John Haigh

John George Haigh (24 July 1909 – 10 August 1949), commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine.

Haigh battered to death or shot his victims and disposed of their bodies using sulphuric acid before forging their signatures so he could sell their possessions and collect large sums of money.

His actions were the subject of the television film A Is for Acid.

John Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and raised in the village of Outwood, West Riding of Yorkshire.

His parents were engineer John Robert Haigh and his wife Emily (née Hudson), members of the Plymouth Brethren, a conservative Protestant sect.

He was an only child.

Haigh later claimed that he suffered from recurring religious nightmares in his childhood.

He developed great proficiency at the piano, which he learned at home.

He was fond of classical music and often attended concerts.

Haigh won a scholarship to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, then to Wakefield Cathedral, where he became a choirboy.

After school, he was apprenticed to a firm of motor engineers.

After a year, he left that job and took jobs in insurance and advertising.

Aged 21, he was dismissed after being suspected of stealing from a cash box.

After being fired he moved on to forging car documents.

On 6 July 1934, Haigh married 23-year-old Beatrice 'Betty' Hamer.

The marriage soon disintegrated.

The same year that Haigh was jailed for fraud, Betty gave birth while he was in prison, and she placed the baby girl for adoption and left Haigh.

Haigh's family ostracised him from then onwards.

Haigh moved to London in 1936, and became chauffeur to William McSwan, a wealthy owner of amusement arcades.

He also maintained McSwan's amusement machines.

Thereafter he pretended to be a solicitor named William Cato Adamson with offices in Chancery Lane, London; Guildford, Surrey; and Hastings, Sussex.

He sold fraudulent stock shares, purportedly from the estates of his deceased clients, at below-market rates.

His scam was uncovered by someone who noticed he had misspelled Guildford as "Guilford" on his letterhead.

Haigh received a four-year prison sentence for fraud.

Haigh was released just after the start of the Second World War; he continued as a fraudster and was sentenced to several further terms of imprisonment.

Regretting that he had left victims alive to accuse him, he became intrigued by French murderer Georges-Alexandre Sarret, who had disposed of bodies using sulphuric acid.

Haigh experimented with field mice and found that it took only 30 minutes for the body to dissolve.

Haigh was freed from prison in 1943 and became an accountant with an engineering firm.

Soon after, by chance, he encountered his former employer William McSwan in a Kensington pub.

McSwan introduced Haigh to his parents, Donald and Amy.

McSwan worked for them by collecting rents on their London properties, and Haigh became envious of his lifestyle.

On 6 September 1944, McSwan disappeared.

Haigh later admitted he had lured McSwan into a basement on Gloucester Road, hit him over the head with a lead pipe, and then put his body in a 40 impgal drum with concentrated sulphuric acid.

Two days later, finding that McSwan's body had mostly dissolved, Haigh emptied the drum into a manhole.

He told McSwan's parents that their son had gone into hiding in Scotland to avoid being called up for military service.

Haigh then began living in McSwan's house and collecting rent for McSwan's parents.

They became curious as to why their son had not returned, as the war was coming to an end.

On 2 July 1945, he lured them to Gloucester Road by telling them their son was back from Scotland for a surprise visit.

There he killed them with blows to the head and disposed of them.

Haigh then stole McSwan's pension cheques and sold his parents' properties, for around £8,000, and moved into the Onslow Court Hotel in Kensington.