Ten Rillington Place

What T. Storey fails to acknowledge in his slating of Kennedy's book, and his mouthing off in the style of 'The Daily Mail's' Littlejohn, is the fact that Beryl Evans Vagina contained Christie's seminal fluids and carbon monoxide in her blood, carbon monoxide being from the gas Beryl had breathed in from what Christie himself called his 'Death Machine', a device where dangerous household gas was pumped through a jar of 'Friars Balsam'.
Mr Storey have you put your name forward for chief hangman, just in case they bring back the death sentence. Try reading into Kennedy's book, instead of merely skimming the facts and making your own conclusions. How is it possible for 2 seperate killers living in the same house, to have the same method of killing, and use the same instrument of strangulation - a tie?
People wake up it is a clear and cut case, sex murderer Christie coaxed Evans into agreeing that he (Christie) perform an abortion on Evans Wife Beryl. Christie had no intentions of performing any abortion, but simply as most 'sex killers' do, wanted to preform sex on Beryl's dead body (He was a necrophiliac too!)- FFS Christie even admitted that he killed Beryl at his own trial, but would not admit the murder of the baby Geraldine, probably because he would then have to be sectioned before he hung.
If Evans was guilty why then after he was hung, did the murders continue in a similar fashion? Seriously think about it before you react. I suggest you go back and read both 'Ten Rillington Place' and the Michael Eddowes book on the same subject (Yes, another book by a do gooding liberal, with a strong sense of justice) called 'The Man on Your Conscience', you see it wasn't just Ludovic Kennedy that believed Evan's innocence.
Might I recommend that you look into a case before you comment next time Mr Storey, you will be telling us next Hitler never killed 6 million Jews!

A biased View? (3/7 people found this helpful)

It must be pointed out that Ludovic kennedy wrote this book with the specific aim of proving that Timothy Evans was innocent: he therefore tends to ignore anything which points to the opposite point of view.

Mr Justice Brabin (1966)concluded that it was unlikely that Evans killed his daugher but "more than probable" that he killed his wife. As Evans was convicted and executed for the murder of his daughter, he was pardoned.

Kennedy concludes that "no one outside the legal profession and few people wthin it now believe that Evans was guilty" No? What about Professor Keith Simpson ("Forty Year of Murder")? Gordon Honeycombe ("Murders of the Black Museum"), to mention just two.

It is unfortunate that the film of the book closely follows Kennedy's narrative, thus misleading millions of people into believing that the case is far more clear cut than it really is.

Murder told at an ass's pace (8/13 people found this helpful)

This is a story of two men, Mr. Kennedy tells us at the outset, one who loses his wife and baby to murder, is falsely accused and put to death and the other, a
vicious, pathetic, seedy serial killer. The labyrinths of the story are thus: Mr. Evans, his wife and baby rent rooms in a doll-size house in Notting Hill. In this house, on
the ground floor are Mr. Christie and his wife. An elderly man also resides here but he is away. Before the bodies of Mrs. Evans and her baby are discovered in the
wash house, Mr. Evans turns himself into the police and, although illiterate and possessing the mentality of a 10 year old, confesses twice to the murders. Later he
retracts his confession and claims that Mr. Christie committed the murders and that he confessed only to protect Mr. Christie. He explains that Mr. Christie
convinced Mr. Evans and his wife that he was an abortionist, that (against his wishes) his wife agreed to undergo Mr. Christie's treatment. Mr. Evans claims to arrive
home to find his wife dead but his baby alive. After a couple of days, Mr. Christie tells Mr. Evans that he sent the baby to a couple in East Acton and advises him to
flee London. Mr. Evans is tried, found guilty and hanged to death. Several years later, six women's bodies, including that of Mrs. Christie, are discovered at 10
Rillington Place. It becomes obvious that Mr. Evans was telling the truth and was innocent of the murders of his wife and baby. He was wrongfully put to death. His
innocence has never been reinstated by the British court.

Mr. Kennedy makes it clear that the crimes are not the only issue here. The major issue is the miscarriage of justice and the further injustice that this mistake has
never been officially acknowledged by the British authorities. Poor Mr. Evans. Even more upsetting is the knowledge that his family has to live with this.

The account of the murders of Beryl Evans and baby Geraldine is "short and sweet like an ass's gallop," as my Irish friend James likes to say. There is too much
consideration for the feelings of the police and judge. Ultimately, the question of how these lawmen could have ignored certain evidence, and tampered with the
existing evidence, becomes paramount. In this book, the authorities, even more than Mr. Christie, become the guilty party. Mr. Kennedy does a respectable job of
finding excuses for them (as indeed they seem to have found for themselves) in the basic fact that Mr. Evans, a chronic liar and emotionally confused, confessed
twice to the crimes but the tampering of evidence makes lame any justification for this misjustice. It is maddening and incomprehensible and upstages Mr. Christie,
whose story is another book in itself, totally.

It is no small point that the inside cover of this book is a map of Notting Hill in the 1950s. The neighborhood where Mr. Christie, the Evans's, Mr. Evans's mother
and sisters lived, as well as where Christie's other victims frequented, seems to play a part in understanding the emotional pitch of these people and their lives,
presenting a banal but murky background to the horrors that took place.

This is an excellent true crime account. It fascinates and enrages the reader and serves to clear the name of an innocent man who could hardly have understood what
was happening to him. The fact that one wonders about the souls of these unfortunate people, victims, criminal and lawmen, is the greatest achievement of this book.

Ludovic Kennedy

Reader Reviews:

Evans Guilty? I think not....... (2/2 people found this helpful)

A biased View? (3/7 people found this helpful)

Murder told at an ass's pace (8/13 people found this helpful)

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