The actress who vanished aboard an ocean liner | Forensic Files

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our website it was only 7 30 in the morning but 35 year old eileen field was already hard
at work as a stewardess on an ocean liner her days were kept busy looking after first
class passengers more specifically eileen's job was to see to the needs of women staying on the
b deck of the durban castle owned by the union castle line the ship was built in belfast in 1938
when world war ii broke out it was repurposed to carry troops but after the allies won it became a commercial ocean
liner again by 1947 the durban castle was sailing regularly from cape town in south africa
to the english port of southampton ferrying travellers between the two countries
to keep passengers occupied and entertained there were amenities such as a salon a shop and swimming pools on
board as well as specially organised games movie nights and dinner dances as eileen field started work on the
morning of saturday october 18 the ship was on the eighth day of its two-week voyage and about 90 miles off the west
african coast eileen hurried along a corridor on durban castle's b-deck towards cabin
126. which was occupied by a 21 year old english actress named eileen gibson better known by her stage name of gay
gibson it was eileen's job to wake a gay and bring her some orange juice eileen knocked it gently on gay's door
when there was no answer she knocked again and called out softly miss gibson there was no reply
eileen decided to try the door handle even though she knew gay locked it every night when she went to bed
to her surprise the door opened gay's cabin was small with a metal framed single bed pushed against a wall
and a porthole window four and a half feet above the cabin's floor there was also a built-in wardrobe a
chest of drawers a bedside light and two buttons gay could use to call for a steward or a stewardess
the first thing that caught eileen's eye was the bed it was disheveled and unmade
the second was the porthole which was wide open neither of these things were unusual in
and of themselves however there was no sign of gay her suitcase was open at the foot of the
bed the black silk dress she had worn to dinner the previous evening was hanging
from a hook at the end of the bed but eileen couldn't see gay's black silk pajamas or the yellow quilted
dressing gown with a zip down the front that she wore over the top of them eileen assumed the young woman must have
ducked out to the bathroom still dressed in her night clothes strangely though gay slippers sat by the chest of drawers
along with the rest of her shoes eileen left the glass of orange juice on the top of the chest and left to attend
to other duties when she returned in 20 minutes to collect the empty glass she was
surprised to find it full and exactly where she had left it there was still no sign of gay
and there was something else too looking over at the bed's rumpled sheets eileen noticed several small stains that
were the color of rust [Music] the stains on gay gibson's bedding struck eileen field as very strange
in all the times she'd spent tidying the young woman's room she'd never known her to have soiled
sheets after she left at gay's cabin for a second time eileen found a colleague who
was responsible for the ship's bathrooms and asked if they'd seen gay that morning
they hadn't eileen was growing increasingly worried she had gotten to know the young actress
relatively well during the first week of the voyage gay was travelling alone to england in
the hopes of furthering her stage career she hadn't seemed nervous or uneasy about making such a big journey by
herself instead she struck eileen as happy upbeat and healthy someone who was always pleasant to
others and never caused any trouble early on during the trip gay had confided to eileen that she was in love
with a married man who was back in south africa but it was her acting career that she
seemed most enthusiastic about eileen decided to wait a little longer before raising the alarm
when gay failed to show in the dining saloon for breakfast eileen reported her missing
a search of the ship was undertaken but gabe wasn't found anywhere fearing that she may have fallen
overboard the ship's captain ordered that the vessel be turned around so the waters could be searched
a message was also broadcast over the ship's loudspeakers asking anyone who knew where gay might be to immediately
report to the purser two passengers were particularly alarmed to hear gabe was missing
frank hopwood who worked as a procurement manager for the union castle line and an raf squadron leader named william
bray were both in their mid-40s and traveling solo the two men shared the same dining table
that gay was assigned to and had befriended her over the past week because gay was a young woman traveling
alone they saw it as their responsibility to look out for her gay had mentioned how she had heart
trouble that prevented her from playing the deck games other passengers took part in
frank also thought she seemed sad and tired at times the previous night frank and william had
escorted gay to one of the ship's dinner dancers with just 250 passengers the ship was
less than a third full and gay was the youngest on board most of the others in first class were
aged in their 40s or above the 21 year old gay attracted a lot of attention in her black evening gown
silver shoes and auburn hair worn in a stylish bob lots of men asked to dance with her
throughout the evening after leaving the dance gay sat with frank and william in the first class
smoke room until it closed it was a warm night as the ship sailed along the west african coast so gay
decided to have a swim in one of the pools she went to her cabin to fetch her bathing suit
