Gordon Cummins: The Blackout Ripper (Part 2) | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this is [Music] morbid what is up my guys I can't stop
doing that if you don't follow the Grinch on Tik Tok I don't know what's wrong with you if Tik Tok even exists
anymore oh God yeah it's I don't know where we are in the future but it might be a future without Tik Tok we have to
record these in advance if we want time off families we'll never stop making reference to it just cuz it's become a
funny thing now it has and I just can't stop singing to you people it's true my reign is continuous Terror my rain of my
reign of uh I don't know I think it was an elto when I sang in chorus embarrassing fact about me anyways
bye well where we're in part two of a pretty uh pretty gnarly case here I would say we sure are I um had potatoes
for dinner last night and you know what we didn't do didn't peel them didn't peel them didn't peel them they were
skin has a lot of nutrients in them many fibers yeah so they many many many FIB pretty look at us this one this case is
just it's bad all the way around yeah it's very very heartbreaking and it's just got like it's got this vibe to it I
think with the the blackout it just adds this layer of of Darkness if you will yeah cuz you have to remember to like
keep that in mind while you're visualizing yeah and this guy Gordon here is such a [ __ ] [ __ ] I can't
believe his name is [ __ ] Gordo yeah Gordo cumins that's his name and I just the fact that he's like in the Army yeah
he's an Air Force somebody that you would look to to trust during this time period oh yeah scary he's he's a real
piece of work I tell you it I'm scared to dive back in yeah it's uh it doesn't get better but then he does get caught
so you can hold on to that yeah like I said in uh the end of part one I'm really excited for that part so let's
get to a girl that's always nice um so when we left off we had talked about how there was a couple of you know
there was a close call with Katherine Mahi um there has been a few murders very gruesome very awful very brutal
murders and as it's happening so fast like within hours of each other that like discoveries of other murders or
assaults are happening as they are examining previous victims so like things coming at different times cuz
he's just like every 24 hours or less yeah he's like on a rampage and when Dr spillsbury spittles my favorite guy who
also by the way is apparently like a very very well-known forensic pathologist like the times I think at
one point called him like you know their the real life Sherlock Holmes kind of thing oh no way like yeah he's been on
like huge cases um like he was in like uh like I'm I'm trying to think of like any Infamous any Infamous case you can
think of that time period in London and around there what's his last name again um spillsbury spillsbury he was a part
of it he was known to be like very very involved in the case like he was it affected him like greatly like he these
cases would like eat at his soul he was like a very empathetic person so like he
just sounds like a really cool guy and like a very interesting historical figure I'd like to look further into him
actually I know actually I just like typed in Notorious cases that he was part of yeah um the trunk
murders the trunk murders the Brighton trunk murders I think it was yeah um there's a lot here that I actually think
you would be really interested in yeah the brides and bath particularly speaks to me yeah there's a lot there's a lot
that were very interesting and very horrific yeah uh but he he did his he was doing autopsies while this is all
going on and on the autopsy of Evelyn Oley uh he confirmed unfortunately that she was alive when when most of those
wound were inflicted that's awful um she had bled from the wounds so she was alive when they happened and as he
examined her body it became even clear how sadistic this killer was there were 12 puncture wounds around and in her
genital area oh god um and they seem to be done and inflicted by a tin can opener now I looked up what a tin can
opener looked like in the 1930s cuz I assumed it was different than what I am thinking it meant to ask you yesterday
when you were talking about it like if it was the same deal nope it's not Google tin can opener
1930s and you will come up you'll see what it is it's basically a tiny it's a handle with like a little sickle like a
blade that looks like a sickle on the end of it sharp it's a weapon and it's a dangerous weapon that be can be used to
stab and not only stab but it has a curved blade so it inflicts a lot of damage and you have to think like I'm
sure it's sharp to a point but like not really like so it takes Force to stab someone with
it a lot of force now on February 12th which again I'm going back one day again from where we left off I would think but
again you have to like kind of interweave the discoveries and the actual murders uh a woman named Mary
sometimes referred to as Greta in sources uh Mary Haywood arrived in Northwest London to meet a date but
having arrived early she decided to walk around and look at the shop Windows she
was sitting in a cafe around 8:00 p.m. when a young Airman approached her not and said excuse me are you waiting for
someone he would explain that she was she was waiting for someone but like he was a little late and like whatever and
this guy convinced her to have a drink with him while they waited cuz he was very handsome charming very Charming he
quickly tried to get uh her to come to another Pub or restaurant with him he was like just come with me for a like
we'll be back in time for you to meet your person and at first she was like no no no but then she ended up he pushed
harder and she was like you know what this guy's late he was handsome and and again and um she was able to tell this
story later so just know that uh she said he was you know very handsome he had a very she she said he had a
seductive quality about his smile a lot of people talked about his smile and how
they they said it it made it easy for them to understand how he was able to charm women disarming yeah what's his
last name again I'm sorry I want c m m i ns but she said he was also very overconfident like he had a very like
