Prime Crime: Solved Murders - The Acid Bath Murders Pt. 2
Episode Date: October 6, 2021The only chance John George Haigh stood to avoid hanging for the murder of Olive Durand-Deacon was to plead insanity. While he claimed to drink the blood of his murder victims, would it be enough to c...onvince the jury? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Due to the graphic nature of this murder case, listener discretion is advised.
This episode includes dramatizations and discussions of brutal murder and dismemberment.
We advise extreme caution for children under 13.
On February 19, 1949, the morning after John George Haig brutally murdered all of Durand Deacon,
the charismatic killer had a breakfast date with 20-year-old Barbara Stevens.
Barbara and Haig had been close friends since the girl was 15,
as Haig had done business with her father.
Their relationship was fully supported by Barbara's parents,
and she was hoping they might get married soon.
That afternoon, Haig surprised Barbara with a trip to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum,
and he specifically took her to the Chamber of Horrors.
This was Tussaud's collection of the most infamous killers in history.
Barbara was upset by the date venue and hated the Macawb Museum.
She asked Haig to take her home.
His response only disturbed her.
He asked if she would visit his wax figure in the chamber someday.
Two weeks later, Barbara was meeting Haig on the other side of prison bars.
Haig told her all about his gruesome murders,
and she was forced to realize her love could easily become the next day.
exhibit in the Chamber of Horrors.
Welcome to Solved Murder's True Crime Mysteries, a Spotify original from Parcast.
I'm your host Carter Roy.
And I'm your host Wendy McKenzie.
Every Wednesday, we step into the world of true crime's most fascinating murder cases
and tell the tale of how real-life detectives close the case.
You can find episodes of Solved Murders and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for
free exclusively on Spotify. This is our second episode on the murder of Olive Duran Deakin. In part one,
we covered how police investigated her disappearance and the arrest that confirmed she had been
brutally murdered. This week, we'll cover the confessions of her killer John George Haig,
which turned him into one of the most infamous serial killers of all time. We have all that and
more coming up. Stay with us.
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On March 4, 1949, John George Haig met with S.W. Summerfield from News of the World.
Summerfield made a deal to cover Haig's legal costs if his paper could have the rights to Haig's life story.
Haig took the deal, knowing he needed a solid legal defense if he wanted to avoid the hangman's noose.
Other newspapers were already painting Haig as guilty.
A Daily Mirror headline read,
vampire horror in Notting Hill.
This story ran alongside a picture of Hague being led out of court.
Other papers in town also ran with the vampire storyline.
Scotland Yard issued a warning to all publications
that any further reference to the case
could put those outlets in legal jeopardy.
The case was still under jurisdictional consideration.
The Daily Mirror ignored the warning from Scotland Yard
and continued publishing stories about Hague's confection.
On March 21st, 1949, Sylvester Bolam, editor for the Daily Mirror, was brought into court.
Bolam attempted to claim that publication was an error in judgment.
The courts disagreed, as the articles potentially prejudiced the case.
The courts fined the company £10,000 and sentenced Bolam to three months in prison.
Justice had been meted out, but the damage had already been done.
All of London had heard about the vampire killer John George Haig.
Haig himself was glad for the notoriety.
While awaiting trial, Haig wrote down his murderer's autobiography for News of the World.
First, Haig detailed the killing of his close friend William McSwan.
John George Haig met William McSwan in 1935, when William's father, Donald, hired Haig to be the chauffeur.
The McSwan family warmed to Hague's charm and quickly embraced him as a close friend.
Hague worked for the McSwans for a short time and eventually left to pursue other opportunities.
However, those opportunities didn't turn out well for Hague.
After a few years committing petty crimes, Hague found himself locked up in prison.
In 1944, Hague was released from prison with little to his name.
He hadn't seen William McSwan in years.
but he knew William still had considerable assets.
In 1944, he tracked William down
and pretended to bump into him at a pub.
William was excited to see his old friend.
Ha, ha, good to see you, old chap.
How's dear old dad?
The old man sold the arcade.
It's a shame.
Sorry to hear.
That place was marvelous.
There's actually something I need your help with, John.
Anything for you, old boy.
What can I do?