but couldn't find it disappointed she rejoined frank and william on the deck and the trio chatted
until 12 40 am then frank escorted gay to her cabin wishing her a good night and sweet
dreams before departing her failure to appear at breakfast that morning worried both men
when they heard the loudspeaker announcement their concern only grew the captain also radioed other ships in
the vicinity notifying them that a woman was believed to have gone overboard on the durban
castle and asking that they keep a lookout for her the ship was steered back and crew
members spent about an hour searching the waters for any sign of gay they found nothing
captain arthur padie knew that even if gay had still been alive when she went overboard she couldn't survive in the
north atlantic ocean for that long the water was freezing and home to enormous sharks
the elderly woman who occupied the cabin next door to gays was asked if she had heard anything suspicious the night
before she said she'd been woken in the middle of the night by a crashing sound right
outside her door as though a metal tray had fallen to the ground but she never heard any voices
it occurred to captain petey that perhaps gay hadn't fallen overboard at all maybe she had been the victim of a crime
he ordered her cabin locked and set the ship back on course before beginning a rudimentary investigation
one by one passengers and crew members were summoned to his office to share what they knew about the situation
frank hopwood and william bray explained how gay had retired to her cabin at around 12 40 am
but a boson's mate reported seeing her about 20 minutes later he had been supervising the swabbing of
the decks and noticed the gay standing by a rail smoking a cigarette and still wearing her evening gown
he warned her that her feet could get wet if she stayed where she was so she moved along
that hadn't been the last time gay was sighted a 39 year old night watchman named fred
steer had been on duty the previous night at around 3am he was busy in the first
class pantry when he heard bells ringing for assistance upon investigating he saw that both the
red and green lights were flashing this indicated that a passenger had pressed two buttons in their cabin
one to summon a steward and another first stewardess fred was baffled usually a passenger called for just one
crew member requesting two was highly unusual fred walked along the port side corridor
looking to see which cabin the lights were coming from he followed them to cabin 126
gay gibson's cabin it was located at the end of a small alleyway this section of the ship was sparsely
occupied a woman in her 70s was staying in the cabin next to gays but the other neighboring rooms were empty
fred knocked on the door of gay's cabin there was no response so he carefully tried opening it
the door swung inwards which was strange gay always made a point of locking it when she went to bed
it had opened about two inches wide when fred heard a man's voice say it's all right
then the door slammed close but not before fred caught a glimpse of someone inside
a black-haired man had been standing in the darkness facing the door fred recognized him right away
thirty-year-old death steward james cam had a reputation as a ladies man some of the other crew members nicknamed
him don jimmy has a play on the name of the infamous womanizer don juan although cam had a wife and young
daughter back in england that didn't prevent him from taking a keen interest in the women he served as passengers
described as handsome and charming cam had served in the merchant navy reserve during world war ii then joined the
union castle fleet in 1946 he liked the easy tasks of being a deck steward his roles included organizing games for
passengers and serving them food and drinks tips were easy to come by and the manual
labor was minimal multiple crew members had reported seeing cam take an interest in gay
gibson now fred steer was reporting that he'd seen cam in gay's cabin at 3 am the
night she vanished dexterites were not permitted to enter passengers rooms at any time let alone
in the middle of the night after seeing cam slam gay's door shut fred hurried back to the pantry and told
his superior what had happened the two men walked over to gay's cabin together and stood outside for about
five minutes listening quietly they heard nothing and there was no sign of cam ultimately it was decided that it wasn't
their place to interfere with the passengers private life and the matter was left alone
upon learning this information captain padi knew that he had to speak with the james cam immediately
when cam arrived at the captain's office petey wasted no time in asking him do you know why this first class
passenger is missing cam no sir cam replied captain petey kept fred steers siding to
himself but informed cam that he was suspected of being near gay gibson's cabin cam adamantly denied this stating
i know the rules and i obey them he had gone to bed at 12 45 and didn't leave his room until it was
time to get up for work in the morning [Music] cam did acknowledge that he'd gotten to
know gay quite well over the first week of the voyage the pair had chatted from time to time
and cam said that gay seemed to show quote a preference for my services by asking him to deliver drinks to her
cabin on several occasions two nights earlier he'd sent a tray with a large glass of rum to her room but he
later noticed that she hadn't touched it the next day he ran into her and teased
her about not drinking the rum saying i have a bone to pick with you and a big one at that
somewhat reassured that cam might be telling the truth captain petey asked if he had any reason to believe that gay
might be depressed beneath her outwardly upbeat exterior cam paused before telling the captain