arrogant way about him again she imagined he had no trouble getting many women to Come Away with him that's the
thing sometimes I think as women we find that attractive at first of course and then it it changes yeah throughout the
course of a relationship there is like a a certain level of overconfidence that like is appreciated yeah cuz I'm not I'm
one to tell everybody you should be like it's not even over confidence it's just
confident yeah just be confident in yourself like that's totally fine yeah and she said it she wasn't put off by it
yeah she was more just like huh like this guy's really like look at him like he's really like shooting a shot like he
doesn't even care that I'm waiting for a date he's just like I can get you to come with me but so they made their way
to a place called trokadero and he started asking her about her life where she lived and then he quickly
transitioned into suddenly being offputting okay because he suddenly asked her if she was a quote unquote
naughty girl oh and would she take him somewhere say that on the first date and she was like nope and then she realized
oh he's mistaken me for a sex worker oh okay and she was not right that's that's
the re she was like that's not what I do so she told him no she didn't do that and he was not going to be successful
here if that's what he was looking for because you know she was that was not her line of work and he was like oh that
like that's fine like he's like but like i' would love to take you away anyways and she was like oh no I'm not going to
[ __ ] you like she was literally like oh no like you're not going to be successful at paying me to do it and
we're not going to at all so like I just met you and she was clear she was like this is not happening tonight like you
need to be aware of this blah and she was like I'm waiting for a date like I was waiting for a date like yeah you
came along and you're handsome and you're sure I'll grab a drink with you and we can chat and stuff and like I'm
willing to consider you as like a let's go out sometime we're not having sex like not happening no but he persisted
and he took out his wallet and showed her a large amount of cash and then he just kept telling her
how he wasn't broke he could afford a lot and she was like dude that's not what I do like get go find that
somewhere else so she the time period it's a plenty yeah she's like go ahead like I'm
not stopping you how about it so she gets up and she's like I'm out so she goes to leave the restaurant and he
follows her now mind you he hadn't even told her his name yet oh wow but he had given caring like neither one of them
had really told each other their name they were just kind of like being which like whatever they were just being you
know mysterious let's get a drink together kind of moment they're in public nothing's you know yeah crazy
they also it's one of those time periods which like is like every time period but
you think the world is ending so you're like let's have a little fun yeah you let's get a drink I don't give a [ __ ]
who you are what's your name don't give a [ __ ] yeah don't care now this guy had
been carrying as well his um Royal Air Force issued respirator with him all night like the gas mask that they had to
carry oh okay he had it on him when he approached her I'm scared like cuz they they would have them from like training
and stuff and like they'd go to a pub holding their bags yeah they'd be walking around with the bags yeah so he
had that with him just remember that um and he was and it would also prove that he was definitely a serviceman like he
wasn't pretending he wasn't you know he had the actual issued one yeah now by that point it had become dark out and
the streets had kind of cleared out a little bit so it was like less yeah it seems like everything's
kind of quiet it's getting dark and so she took out a small flashlight and switched it on but the man caught up to
her and yanked the flashlight out of her hand and was like no you shouldn't use this around this area Okay and she was
like okay I guess you're right like it can be a little shady like a little CD outside and you don't want to draw
attention to yourself so like just kind of scoot where you need to go yeah so she was just kind of like okay like okay
and he like kind of put it in and he didn't steal it from her he put it in her purse and was like keep it so it to
her it seemed like he was being like Oh I'm like trying to help you oh yeah I'm looking out for you like I'm not
stealing your flashlight then he tried again to kind of like shoot his shot by saying well you must let me kiss you
good night I must not and then he asked her if she knew any of those like air raid shelters where the first victim was
found in and he said nearby and he's like we could like go make out in one of those
and she was like I don't know where one is nearby and also like I'm not going to
go to an air raid sh shelter with you and she was like I'm not leaving to go somewhere with you like that's just not
happening and at that he grabbed her and pulled her into an alley pushed her up against the door in a more darkened Al
Cove and he kissed her and she said she didn't stop him right away because she was like fine okay whatever but then she
said he got handsy uhhuh and that's when she was like dude D I have said it a million times I've been very upfront
with you about this I don't consent to this I'm not cons I'm not having sex with you like that's not it so she told
him to stop she was like I I was consenting to kiss you but I'm not yeah we're not going don't me like that and
he refused to stop oh [ __ ] this [ __ ] so she later told police he tried to pull my clothes up so she tried
to fight him but the man was very strong yeah and she said he got a hold of me by
the throat and he started squeezing after while I lost unconsciousness so he choked her until she was unconscious but
what's even creepier is the entire time he was choking her he was muttering like
to her you won't you won't you won't over and over again you won't what to this day nobody has any idea what the
[ __ ] that means you won't he just kept saying you won't that's bizarre and I wonder if it was him saying like like
convincing himself like you won't kill her or you won't stop or one of the other like either you won't stop or you