Well, it seems I've been conscripted into the army.
But me, I don't have the stomach for fighting.
I was hoping I could put you in charge of my affairs
while I disappear for a bit.
No use dying for a country that doesn't care for you.
I'd be happy to oblige, of course.
Wonderful.
I also need those hands of yours.
Need to fix up one of the pinball machines
before we turn the arcade over to the new owners.
Nothing to it, old boy.
I have a workshop on Gloucester Road.
Let's get her down there and sort out your affairs.
Haig took his close friend to his workshop on Gloucester Road,
led him down into the darkened basement,
and beat his brains in with blunt objects,
the leg of a pinball machine,
or perhaps a piece of metal piping.
This was Haig's first murder.
Haig hadn't acquired enough acid to take care of William's body immediately.
it took him almost three days to get the rest of the acid he needed to dissolve the body.
Haig turned his friend into sludge, then poured him down the drain.
Without a body to find, he had nothing to fear.
He was energized and ready to follow through with the latter half of his plan.
Haig sent letters to William's parents, in which he claimed William was in hiding.
Hague said that he was acting as William's intermediary and asked the McSwan,
to send him money to pass on to their son.
The McSwanse happy obliged and sent Haig money for months on end.
Hague sent postcards under William's name for nearly a year,
but his scam had to end eventually.
As World War II came to a close, William would no longer need to avoid conscription.
With this in mind, Hague sent one last letter to the McSwans under William's name.
He claimed William was returning to London and told the McSwan's
to meet him at Hague's workshop on July 2nd, 1945.
70-year-old Donald McSwan and 65-year-old Amy McSwan
arrived at 79 Gloucester Road on that date.
They arrived to find Hague waiting for them outside the shop.
McSwan's, how wonderful to see you!
Now, if you don't mind coming in one at a time,
William would rather the government not suspect he's here.
The elderly couple happily agreed to him.
Hague's request, and Donald McSwan entered the workshop first.
Hague shut the door behind Donald, and immediately cracked him in the head with a blackjack,
a type of iron bar. The old man died instantly. Hague hid Donald's body, then ushered Amy inside
shortly after. He killed her in the exact same way as her husband. Hague celebrated his
murders by drinking his victim's blood, pocketing their valuables,
and dissolving them in acid.
There is some debate as to whether or not Haig actually drank the blood of his victims.
Some believe he made up the story to help him with his insanity plea.
Unfortunately, there is no way to test these claims,
and so whether or not you believe his story is largely up to you.
Whether Haig actually drank blood or not,
it is undoubtedly true that he murdered the McSwan's and disposed of their bodies by dissolving them in acid.
Over the next few weeks, Hague posed his William and signed power of attorney of William's affairs over to himself.
He took full control of all the McSwan properties and assets.
This allowed Hague to live high on the hog until his money ran out, and he had to commit his next murder.
When Hague finished his tale about the McSwans, news of the world lived up to their end of the bargain.
They set up Hague's legal defense team and hired.
Ireland Eager to lead it.
Ireland Eager was a probate lawyer who had little experience with criminal cases,
but he had already spent considerable time dealing with the prejudicial issues caused by the
newspapers. This experience gave Eager strong insight into Hague's case.
Eager knew Hague would be found guilty of murdering Olive Duran Deacon.
Hague's confession had made that conclusion inevitable.
The defense's only possible strategy was an insanity plea.
Eager knew he needed to find a doctor who would testify that John George Haig met the legal definition of insanity.
The definition of insanity was established by the McNaughton rule.
This rule dictates that a defendant can only be declared legally insane
if the defendant was incapable of knowing the difference between right and wrong when the defendant,
they committed the crime. Two doctors were brought in to interview Haig. Haig gave them a horrid
accounting of his crimes, but his affable and personable nature made it clear that he wasn't insane.
He was simply incapable of empathy. For the first time in his life, John George Haig's charm and
charisma were actually working against his goals. He wanted to be declared insane, but he had no
idea what that meant from a legal or medical perspective. Both doctors found that Hague was sane
and fit to stand trial. This displeased the defense, so they brought in even more doctors. The defense
even had Hague's answers to an inkblot test re-examined by a psychiatrist who did not know the
identity of his patient. The lawyers were hoping an independent analysis untainted by Hague's notoriety
might help their case.