how gay had mentioned she was in love with a married man back in johannesburg quote
she said she was crazy about him and complications had set in i asked her real free like i told you
she was friendly towards me what she meant she said she suspected she might be going to have a baby
[Music] this was not the first time cam had spoken to a colleague about gay gibson
being pregnant stewardess eileen field had encountered him in the pantry several days before
the young actress disappeared as eileen handed over a tea tray that she had just collected from gay's cabin
cam said miss gibson is three months pregnant by a married man eileen who didn't believe this for a
second told cam off for spreading rumors about a female passenger he replied that gay had told him that
herself [Music] eileen had strong suspicions that cam had taken an interest in gay
on one occasion eileen found cam on b deck the area where gay's cabin was and where dexterids were not permitted to be
when he commented that gay hadn't had her tea that day eileen responded if i find you in the vicinity
of miss gibson's cabin i will report you to the chief steward one morning eileen collected a tray from
gay's room and saw there were two used teacups she had no idea who the second cup
belonged to based on witness accounts it was clear something had happened to gay in the
very early morning between the time her cabin's call buttons were pressed at 3 am to when eileen field attended her
cabin at 7 30 am when captain padi spoke to james cam's cabin mate he disagreed with a crucial detail in
cam's version of events cam had claimed he was in bed by 12 45 but his fellow crew member had retired
at 1am and cam was nowhere to be seen when he was told about this discrepancy cam changed his story
he'd been working until one o'clock and then he went out to a deck where he sat and smoked for a while
he dozed off and when he woke he went to bed properly by that time it was about 2 a.m
despite cam's firm denials captain pedy informed him that he was a suspect in gay's disappearance and would have to be
examined by the ship's doctor as a matter of protocol cam agreed the doctor had cam remove his clothes
he didn't have any bruises or strange marks but the doctor did notice some light scratches on his left shoulder and
wrist these looked old as though they'd been there for a few days cam explained that he'd scratched
himself due to the humid tropical weather however on the back of cam's neck and on
his right forearm were more scratches the ones on his neck were very thin they didn't look like the work of human
fingernails they looked more like scratches made by a cat cam said they had been left by a
particularly rough towel he'd used to dry himself the wounds on cam's arm looked the most
suspicious there were about 12 of them all about half an inch long and very fresh looking
cam claimed that these two were caused by him scratching himself but to the doctor they looked quote
suggestive of violence police in england were notified of gay's disappearance and detectives from
scotland yard made preparations to board the ship as it approached the uk in the meantime
james cam resumed his duties gay gibson's cabin was deemed a crime scene its porthole was closed and the
door padlocked to preserve any evidence inside exactly one week after gay went missing
the durban castle anchored off the isle of wight and two detectives from scotland yard boarded
they made their way to cabin 126 to inspect gay's last known location her belongings lay scattered throughout
including her hairbrush and a book she had been reading five letters of introduction to british
theaters and acting agents were discovered stashed in a small leather bag gay suitcase detectives found a tube of
spermicidal jelly and a diaphragm which was unused these two items are used by women as a
means to prevent pregnancy once the ship arrived at southampton the cabin was dusted for prince
a palm print was discovered on the back of the door an examination of the porthole revealed
tiny wisps of fabric around its edges gaze bedding was removed so the stains could be forensically tested
investigators found urine on the sheets as well as type o blood james cam was immediately escorted to
southampton police headquarters for a formal interview for the past week he'd been maintaining
the same story he'd become friendly with gay while serving her on board but he hadn't been
to her cabin since the beginning of the trip after his crewmates reminded him he
wasn't permitted to attend to passengers in their rooms cam was left to wade in an interrogation
room for almost 12 hours detectives hoped that the time alone would make him anxious and more inclined
to confess when they finally went in to speak with him he continued to deny knowing anything about what happened to
gay finally after more than an hour of back and forth a detective remarked i don't want to go through all your
movements again based on our inquiries i have now established you were in miss gibson's
cabin that night at that moment cam realized that fred steer must have recognized him when he opened the cabin
door and identified him to investigators then he asked a strange question does this mean i murdered her
will i be charged with murder [Music] cam was informed that it would entirely depend on the circumstances involved
with his interviewing detective stating you may be able to give a reasonable explanation of the cause of her death
and we will give great consideration to what you say there was a long silence [Music]
then cam looked directly at the detective and said i want to tell you something at 11 on the night of friday october 17
cam decided to ask a gay if she wanted some lemonade with her glass of rum that evening
he found her in her cabin searching for her bathing suit he knew he shouldn't be there but he
