P3THE MISTAKE.P3 P1Timothy and Beryl Evans moved into the top-floor flat at 10 Rillington Place during Easter,1948. Evans,then 24,had heard of a `To Let' sign outside the house,wile the couple were living with his mother and step-father. Beryl was pregnant, and the couple needed to find a place. In October,their baby girl, Geraldine, was born. One floor below them lived Charles Kitchener, a lifelong Railwayman, who had lived at No 10 since the 1920's. He kept himself to himself,but his failing eyesight meant he spent more time in Hospital. The ground floor was occupied by the Christies. Timothy and Beryl got on well with them,Ethel Christie seemed quite fond of the baby,although she may noticed that her husband found Beryl attractive. Later,the Evans were given the opportunity to move to a flat elsewhere . But Beryl was happy at Rillington Place. Ethel Christie had promised to keep an eye on baby Geraldine whenever Beryl was at her part time job.P1 P3Unwanted Pregnancy.P3 P1In the summer of 1949,Beryl became pregnant again. She was dismayed. The couple had little money comming in, and there were still hire purchase payments to be made. Beryl decided to have an abortion.Her husband,with his roman Catholic upbringing, was against this, but Beryl was adament She was still a very young woman, only 19,with no interest in being tied to her home. Making inquiries, she found that there was a back street abortionist just a few miles away in Edgware Road who would do the job for £1. She told several people of her intentions. One of them was Christie.P1 P3Medical Qualifications.P3 P1Christie convinced Beryl that he could perform an abortion on her in the house. He later approached Evans and hinted at his plans. `I didn't think you knew anything about medical stuff,' Evans replied. Certainly, Christie told him and slyly showed Evans what he called `one of my medical books.' Evans stared at it. It was nothing more than a first aid book from the Saint John Ambulance Brigade, but Christie knew that Evans was barely literate. Moreover,the drawings would impress him. Evans did the best for his family, and worked long hours,often leaving the house at 6.30am and ret- urning late in the evening. Mr Kitchener from the middle floor was in Hospital having an operation to save his sight. For most of the day, Beryl and the Christies were alone at 10 Rillington Place. It is impossible to determine exactly when the operation took place.Work men were at No 10 around this time,making repairs to the damp plaster in the water closet and washroom.P1 P1On either 8 November 1949,or the day before,Evans came home to find Christie waiting for him. The operation had not been a success, Christie told Evans, Beryl had died. If Evans went to the police,it was possible Christie would be charged with Murder,Certainly with manslaughter, as abortion was illegal. Cunningly, he persuaded Evans to help him move Beryl's body into Kitchener's flat. In doing this, Evans became an accessory to murder. Evans wanted to take the baby, Geraldine,round to his mother Mrs Probert, Christie dissuarded him, prommising that he and his wife would find someone to look after her. When Evans returned from work on 10 November,Christie was again waiting for him, to say the child had been taken to a couple in East Acton who would look after her.Christie also offered to help Evans another way.He said he would help to dispose of Beryls body by putting it down a drain.P1 P3Return To Wales.P3 P1In the days that followed,still helped by Christie, Evans sold the household furniture for the large sum of £40, even though some of it was still on hire-purchase. Evans bought himself a carmal coat for £19 out of the proceeds. He told Christie's wife that he was going to Bristol,but after destroying the blood stained bedding on which Beryl had died he went to South Wales to stay with his aunt and uncle. There was no peace for Evans in Wales. His mind was tortured After a breif return to London,he told his family that Beryl had walked out on him. There were also letters from his mother,complaining about having to pay his debts. Evans finally decided there was one thing to do. He walked into Merthyl Vale police station and told the constable that he had disposed of his wife.P1 P3Web Of Lies.P3 P1Evans attempts at cunning merely exposed his naivety He thought he could clear himself without implicating Chris- tie. Evans told the police that he had obtained a bottle containing something for his wife to procure a miscarriage. The bottle, he said had been given to