I've gone over the inkblot test you sent over.
Thank you, Doctor.
What do you think about the fellow who took the test?
Well, in my expert opinion,
your client is above average, intelligent-wise.
However, he hates boredom.
In fact, I'd say he finds reality so boring
he's retreated into a world of fantasy.
He's lost touch with the real world.
I see.
Anything else we should know, Doctor?
Be very wary of this client of yours.
He has a distinct lack of emotional feeling.
He sees people as nothing more than objects to be played with, like chess pieces.
I'd venture to guess your client is charged with some kind of violent crime.
You've unfortunately hit the nail in the head, Doctor.
Like I said, be careful with him.
Whatever he did, he knew exactly what he was doing.
and he enjoyed it.
The defense had no doctors willing to testify that Hague met the legal definition of insanity.
First, Sir David Maxwell Fife was appointed to lead the defense team in place of Eager.
Fife was a former attorney general and had prosecuted Nazis at the Nuremberg trials.
While Eager had been unable to find a doctor willing to testify to Hague's insanity,
Fife believed he had just the doctor who could serve his cause.
He wanted to get one Dr. Yellowlees to observe the defendant.
The defense had the trial delayed by two months to give Yellowlees time for a proper examination.
They also prepped Dr. Yellowlees on the findings of his colleagues.
They hoped the doctor would disagree with these reports.
With any luck, he could find a way to show that John George Haig was in fact in
Coming up, John George Haig's trial begins while he continues to tell his story to news of the world.
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And now back to the story.
In May of 1949, John George Haig had more than two months of time to kill before his trial.
His defense attorneys had hired a psychiatrist named Dr. Yellowlees to testify that Haig was insane.
But Haig was also looking for ways to increase his chance.
of a successful defense.
He got used to the routine in Brixton Prison,
and his cellmate Martin,
a young man who'd killed his friend in an alcohol-fueled fight,
became Hague's confidant.
Haig let Martin know that he was hoping
to end up sentenced to Broadmoor,
the insane asylum.
It was only then that Martin realized who his cellmate actually was.
He was rooming with the vampire of Notting Hill.
That night, Martin realized,
Woke John from a deep sleep with a high-pitched scream.
He thrashed about in his bed tearing at the sheets.
After Haig yelled for help,
two orderlies gave Martin a shot to sedate him.
The next morning,
Hague asked Martin about his spell.
What happened last night?
You want to hear a little secret?
It was an act.
I used to have real mental breaks when I was drunk,
but I act like I still have them sober,
just to be safe.
Hold on there, old boy. You really fake that entire thing?
You told me you wanted to get into Broadmoor. This is how you do it.
They're looking at everything you do, not just what you say in the interrogations.
In my own defense, my interrogations have to count for something.
I mean, I've regaled them with stories of my most vivid dreams, and the gallons of blood I drank from my kills.
There's no way they'd think a man who's done that is saying.
To them, that's all talk.
Even if you are a vampire, why wouldn't a murderer embellished a truth a little?
Instead, they'll look at all your well-planned murders.
You got rid of the bodies and cleaned up afterwards.
That's not madness.
That's calculation.
That certainly puts me in a bind.
How do I give them more than my word?
Kill one of the guards.
Drink his blood and say you needed a meal when they asked why you did it.
Start climbing up the rafters.
Do some vampire stuff.
you need to play the part.
I drank my urine before.
I suppose I could start there.
Now you're thinking, but make sure they see you doing it.
After this conversation, Hague met with Reverend Ronald Chalmers.
Because Hague had yet to be convicted,
he was granted more freedom than the average prisoner,
and he was allowed to visit the reverend in his chapel
with the accompaniment of a warden.
Haig felt like this might be the perfect opportunity
to show just how much he needed to be in Broadmoor,
like Martin had told him.
Would you like a seat?
Fear not, Reverend.
I only bite the dead.
They did say you were charming.
So you know who I am?
I don't think anyone's taking the time to get to know who you really are.
I'd like the chance.
You really don't mind bringing me into your church, despite what I've done?
In church, we're all sinners.
