In February 1942, Gordon Cummins, a twenty-eight-year-old Royal Air Force Serviceman, murdered four women and attempted to murder two others over a six-day period in London, leading the press to dub him “The Blackout Ripper.”At a time when the fear of imminent bombings was high and London was on high alert, authorities nonetheless launched an investigation and, quite remarkably, were able to catch Cummins quickly, thereby preventing any further murders; yet the question remains, how was it that a brutally violent killer manage to kill so many people in such a short amount of time and barely attract attention of the police and press?Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesBolton News. 1942. "Is 'killer' at large?" Bolton News, February 14: 1.Campbell, Duncan. 2010. "London in the blitz: how crime flourished under cover of the blackout." The Guardian, August 28.Driscoll, Margarette. 2022. "Ranmpage of the Blackout Ripper." Daily Mail, November 24.Evening Standard. 1942. "Accused of murder of 4 women." Evening Standard (London, England), March 26: 8.Evening Telegraph. 1942. "'Killer' theory in wave of London murders." Evening Telegraph (Derby, England), February 14: 8.Herald Express. 1942. "Cadet's defense in murder trial." Herald Express (Devon, England), April 28: 1.Hull Daily Mail. 1942. "London murders." Hull Daily Mail, February 11: 1.Imperial War Museum. n.d. Imperial War Museum. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-nation-at-a-standstill-shutdown-in-the-second-world-war.Liverpool Daily Post. 1942. "Another London murder." Liverpool Daily Post, February 14: 1.Storey, Neil. 2023. The Blackout Murders: Homicide in WW2. South Yorkshire, England: Pen and Sword.The Citizen. 1942. "Cadet sent for trial." The Citizen (Gloucester, England), March 27: 1.—. 1942. "'Evidence was overwhelming'." The Citizen (Gloucester, England), June 9: 8.—. 1942. "Fresh Jury to be sworn in." The Citizen (Gloucester, England), April 24: 1.The Times. 1942. "Airman charged with three murders." The Times (London, England), March 13: 2.Venning, Annabel. 2017. "The Blackout Ripper; under cover of the Blitz." Mail on Sunday, January 29.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the story behind the Blackout Ripper?
And this is very much of the time, this next thing, because they were also baffled at the sexual assault allegations against him. Yeah. Because at the time when psychology and motives for sexual violence were very badly understood. Shite. The idea that this man would have to force women to engage in sex with him seemed insane to everybody.
That does happen. We don't all just want to fuck every man we see.
It's like, no. Yeah. And it's like, and they said not only was he married to a beautiful young woman. He was married. He sure was. What the fuck? He was also known to brag endlessly about his sexual conquests outside of the marriage. Oh, what a douchebag. He was constantly cheating on his wife. He never seemed to have enough sex around him. He's got a problem. Yeah, he looks like he has a problem.
I mean, it was constant. Yeah. He would go visit, and his wife was, like, beautiful. go visit his wife, have dinner with her, and then be like, oh, I have to get back early to the barracks. And it was because he was going out to troll for other girls. And it's like, you have a wife right here. Yeah. Who misses you and probably would love to spend some intimate time with you. Right.
But for some men, it's not that. It's the conquest of having multiple women. Exactly.
It makes them feel like a king. In fact, he even got very close to his lieutenant's wife, like had a very close relationship with her. Shut the fuck up. And there were rumors that they were having an affair. That's how like charming this guy was. Wow.
Yeah.
And what, he's bold. Very bold. He's bold. Because he gets away with it.
Can you imagine Lieutenant finds that shit out?
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Chapter 2: How did Gordon Cummins evade police attention?
Guys, you were doing so well up to this point.
And that's never happened before at the Old Bailey. This was the first time. Wow. In his instructions to the press, Justice Acquiesce told reporters, as little should be said as possible as to the reasons for the discharge of the jury, so as to not taint the new jury. Yeah. I am sure that the press can be relied upon to treat this with every discretion.
The full truth will be published later, but not until this trial is over.
He's like, you motherfuckers better sit still and quietly so that we can actually serve some justice here.
Yeah. He's like, don't be publishing theories about why there was a mistrial like he's innocent. Like, we'll let you know later, but like, shut the fuck up. On April 27th, a new jury was sworn in and the Cummins trial began again with the defendant testifying on his own behalf.
According to Cummins, on the evening of February 9th, he had gone out for dinner and consumed a lot of drinks and didn't recall anything after leaving the restaurant around 10 p.m.
That's not a great excuse.
Yeah, but he did say, however, that he had never been to Evelyn Oatley's apartment and he had nothing to do with her murder or the murders of the other three women. How do you know if you can't remember anything? Exactly. Cummins' defense was so fucking weak and the evidence against him was... So fucking overwhelming. Yeah. So convincing.
On April 29th, just two days after the new trial started, the jury deliberated for a little more than a half hour before coming out and saying, you're guilty. You're guilty. You're guilty. Nicole Byer, you're basic. You're basic. They came and said, you're guilty of the murder of Evelyn Oatley, and he was sentenced to death. Good. He was sentenced to hang.
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