaker 1: dress shop had been charged with altering the accounts an
Speaker 1: attempt to earn a quick buck by swindling the business.
Speaker 1: The collapse of Anne Wynn likewise rank alarm bells for Henri,
Speaker 1: who took both his landlord and the former owners of
Speaker 1: the cafe, a Mister and Missus Sedgwick, to court. They
Speaker 1: had conspired to sell him a white elephant, a ruined
Speaker 1: business that was not worth the money he paid for it,
Speaker 1: said a local paper. It turned out that the Sedgwicks
Speaker 1: were in serious financial difficulty. They had debts all over Eastbourne,
Speaker 1: and they defaulted on their rental payments too. They told
Speaker 1: Henri that the cafe turned a reasonable profit, and now
Speaker 1: he believed that these projections were false and could only
Speaker 1: have been made dishonestly to induce him to buy the
Speaker 1: business or Fraud is one of the big growth areas
Speaker 1: of the twentieth century. Doctor Mark rude House is a
Speaker 1: historian at the University of York and an expert in
Speaker 1: a legal markets, crime, and criminal justice. In the mid
Speaker 1: twentieth century, as the economy becomes more complex, fraud becomes
Speaker 1: something that's easier to do and pull off. A county
Speaker 1: standards are relatively low. In this particular case. You don't
Speaker 1: know whether that business was already being used for a fraud,
Speaker 1: and that's why the turnover may have been misstated. Mark
Speaker 1: says that frauds are particular boom in the nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1: People struggling to cope with the consequences of the Great
Speaker 1: Depression cut corners to keep their businesses afloat, and they
Speaker 1: orchestrated more cynical and elaborate schemes too. The most popular
Speaker 1: types of fraud in the nineteen thirties are long firm
Speaker 1: and short firm fraud. They're essentially a type of theft.
Speaker 1: You place orders for goods with suppliers, and in the
Speaker 1: short firm fraud, you place the order, you flog the goods,
Speaker 1: but you never pay for the goods that you ordered,
Speaker 1: and then you disappear. A long firm fraud does the
Speaker 1: same thing, but builds up to a bigger payday. So
Speaker 1: what you do is you create a business, you run
Speaker 1: it for several months in which you buy stuff, you
Speaker 1: sell it, you pay your suppliers, and you build up
Speaker 1: from credit worthiness, and then you hit them several months
Speaker 1: in for a huge order which you then never pay for.
Speaker 1: And this could be a case where someone has used
Speaker 1: a business for a long firm or a short firm
Speaker 1: fraud and then seen another opportunity to make money from
Speaker 1: it by selling it on to an unsuspecting customer. The
Speaker 1: Sedgwicks argued that Henri had never asked to see the
Speaker 1: cafe's accounts, which were now conveniently missing, and that moreover,
Speaker 1: he was at fault for changing the character of Anne Wynn.
Speaker 1: Once a traditional tea room, the cafe now had a
Speaker 1: rowdy continental ambiance, with gaudy ornaments in the window and
Speaker 1: loud carpets. Were still henreooked his customers and was a
Speaker 1: perfect nuisance the whole time, according to Beatrice Sedgwick. In
Speaker 1: the end, however, the jury sided with Henri and found
Speaker 1: the defense's guilty of fraud. They considered that he was
Speaker 1: entitled to recover the money that he paid out for
Speaker 1: the business, but whether Henri actually received any compensation is
Speaker 1: not known. At the time of the court case, he
Speaker 1: said that he'd lost all his capital in the venture
Speaker 1: and was now practically penniless. Henri and Dorris stayed living
Speaker 1: in Eastbourne a little while longer, and then in September
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine, war arrived. Henri's investments in France collapsed
Speaker 1: and he had to return to work in the capital.