Are you religious, John?
In a sense, I was raised strict Plymouth Brethren.
I won a prize for Divinity Essay in school.
Would you like to know the last line of that essay?
If you'd like to tell me?
We may well learn the lesson that one fall, even though it be with perfect grace in full restoration,
does not cure a natural disposition, though it may go far to correct it.
Suffice it to say, I believe God made me this way.
After all, he's the one who gave me the dreams.
What kind of dreams?
I walked through a forest full of trees dripping with blood.
The blood is collected by a bowl.
A holy figure near the bowl tells me I must drink the blood.
Have you told your doctors this?
I never heard any of them, you know.
I made it quick.
I just needed the blood.
Haig was now trying to push the notion that his lusts,
for blood was led by some kind of spiritual force that he had no control over.
Hague was asked to see another psychologist, Dr. Snell, whom he gave this version of events to.
Snell, like all the others, did not accept Hague's claims.
He knew Hague was outright denying the obvious financial motivations behind his murders.
Snell agreed that Hague was of sound mind and fit to stand trial.
The trial began on Monday, July 18th, 1949 in Lewis County Hall.
Sir David Maxwell Fife let Hague know his strategy for the proceedings in the interview room below the court.
Listen, Mr. Hague, I see no utility and wasting the prosecution.
In simple terms, your guilt is not in question.
When you're right, old, Maxie, you're right.
We'll let the prosecution make its case and tomorrow, where we'll allow you,
on Dr. Yellowlee's to assist improving your insanity.
Finally, a doctor who sees the truth.
Not so fast.
The doctor is only planning on clouding the issue.
He won't make a definitive statement either way.
But the doubt he soes is your only shot at escaping the hangman's noose.
Have I made that clear?
I could use a little help on this crossword.
Heavy going for the conductor, anagram of orchestra.
Focus, Hague!
One last thing.
Don't let News of the World publish a word of your memoir until this trial is over.
Oh, don't worry. I'm not done with it yet.
Sarcassum might get you killed here, John. Let's go.
The trial began in earnest, but Hague seemed entirely unconcerned.
Rather than pay attention to the proceedings, Hague worked on his life story for News of the World.
As the prosecution laid out its case, Hague laid out the tale of how he came to kill Archibald
and Rosalie Henderson.
Since the summer of 1945,
John George Haig had used
the McSwan's blood money
to sustain himself
in the elegant Onslow Court Hotel.
He became friendly with the older women
who'd become his neighbors.
Two years later, in the fall of 1947,
Haig became interested in purchasing a property
that Dr. Archibald Henderson
and his wife, Rosalie, were selling.
He wasn't able to come up with the necessary funds.
However, he stayed in touch with the couple.
The Henderson's were well off, but spent money like it burned a hole in their pockets,
especially Archie, who was fond of the drink and betting on the ponies.
Hague's behaviors were similar, as his lavish tastes and rent at Onslow Court were eating up all his profits from killing the McSwans.
He viewed the Henderson's as an easy mark, so in February 1948, he invited them on a trip to
Brighton Beach, not far from his Crawley Workshop.
On February 12, 1948, Haig drove Archie Henderson to his workshop.
The moment the door closed behind them, Hague shot Archie in the head.
Haig removed all the valuable items from Archie's body,
deposited him into an oil drum, and covered him with acid.
After finishing up with Archie in the workshop,
Haig returned to the Brighton Hotel and told Brody's
Rosalie that Archie was sick.
Worried for her husband,
Rosalie agreed to go with Hague to the workshop.
When they arrived,
Haig shot Rosalie in the back of the head,
stripped her of her valuables,
and tossed her into an oil drum.
Haig locked up the workshop
and spent the night at the hotel alone.
The following morning,
he checked in to see how his victims were cooking.
They had yet to dissolve completely,
so he passed the time with a trip to Horsham.
There he sold the Henderson's valuables to Horace Bull, the same man who would turn him in years later.
Haig netted over 300 pounds from the jewelry.
Haig returned to his workshop and poured the Henderson's into the weeds of his workshop yard.
Haig once again used his forgery skills to obtain power of attorney over all the Henderson's assets.
By the time he liquidated everything, he'd netted over 8,000 pounds.