won't kill this one like cuz she said it was almost like a trance like thing like he was like far
away in his own mind saying you won't so it's almost like she wasn't saying it to
her yeah like he was saying it to himself like you won't do it this time oh to think how scary that like whole
thing is in and of itself without the muttering and then to add the muttering to it oh poor woman so she became
unconscious and at that time a nightporter John shine who was only 18 years old God was making his rounds and
he heard weird noises coming from the alley and by the time he got there he could see a flashlight kind of
flickering and he saw a pair of women's legs sticking out from a doorway so he called out to whoever was there saying
like whoever's there like I'm I'm here I'm like I see you and this scared the [ __ ] out of the man and he ran down the
alley away from them but it was Pitch Black so the porter with help from a few civilians helped her who she could
Haywood could only moan at this point she could barely speak she was like choked so hard he got her to her feet
and together they found a police officer and reported the attack okay by that time they found that her dress was
ripped the buttons were broken like it was a very brutal like intense aggressive attack now just hours after
Haywood had reported her assault to police another call came in and this was the one that was 22-year-old Catherine
Mahi from part one okay um I'll give you a little rundown quickly if you forget of what happened to her that evening
that same evening a young serviceman Airman had picked her up near picadeli um circus and traveled back to her
apartment they were you know getting ready to begin a transaction because she was um working as a sex worker at the
time and he got on top of her and then immediately began choking her and he had like he had actually like put his knees
into her abdomen like she was the one with the boots still on yes cuz she managed to get his thumbs off her throat
and he kicked she kicked him in the stomach with her boots cuz she was still wearing her boots Queen and she ran
completely nude from her apartment into the hall and started banging on a neighbor's door screaming that she was
being attacked and as she was being helped by some neighbors the man had come out through money at her said he
had too much to drink kind of apologized and left and that later that night another woman would be murdered in an
apartment just across town okay so two attacks and one Mur and then he ran on to murder another woman that's what
makes me think that the you you won't you won't you won't was almost him like trying to tell himself you won't again
yeah you know like it it feels weird it does now according to Neil's story who wrote The Blackout murders homicide in
World War II and Simon Reed who wrote In The Dark the true story of the blackout
Ripper both really great books on this case I highly highly recommend you go read them Simon we actually talked about
he wrote a book about the death of Michael Malloy like the crazy death of Michael mooy he was wild and Simon's
awesome his wife Katie had actually written in a listener tale that was amazing like they're awesome power
couple yeah totally and amazing books on this case so highly highly recommend they're Linked In the show notes yay um
books but according to their books 25-year-old Dorth J had only recently moved to London and quickly fell into
sex work as a means of supporting herself until she could find a suitable husband okay um not long that was very
common in this time period especially but not long not long after arriving in the city Doris had met 60-year-old Henry
jene okay a wealthy French Hotel owner oh hell yeah um yeah and obviously much older than her a few months later the
couple married Love Now Mo he apparently their marriage was very sweet yeah why like it's not what you would think of
the time period first of all and the age difference right um they genuinely seemed to love each other and would say
that like they were genuinely very happy with each other um but she was Doris would get bored with married life a lot
I mean she's very young she's young and she's very much a like she has always kind of been like make her own way
Scrappy on the streets kind of thing so this is one of those things where she's just having trouble settling down and
this man is from a completely different generation I'm sure he has a completely different set of standards and he and he
like loved her he understood that she had a life before him and like I think they had actually met in that way so
like he was like I get it like it's but he's like you don't have to do that anymore and I don't want you to it's
literally giving Pretty Woman it really is like he's like I don't want you to and he and so he would um he would sleep
sometimes at the hotels that he owned and managed but he would typically stop at home to have dinner with her every
night that'swe so they would have dinner together like she would always have soup
on for them like they would just have this nice dinner and again she like she tried to like settle but it just it was
a little tough so she would often fall back into sex work to make extra income or while he was away for long periods
she would get bored and lonely and just want to go out and do it um but she would see him off the train off to the
train and then she would go out sometimes soliciting for extra money now on February 12th the same night of the
attack on Haywood and Mahi Doris had seen Henry off at the train and then she had done just that gone out in London
onto the streets several acquaintances saw her that evening they spoke to her about what she was doing she seemed
completely fine okay you know nothing out of the ordinary yeah it wasn't until the next night February 13th a little
past 7:00 p.m. that Henry arrived home to find the dishes from the previous night's dinner still on the table and no
reply when he called out to Doris he said she never would have left the soup bowls in such dirty on the counter in
the sink she just never procrastinated that particular chore just wasn't something she would have done right and
he was even more concerned with the fact that the bedroom door their bedroom door
was locked oh now none of this was like Doris so Henry got their housekeeper next door to try to open the bedroom