Speaker 1: It appears that the cafe's failure, the fraud case, and
Speaker 1: the loss of Henria's annuity had taken a toll on
Speaker 1: the relationship. This was not the life that Doris had envisaged,
Speaker 1: and she complained that Henri was starting to get on
Speaker 1: her nerves as the blitz began. Peggy Hemmings thought that
Speaker 1: Doris was especially afraid of the bombs, after all, she'd
Speaker 1: known the trauma of coming under enemy shelling as a
Speaker 1: child in Hartlepool, and so in the autumn of nineteen
Speaker 1: forty the couple went to live with Doris's mother and
Speaker 1: her aunt, now retired and residing in the genteel spa
Speaker 1: town of Harrogate, the pain By spring nineteen forty one, Henrie,
Speaker 1: in need of money, took a position as a manager
Speaker 1: at Odnino's Regent Street, the hotel restaurant where Doris had
Speaker 1: once solicited and humblingly the type of venue that he
Speaker 1: had once frequented as a guest too. On recent Doris
Speaker 1: an allowance in hopes that she would stay behind in Harrigate.
Speaker 1: He meanwhile was living where he worked, but his wife
Speaker 1: was unhappy with the arrangement and miss London. Three weeks later,
Speaker 1: she pitched up in the city again. She told me
Speaker 1: she intended to stay in London and had already booked
Speaker 1: a room in Sussex Gardens. Henrie was not impressed. Sussex
Speaker 1: Gardens was close to their former residence on Batur Street,
Speaker 1: but had also adjoined notorious Hyde Park, Cede Paddington and
Speaker 1: her Edgeware Road haunts. Doris had friends here, but more importantly,
Speaker 1: would be well positioned for selling sex. Many of her
Speaker 1: old clients had moved out to the suburbs, but the
Speaker 1: nearby barracks were full of soldiers looking for a good time.
Speaker 1: I objected to this, and there was great friction between us.
Speaker 1: I visited her at this room on several occasions, and
Speaker 1: by the general atmosphere of the house, I came to
Speaker 1: the conclusion that my wife was drifting back to her
Speaker 1: old life. Doris denied the charge, but she told local
Speaker 1: dressmaker Beatrice Lange a different story. The women met and
Speaker 1: grew close after Doris returned to London, and they drink
Speaker 1: tea together at Beer's lodgings on the Edgeware Road. Doris
Speaker 1: confided to her new friend that she was eyeing a
Speaker 1: replacement for Henri. The captain, who was a regular client
Speaker 1: of hers, wanted to take her off the streets, and
Speaker 1: then one day, said Beatrice, Doris simply vanished. A desperate
Speaker 1: Henri had obtained a new position at a hotel in
Speaker 1: a market town south of London, and he'd taken Doris
Speaker 1: with him. The next time Beatrice saw her friend would
Speaker 1: be on a cold February night in nineteen forty two.
Speaker 1: As it would turn out, Doris's final night Bad Women,
Speaker 1: the Blackout Ripper will return shortly. Nineteen forty one was
Speaker 1: nearing its end and Doris and Henri's relationship was in crisis.
Speaker 1: Sixty five year old Henri's health had broken down, and
Speaker 1: he said that they no longer slept together. He continued
Speaker 1: to be suspicious that Doris had drifted back to ignominy
Speaker 1: I begged of her not to return to her old life.
Speaker 1: The Joannes now went to work at the Queen's Hotel
Speaker 1: in Farnborough as joint manager and Managerress. Doris doesn't appear
Speaker 1: to have had any professional experience in the industry, but
Speaker 1: Henri's vouching for her seems to have secured her the position.