The equivalent of almost 300,000 pounds are over $400,000 today.
Hague finished detailing this story and worked on his crossword puzzle,
while the prosecution was meticulously laying out their case against him in court.
The Attorney General's opening speech went on for over an hour
and attempted to preempt the defense's insanity defense.
The prosecution made it clear there was only one real motive for these murders,
Greed.
The prosecution called Edward Jones, Hague's former business partner.
He gave a detailed recollection of the days leading up to Olive Duran Deacon's disappearance.
Hague's attorney asked no questions in rebuttal.
The next witness was Constance Lane, who detailed how Olive had told her about her meeting with
Hague planned for the day she went missing.
She explained how Hague had even taken her to the police station to report Oliver.
of missing. Constance also identified a handbag that was found in the Leopold Road yard as olives.
A pathologist was brought in to testify to the fact that the remains found at Leopold Road were,
in fact, human, and belonged to an older woman. He testified that the blood spatter inside the
workshop was consistent with a gunshot wound. Hague's attorneys were not challenging any of the
evidence brought in by the prosecution. All in all, it looked like the case against John George
Hague was overwhelming. When the prosecution rapped, however, Sir David Maxwell Fife began to
execute his strategy. He admitted to the jury that his client had committed the murder.
The facts of the case were not in question. The only question the jury had to answer was the
state of Hague's sanity at the time of the killing. He was asking for them to acknowledge
that his client was, in fact, insane when he acted.
He outlined the McNaughton rule for the jury
before he called his one and only witness, Dr. Yellowlees.
Coming up, the conclusion of John George Hague's trial
and the details of the murder that finally got him caught.
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And now, back to the story.
By Tuesday, July 19, 1949, the prosecution had made a formidable case for John George Hague's guilt.
The defense called Dr. Henry Yellowlees to stand in the hopes that he could prove Hague was insane.
Dr. Yelalese, it is my understanding that you have diagnosed Mr. Hague as paranoid.
Is that correct?
I met with the defendant five times, but after our first meeting, it was obvious he suffers from what is called a paranoid constitution.
This mostly comes from a person's upbringing.
Can you explain how Mr. Hague's upbringing affected his constitution?
His parents raised him to be zealous in their faith.
He was sheltered from the outside world, and the fear of God was put into him for even the most minute of transgressions.
And how does this upbringing affect an individual?
That religious pressure could scare a person away from the real world and into a world of fantasy.
The fantasy, such as needing blood to survive, becomes the paranoiac's true reality.
Yellow Lees' evidence focused mainly on John George Haig's early home life, as Haig himself had described it.
Then he focused on Haig's conviction that his killings were necessary and required of him by a higher power.
It all came down to whether or not Yellow Lease believed that Haig was aware that what he was doing was wrong.
And on this point, he was no help to the defense.
He admitted he couldn't give a definitive answer to that question.
Hague's only possible defense had failed.
After 15 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned their verdict.
They found John George Hague guilty of the murder of Olive Duran Deacon.
Hague had nothing to say when the verdict was passed down.
The judge sentenced him to death.
Hague returned to his cell with one last murder to write about for news of the world,
the one that had finally gotten him caught.
it was time for him to tell the world what had really happened to Olive Duran Deacon.
On Friday, February 18, 1949, John George Haig pulled up a chair next to Olive Duran Deacon
as she was eating her breakfast. He told her he had everything planned out for their meeting
and asked her to meet him at reception around 2.15 p.m. Olive happily agreed.
With his plan in motion, Haig did a preliminary drive to help his business business
partner, Edward Jones, move metal sheets out of the Leopold Road Workshop. He also told Edward he'd be
bringing Olive by that afternoon to talk about the fingernails. Meanwhile, Olive told Ms. Constance
Lane about her plans to visit Mr. Hague's factory. She was rather excited and really believed
in her business concept. Hague picked Olive up at 215 just as they'd planned, and the duo drove
right back to Leopold Road. The workshop itself looked run down.
and rather dilapidated.
Olive was surprised to see it look so shabby,
but Haig was quick on his feet.
He told her that he only used this workspace
to come up with new inventions.
He had a cleaner, more professional factory elsewhere.
