John Christie of Rillington Place: Biography of a Serial Killer

Jonathan Oates

Jan 2013 · Wharncliffe

About this ebook

The bestselling criminal history author provides “compelling insight” into the life and crimes of one of England’s most notorious serial killers (Buckinghamshire Life).
 
Sixty years ago, the discovery of bodies at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London, led to one of the most sensational, shocking, and controversial serial murder cases in British criminal history: the case of John Christie. Much has been written about the Christie killings and the fate of Timothy Evans who was executed for murders Christie later confessed to; the story still provokes strong feeling and speculation. However, most of the books on the case have been compiled without the benefit of all the sources that are open to researchers, and they tend to focus on Evans in an attempt to clear him of guilt. In addition, many simply repeat what has been said before. Therefore, a painstaking, scholarly reassessment of the evidence—and of Christie’s life—is overdue, and that is what Jonathan Oates provides in this gripping biography of a serial killer.
 

Ratings and reviews

First things first, this book is well researched and even the tiniest of reference sources is listed by the author - this gives it an automatic star. The inclusion of contemporaneous photographs is a nice touch and many of them have not been reproduced before - this gives it half a star. Unfortunately this means that the text itself, the actual reason the book was purchased only gets 1.5 stars. I was also surprised to note that this book only has 224 pages, it felt substantially longer than that and it was a challenge to get to the end without just giving up. The first problem I had with it was this is written like an academic book rather than one for mass consumption. I had no issue with the myriad footnotes as these relate to sources to support the information given. What I did take issue with was the constant referencing of dates (particularly birth and death dates), they break the text and prevent absorptive reading. There is no reason why a separate timeline appendix could not have been created to provide all this information and it would have made the textual flow much more digestible. I appreciate dates of particular events are necessary and I did not have issue with this but each and every member of Christie's family (and there are a lot of them) have their birth and death dates listed as do many of the witness accounts for his early life. Then there is the author's general tone throughout the book. What starts of as merely factual soon degenerates in to him mentioning other people who have written about the intertwined cases of Evans and Christie and stating that they have things oh so very wrong - usually because they have a date out by 24 hours. It quickly becomes a diatribe of "I'm right and they are wrong" and trying to separate the details of reality from the book becomes increasingly difficult - especially once the author brings Ludovic Kennedy and the film reconstruction based on his book in to play. I also found it very interesting that at no time does he mention Timothy Evans' mental incapacity. I was under the impression that it was fairly well documented that this was a man of relatively low IQ and whilst he does mention potential issues with literacy nothing else is made of it - except to say that he believes he could read perfectly well. For me, I think earlier accounts are more accurate regarding Mr Evans and that he was easily suggestible and fairly child like in his world view; thus making it easy for both Christie and the legal system to manipulate him in to a confession that he may or may not have believed. Interestingly despite all the deep research in to the lives of the victims and Christie, Evans is not paid the same courtesy (beyond his familial connections) and there are no contemporaneous recollections from work colleagues and friends which previous authors have used to show how child like he was. There is a very definite agenda from the author and this is not merely a recounting of the facts surrounding the case. Rather, it is the author's contention that two murderers lived under the same roof at the same time and that Evans should never have been pardoned. Couple that with the author's bias towards the acknowledged Christie victims as being "the lowest of the low" and his incessant need to prove himself superior to other biographers of the subject it soon becomes a quite turgid mess. Overall, well researched but heavily affected by personal bias.

About the author

Dr Jonathan Oates is the Ealing Borough Archivist and Local History Librarian, and he has written and lectured on aspects of the history of London, including its criminal past. His books include Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Ealing, Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Lewisham and Deptford, Unsolved Murders in Victorian and Edwardian London, Unsolved London Murders: The 1920s and 1930s, Unsolved London Murders: The 1940s and 1950s and Attack on London. He is also an authority on the Jacobite rebellions of 1714 and 1745 and recently published "Sweet William or The Butcher? The Duke of Cumberland and the '45".