door and she couldn't okay so together they called the police and very quickly Constable William Payne and his partner
arrived at the apartment and the officers ended up forcing their way into the bedroom and they found Doris and it
looked like At first she might have been still asleep in bed she was completely covered in a in a blanket and a sheet PC
Payne wrote in his report I pulled the bed clothes but slight but slightly and revealed the head of a woman pulling the
blanket even more it revealed that it was definitely Doris in bed and she was dead and she had been wearing only her
night dress and they said a tight bound stocking was around her neck under her chin pay wrote that a circular cut ran
round under the left breast and the private parts appeared slashed in fact her genitals had been
stabbed and slashed brutally and while she was alive the sheets were covered in blood oh now upon examination it was
seen that there was also a gash on her right cheek and according to Simon reeds in the dark the true the blackout Ripper
there was a 4in gash under her right breast and a large deep 6in gash that ran from just below her navl to right
above her vaginal entrance and there was another 6in deep cut on the other side of her Corine and another running up her
thigh my God and again all had bled to varying degrees so they were inflicted before during and right as she died
right it was clear that these were inflicted by someone who was also left-handed ah again so they also found
a Blood Stained razor a nail file and a pair of manicure scissors oh God yes now
a nail file yeah in his statement to the Press Scotland Yard Chief superintendent
Fred Cheryl our fingerprint extraordinaire guy he told reporters not since the Panic ridden days in 1888 when
Jack the Ripper was abroad in the East End had London known such a reign of terror now the killer appeared to
literally be ter ing through the Streets of London just killing women at an alarming rate and he was leaving
basically nothing behind cuz he wasn't bringing anything with them right now but when the reports of the tax came
from women who were escaping with their lives though there was coming descriptions of him which was helpful in
fact um Haywood had seen her attacker very up close for an extended period of time she was like of of great help right
they essentially had a a date together yeah she gave a very detailed descriptions he said he's between 25 and
26 which is insane yeah and when all is said and done it's like he's like barely
28 years old nuts and he's about 5' 8 in tall um fresh complexion Chestnut or medium brown hair wavy in front and
Frizzy at the crown brown eyes small mouth with thin lips and he was dressed in an electric blue overcoat with thin
gray lines and square check with fairly large collar and belt gray trous trousers and brown shoes okay wow good
for her I was like damn I wouldn't have been able to remember all that I don't even know what I have for breakfast
today what you may not be thinking about or you may have forgotten about though cuz you're saying okay we got a
description but he probably looks a lot like a lot of soldiers and he's wearing the uniform it's not like he's wearing
something you know we can easily identify he's got brown hair brown eyes like they similar haircuts yeah it's
like what are we going to do here but what you might not be thinking about is that heywood's attacker had an Royal Air
Force issued respirator with him all night mhm well there was a key piece of evidence left behind at the scene of her
attack stop it in his haste when he ran away from the scene he left behind that Royal Air Force issued respirator back
stop it like all military issued equipment the bag was stamped with service number 525 987 with a simple
call to the records department investigators were able to identify who this belong to 28-year-old leading
aircraftman Gordon Frederick cumins 28-year-old and what a thank goodness dumbass mistake dumb ass just left a
whole ass identification behind and thank God that that um patrol man was walking by 18 years old at least he came
to her rescue yeah seriously because in you'll see in Simon Reed's book that like some civilians that were around at
that point were like well what did she think she was getting it like they assumed she was a sex worker and they
took on the well what did she what did she expect attitude which is so shitty cuz again we say race car drivers get
into accidents sometimes but when that happens nobody sits there and says well what did they expect well they're it's a
human they're not expecting no they're not expecting to get murdered thank you for asking like I don't I don't think
they expect that no uh they also shouldn't have to exactly now to the Press public and surely some of the
investigators the murders definitely were ringing the Jack the Ripper Bell from decades earlier you know but this
new killer appeared to honestly have accomplished in a literal handful of days what Jack the Ripper had in a span
of months yeah which was even scarier that is scarier the murder of Evelyn Evelyn Hamilton had occurred on the
evening of February 8th and since then the killer had murdered at least three additional women and less than a week
and attacked multiple more um the Press reported as the circumstances of the crime bear a strong resemblance to the
murders the police are working on the assumption that these cases are linked together MH investigators were fairly
confident that the same man had done all of this and the women who had escaped him had been vital to now capturing him
now on February 15th 1942 Scotland Yard investigators brought Gordon cumins in for questioning and at the time they
only had connected him to the Haywood attack right cuz that's where they had the respirator according to cumins he
had met her at the C Cafe as she had said but he claimed that he had been out drinking with another serviceman that
night and had become very drunk so he had a hazy memory of whatever happened later that night oh wow that's crazy
that works out so well for you and he he actually said he was like oh if I if I did do what you're telling me I did like
I'm very sorry I I'll pay her like to to apologize like I'll give her money and they were like money I don't think she
