10 People Who Were Probably Wrongly Executed

7. Timothy John Evans

Timothy John Evans was accused of murdering his wife Beryl and baby daughter Geraldine after their bodies were discovered in their home in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. On 30th November 1949, Timothy Evans turned up to Merthyr Tydfill police station claiming that he had disposed of his wife's body after she had died following the consumption of a substance he had given to her to abort their unwanted child.

After the police searched their home and discovered no sign of a body, Evans was questioned again. He admitted that John Christie, their downstairs neighbour, had offered to perform the abortion but that when he returned home from work, Christie told him that Beryl had died in the process. The police discovered Beryl's body in the back garden of their home alongside the body of their daughter Geraldine. Evans was hanged on 9th March 1950 after a jury found him guilty of murdering his daughter Geraldine.

Although he was also charged with the murder of his wife, the prosecution only proceeded with the one charge against his daughter. Three years after Timothy Evans was hanged, six bodies were found at the home of John Christie, near to where both Beryl and Geraldine were found, one of whom was Christie's wife. Christie was arrested and subsequently confessed to the killing of Beryl but denied killing her daughter. He was found guilty and was hanged on 15th July 1953.