The press dubbed this killer ‘Jack the Stripper’. He was never caught but left behind a trail of bodies and struck fear in the heart of London in the Swinging Sixties. The six female victims were found undressed in or near the River Thames in 1964 and 1965. Two earlier murders, committed in 1959 and 1963, have been linked to the same perpetrator. Despite intense media interest and one of the biggest manhunts in Scotland Yard's history, the case is unsolved. All the evidence is reported to have been destroyed or lost.

The Six O’clock Knock is a Psycho Killer production.

Transcript
[Music]This podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Hello, Jacques how are you at the moment? Very well thanks Simon uh busy spinning a few plates what about you what have you been up to oh you know bit of this bit of that ducking and diving bobbing and weaving some good feedback for the valentine's day murder piece I think these uh old village murders seem to grab people's attention don't you especially with those big hitting Scotland Yard detectives descending on the place yeah especially when they return to London without finding the killer yeah there is that as well big city senior detectives they might bring some experience but not necessarily what would you say the determination to finish the job maybe they had one eye on retirement and writing those uh those lucrative memoirs what case are we looking at today Simon well today Jacques we're moving into the realm of a London serial killer who was never caught here's your briefing document ah the swinging 60s so we've gone from 1940s war weary village to the hedonism of 1960s post-war London that's about the size of it mate and this one has a real twist at the end bringing things right up to date linking it into a case right back in the 1920s so there's some time travel involved in this and guess what you could even throw in your favourite Scotland Yard team getting involved great now let's see the Hammersmith nude murders it was a series of six murders in London England in 1964 and the victims all prostitutes found undressed in or near the River Thames leading to the press giving the nickname to the killer Jacques the stripper a reference to Jacques the ripper two earlier murders committed in 1959 and 1963 have also been linked by some investigators to the same perpetrator despite intense media interest and one of the biggest manhunts in Scotland Yard’s history the case is unsolved all forensic evidence gathered at the time is reported to have been destroyed or lost yep that's about the size of it it's probably worth me giving you the names of the eight women as well and of course we never forget that in all of these cases these are real people who were deeply affected by these cases all eight women had their own hopes and dreams family and friends some of them obviously still alive so we do respect that I guess many of them were from other parts of the country that their parents probably didn't even know that they drifted into prostitution yeah exactly well none of the families ever had closure on who killed their relative or why and their names were Elizabeth Figg, Gwyneth Reese, Hannah Taylford, Irene Lockwood, Helen Barthelemy, Mary Fleming, Francis Brown and Bridget O’Hara on the 17th of June 1959 age 21 the body of Elizabeth Figg was discovered at duke's meadow in Chiswick in west London she'd been strangled her body was found at 5 10 am by police officers on routine patrol in the park on the north bank of the River Thames funnily enough this is my old stamping ground from a few years ago so I do know the locations the park had a reputation as a lover's lane and prostitutes were known to take their clients there fig's body was found on scrubland between dan mason drive and the rivers towpath that's about 200 yards west of Barnes bridge her dress was torn at the waist and opened to reveal her breasts and her underwear and her shoes were missing the pathologist concluded that she died between midnight and 2 am the following morning extensive searches failed to find her underwear black stiletto shoes or her white handbag now a police official theorized that she'd been murdered by a client in his car after removing her shoes and underwear and that these and her handbag had then remained in the car after the body was disposed off at duke's meadow the proprietor of a pub on the opposite side of the river to where fig was found said that on the night of the murder he and his wife had seen a car's headlights as it parked in that area around five past midnight shortly afterwards the lights were switched off and that was when they heard a woman scream I know this area too in fact I recently walked along the path by the Thames I think it was from cube bridge uh along to the fullest brewery at Chiswick there's pubs every mile or so along there plus parks and sports pitches it's an affluent part of west London particularly on the south of the river there's also Brentford nearby probably less affluent with more industry but I remember the river brent is also the start of the grand union canal that links London and the midlands yeah that's about the size of it of course there's been quite a lot of gentrification in that area now in the 1960s I think it was a very different kettle of fish and there were still bomb sites there for instance you know the area had a very different reputation which leads us on to the next case which was four years later so did they get anywhere with this case from 1959 well no apparently not um we'll talk about suspects later on but do you want to jump forward and do the next case I think it's um 1963 the year that Kennedy was shot yeah 29th September 1963 22 year old prostitute named of Gwyneth Reese reported missing on the 8th of November sometime later her body was found at a household refuse site on town mead road mort lake 40 Yards from the Thames towpath and approximately one mile from where Elizabeth Figg’s body was found four years earlier Reece was naked except for a single stocking on her right leg oh dear her decomposed body was it was decapitated by the council workmen before they realized what was in the refuse that they were levelling so her actual cause of death was never established okay so but this is on the other side of the river an over cube bridge so at this point there's two separate murder inquiries and they're four years apart you've got it 1959 then 1963 and then on the 2nd of February 1964 the body of Hannah Taylford was found on the Thames foreshore west of Hammersmith bridge and below linden house that's the clubhouse of the London Corinthian sailing club and it's a very exclusive area these days back in the day probably less so she'd been strangled and several of her teeth were missing oh that her underwear had been forced down her throat as well so kind of a weird scene that greeted police and then on the 8th of April 1964 the body of Irene Lockwood

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