want money I don't think that's going to fix the trauma but thank you so much yeah uh he was booked on a charge of
causing Grievous bodily harm which allowed for him to be held in jail and gave investigators time to look for any
connection into the other attack he was probably [ __ ] himself sh his pants later that afternoon Haywood and mahe
positively identified cumins as the man who'd attacked them but when it came to the murders he claimed he had an alibi
that could be verified by checking the logs at the barracks it turned out that the logs did show cumins as having been
on the base at the times the murders that were were committed but when pushed for further details his fellow soldiers
their loyalty wavered M um there was it seems a habit of soldiers to log in and out for other soldiers yep uh when they
wanted to get off base and they didn't get the permission to go off base that meant where the logs might have shown
him as being on base it was unreliable at best and some of them were like oh yeah I logged him in right like he
wasn't there yeah uh so meanwhile Detective Tom Shepard inspected cummins's room at the at the barracks to
see if there was anything they could connect they found a fountain pen in his pocket that had that was engraved in
Gold letters DJ Doris jene y uh he also uncovered shirts and towels with red stains on them that appeared to be blood
and cummin denied knowing how the pen was in his possession at all never saw so crazy that I have a murder victim SP
in my possession I never saw that and I don't know what those stains could be okay he didn't even have a good story to
come up with on the morning of February 17th Cummins appeared before a judge at the at the Bow Street magistrates Court
where he was formally charged for the murders of Evelyn Oley Margaret low and and Doris Jan the logs and witness
testimony at the time convincingly showed that he was in bed at the barracks on the night of Evelyn
Hamilton's murder okay so the prosecution was unable to connect him to that case at the time of his arraignment
okay so again at the time they didn't feel like they had enough to say that he was lying about being in the barracks at
that time so they didn't add her in okay so to those who knew him this arrest for
multiple murders came as a shock to people yeah Not only was he well liked and respected by his fellow Airmen but
he had even won over his superiors for his efficiency and zel to transform himself from lowly ground crew to
dashing Airmen wow and also it just makes you think like yeah these people walk among us oh yeah and this is very
much of the time this next thing because they were also baffled at the sexual assault allegations against him because
at the time when psychology and motives for sexual violence were uh very badly understood sh the idea that this man
would have to force women to engage in sex with him seemed insane to everybody like that does happen we don't all just
want to [ __ ] every man we see they it's like no yeah and it's like and they said
Not only was he married to a beautiful young woman he was married he sure was what the [ __ ] he was also known to brag
endlessly about his sexual Conquest outside of the marriage oh what a douchebag he was constantly cheating on
his wife he never seemed to have enough sex around him he was honest yeah he looks like he has a problem I mean it
was constant he would go visit and his wife was like beautiful go visit his wife have dinner with her and then be
like oh I have to get back early to the barracks and it was because he was going
out to troll for other girls and it's like you have a wife right here yeah who misses you and probably would love to
spend some intimate time with you right but for some men it's not that it's the conquest of having multiple women it
makes them feel like a king in fact he even got very close to his Lieutenant's wife like had a very close relationship
with her and there were rumors that they were having an affair that's how like Charming this guy was wow and what he's
bold very bold he's bold he gets away with you imagine Lieutenant finds that [ __ ] out he'll [ __ ] you up but and there
was always like sexual assault accusations like floating near him when he was but no one ever pinned them on
him and again thought that he would never need to force himself on any woman so of course he couldn't have done it
and this was the culmination of what was likely a long career of quietly raping and hurting women and his looks and
charm getting him out of being suspected for yeah he doesn't need to but he wants
to that's the problem everybody he was also known to be a liar and an extreme exaggerator shocking uh he' made
everyone believe that he was a quote man of high class breeding but he came from
a pretty average beginning it wasn't low he wasn't like you know in poverty but he wasn't wealthy um his father was a
civil servant his mom was a housewife okay they he had a very normal childhood that's [ __ ] no one in his family
had anything to say about him being like uh cruel anything to be concerned about
wild like his parents were literally like that's so scary he was a normal kid and like they and even he said I had a
very normal childhood there was no abuse there was nothing so scary but it happens exactly it's not the first story
we've told that's been the case he always had money on him as an adult from stealing it and he waved it around and
bragged all the time just to be a dick and but and he had also been nicknamed at different times the count and the
Duke like he was like yeah growing up he was known in school to be pretty smart but he was always focused more on
socializing than anything else same yeah and he would go that was like his whole
life he would just like he was so concerned with socializing and women and yeah and that kind of thing um and he
would pretend to be like um an aristocrat like he wanted to be a higher class yeah guy and he would even evolve
his he evolved his accent to sound posher really because he wanted to like live that life so much interesting it
reminds me of um oh I can't think of the name of that movie but um the Leonardo DiCaprio one where he's literally um
Catch Me If You Can Catch Me If You Can yes yeah which is weird because Pilots Air Force yeah that is weird yeah um but