approached her anyway he asked gay if she'd like some lemonade that night but she declined
then cam asked do you know what i've got a good mind to get a drink and join you later
please yourself said gay then she went back upstairs to rejoin her friends as cam described it the two had
essentially organized the date cam left the rum outside a gay's cabin he returned at around 1am and knocked on
the door there was no answer he left and went back again an hour later this time gay answered his knock by
inviting him to come in cam stepped into the cabin closing the door behind him but leaving it unlocked
gay was lying in bed wearing her yellow quilted dressing gown the two began to chat
then cam climbed into the single bed alongside gay cam told the investigators that the two
started having sex with gay's consent suddenly gay clutched at cam and froze seconds later her body fell entirely
limp her eyes glazed over and there was froth dotted with specks of blood in the
corners of her mouth terrified cam leapt out of bed it looked to him as though gay had
fainted he began trying to resuscitate her to no avail gay remained lifeless then there was a knock at the door
it was fred steer responding to the call for a steward and stewardess cam had no idea how the call buttons
came to be switched on he had impressed them and he didn't think a gay had either accidentally or
otherwise cam slammed the door in fred's face then bolted it now he was panicking
somehow gay had accidentally died during intercourse and he would be in trouble when she was found
his only thought was that he had to get rid of her body cam yanked open the porthole and lifted
the gay who was still wearing her dressing gown then pushed her out of the 42 centimeter
diameter opening she fell 25 feet into the atlantic ocean below then cam quietly let himself out of the
cabin and crept off to his own bed detectives didn't believe james cam's story for a second
they were certain he had assaulted and strangled gay gibson then callously disposed of her to cover up his crimes
despite having no body they made the decision to charge cam with murder when informed of the charges against him
he exclaimed my god i didn't think it would be as serious as this detective constable mindan plumley was
later asked to have cam signed the official type-written version of his statement
he paid a visit to cam in the cell where he was being held and came back with a shocking story
apparently cam had made a second more deeming confession following some slight prompting
according to plumlee cam told him he often visited the cabins of female passengers and said they welcomed to the
attention he also admitted to strangling gay then added that when he pushed her through the porthole
she made a hell of a splash [Music] detectives began building their case for trial
the palm print recovered from gay's cabin door was confirmed to belong to james cam
but this meant little in the way of forensic evidence as he had admitted to entering her room on multiple occasions
the blood found on gay's sheets was presumed to be hers as it was a different type to cams
the best evidence they had was the statement from cam himself although he was denying murder he was a
proven liar who only admitted to being in gay's room on the night in question when he realised a witness had
identified him detectives were confident that a jury would agree with them and convict cam
the courts moved quickly within a month cam's committal hearing had already taken place and he was
ordered to stand trial for the murder of gay gibson [Music] cam's defense attorney was joshua
caswell a renowned legal mind who had successfully defended dozens of clients caswell was horrified by camm's decision
to throw a young woman's body out into the open sea but was inclined to believe his client
was innocent of murder if cam had intended to assault and kill gay then why hadn't he locked the cabin
door behind him when the night watchman was summoned he was able to push the door open
cam had slammed it shut in response and only then did he lock it there were also significant doubts that
cam's second confession to detective constable minden plumley had ever been made
it turned out that the detective had a history of using dubious methods to obtain confessions from suspects
plumley was also suspected of leaking information about the case to the media he quit the police force in january 1948
just a couple of months after working the gay gibson case though he denied his resignation was in
any way related to that investigation in order to defend his client joshua caswell decided he would need to look at
gay gibson's life more closely is there something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from
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to sign up for your trial [Music] during world war ii gay gibson enlisted in the female section of the british
army and performed with an acting troop that staged shows for soldiers she continued to pursue her acting
ambitions after the war receiving both major and minor roles in various plays when her father relocated to cape town
for work gay and her mother decided to join him gay arrived in south africa in march
1947 but soon left cape town for johannesburg as there were more acting opportunities
there by july she had been given the lead female role in a play called golden boy
during the weeks and months she spent rehearsing and performing she came to know some of her fellow cast members
very well james camm's defense team were eager to find out more about gay's life in
johannesburg so they traveled to south africa to interview people who had known her
doreen mantle was a young actress who shared a dressing room with gay during golden boy's run