Speaker 1: Many hotels were completely transformed during the Second World War,
Speaker 1: becoming barracks, headquarters, hospitals, or even rest in recuperation resorts
Speaker 1: for war weary servicemen. Those that remained in private hands
Speaker 1: were in demand. Because eating out was exempt from the
Speaker 1: restrictions of rationing, luxury hotels served lavish meals of pre
Speaker 1: war standards. The rich flocked to these establishments, determined to
Speaker 1: dine in the style to which they were accustomed. Some
Speaker 1: even made such hotels their homes for the duration of
Speaker 1: the war. The Queen's Hotel in Farnborough was a little
Speaker 1: more staid and character but it too saw change. Its
Speaker 1: dining room was filled almost exclusively with service personnel who
Speaker 1: lunched on piping hot cream of cauliflower soup served from
Speaker 1: silver tureens, followed by spaghetti bolonnaise, a boiled bacon on
Speaker 1: a Boston and as a choice of hot big pudding
Speaker 1: wat cheese. After Henri and Doris earned decent salaries plus
Speaker 1: a bonus, and they were provided with accommodation too, But
Speaker 1: this wasn't where Doris wanted to be. By now thirty
Speaker 1: five years old, she wasn't prepared to waste her time
Speaker 1: nor suffer fools, and she clashed with the customers, so
Speaker 1: much so that within a few months the couple had resigned,
Speaker 1: and so the Choannes were on the move again and
Speaker 1: back to London. Henrie was appointed manager of the elegant
Speaker 1: Royal Court Hotel in Kensington. They returned to tree lined
Speaker 1: Sussex Gardens and this time rented a ground floor apartment,
Speaker 1: one that must and on Rie's eyes, have been more
Speaker 1: respectable than the dingy room Doris had previously leased. They
Speaker 1: moved in on January twenty sixth, nineteen forty two. Their
Speaker 1: new flat was modest in size, but well furnished, with
Speaker 1: parquet flooring and central heating. The bedroom was simple, pink
Speaker 1: blankets on twin beds, a plaid rug on the floor,
Speaker 1: and a dressing table where Doris sat and brushed her
Speaker 1: hair with her green comb missing some teeth, or wrote
Speaker 1: her correspondence. Her favorite fountain pen was inscribed with the
Speaker 1: initials d J. Although the apartment was rented in Henri's name,
Speaker 1: he did not sleep there. Instead, he had a bed
Speaker 1: at work, but he would return to Sussex Gardens each
Speaker 1: evening to dine with his wife. They quickly settled into
Speaker 1: a routine. Henrie would arrive at around seven p m.
Speaker 1: How was your day, dear, and they would eat this
Speaker 1: supper and spend a couple of hours together, and then
Speaker 1: around nine thirty p m. He would head back to
Speaker 1: the hotel. And so it was on the evening of Thursday,
Speaker 1: February twelfth, nineteen forty two, Doris had prepared some vegetable soup,
Speaker 1: which they ate in their dining room. When it was
Speaker 1: time for Henrie to leave again, she expressed a desire
Speaker 1: to get some fresh air, so she piled the dirty
Speaker 1: dishes in the sink and accompanied him round the corner
Speaker 1: to Paddington Tube Station, where they said that good byes
Speaker 1: and he hopped on the train to work. According to
Speaker 1: Henrie hedged her to hurry home. Doris promised she would,
Speaker 1: but she had other ideas. She turned and headed towards
Speaker 1: the Edgeware Road. A striking figure in a dark cloth
Speaker 1: and squirrel fur coat, black turban hat and heavy kid gloves.
Speaker 1: She might have hoped to pick up a client, but
Speaker 1: instead she cross paths with her dear friend Beatrice Lange. Apparently,
Speaker 1: Doris had just seen a policeman talking to a young girl.
Speaker 1: For She warned Beatrice that the officer would likely be
Speaker 1: highly suspicious of a woman wandering these streets alone at night.
Speaker 1: Don't go up there, you might get in trouble, she said,
Speaker 1: and so the pair continued on together, stopping at the
Speaker 1: Cumberland Hotel for a quick drink. I'll have another whiskey
Speaker 1: of a Dasher soda please bottom. As they drank, Doris
Speaker 1: hinted at the state of her marriage. She referred to
Speaker 1: Henrie not as her husband an equal, but as an
Speaker 1: old anne who kept her and who increasingly grated on
Speaker 1: her too. The women did not linger at the Cumberland,
Speaker 1: and soon Doris was headed back towards her home and
Speaker 1: no stranger. On the way, she bumped into two local
Speaker 1: women who also solicited in the area, and they chatted
Speaker 1: for a while, remarking on the terrible cold. Ruby Grant
Speaker 1: asked if Doris was going to call it at night,
Speaker 1: and she remembered Doris's parting words to her, I'm going
Speaker 1: to try and get off before I get home. It
Speaker 1: was around ten thirty pm, a few people were about
Speaker 1: and the streets were quiet. Ruby watched Doris as she
Speaker 1: headed in the direction of Sussex gardens and disappeared into
Speaker 1: the darkness. When on Ri Jouane arrived home from work
Speaker 1: the following evening, he found the flat empty and oddly still.
Speaker 1: The morning's milk delivery was still on the front doorstep. Inside,
Speaker 1: it was dark dos He called into the gloom, no reply.