now in court on the day of the arraignment cumins again impressed the large crowd of press and Spectators he
was dressed in his full Royal Air Force uniform and you know thinking that would
disarm people clean cut looking handsome like dashing smile um and you know he was also being
charged with the assaults on Haywood and Mahi so not great that wasn't really impressive to anybody each charge was
read for the court the prosecutor Vincent Evans provided graphic details of the crimes committed um and when they
went on to the murders they talked about the the brutality of the mutilations and
most importantly that Gordon cumins fingerprints had been found at each scene and they had officially connected
those fingerprints to the scene there's that for you guys further Evidence presented at the hearing were the
various personal items belonging to the victims like Evelyn oley's cigarette case which had been found in C's
possession following his arrest as he sat in jail awaiting trial the evidence just continued piling up against him
great among his possessions investigators found again the pen that Doris her initials were on a second
cigarette case identified by Barbara low as having belonged to her mother oh there was also a bloodstained shirt The
Blood Stained towel detectives traced the bills he had thrown at Katherine mahe to those given to him in his recent
payout wow for the time that is so [ __ ] impressive the detective work here so impressive that's incredible
Henry jene also identified a watch that cumins was carrying in his respirator case as belonging to his wife
Doris um and the like when you hear about Henry and how he reacted it breaks your heart like and Barbara with her
mother like it's really awful and I guess the investigators did do a really really good job at dealing with Margaret
Low's like profession because they said her child is school AED and is involved in this so we don't want to make a big
deal out of what she was doing for a profession like out of respect for her daughter yeah you never should which is
great wow I know and it's like that feels like weirdly Progressive for the time you know like since they treated
sex workers so horribly at the time so it like that those were interesting little tidbits that were like and they
made sure to keep her from seeing the scene they kept Henry from seeing the scene like I guess they kept him out of
the bedroom they didn't want him to see anything um just interesting little tidbits here and there but so he was
stealing trophies from these women that weren't even monetarily valuable they were just for him to relive The
Experience like these cigarette cases were not really valuable a woman's watch watch was and it was broken like it was
like a it was like an old watch he just wanted it also had um he also had a comb
from Doris like a hair comb that was missing teeth and Henry said I know that's Doris's comb because she bought
it on the street from a street vendor and it was missing teeth and I told her he even said like I her
I'll buy you like a better one and she was like no I like this one so he stole like sentimental things yeah meaningful
things which is like even more [ __ ] up it is but there was also again more fingerprint evidence found at all the
scenes and on the murder and mutilation implements and they all matched his fingerprints and Footprints were found
at at least one crime scene that matched his shoes oh wow so by the end of March
investigators finally found the crucial crucial piece of information needed to connect him to finally the murder of
Evelyn uh Hamilton while processing the gas mask recover from the scene of the Haywood attack technicians found mortar
dust inside that matched dust found at the scene of the Hamilton murder damn again
1930s holy [ __ ] or like early 40s that is detective work as for his Alibi for that night where it was like shaky that
he was in bed but they couldn't disprove it the prosecutor believe that it would
have just been fabricated like they now they could officially say it was fabricated Vincent Evans said it is
quite possible for men in that belette which is um the uh Barracks like a room in a Barracks to leave by means of a
fire escape and it is suggested that is what Cummins did on that night so that he was logged in he just escaped through
the fire escape in response to all the charges Cummins said that is ridiculous I think you are ridiculous
you are very ridiculous sir that's it that Lit ridiculous like that is ridiculous it's like ooh you tried yeah
barely yeah you tried on that one but nope no cigar his wife was equally shocked saying she couldn't imagine him
doing anything to jeopardize becoming a pilot he was so like she was like nothing like would stop him from he
didn't think it l and she said their marriage was perfect she couldn't understand he had never shown any
violence that's heartbreaking meanwhile he barely came to see her and claimed it
was because he was focused on doing his job well but really he was running around getting sex wherever he could and
forcing it on people yeah but she when she saw him it was for small periods of time and he was delightful sure yeah now
[ __ ] trial began in late April at the Old Bailey oh I know her yep however on April 24th something shocking happened
well a mistrial was declared why after the jury was incorrect given access to the wrong exhibit there were they were
given photos from another victim's crime scene guys you were doing so well that's
never happened before at the Old Bailey this was the first time wow in his instructions to the Press Justice a told
reporters as little should be said as possible as to the reasons for the discharge of the jury so as to not taint
the new jury yeah I am sure that the Press can be relied upon to treat this with every discretion the full truth
will be published later but not until this trial is over he's like you [ __ ] better sit still and
quietly so that we can actually serve some justice here he's like don't be publishing theories about why there was
a Mist trial like he's innocent like we'll let you know later but like shut the [ __ ] up on April 27th a new jury was
sworn in and the Cummins trial began again with the defendant testifying on his own behalf according to Cummins on