she told cam's attorneys that gay had been friendly and kind but somewhat sickly
she'd seen gay faint during rehearsals the skin around her mouth had turned blue and saliva had collected in the
corners of her lips other witnesses said they had seen similar things gay had fainted at a party in a car and
while out in public she was perceived as physically weak and at times those involved in the
production had been worried that she wouldn't be able to perform one actor and the place producer said
she'd told them that she had a chest complaint and suffered from asthma cold weather was particularly
problematic for her some also described gay as neurotic highly strong and prone to emotional
outbursts sometime in august gay spoke with a doctor who was the wife of the play's
producer telling her that her period was two weeks late the doctor reassured her that this
didn't mean she was pregnant and suggested she started using a diaphragm if she was sexually active
doreen mantle claimed that gay had been romantically involved with a fellow actor named mike abell who was married
she'd seen the two arguing at a cast party and said gay had accused mike of getting her pregnant
mike told a different story he said that he and gay were just friends she had confided in him that she was
pregnant and asked for money so she could travel to england for an abortion but he couldn't afford to help her
when he asked who the father was gay just laughed the truth of their relationship is
unknown by the end of the month gay had fallen in love with a 33 year old man named charles schwentofsky whose
wife was back in england he doted on gay sending her flowers and buying her clothes
after the season of golden boy concluded in september the cast and crew were preparing to take
the show to another city when something unexpected happened gay wanted to cancel her contract so she
could travel back to england and chase her acting dreams on a bigger stage charles paid for gay's ticket home on
the durbin castle and she left for southampton within a matter of weeks some have speculated that gay's abrupt
departure wasn't motivated by a career move but an unplanned pregnancy it's been suggested that she needed to
get back to england to have an abortion but the letters of introduction found amongst her belongings do point to gay
looking to further her acting dreams upon arriving in the uk in addition to the south african
witnesses the defense found people who said gay had been unwell during her time in the armed forces
on one occasion she was found lying in bed her back arched as she clutched her chest and gasped for air
her tongue was caught at the back of her throat a junior officer assisted gay by tilting
her head forward and an ambulance was called gay later explained to the officer that
she'd had another turn joshua caswell was building a theory gay gibson had suffered from some sort
of heart condition that had caused her to suddenly die during consensual intercourse with cam
doreen mantle was asked to travel to england so she could be a witness at cam's trial
although she was eager to help her father talked her out of doing so but mike able agreed to testify
as did a number of others who had seen gay's bouts of illness the trial began at the great hall of
winchester castle on march 18 1948 exactly five months after gay gibson had disappeared
by now the case was a media sensation and had been dubbed the porthole murder a murder trial without a body was a
highly unusual turn of events and the case was made even more notorious by the glamorous status of the victim and the
scandalous claims being made by the defendant hundreds of spectators queued for hours
for seats in the gallery a model of the cabin was constructed to stand in the castle's great hall as a
prop complete with a bed and the porthole the defense presented their argument that gay gibson had died accidentally
during a consensual sexual encounter they portrayed gay as a promiscuous young woman who had possibly been
pregnant to a married man their expert witnesses included a doctor who told the court that cam's story was
entirely plausible from a medical point of view the urine and blood on her sheep could
have resulted from a natural death and the defendant's description of the way gay's body stiffened then fell limp
sounded like heart failure precipitated by lung congestion a forensic pathologist also agreed with
this assessment he suggested that gay might have died from an asthma attack a brain aneurysm
or some kind of heart disease the fact that people who knew gay had testified to seeing her faint and turned
blue around the mouth suggested she might have had a heart problem additionally the pathologist didn't
think the scratches on cam's body looked like defensive wounds cam had no injuries to his hands or
thumbs the locations where a victim would be most likely to scratch someone who was
strangling them the scratches to his forearm looked too high up james cam took the stand to share his
version of events yet again however this time he added another detail that he hadn't mentioned before
gay had been naked beneath her dressing gown while steadfastly insisting that he had
never knowingly harmed gay he acknowledged that his snap decision to dispose of her body through the porthole
had been beastly conduct the prosecution presented the court with an entirely different theory
james cam had killed gay gibson after she rejected his advances during the struggle she scratched her
attacker and pressed the call buttons in her cabin summoning the night watchman terrified his crime would be uncovered
cam then pushed her either dead or unconscious body through the porthole the prosecution pointed to the
contraceptive devices that had been recovered from gay's luggage if she had agreed to have sex with cam
