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

On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford granted former President Richard M. Nixon a full and unconditional pardon, covering any federal crimes he may have committed while in office during the Watergate scandal. The pardon came just a month after Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, the first US president to do so, and it meant Nixon would never face criminal prosecution or trial over the affair.

Ford’s decision was hugely controversial, drawing accusations that a secret deal had been struck to spare Nixon accountability, and it is widely believed to have cost Ford the 1976 presidential election. No charges were ever brought against Nixon, and the pardon remains one of the most debated presidential acts in American history.

President Richard Nixon made of Wax. Wax figure Richard Nixon reading documents with american flag at desk | ID 59298060 © Lequint | Dreamstime.com — ID 59298060 © Lequint | Dreamstime.com

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Corruption Political Crime Scandal USA

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Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale handed Erin Patterson three life sentences for murder and 25 years for attempted murder, setting a non-parole period of 33 years. That means Patterson, who poisoned relatives with a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms, cannot be considered for release until 2056, when she would be 82 years old.

The judge described the crime as an ‘enormous betrayal’ marked by substantial premeditation, and noted that Patterson had shown no remorse for the deaths she caused.

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Attempted Murder Australia Murder Poisoning Trial VIC

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Annie Chapman was a heavy drinker who had turned to prostitution in London’s Whitechapel after her marriage collapsed and her daughter died, using the earnings to pay for drink and a bed for the night. On the night of her death she had no money for lodgings and went out to earn her rent; her body was found in the early hours in a backyard, her throat cut and her abdomen slashed open.

The killer had arranged her intestines over her shoulder and removed her uterus, taking it with him. An autopsy determined she had been sober at the time of her death, ruling out the drunkenness that had shaped so much of her life.

Her murder, following that of Mary Ann Nichols just over a week earlier, confirmed for police that a single killer, soon dubbed Jack the Ripper, was stalking the women of Whitechapel.

Portrait of Annie Chapman with her husband in 1869

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Cold Case London Murder Serial Killer UK Unsolved

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Harold Shipman was arrested on 7 September 1998 after police investigated the death of his patient Kathleen Grundy, who had left him £386,000 in a will that turned out to be forged. The clumsy fake unravelled quickly: a Brother typewriter matching the one used to produce the document was found in Shipman’s possession, and Grundy’s own family, alarmed that their mother would never have cut them out, had already raised suspicions with a solicitor.

The arrest opened the door to a far larger inquiry. Detectives uncovered a pattern of lethal diamorphine injections administered to elderly patients under his care, alongside falsified medical records designed to make the deaths look natural.

Shipman was eventually linked to the deaths of at least 215 patients over more than two decades, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in British history.

Last will and testament typed on aged paper with vintage typewriter

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Fraud Murder Poisoning Serial Killer Trial UK

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