John George Haig's Fraud Case

John George Haigh was born on July 24, 1909, in Stamford, Lincolnshire (Crime Investigations, 2018). Charming during his adolescence, Haigh would attend classical music concerts and be awarded several scholarships within his academic career. On July 6, 1934, Haigh married Beatrice Hammer, a 21-year-old woman he barely knew and lived with his parents (Crime Investigations, 2018). However, at the age of 25, Haigh would be arrested and imprisoned for fraud, just months after marrying. Upon his imprisonment, his wife Beatrice left him and his parents wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. After serving just two years, he was released from prison and moved to London, where he became a chauffeur (Katie Serene, 2017). Despite his short prison

time, Haigh continued to swindle people out of their money.

He would pretend to be a solicitor named William Adamson who would frequently sell fraudulent stock shares and estates of his “deceased clients”. However, in 1939, Haigh would be caught yet again and imprisoned for four years due to the misspelling that one of his clients realized on a legal document.
While in prison, Haigh noticed that to truly get away with fraud he had to kill and dispose of his witnesses fully. He began researching French murderer Georges-Alexandre Sarret, whose signature method had been dissolving his victims in sulphuric acid (Katie Serene, 2017). Haigh would later use his free time to devise his own methods of dissolving bodies by practicing on mice. After being released, Haigh took an engineering job in an accounting department. During his engineering job Haigh ran into old friend, William McSwan, who he had worked for as a chauffeur. One day while having a conversation with William, William shared his new business ventures as a landlord and bragged to Haigh about living with his parents who owned multiple properties. Haigh became jealous of Mr. McSwan’s lavish lifestyle and later lured McSwan into an abandoned basement where he beat him over the head and disposed of his

body in a 40-gallon drum of sulphuric acird (Serene, 2017). Days later, Haigh would overtake Mr. McSwan’s landlord duties and ensure his family that he only ran away to avoid being drafted into the army. Filled with suspicion after the draft ended, the McSwan’s continued to question Haigh. Unfortunately, Haigh would become paranoid and killed the McSwan’s in one of their warehouses in Gloucester where he stole their money and estates. Later, he moved into the Onslow Court Hotel in Kensington. While staying at the hotel, Haigh picked up a terrible gambling habit where he would have to murder more unsuspecting individuals. Haigh started a newfound relationship with Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose. He felt that they were wealthy enough and met his current standards for staying afloat. Like the other victims, Haigh lured the couple into the Gloucester warehouse where he killed and disposed of their bodies. After this murder Haigh felt that he needed a larger space to hold all his drums and acid concoctions, so he rented a larger warehouse on Lepold Road. Here, Haigh would commit his final murder.