then why hadn't she made use of these the fact that gay's elderly neighbour in the next cabin had heard a crash in the
middle of the night suggested there might have been a struggle and if gay had died of natural causes
then why hadn't cam just left her in bed before sneaking out of her room there would have been no evidence that
pointed to him having harmed her unless her neck was bruised from where cam had choked her
gay's mother ellen gibson was called to give evidence she denied that her daughter had
relationships with married men saying that her only love was her career ellen described gay as one of the finest
types of english womanhood she insisted that charles schwanntowski was never gay's lover he was just a
business acquaintance who was happy to lend a gay some money to finance her acting ambitions
when cam's attorney asked do you know she was telling everybody she was pregnant
ellen replied no my daughter and i were very close friends we never had any secrets from each other
although numerous other individuals had claimed they'd seen gay faint and struggled to breathe on occasion
ellen said the only health complaint gay ever had was an ear infection a renowned pathologist presented a
different opinion to the defense experts he believed the urine on gay's sheets indicated she had involuntarily wet the
bed as she was being choked in his professional experience loss of bladder control was a symptom typically
exhibited by victims of strangulation just before they died it wasn't seen as often in those who
suffered heart failure when their chance came to cross-examine james cam the prosecution wasted no time
in challenging each and every one of his claims they pointed out that he had lied to his
fellow crew members and to police for eight days before sharing the story he was now standing by
steadfastly denying he had been with gay on the night in question cam couldn't explain why he'd decided to
dispose of gay's body other than to say he had panicked in the moment he also couldn't answer how the call
buttons came to be pushed then the prosecution honed in on one key factor in particular
gay gibson's missing belongings only two items had vanished from gay's cabin along with her
a pair of black silk pajamas and the yellow quilted dressing gown she wore over the top of them
cam had made reference to the gown but never mentioned the pajamas if gay had been naked under her gown as
cam had only just revealed during his testimony then where were her pyjamas [Music]
the prosecution theorised that gay had been wearing them as per usual but cam was unaware of this because she fought
him off while wearing her gown fully zipped up he never removed her gown before pushing
her through the porthole so he hadn't realised she was wearing anything underneath
[Music] perhaps he'd made the split-second decision to tell the court she was naked
because it made his story of a planned romantic rendezvous sound more believable
the trial wrapped up within four days and the jury retired to deliberate within 45 minutes they had reached a
verdict james cam was found guilty of murder shocked gasps were heard from the gallery
when cam was asked if he had anything to say he replied i was asked at the start of my trial if
i were guilty and i pleaded not guilty i plead not guilty now the judge then sentenced him to death by
hanging britain's compulsory punishment for murder at the time but within several weeks of his
conviction kim's fate was thrown into question when the house of commons passed a motion suspending the death
penalty a new criminal justice bill had been tabled which would see capital punishment abolished if passed into law
in the meantime all death row prisoners would receive a reprieve camp's sentence was commuted to life in
prison [Music] although cam had been convicted people continued to speculate as to whether he
was guilty or innocent the case was hotly debated in the media and the gay gibson's pajamas were
regarded as the vital clue that could solve it once and for all in may 1948 three months after the trial concluded a
34 year old man entered a police station in the town of cheltenham and announced
that he had crucial information to share a week earlier the man had been sitting
in a pub when he struck up a conversation with a young researcher for the bbc named john langham
the two chatted about the government's recent moratorium on the death penalty and soon the subject of gay gibson and
the james cam arose john langham informed the man that he knew gay hadn't been wearing the pajamas
when she died because they were currently in the possession of his dentist during a dental appointment the dentist
told langham how he had been on the same voyage as gay and occupied the cabin next door to her
the two had become friendly and gay paid him a visit the night before her death they had sex and she left her black
pajamas behind by accident to prove his story the dentist showed langem the pajamas but refused to go
public saying that he feared what that would do to his business and personal life
the man told the police he didn't know the dentist's name or address but suggested they obtained them from
langham a detective took down his statement but thought little of it this individual was already known to
them and although he could carry on a decent conversation he was believed to have quote
some slight mental disorder his story wasn't taken too seriously although john langham was indeed a
researcher at the bbc in the years that followed he became a well-known presenter for the broadcaster
in 1965 he took his own life at the age of 40. more recently crime writer anthony brown
began digging into the gay gibson case and decided to investigate the man's story
through examining passenger records he discovered that there was in fact a 43 year old dental surgeon traveling alone
