Handsome Brute: The True Story of a Ladykiller (55 page)

5
. Frederick Averill, 2 July 1946, TNA HO 144/22871.

6
. Reginald Spooner, 18 July 1946, TNA HO 144/22871.

7
. Simpson,
Forty Years of Murder
, p. 126. Simpson’s assistant, Jean Scott-Dunn, who was later to become his wife, was ‘located under a hairdryer in Knightsbridge’ when she was called by the police to attend at the Pembridge Court Hotel.

8
. Finger and palm prints are available of Margery Gardner and the hotel staff, as well as photographs of fingerprints on the sink and door handle, TNA MEPO 3/2664.

9
. Reginald Spooner’s report, 18 July 1946, TNA HO 144/22871, and his review of the case on 2 October 1946, HO 144/22782.

10
. Elizabeth Wyatt, TNA DPP 2/1522.

11
. Barbara Osborne, TNA DPP 2/1522.

12
. Further statement of Alice Wyatt, 18 June 1946, TNA DPP 2/1522.

13
. Elsie Mary Ellen Thomas, 23 June 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

14
. Procter,
The Street of Disillusion
, p. 111.

15
. According to Spooner’s overview of the case on 2 October 1946, Heath told his parents that his wife had left him for another man thus ‘breaking up’ his life, TNA HO 144/22872.

16
. Reginald Spooner, 22 June 1946, TNA DPP 2/1522.

17
. Reginald Spooner, 1 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728. The list of names, addresses and telephone numbers from Heath’s address book are also held in MEPO 3/2728.

18
. Reginald Spooner’s report, 18 July 1946, TNA HO 144/22871.

19
. Dr Keith Simpson, TNA DPP2/1522. Simpson was also to claim in
Forty Years of Murder
that Margery was a masochist: ‘she liked being bound and gagged’ (p. 127). Despite there being little evidence for this, Simpson quotes Casswell’s erroneous assumption in his own autobiography of 1961 that ‘a month before her death [Margery] had been in another hotel bedroom and had only been saved from possible murder by the extremely timely intervention of an hotel detective. She had been heavily thrashed, and Heath was standing over her in an almost fiendish fashion.’ This is fully discussed in Chapter 22.

20
. Simpson,
Forty Years of Murder
, p. 124.

21
. ‘Confidential Memo to all News Editors’, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

Chapter 7

1
. ‘Offensive Started in Belgium’,
Evening Standard
, 7 June 1917.

2
. Lloyd George,
War Memoirs,
Volume IV, p. 2110
.

3
. ‘Great Battle Over Thames’,
Evening Standard
, 6 June 1917.

4
. Parents’ report to the court, 8 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.

5
. Letter from William Heath to Neville Heath, 5 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22871.

6
. Letter from Bessie Heath to Isaac Near, 6 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.

7
. Letter from William Heath to Neville Heath, 5 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.

8
. Gerald Byrne suggests that the Heaths were descended from James Heath (1757–1834), the celebrated engraver to the court of George III. This is not correct, as the Heaths are actually descended from James Heath (1787–1868) of Rumbolds Whyke in Sussex, a much more humble ancestor.

9
. See Gunby,
A Potted History of Ilford
, pp. 88–9.

10
. Title of a 1924 book about the case by E. M. Delafield.

11
. For further details of this case, see Weis,
Criminal Justice
.

12
. See Percy Clevely’s testimony in Young (ed.),
The Trial of Frederick Bywaters and Edith Thompson
, p. 18.

13
. Weis, op. cit., p. xxix.

14
.
People
, 29 October 1946.

15
. From handwritten notes by Dr Young, senior medical officer at Wormwood Scrubs, following a 55-minute interview with Heath on 6 September 1946, TNA P COM 9/700.

16
. Letter from Bessie Heath to Isaac Near, 6 October 1946, TNA HO 144/22872.

17
. Report of Dr Young, senior medical officer at Wormwood Scrubs, 17 September 1946, TNA HO 144/22871.

18
. See electoral registers for Merton 1932–1946, Merton Public Library.

19
. Rutlish School Prospectus, 1933, Rutlish School Archives, Surrey History Centre.

20
. Other than Heath, Rutlish’s most famous old boy is former prime minister, John Major (1954–9). Foreword, Brock,
Rutlish School
.

21
. ‘A Tribute to E. A. A. Varnish’ by A. J. Doig (1970), reprinted in Brock, op. cit.

22
. Conference notes between inspectors from the Board of Education and the School Governors, 10 March 1933, Rutlish School Archives.

23
. Brock, op. cit., p. 15.

24
. ‘The First Rutlish School Song’ (1916), words: John Oxenham, music: James Edward Jones, quoted in Brock, op. cit.

25
. See Brock, op. cit., p. 124.

26
. Rutlish School Prospectus, 1933, p. 14.

27
. Gibson,
The English Vice
, p. 38.

28
.
Chums Annual
, Vol. 50, 1927–8, p. 94.

