Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1888: Martha Tabram Slain in Whitechapel, Possibly Jack the Ripper’s First Victim

In the early hours of 7 August 1888, Martha Tabram was found dead in George Yard Buildings, Whitechapel, stabbed 39 times. The 39-year-old had spent the previous evening drinking with a companion and two soldiers before separating in the early hours, never to be seen alive again. Though not among the canonical five Ripper victims, she is widely regarded as the most likely additional candidate.

Born Martha White in Southwark in 1849, she had lived a troubled life marked by a failed marriage, heavy drinking, and poverty. By 1888, separated from her long-term partner Henry Turner and evicted from their Commercial Road lodgings, she had been forced into street prostitution. Her killer was never identified.

Portrait of Martha Tabram victim of a Victorian era murder case

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Cold Case London Murder Serial Killer UK Unsolved Whitechapel

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1952: Jan Novotny Hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol for the Murder of a Darwin Taxi Driver

In April 1952, Czech migrants John Novotny, 19, and Jerry Koci, 20, hailed a taxi in Darwin driven by George Thomas Grantham, one of the town’s best-known cab owners. Ten miles out of town, Novotny shot Grantham in the face with a rifle he had purchased just days earlier, dragged the body into scrub 13 miles from Darwin, and fled south in the stolen taxi. The pair were intercepted on a Queensland road near Duchess, nearly 1,000 miles away, two days later.

At the Supreme Court, Novotny confessed in broken English: ‘I buy rifle in Darwin. Me and my friend get driver take us along road. Ten miles out I shoot driver with rifle, drag driver out of car.’ Both men were convicted of murder before Judge Kriewaldt. Novotny was hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol on 7 August 1952.

Suspects Jonas Nopotry and Jerr Koci leaving Mt Isa Police Court 1952

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Australia Darwin Execution Murder NT Trial

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1985: Jeremy Bamber Kills Five Family Members at White House Farm

At 3:26am on 7 August 1985, Jeremy Bamber called Essex Police claiming his adoptive sister Sheila had gone berserk with a rifle at the family farm in Tolleshunt D’Arcy. Officers arrived to find a scene staged to look like a murder-suicide: Bamber’s adoptive father Neville shot multiple times in the kitchen, mother June dead in her bedroom, and Sheila’s six-year-old twins shot in their beds. Sheila herself lay dead, clutching a rifle and a bible, shot through the throat.

The scene appeared so convincing that police initially accepted the murder-suicide theory and even helped Bamber burn bloodstained carpets and bedding. It was Bamber’s former girlfriend who broke the case, telling police he had confessed the killings to her. Forensic evidence, including a silencer found at the farm bearing traces of Sheila’s blood inside the barrel, proved she could not have shot herself with it attached. Bamber was convicted in 1986 and sentenced to five concurrent life terms, later made whole life, meaning he will never be released.

Jeremy Bamber Kills Five Family Members at White House Farm

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Essex Europe Family Crime Murder Trial UK

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1952: Jaroslav Koci Hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol for the Murder of a Darwin Taxi Driver

George Thomas Grantham, 42, one of Darwin’s best-known taxi owners, picked up two fares on the night of 17 April 1952 and never came home. His body was found two days later in scrub 13 miles south of Darwin, shot in the face and wrist. The two passengers, Czech migrants John Novotny and Jerry Koci, were intercepted near Duchess on a Queensland road, still driving the stolen cab.

At the inquest, Novotny told police: ‘Yes, I shot that man. I am sorry.’ Koci admitted being present at the shooting. Both were tried before Judge Kriewaldt in the Northern Territory Supreme Court. Novotny confessed to buying the rifle in Darwin two days before the killing. Jaroslav Koci was convicted and hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol on 7 August 1952.

Novotny and Koci under police escort for Grantham taxi driver murder

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Australia Darwin Execution Murder Northern Territory NT Trial

1888: Martha Tabram Slain in Whitechapel, Possibly Jack the Ripper’s First Victim

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1952: Jan Novotny Hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol for the Murder of a Darwin Taxi Driver

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1985: Jeremy Bamber Kills Five Family Members at White House Farm

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1952: Jaroslav Koci Hanged at Fannie Bay Gaol for the Murder of a Darwin Taxi Driver

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