on the durban castle at the same time as gay gibson the man's cabin number wasn't available
but brown concluded it was unlikely he occupied the one next daughter gay as her only known neighbor was an elderly
woman moreover if gay had left her pajamas in another passenger's cabin then stewardess eileen field would have
noticed them missing a day earlier if a dentist that did indeed claim to have slept with gay and kept her pajamas
then it seems probable that he made this story up not long after his conviction james cam filed an appeal and a lost
it was only then that some new information came to light cam had always been viewed by his fellow
crewmates as a ladies man who saw no problem with cheating on his wife in reality he was a sexual
predator in september 1947 alice not her real name set sail on the durban castle
alice was a young nanny who was traveling to south africa with her employer during the voyage she became friendly
with dexter james cam one day the two arranged to meet on the ship's promenade deck
when alice arrived cam directed her towards a storage cabin as he followed behind carrying two drinks
they stepped inside the cabin and cam locked the door behind them the pair sat side by side on deck chairs
and chatted for a little while suddenly cam was looming over alice he said that he wanted to kiss her
alice refused then told kim she had to go he demanded a kiss before she left but
alice declined again the next thing she knew she was kneeling on the floor the back of her neck was pressed against
the deck chair she'd been sitting in moments earlier and her head was being pushed down on its seat
cam was kneeling next to her one hand clasping the back of her neck the other gripping her throat
he was strangling her time seemed to rush by as alice struggled to comprehend what was
happening eventually kim stopped and let her go alice was distraught her mouth was bleeding and she could see
her own blood smeared on the white collar of cam's uniform his face was drenched in sweat
he apologized and said he couldn't understand what came over him but he hoped she would stay quiet
for her sake as well as his own alice raced back to her cabin when she looked in the mirror she saw
that her eyes were bloodshot and her face had turned purple she confided in a friend about the
attack before going to see the ship's doctor several days later her eyes remained red and bruised for
some time when she later showed cam what he had done to her he remarked good god i did not think your eyes would
come up like that four days after this attack briana not her real name decided to have a nap one
afternoon like alice brianna was a passenger on the durban castle and aged in her late
teens she was traveling with her aunt but staying in her own private cabin at about 2 30 pm she went to her room
and shut the door without locking it then fell asleep on her bed it wasn't long before something suddenly
woke her james cam was kneeling beside her brianna recognized him despite being a crew member he had
always been very forward and overly familiar referring to her by her first name frightened brianna quickly moved to get
up cam pushed her back down onto the bed then he laid down on top of her pressing
his weight against her brianna struggled but he was too heavy cam grabbed her shoulders and began to
kiss her he grabbed her chest and tried to remove some straps that were keeping her shorts
on eventually brianna succeeded in pushing him off her she told him her aunt was in the very
next cabin then knocked on the wall this appeared to unsettle cam he stood and said he would fetch her
some tea then left brianna was humiliated by the attack she told a male friend and the assistant
purser but decided not to take it further approximately two weeks later another adolescent was assaulted by cam on board
the durbin castle on the evening of october 6 christine not her real name attended a dinner
dance as she was dancing with an officer cam approached and told the officer that the
band wanted to pack up for the night christine and the officer parted ways with christine going to her cabin
she fell asleep only to wake up about an hour later at 12 30 am cam was standing by her bed
he apologized for stopping the dance explaining that officers were not permitted to dance with passengers
christine retorted that he wasn't allowed in her cabin either cam just laughed and sat on her bed
then he put his arms around christine and kissed her ignoring her protests she managed to pull away and turned from
him burying her face in a pillow she was too scared to scream cam sat in silence for several minutes
before he got up and left twelve days later gay gibson went missing after cam's arrest all three women filed
affidavits with south african police who passed them on to their counterparts in
southampton however these incidents were not raised during cam's trial as they were considered
prejudicial they only became public knowledge when a newspaper published a story about them
after kim's appeal was quashed during his time behind bars cam was considered a model prisoner
he never caused any problems for the prison staff and after serving just 11 years of his sentence it was decided he
should be released on licence cam left wakefield prison in september 1959 by this time he was 42 years old and his
wife had divorced him a few weeks later he shared his story with the sunday pictorial newspaper
an article written in the first person told his version of events on the night that gay died
just as he had for years cam described a consensual sexual encounter followed by gay's sudden and
unexpected death but this time he added a few details he'd never mentioned before
he claimed that gay had scratched his arms during sex and said he had accidentally knocked the cabin's call