the evening of February 9th he had gone out for dinner and consumed a lot of drinks and didn't recall anything after
leaving the restaurant around 10: p.m. that's not a great excuse yeah but he did say however that he had never been
to Evelyn oley's apartment and he had nothing to do with her murder or the murders of the other three women how do
you know if you can't remember anything exactly cummins's defense was so [ __ ] weak and the evidence against him was so
[ __ ] overwhelming yeah so convincing on April 29th just two days after the new trial started the jury deliberated
for a little more than a half hour before coming out and saying you guilty you guilty youco you basic you basic
they came and said you're guilty of the murder of Evelyn Oley and he was sentenced to death he was sentenced to
hang under the circumstances the prosecution said we're not going to pursue the other charges let's just yeah
we already got the death penalty a month later cummins's lead defense attorney Dian Pratt pil filed an appeal on his
sentence arguing that the previous judge was quote not emphatic enough in his warning to the jury that they had to
decide the case on the evidence alone okay prad argued that the media coverage had all but confirmed that cumin was
guilty making it very difficult to get an unbiased jury MH after reviewing the evidence in the Ole case the three judge
panel said nope we're upholding the previous ruling and we're dismissing the appeal and they told reporters that they
quote unhesitatingly took the view that the evidence was overwhelming yeah it sounded like it despite the outcome of
the trial and the appear appeal he maintained that he was innocent of all charges had nothing to do with the
murders even though his fingerprints were found on all the murder and mutilation weapons uh his feet his
Footprints were at the scenes he had their possessions in his possession and blood from them on his clothes that's
crazy that he didn't but yeah yeah I don't know it's a crazy frame job that's happening here wow dude on June 25th
1942 Gordon Frederick Cummins was hanged at wadsw worth prison just as air raid sirens signaled an incom bomb run on the
city oh god well isn't that a wild coincidence well the execution of the so-called blackout Ripper brought an end
to this particular series of brutal murders in 1942 London it didn't explain why it happened or why it received such
little [ __ ] coverage yeah it's crazy that this did does not get the coverage that it deserves I just broke there
historian hiy Ruben hold uh who some of you may like have read her book she's she's gone very deeply into Jack Ripper
and his victims in particular um she also has podcasts well just don't worry I'll mention them um historian hi Ruben
hold told a reporter in 2022 the whole fabric of London was torn up and there was so much distraction the murders
passed almost under the radar yeah um there was also the matter of the victim's class status and profession y
uh like hie said the women who were killed were vulnerable some of them were sex workers people were sympathetic but
as with the women killed by Jack the Ripper there was that underlying feeling what did they expect MH until recently
again this story has gone like kind of Forgotten uh some reporters some historians have done little pieces here
and there on them but I didn't know about this yeah and Ruben hold and her partner criminologist Alice fines want
to change that whole thing just like they wanted to change how the Jack the Ripper story was told and I think they
did a great job at it uh by telling it more through the victims than through the perpetrator yeah I like that um they
have some uh podcasts about this uh it's called let me see the blackout Ripper is
the podcast that she um has done she's reporting on all the victims stories going very far into each of them I
highly recommend going to listen to it if you want to know more about this case yeah I'm going to go and listen to it
now I haven't yet but I'm I plan to now that we're over the case I want to go like dive further into it um she wrote
the and Ruben Holt said the women he assaulted had one thing in common they were all trying to make their way in a
world turned upside down by War they faced the same Danger from the bombs as men but for but the upheaval affected
them disproportionately some sold sex some didn't but their life stories meticulously explored in every episode
of the blackout Ripper create a compelling portrait of the time it's just like the Jack the Ripper case when
you look further into the victim's lives you see like so much more to the landscape of what was going on
absolutely and it gives you such a bigger picture of the whole thing than just looking at it like and they died
and they were killed by this guy right and they were a sex worker like tell me why why were they a sex worker tell me
what their lives were what the time was like yeah like I think the blackout Ripper I'm excited to listen to it
because I I can't wait to get deeper into these women's lives and you know I think she does a good job of doing that
so in her books too which will will put all the stuff in the uh show notes yeah definitely uh but that is the story of
the blackout Ripper devast fascinating horri horrific I enjoyed your coverage but um it was a lot at
times upsetting it was upsetting for sure but very fascinating story yeah especially I do feel like with the Jack
the Ripper case and this case the setting is such a key part of the story like and I like that you took the time
to explain that yeah I was I was tempted to go full Jack the Ripper with this and
like do a wild 72-page dissertation I mean you are a ripper I held back though I held back on it a little bit uh I
might revisit it again to like go even deeper into some things but this is a wild one this shocked me it's wild yeah
damn well you know look out for that this girl just look for the next one and uh with that being said we hope you keep
listening and we hope you keep it Weir weird but not so weird that you do any of this and you somehow end up with a
ton of um murder victims possessions in your possession somehow like cuz usually
when that happens you're the one that did it idiot bye don't be a dick he had fish lips he did yeah
[Music] [Music]