29
. ‘Boys’ Weeklies’ in Orwell,
Inside the Whale and Other Essays
, p. 91.

30
. Ibid., p. 95.

31
. Ibid., p. 100.

32
. Arthur Jones quoted in Brock, op. cit., p. 85.

33
. Rutlish Archive.

34
. Brock, op. cit., p. 86. See also Cave,
Practical Exercises in Spoken English
, p. 3: ‘The final aim of all speech-training must be to open the eyes of students to their own deficiencies, and to encourage them to speak clearly, accurately and attractively.’

35
. Conference notes between inspectors from the Board of Education and the school governors, 10 March 1933, Rutlish School Archives, p. 2.

36
. In his report to the court on Heath, 5 July 1938, Varnish wrote: ‘No special aptitude. Good athletics . . . always a bit unsteady, easily influenced and exerted an upsetting influence on others. Boisterous. Lacked steady concentration on particular work for any length of time. Inclined to exaggerate to the point of lying but believing in himself.’ TNA P COM 9/700.

37
. Casswell,
A Lance for Liberty
, p. 242.

38
. ‘The Son I Knew’, Bessie Heath,
People
, 29 October 1946. The full text of this interview is given in Chapter 23.

39
. Byrne,
Borstal Boy
, p. 14.

40
. Byrne, op. cit., p. 16.

41
. Playfair and Sington,
The Offenders
, pp. 42–4.

42
. Byrne does not identify ‘Jeanette’s’ father, but later mentions that Heath was advised by Evelyn Walkden (1893–1970), the trade unionist and later MP for Doncaster. Playfair and Sington claim that their source was a ‘former Conservative MP’, but Walkden was Labour. Given that it’s unlikely for Heath to have known more than one MP who lived locally and that Walkden had a daughter (Vera) the same age as Heath, it’s possible that ‘Jeanette’ was Vera Walkden. She was questioned by the police at the time of the murders but stated that she had not seen Heath for years.

43
. Heath came closest to discussing sexual matters with Dr Young in their meeting on 10 September 1946. Young recorded that Heath ‘denies any homosexual experience. Denies masturbation or attempts by others to masturbate him. Says that he had no knowledge of sex until the age of eighteen – when pressed if he did not have some insight into it at puberty he denies it and says he does not think so – a frequent reply to many questions put to him.’ TNA P COM 9/700.

44
. ‘Antecedents of Neville George Clevely Heath alias James Robert Cadogan Armstrong’ compiled by Spooner, 20 August 1946. TNA MEPO 3/2728.

45
. Pawson & Leaf’s report to the court, 4 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700.

46
.
News of the World
, 29 September 1946.

47
. ‘I Cannot Believe I Did It’,
Sunday Pictorial
, 29 September 1946.

48
. Ibid.

49
. Bishop,
Fighter Boys
, p. 45.

50
. Ibid., p. 45.

51
. Ibid., p. 46.

52
. Ibid., p. 51.

53
.
Biggles: The Camels Are Coming
by W. E. Johns, quoted in Bishop, op. cit. p. 52.

54
. Beaton,
Winged Squadrons
, p. 45.

55
. David,
My Autobiography
, p. 12.

56
. Bishop,
Fighter Boys
, p. 59.

57
. Ibid., p. 61.

58
. Ibid.

59
. Ibid., p. 60.

60
. Ibid., p. 60: ‘Flying fighters required a particular softness of touch. Horsemen, yachtsmen and pianists, the prevailing wisdom held, made the best fighter pilots.’

61
. Ibid., p. 62.

62
. Quoted in Byrne, op. cit., p. 18, though no source is given.

63
. Capt. Allen MacNeil Dyson-Perrins, 16 July 1946, TNA MEPO 3/2728.

64
. Letter re. Pilot Officer N. G. C. Heath No. 79 (Fighter) Squadron, 3 August 1937, TNA AIR 43/10 RAF Courts Martial Book.

65
. ‘RAF Officer Not Guilty of Desertion’,
Evening Standard
, 20 August 1937.

66
. Ibid.

67
. Minterne,
The History of 73 Squadron
, p. 23.

68
. Kent,
One of the Few
, p. 45.

69
.
Evening Standard
, 20 August 1937.

70
. Ibid.

71
. Ibid.

72
.
Daily Mirror
, 21 August 1937.

73
. Arlene Blakely, 27 April 1938, MEPO 3/2728.

74
.
Daily Mirror
, 12 November 1937.

75
. Ibid.

76
. Heath’s father then started a new job, managing Faulkner’s, a hairdressing shop on the station concourse at Waterloo. This was one of a chain of hairdressing shops situated at various London railway stations which also sold locks, clothes and hosiery – last-minute purchases before taking the train.

77
.
Daily Mirror
, 12 November 1937.

78
. Probation officer’s report, 6 July 1938, TNA P COM 9/700: ‘Average intelligence and ability. Good general conduct apart from boyish pranks.’

79
. Ibid.

80
. Mrs Archdall, 24 March 1938, TNA MEPO 3/2728.