buttons when turning on the overhead light author anthony brown has noted that the
switch for this light was not located anywhere near the call buttons cam also claimed that gay had arched her
back during her apparent heart failure a detail he never mentioned before but which echoed testimony provided by
an officer who had witnessed the spasm gay experienced while in the armed forces
the article concluded with cam's graphic description of how he had squeezed gay's
body through the cabin's small porthole the sunday pictorial paid cam two and a half thousand pounds for his story
the equivalent of fifty thousand pounds or ninety one thousand australian dollars in today's money
cam changed his name to james clark and got work as a head waiter some time later he sexually assaulted a
13 year old girl despite being convicted of this crime he was only given two years probation
after this period was up he relocated to scotland and began working at a hotel one night in 1971 he broke into a room
where three 11 year old girls were staying the trio were travelling as part of a
school trip the incident led to cam being charged with sexual misbehavior and he was sent
back to prison he was released yet again in 1978 only to die one year later at the age of
62. gay gibson's death at sea has inspired novels and even a radio series over the years numerous authors and
legal experts have debated cam's guilt or innocence in 2018 crime writer anthony brown
examined the story as part of a cold case series he has published he gained access to the case's full and
original police files through the hampshire constabulary history society which allowed him to write the most
detailed account of gay's death to date his book titled death of an actress reproduced official documents verbatim
and shared new details that had been missed in earlier investigations brown doesn't believe that gay was
murdered nor does he believe she consented to sex with cam and died of natural causes
his theory is that cam assaulted gay and accidentally killed her cam had been attacking teenage girls
regularly in the lead-up to gay's death and choked at least one other victim cam always attacked his other victims
when they were fully clothed making it entirely plausible that he didn't remove gay's dressing gown and never realized
she was wearing pajamas underneath during the attack gay pressed the call buttons which went unnoticed by cam
[Music] brown has speculated that the small cat-like scratches on cam's neck may
have been caused by gay defending herself with her hairbrush and scraping him with the bristles
the lack of defensive wounds on cam's hands indicates to brown that he may have inadvertently killed gay during an
assault rather than strangled her his heavy weight bearing down on gay exacerbated her breathing problems in a
cabin that was already humid due to the tropical climate brown believes gay was suffering from
some kind of heart disease as suggested by those who had seen her fall ill on multiple
occasions he hoped the question of her health would be answered once and for all by dna evidence as some strands of
gay's hair remained intact on her hairbrush even decades later but experts have advised that due to the
age and scarcity of the hair samples such testing shouldn't be undertaken until there are further advancements in
dna technology when cam was arrested he asked police officers does this mean i murdered her
and later remarked my god i didn't think it would be as serious as this brown points to these odd remarks as
further evidence that cam may have unintentionally killed gay five days before she died eileen gay
gibson penned a letter to her parents back in south africa in it she detailed her plans for when
the ship docked in southampton she had already investigated which train to catch in order to reach london and
contacted a hotel to request accommodation once settled she would begin the next
exciting chapter of her life by connecting with various theatres and acting agents
gay noted how few passengers there were on the voyage describing the durban castle as a ghost ship
but overall she was having a pleasant time she spent her days dozing either in a
deck chair in the sun or in her private cabin the fellow passengers she was dining
with were kind to her and she was very well looked after by the cabin crew overall it was a lovely journey
the only thing she was missing were her parents signing off eileen gay gibson wrote the
words wish you could share this comfort with me you're loving eileen [Music] [Music]
you

Case 184: Gay Gibson Early on the morning of October 18 1947, a stewardess working on the ocean liner Durban Castle discovered something strange. The cabin belonging to an actress named Gay Gibson was empty...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn

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Brief Summary

The episode details Gay Gibson's disappearance on the Durban Castle and the trial of steward James Cam for her murder.

Key points

Eileen's Morning Routine. Eileen Field, a stewardess, starts her day on the Durban Castle, attending to passengers.
The Mysterious Disappearance. Actress Gay Gibson goes missing during a voyage, sparking a frantic search.
James Cam's Alibi. Steward James Cam claims he was in bed when Gay disappeared, but evidence suggests otherwise.
Cam's Confession. Cam admits to a shocking act after Gay's sudden death.
Witness Testimonies. Witnesses describe Gay's health issues, raising questions about her death.
The Trial Begins. The trial for Gay Gibson's murder begins amidst media frenzy.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's downright exhilarating.

0:24WatchAug 14, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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