Olive believed his explanation and followed him inside.
Haig let Olive have a look around the workshop
as he took off his coat and neatly hung it up.
It's quite chilly in here.
I believe I'll keep my coat on.
Not to worry. I'll have you all warmed up in no time.
So, this is where we'll build the prototypes?
Yes, let me grab the mock-ups I've been working on.
I want to see how the colors strike you.
How do you like these?
Let me see.
Olive leaned over to take a closer look, not noticing Hague sneaking up behind her.
He pulled out a gun, aimed it at the back of her head, and pulled the trigger.
Olive dropped to the floor, dead in an instant.
Before her blood could start flowing,
Hague stuffed a ball of cotton into the wound
to keep it from leaching out onto Olive's valuable Persian lamb coat.
He removed the coat from her body as well as her jewelry.
To Hague, this was a simple transaction.
Remove her valuables, then liquidate her body and her assets.
Hague left her body in a lump on the floor
while he went over to the West Street factory.
He told Edward Jones that the woman he was set to meet never showed up,
providing himself with a plausible alibi.
Haig returned to the Leopold Road Workshop to deal with Olive's body.
He pushed her into an oil drum and then took her belongings to his car.
He left her body in the drum,
then took himself out to Ye Old Pryor's restaurant for a spot of tea and a snack.
He paid his bill and returned to the shop to,
finished the job. John George Haig adorned himself in his trusty rubber apron, gloves, and a gas
mask. He then pumped the acid into the drum with Olive's corpse. Olive cooked in the acid. When the drum
was too hot to touch, Haig had kept his promise to warm Olive up. He disposed of her dissolved body
a few hours later and was caught by police only a week after that. With this story written down,
George Haig had completed his murderous memoirs. He turned them over to S.W. Summerfield,
and they were published in parts beginning July 31st, 1949. Before his execution, Hague arranged
for his favorite green suit to be sent to Madame Tussauds to be placed on a wax figure of
himself. His likeness would reside in the chamber of horrors, after all, just as he predicted
during his date with Barbara. He wondered if Barbara would visit him there.
On August 10, 1949, John George Haig was hung for the murder of Olive Durand Deacon.
A crowd of 500 people watched him be put to death to make sure his horrors were forever gone from this world.
John George Haig will forever live in infamy as the Acid Bath murderer.
His methods were brutal and effective.
and he may never have gotten caught.
But thankfully, his supreme arrogance
and his gross misunderstanding of the legal concept of corpus delicti,
a Latin phrase meaning body of crime,
led him to confess all his crimes to police.
He genuinely believed that if the body of a murder victim could not be found,
that he would get away with murder.
But the remains of Olive Durand Deacon
were still present in the workshop yard,
where the pathologist examined them.
What's more, even though Olive Duran Deacon lost her corporeal form,
her absence, and the love of her worried friends,
proved to be John George Hague's downfall.
Thanks again for tuning into Solved Murders.
We'll be back next Wednesday with a new case.
For more information on the murder of Olive Duran Deacon,
amongst the many sources we used,
we found Gordon Lowe's book, The Acid Bath Murders,
the trials and liquidations of John George Haig
and Neil Roots book, Frenzy, Heath, Haig, and Christie
have the tabloid press turn three evil serial killers
into celebrities.
Extremely helpful to our research.
You can find all episodes of Solve Murders
and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify.
We'll see you next time.
If we live till next time.
Solve Murders, True Crime Mysteries is a Spotify,
Original from Parcast. It is executive produced by Max Cutler, sound design by Michael Langsner,
with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Freddie Beckley.
This episode of Solve Murders was written by Kevin P. Regan, with writing assistance by
Giles Hofsef. Fact-checking by Claire Cronin and research by Mickey Taylor. The amazing cast
of voice actors includes Tom Bauer, Tiana Camacho, and Cameron Nicod. Solve Murders, stars Windy
McKenzie and Carter Roy.
The only way to get to heaven was to allow him sexual activity with me.
This is not the people that you would normally associate with a cult.
Do you think I need to be worried for my safety?
I definitely think you should be prudent.
This is Revelations, a Spotify original from Parcast,
premiering Sunday, October 3rd.