Speaker 1: Clicking on the lamp in the dining room, he felt
Speaker 1: a chill of alarm. Light spilled over the table, illuminating
Speaker 1: a milk jug and some biscuits, the remnants of the
Speaker 1: previous evening's meal, just as they had left them. Apprehensive,
Speaker 1: On removed along the passage to the bedroom. The door
Speaker 1: was locked and the key was missing. Doris, are you
Speaker 1: in there? Doris, are you in there? All was quiet
Speaker 1: and still. In the kitchen, too, were the ghostly traces
Speaker 1: of a shared life halted in its tracks. Two suit bowls,
Speaker 1: two spoons, two cups, all piled up, all unwashed. Something
Speaker 1: was terribly wrong. Henri rang for his neighbor, missus Kirby.
Speaker 1: The housekeeper opened the door to a man who, ordinarily
Speaker 1: dignified and upright, was now fearful and agitated. Wife. The
Speaker 1: housekeeper hadn't seen her all day, and she'd also noticed
Speaker 1: that the shutters in the front room had remained closed together.
Speaker 1: They tried different keys to the bedroom door, but to
Speaker 1: no avail. Eventually, missus Kirby telephoned the police. Henri stood
Speaker 1: on the doorstep, a forlorn figure, awaiting their arrival. When
Speaker 1: the officers broke down, the door to the bedroom blocked
Speaker 1: on Re from entering after them. Doris lay diagonally across
Speaker 1: the bed, the sheets around her stained with blood. She'd
Speaker 1: been stabbed and slashed and strangled, and knotted into a
Speaker 1: ligature around her neck was a silk stocking. Unrie was heartbroken.
Speaker 1: In his pain, maybe even in guilt, he eulogized their union.
Speaker 1: The papers that rolled up the presses spoke not of
Speaker 1: Doris's dissatisfaction, but instead of an ideal marriage, we were
Speaker 1: perfectly happy and have never had a disagreement, Unri told them.
Speaker 1: In the Sussex Gardens flat detectives hunted for fingerprints and
Speaker 1: other clues to build a case against their prime suspect,
Speaker 1: leading aircraftman Gordon Cummings. Officers took an inventory. Money and
Speaker 1: personal effects like that white metal wristwatch, the one that
Speaker 1: was hard to read, were missing from the Joanna's home,
Speaker 1: A light dust had settled on Doris's dressing table in
Speaker 1: that coating of gray, with silhouette outlines where once had
Speaker 1: been her green cone with its missing teeth, and her
Speaker 1: writing set at an Aria Barracks not so very far away,
Speaker 1: a blue wool tunic was waiting to be found. In
Speaker 1: one of its pockets was an elegant and well loved
Speaker 1: fountain pen bearing the initials d J Bad Women. The
Speaker 1: Black Out Ripper is hosted by me Hallie rubin Hold
Speaker 1: and me Alice Fines. It was written and produced by
Speaker 1: Alice Fines and Ryan Dilley, with additional support from Courtney
Speaker 1: Guerino and author Gomberts. Kate Heay of Oakwood Family Trees
Speaker 1: aided us with genealogical research. Pascal Wise Sound designed and
Speaker 1: mixed the show and composed all the original music. The
Speaker 1: show was recorded at Woodoor Studios by David Smith and
Speaker 1: Tom Berry. You also heard the voice salents of Ben Crow,
Speaker 1: David Glover, Melanie Gutridge, Stella Harford, Jemma Saunders, and Rufus Wright.
Speaker 1: Much of the music You Had was performed by Edgarchan,
Speaker 1: Ross Hughes, Christian Miller and Marcus Penrose. They were recorded
Speaker 1: by Nick Taylor at Porcupine Studios. Pushkin's Ben Tolliday mixed
Speaker 1: the tracks and you heard additional piano playing by the
Speaker 1: great Berry Wise Hi Berry. The show also wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Heather Faine,
Speaker 1: Carlie Migliori, Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Eric Sandler, and Daniella Lukhan.
Speaker 1: We'd also like to thank Michael Buchanan Dunn of the
Speaker 1: Murder Mile podcast, Lizzie McCarroll, Katherine Walker at the Royal
Speaker 1: Farm Sceutical Society, and the Earbe Historical Society. Bad Women
Speaker 1: is a production of Pushkin Industries. Please rate and review
Speaker 1: the show and spread the word about what we do,
Speaker 1: and thanks for listening.