AMELIA DYER - BRITAIN’S WORST “BABY FARMER”.


Amelia Dyer - Britain’s worst “Baby farmer”.

Amelia Elizabeth Dyer was 56 years old when she moved from Bristol to Caversham in Reading in 1895 and began advertising for babies to look after. On the 30th of March of 1896, a bargeman recovered the corpse of 15 month old Helena Fry from the river Thames at Reading. Helena's body was wrapped in a brown paper parcel which had the name of “Mrs. Thomas” and her address on it – Piggott’s Road, Lower Caversham. Mrs. Thomas was one of Mrs. Dyer's aliases. It took the police some time to trace Mrs. Dyer as she had already moved on, changing her address quite frequently and also using various aliases.

 In the meantime, a Cheltenham barmaid, 23 year old Evelina Marmon, had answered a newspaper advert from a "Mrs Harding" seeking a child for adoption. She met "Mrs Harding" and paid her a £10 fee to take her four month old baby daughter Doris on the 31st of March 1896. She felt comfortable with the arrangement as "Mrs Harding" appeared to be a respectable and motherly person. The following day Mrs. Dyer “adopted” another child, Harry Simmons. 
The police finally located Mrs. 

Dyer, living at 76 Mayo Road in Willesden and they kept under surveillance for several days before mounting a “sting” operation using a young woman to pose as a potential customer. She was arrested on April the 4th, 1896 when she opened the door to the person she thought would be this customer only to find two policemen standing there. The two tiny bodies of Doris and Harry were found in the Thames on April the 10th, 1896, both wrapped in a carpet bag and both with white tapes round their necks.

 In all, the corpses of seven babies, all of whom had been strangled, were recovered from the Thames and each one had the same “trade mark” tape around their neck. She soon confessed saying, "You’ll know all mine by the tape around their necks."
She made two attempts to commit suicide in Reading police station. 

She came to trial before Mr. Justice Hawkins at the Old Bailey on the 21st and 22nd of May 1896 charged with Doris' murder in the first instance, so that if she was acquitted, she could be tried for another. This was standard practice until recently in cases of multiple murder. Miss Marmon identified Mrs Dyer in court as "Mrs Harding". 

The defence tried to prove insanity but failed to convince the jury who took just five minutes to find her guilty. Although there was evidence of her dubious sanity, as can be seen in the trial transcript available at the Old Bailey on-line, her crimes were also appalling and the jury seemed to give far more weight to that aspect. 
Mr. Justice Hawkins sentenced her to death. During her three weeks in the condemned cell, she filled five exercise books with her "last true and only confession." Originally it was intended to hang her alongside Milsom, Fowler and Seaman, but later this plan was revised to hang her separately.

 In a compassionate move the authorities removed her from Newgate for a few hours so that she would not have to hear the triple hanging the day before her own execution. The chaplain visited her on the evening of the 9th and asked her if she had anything to confess - she offered him her exercise books saying "isn't this enough?" 

She was hanged at Newgate the following morning (Wednesday the 10th of June 1896) by James Billington, assisted by William Wilkinson, becoming at 57, the oldest woman to be executed since 1843.  She weighed 213 lbs. and had a “rather short and thick neck” according to the LPC4 form.  She was given a drop of just 3’ 6”, “On account of her weight and the softness of the tissues.  It proved to be quite sufficient.”, according to James Scott, the medical officer.  Her ghost was said to haunt Newgate prison. 

No one will ever know the exact number of her victims but at the time of her arrest, she had been carrying on her trade for 15 to 20 years.  It is possible that she may have murdered as many as 400 babies in all, over a 20 year period.

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