It was knocked down many years ago to prevent ghoulish interest, but 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill was a real House of Horrors. The ground-floor flat in West-London was occupied by one of the most depraved and evil killers in British history, John Reginald Halliday Christie. A notorious serial killer and former special constable during the Second World War, Christie's crimes beggar belief.

Christie was the third and last former police officer to end his life on the gallows in Britain in the twentieth century. He was by far the worst of them. Despite being jailed prior to the Second World War for petty theft and assault, he was a hired as a Special Constable in the War Reserve Police. His duties included prowling the streets at the night to ensure blackouts were observed.

Ruth Fuerst made the mistake of accepting Christie's offers to come to his flat. After three 'dates' Christie says he strangled her in August 1943. It was the start of almost a decade of killing. After briefly burying her beneath the floorboards, he reburied her in the garden under cover of night.

Muriel Eady met the same fate in October 1944 after making the fatal error of visiting Christie on her own. She was also buried in the back garden of 10 Rillington Place.

Fuerst's skull surfaced during the war. Christie simply threw it into a garden and it was assumed to belong to a Blitz victim. The absence of the rest of the body appears not to have attracted suspicion.

The Killing Spree:

Christie's next crime is his most controversial. Not only did he murder Beryl Evans and her baby daughter Geraldine, but he allowed an innocent man to go to the gallows, even giving evidence against him. The Evanses were murdered on November 8th 1949. Timothy Evans paid with his life on March 9th 1950 for Christie's crimes.

He had hoodwinked the criminal justice system, but his killing-lust was satisfied – briefly. Just over two years passed between victims. In December 1952 Christie killed his wife Ethel and buried her under the floorboards. Unusually for Christie she had not been gassed first or sexually assaulted as she was dead or dying, but her death sparked his final killing spree.

Hectorina MacLennan was next, murdered in January 1953. Her body was walled up in an alcove in the kitchen of his Rillington Place killing factory. Kathleen Maloney and Rita Nelson were his final victims. As with the other adults bar Ethel he had gassed them until unconscious and then had sexual intercourse with them. All were strangled.

The End is Nigh:

He decided to sublet his flat after papering over the alcove that now contained three bodies. A fourth was in the flat and two more in the garden. Christie's tenants were thrown out after noticing an unpleasant smell. He had swindled them too. Before new tenants could move in work had to be done. Upstairs lodger Beresford Brown was enlisted to prepare the flat to let. He noticed the alcove sounded hollow and tore the paper off, discovering the body of a naked woman.

Christie had left Rillington Place by then and his crimes were now headline news. He was a wanted man and was arrested on March 31st 1953. He confessed to all the murders bar that of Geraldine Evans. All had been killed by his trade-mark ligature strangulation.

Bad or Mad:

It has been suggested that Christie cynically confessed to the killing of Beryl Evans in order to add to his tally and bolster his chances of avoiding the gallows through an insanity defence. She had been beaten too, but not tested for signs of his usual gassing. Ethel's killing broke the pattern too. She had not been gassed or suffered sexual intercourse while dying or dead. Tellingly, baby Geraldine Evans had been strangled as well.

His defence was insanity. He was alleged to have said: 'the more the merrier,' during interrogation. If that was a cynical attempt to avoid the death penalty through insanity, why didn't he claim responsibility for Geraldine's death as well? Why would it matter to a mad man if he had killed a baby as well? But it would to a bad man. There was no excuse for the murder of Geraldine Evans – it was unnecessary and evil, except to an insane man, but Christie refused to claim responsibility.

The End:

It took the jury just 85 minutes to reject Christie's defence despite the best efforts of Derek Curtis-Bennett at his Old Bailey trial in June 1953. Mr Justice Finnemore sentenced the depraved killer to death and within three weeks the Beast of Notting Hill was hanged at Pentonville Prison by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Smith.

If ever capital punishment should have deterred a killer, it should have been Christie. A former law enforcement officer, Christie knew the risks well. Despite this he killed repeatedly and ended his life on the gallows. If capital punishment is the ultimate deterrent, why did it fail to stop him killing at least eight times?