In February 1942, Gordon Cummins, a twenty-eight-year-old Royal Air Force Serviceman, murdered four women and attempted to murder two others over a six-day period in London, leading the press to dub him “The Blackout Ripper.”

At a time when the fear of imminent bombings was high and London was on high alert, authorities nonetheless launched an investigation and, quite remarkably, were able to catch Cummins quickly, thereby preventing any further murders; yet the question remains, how was it that a brutally violent killer manage to kill so many people in such a short amount of time and barely attract attention of the police and press?

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References Bolton News. 1942. "Is 'killer' at large?" Bolton News, February 14: 1.

Campbell, Duncan. 2010. "London in the blitz: how crime flourished under cover of the blackout." The Guardian, August 28.

Driscoll, Margarette. 2022. "Ranmpage of the Blackout Ripper." Daily Mail, November 24.

Evening Standard. 1942. "Accused of murder of 4 women." Evening Standard (London, England), March 26: 8.

Evening Telegraph. 1942. "'Killer' theory in wave of London murders." Evening Telegraph (Derby, England), February 14: 8.

Herald Express. 1942. "Cadet's defense in murder trial." Herald Express (Devon, England), April 28: 1.

Hull Daily Mail. 1942. "London murders." Hull Daily Mail, February 11: 1.

Imperial War Museum. n.d. Imperial War Museum. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-nation-at-a-standstill-shutdown-in-the-second-world-war.

Liverpool Daily Post. 1942. "Another London murder." Liverpool Daily Post, February 14: 1.

Storey, Neil. 2023. The Blackout Murders: Homicide in WW2. South Yorkshire, England: Pen and Sword.

The Citizen. 1942. "Cadet sent for trial." The Citizen (Gloucester, England), March 27: 1.

—. 1942. "'Evidence was overwhelming'." The Citizen (Gloucester, England), June 9: 8.

—. 1942. "Fresh Jury to be sworn in." The Citizen (Gloucester, England), April 24: 1.

The Times. 1942. "Airman charged with three murders." The Times (London, England), March 13: 2.

Venning, Annabel. 2017. "The Blackout Ripper; under cover of the Blitz." Mail on Sunday, January 29.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

Gordon Cummins, the Blackout Ripper, brutally murdered women in WWII London, leading to his capture and execution.

Key points

The Dark Side of Charm. A young woman is charmed by a serviceman, but things take a dark turn.
A Chilling Assault. A woman fights back against an attacker, but he proves to be too strong.
The Discovery of Doris. A husband returns home to find his wife missing, leading to a grim discovery.
The Brutality of the Murders. Doris was found dead with multiple stab wounds and mutilations, revealing a horrifying crime scene.
A Key Mistake by the Killer. The attacker left behind a Royal Air Force respirator, leading investigators to Gordon Cumins.
The Shocking Arrest. Gordon Cumins, a respected airman, was arrested for multiple murders, shocking those who knew him.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

That's awful, she was alive when most of those wounds were inflicted.

Elena's reaction to the autopsy findings.

4:28WatchJan 13, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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