him by a man he met casually in a transport cafe, between Colchester and Ipswich His wife had found the bottle just before he went to work. He had returned home to find her dead, although he had not told her to drink the contents.He had opened a drain outside the front door, put his wife's body down it,and arranged for someone to look after the baby girl. The Merthyr Vale police contacted Notting Hill, who sent officers to search the man- hole outside 10 Rillington Place. It took three of them to lift the cover. The drain was empty. Back in Merthyr,Evans was told the news but insisted he had lifted the manhole cover by himself and shoved Beryl inside. When challenged directly by a detective, his statement collapsed. He made a second, this time implicating Christie as the abortionist.P1 P3Arrested For Theft.P3 P1 Another search took place at Rillington Place. It was not very meticulous. The thigh bone of one of Christie's victims, Muriel Eady, was propped against the garden fence, and left unnoticed. The search failed to unearth any bodies, but police did find a stolen breif-case. This was enough to get Evans arrested. Christie was asked to attend the police station, and gave a masterful performance,drawing on the se- nse of brotherhood that existed even between former colleag- ues in the force. He gave details of the Evans'quarrels,and of complaints by Beryl of her throat been grabbed. Another,more determined search was made at Rillington Place. This time police found what they were looking for. The body of Beryl Evans was found wrapped in a green table cloth behind a sack of wood.The body of Geraldine was found behind the door, with a tie around her neck. A pathologist, Dr Don- ald Teare, reported that both victims had been strangled. Beryl's right eye and upper lip were badly swollen,and there were signs of bruising on her vagina. Dr Teare thought of taking a swab but others thought it was unnecessary.P1 P1To the police, `it was now a simple domestic' matter. Evans was brought back to London on Friday 2 December 1949. The group arrived at Paddington Station at 9.30 p.m. Less than Half-an-hour later,Evans made a first brief statment at Notting Hill police station, saying he had strangled Beryl with a rope and put her in the outside wash-house after Chi- rstie had gone to bed. Two days later, he had strangled the baby and put her there, too. Evans immediately made yet ano- ther, much longer statment- his fourth in all. It took 75 minuite in all to write it down and read back to him. This repeated the earlier confessions Evans had made, but went into far more detail, saying that Beryl had been getting him deeper and deeper into debt.Evans was charged with murdering his wife and daughter. The Crown decided to proceed only on the killing of the baby. There would no posable sympathy for such a crime. Timothy Evans' trial for murder began at No 1 Court at the Old Bailey on 11 Jan 1950, before Mr Justice Lewis.The crown was represented by Mr Christmas Humphreys KC Humphreys opend the case to the jury,laying stress on confe- ssions. There was also the evidence of the Christie's. In witness box,Christie won sympathy by telling the jury that he had difficulty in speaking as he was gassed, during World WarI. His service as a speical constable, confermed the impression of a sound,dutiful citizen. Morris his brief, would have liked to base the defence on the second confessi- on of Evans. But it was now established that Beryl had died from stranglation and not the abortion. He suggested that Christie knew more about the deaths of Beryl and Geraldine. Christie said " It's a lie.'P1 P3Gaining Sympathy.P3 P1 Christie denied taking part in the abortion, or having medical books, and said that he had been in bed with Fibros- itis on the day of Beryl's death. Evans gave evidence poorly True or False, his own version of the events showed him app- allingly lacking in decent feelings or regards for the law. The judge summed up,after 40 minutes, The verdict was Guilty and the sentance was Death by hanging. To the end, Evans Maintained that Christie had killed both his wife and child. To his solicitors, counsel,family,priests and prison offic- ers, he repeated 5the same story. After his appeal was lost on 20 Feb, Evans waited for a reprieve form the Home Secret- ary. A petition of 1,800 signatures was presented to the Home Office,But a reprieve was not granted. Evans was received back into the Roman Catholic Church, and at 8 a.m. on 9 March 1950 was hanged.P1 P1BP3y P1sP3TP1UP3NP1TP3MP1AP3NP1/P3nP1FP3AP1.