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The Blackout Murders

Homicide in WW2

Neil R. Storey

The ‘Blackout Ripper’ Gordon Cummins killed four women on the streets of London in 1942, contributing to a surge of offences provoked by the lack of lighting and disrupted society of the Blitz years. This compendium of wartime killings includes the notorious Christie and Haig murders and the Bonnie-and-Clyde-style crime spree of Karl Hulten and Betty Jones as well as many lesser-known crimes committed around the country.

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RRP £20.00

£9.99

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Product information:
  • Publisher: Pen & Sword
  • Year: 2023
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 234pp
  • Illustrated: Yes
  • Dimensions: 164x242mm
  • ISBN: 9781399071024
  • Condition: New
  • Weight: 0.7kg
Product code:
545431
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Product information
Full publisher description
Nostalgic recollections of wartime Britain often forget that when the blackout was enforced at night in an attempt to foil Nazi bombers a crime wave, cloaked by the inky black darkness, ensued on many of our streets. There were petty crimes, robberies, sexual assaults and, as The Blackout Murders reveals, some horrific murders took place on our home front during the Second World War. Some of them still rank among the most shocking crimes in modern British history.

Some of the murders recounted within the pages of this book remain infamous, others are almost forgotten and some remain unsolved to this day. Several cases have new light shed on them from recently released archives and records uncovered by the author. Every case has been carefully selected for its reflection of wartime conditions and each one has a powerful, poignant and tragic story to tell.

Readers will gain insights into the darker narrative of our home front and learn about some of the men and women who strove to maintain law and order under the most challenging circumstances. Others innovated and developed ground-breaking forensic techniques to identify bodies, recognise if foul play had occurred and as a direct result brought murderers to justice who may otherwise have gone undetected and unpunished.

Anyone reading The Blackout Murders will never look at Britain's Home Front during the Second World War in the same way again.
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