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Frederick Bailey Deeming was many things – a bigamist, a swindler and murderer of two women and four children. But was he also Jack the Ripper? Journalist Simon Ford and former major-crime detective Jacques Morrell plunge into the life and brutal times of this Victorian enigma. Deeming’s career spanned the globe – Australia, South Africa, Latin America – under a catalogue of aliases. He was an unscrupulous psychopath who would stop at nothing to cheat the wealthy and defend his freedom. A contemporary of Jack the Ripper, some theorize he was Jack. But does the evidence support the theory? What propelled Deeming on his international rampage anyway? And how was he stopped?

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 and welcome to the Six O’clock Knock, coming to you from the National Justice Museum in Nottingham, England I’m Simon Ford a writer and broadcaster and I’m Jacques Morrell a former major crime detective the National Justice Museum is based in Nottingham’s former courts and county jail you've probably seen it on tv and not even realized it because when they need a grand Victorian courtroom this is where they send the cameras and our case today would have been tried in a court like this it's a murder hunt that spanned the British Empire at a time when Britain's imperial power was at its zenith Britannia ruled the waves and Jack The Ripper terrorized the alleyways of Whitechapel indeed the murderer in our story could have been Jack The Ripper so come with us as we step back in time to the closing decades of the 19th century john Samford stood with his back to the bedroom door a pickaxe over his shoulder and a look of grim determination on his face not only had his tenant left the rented house without notice but the woman who was lined up to replace him had backed out complaining of a disagreeable smell in the second bedroom Samford butcher and landlord was determined to get to the bottom of it he and the estate agent Mr Connop faced the fireplace the agent held a handkerchief over his nose and mouth his face was the colour of putty Samford swung the pickaxe into the fresh concrete underneath the hearthstone it yielded like a pie crust instantly the smell became stronger Connop choked blurted something about breathing and turned towards the open window Samford swung again a chunk of concrete came away another swing the fluke of the pickaxe found something softer despite the unbearable stench Samford bent down and using both hands shifted a substantial slab of concrete what he saw had auburn hair and the remains of a face [Music] the date is the 3rd of march 1892. the place Andrew street Melbourne in the then colony of Victoria Australia john Samford had just discovered the remains of Emily Mather who'd been living in the house with a foreign gentleman representing himself as a toolmaker's engineer Samford had been attracted by the fellow's respectable heir and the fact that he paid six weeks rent in advance but then he'd left suddenly and reports of a lingering odour started soon afterwards a post-mortem examination found that Emily made his skull had been bashed in and her throat had been cut the hunt for the killer spanned the British empire from the beginning the press connected the murder with the despicable crimes of Jack The Ripper the age newspaper reported that from the outset a suspicion of insanity is almost suggested and a tinge of the white chapel murders is hinted the body hacked and mangled the cool manner in which the cementing was carried out the taking of a house etc the laborious obliteration of all traces of the crime all these things suggest the malevolence and craft of which can scarcely accompany the sane murderer no matter how callous and brutal the story that unfolded in the wake of Emily Mayer’s murder began at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire in the summer of 1853 with the birth of young Frederick Bailey demon Deeming’s parents were working class his father Thomas was a brasier by all accounts Deeming had a terrible childhood often suffering horrific beatings from his father who tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat on four occasions and ended up dying insane in a workhouse young Fred had it was said an unnaturally strong relationship with his mother Anne she was a Sunday school teacher who often force-fed her youngest son her views on the bible it said that Deeming became obsessed with sin and punishment the youngest of three boys he was a difficult child he ran away to see at the age of 16 and embarked on a life of theft obtaining money under false pretences and ultimately as we're to hear murder Deeming became a consummate con artist fraudster and bigamist it was this downward spiral that led him to become associated some say conclusively with Jack The Ripper [Music] in February 1881 Deeming married Marie James in Tranmere a suburb of Birkenhead on the Wirral in north west England the couple lived briefly in Birkenhead before making the sea passage to Melbourne Australia by 1886 Deeming and Marie had two Australian-born daughters bertha and Marie junior two years later Deeming wrote to his brothers Alfred and Walter he and the family were returning to England he boasted with a considerable fortune so is this the part where Deeming stops his galivanting settles down and becomes a respectable citizen it wouldn't be much of a story if he did would it in fact this is where it becomes obvious that Deeming is living a double life or i should more accurately say one of several alternative lives he lived concurrently until he was caught Jacques in your career investigating serious crime is living a double life a common criminal characteristic most certainly men behave differently when in new circumstances they try to impress and to big themselves up add to the criminal aspect and whoa it becomes a convoluted cover story so Simon what do we know about Deeming's movements between 1888 and 89 well it's a bit sketchy Maurice Gurvich and Christopher Wray wrote the Scarlet Thread. a book about Deeming in his crimes they found he was in South Africa for a time and was involved in a diamond mine swindle in Transvaal it looks like Marie and the children stayed at home in Birkenhead Marie had another baby anyway Deeming drew attention to himself while returning to England on the steamship Yumna flashing cash and jewellery generally making a nuisance of himself with some of the female passengers ss Yumna docked at Hull on the east coast of England in November 1889. i daresay the captain was glad to see the back of the ostentatious Frederick Bailey Deeming Jacques if you were in possession of the facts and had the opportunity would you be waiting on the key side for a kind of nautical Six O’clock Knock you know to ask Deeming what he'd been up to to get rich so quickly the police are naturally interested in unexplained wealth but i think it's early days on any investigation that said I’m sure that with the safety of the ship being paramount the captain would have thought very carefully about this nuisance passenger he may well have turned him into the police for something that happened on board ship maybe her majesty's customs and excise would have been interested in him perhaps to throw the authorities off his scent Deeming takes up lodgings in the nearby town of Beverley under the name Harry Lawson passing himself off as a retired sheep farmer from Queensland living on fifteen hundred pounds a year now that makes him a millionaire in today's money we've seen this before Simon the ant whistle case English guy arrives in America rents an expensive house tells everyone he's due a load of money from the government when he's actually out of work and owed nothing it was all a deception it's reasonable to speculate that this pot of gold coupled with Deeming's silver tongue is what bowls Helen Matheson the 21 year old daughter of Deeming's landlady clean off her feet Deeming bigamously married nelly as she was affectionately known on the 18th of February 1890 almost nine years to the day since he married Marie James in Tranmere a port city on the opposite side of the country what is it they say about sailors having a girl in every port yeah Fred Deeming or Harry Lawson as i should call him is the living proof I’d like to take a moment now to compare Jack The Ripper’s timeline with Frederick Deeming’s [Music] Jack The Ripper murdered his five victims Marianne Nichols Annie Chapman Elizabeth Stride Catherine Eddoes and Mary Jane Kelly between August and November 1888. this was around the time when Deeming was supposedly in South Africa pulling off his diamond mine scan it would take three weeks to travel by steamship from Liverpool to cape town so did Deeming allow himself a three month stopover in the east end of London indulging in a killing spree before continuing his sea voyage well I’m not well versed in the finer details of the Ripper case but first impressions the Ripper was killing sex workers and targeting them Deeming is more of a traveller who lays on the charm and forms relationships with women I’d need to see something more than we just don't know where he was during the period of the white chapel murders so let's leave white chapel and travel the 200 and something miles north east to hull because after a honeymoon with Helen Matheson Deeming disappears and promptly leaves for Uruguay the police are waiting for him when he docks in Montevideo and arrest him for another swindle this time at a jewellers in hull he used forged checks to get 286 pounds worth of jewellery that's

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