Europe - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1751: The Poisoning of Francis Blandy by His Own Daughter

Francis Blandy, a lawyer and town clerk of Henley-on-Thames, died in August 1751 after his daughter Mary repeatedly dosed his food with arsenic. The powder had been supplied by her lover, Captain William Henry Cranstoun, a Scottish officer who was already secretly married. Cranstoun told Mary the powder would make her father more accepting of their betrothal. His death became one of the earliest criminal cases to feature scientific toxicological evidence.

Mary was arrested after servants and relatives raised suspicions. Tried at Oxford in February 1752, she was convicted of murder and hanged on 6 April 1752, protesting her innocence to the end. Cranstoun escaped justice in court but died of illness in December 1752.

Engraved portrait of Mary Blandy in period dress

⬅ See all events from 14 August

Europe Execution Murder Poisoning Trial UK

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1915: Brides in the Bath Killer Hanged at Maidstone Prison

George Joseph Smith, operating under aliases including Henry Williams and John Lloyd, was convicted of drowning three women in their baths after marrying them bigamously and insuring their lives. His victims were Bessie Mundy, found dead at Herne Bay in 1912; Alice Burnham, drowned at Blackpool in December 1913; and Margaret Lofty, found dead in her bath at Highgate in December 1914. Each death was initially recorded as accidental, but Divisional Detective Inspector Neil and pathologist Dr Bernard Spilsbury determined that accidental drowning in any of those baths was effectively impossible.

Smith was tried in 1915, convicted of all three murders, and hanged at Maidstone Prison by executioner John Ellis on 13 August 1915.

Smith protested his innocence to the end.

George Joseph Smith Brides in the Bath murderer in the dock

⬅ See all events from 13 August

Blackpool England Europe Execution Fraud London Maidstone Murder Poisoning Serial Killer Trial UK

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1964: The Last Two Men Hanged in Britain, Executed Simultaneously 50 Kilometres Apart

At 8:00 a.m. on 13 August 1964, two gallows traps opened in unison across England. Peter Anthony Allen dropped at Walton Prison in Liverpool; Gwynne Owen Evans dropped at Strangeways Prison in Manchester. Both had been convicted of the capital murder of John Alan West, a 53-year-old laundry van driver from Workington, Cumbria, stabbed and beaten to death during a robbery at his home in the early hours of 7 April 1964.

Police traced the men within 48 hours through a medallion left at the scene, inscribed with Evans’ name. Tried together at Manchester Crown Court in June 1964, the jury found both equally guilty of capital murder committed in the course of theft. The judge, executioners Harry Allen and Robert Leslie Stewart, and the clock itself were all synchronised. When the traps fell, Britain’s era of capital punishment fell with them. No one has been executed in the United Kingdom since.

Silhouetted hangmans noose rope on orange backlit background

⬅ See all events from 13 August

Cumbria England Europe Execution Liverpool Manchester Murder Robbery Trial UK

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1964: Great Train Robber Charlie Wilson Breaks Free from Winson Green Prison

In August 1963, fifteen masked men ambushed the Glasgow to London Royal Mail train near Buckinghamshire, making off with 120 bags of cash totalling a record 2.6 million pounds. Police traced the gang to Leatherslade Farm within days, and Charlie Wilson, then 32, was among those arrested. In April 1964 he was sentenced to 30 years.

Just four months into his sentence, on 12 August 1964, several men broke into the maximum-security Winson Green Prison in Birmingham and freed Wilson in a brazen outside job. He evaded capture for over three years before being recaptured in Canada on 24 January 1968, returned to England, and made to serve out his term. Wilson later moved to Spain, where he allegedly became involved in drug trafficking, and was shot dead on 23 April 1990.

Arm reaches through jail window to open door escape scene

⬅ See all events from 12 August

Canada Escape Europe Murder Organised Crime Prison Robbery UK

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Subscribe to Dark Stories