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Arthur
DEVEREUX
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Poisoner - Parricide
Number of victims: 3
Date of murders:
January 28, 1905
Date of arrest:
April 13, 1905
Date of birth: 1881
Victims profile: His wife Beatrice, 24, and their 2-years-old twins
Method of murder: Poisoning(morphine and
chloroform)
Location: London,
England, United Kingdom
Status: Executed by hanging at Pentonville prison
on August 15, 1905
Arthur Devereux
was a 24 year-old chemist's assistant. He and his wife Beatrice
found it difficult to manage on his low wages, especially after
the birth of a son. Then Beatrice became pregnant again, and this
time she gave birth to twins.
Undernourished, and unable to cope, Arthur persuaded
his wife to drink poison and give some to the twins, telling her it was
cough medicine. He placed the bodies in a trunk, and moved to a new
address, taking his son. Beatrice's mother, disturbed at her daughter's
disappearance, was not to be put off by Arthur's excuses. She traced the
trunk to a warehouse, and ordered it to be opened.
Devereux's explanation was that his wife had killed
herself and the twins, and that he had panicked and concealed the bodies.
Would he have got away with it? We shall never know, because there was
one other vital piece of evidence. Devereux had applied for a job before
his wife's death, and on that application he had described himself as a
widower. He was hanged in August 1905.
Financial Desperation - Arthur
Devereux
Arthur Devereux killed his wife and twin children
because he could not afford to keep them on his megre wages. It was a
particularly callous murder and made worse by the fact that it was
carefully planned. Devereux worked as a chemists assistant. While it
wasn't a bad job it was not very well paid. In 1896 Devereux met and
married Beatrice and they were very happy for a time and then Beatrice
became pregnant. Arthur was happy to be a father but it did make things
very difficult on his low wages, still he was sure they would cope
somehow. Beatrice became pregnant again and as if that was not bad
enough this time she produced twins. This threw the family into a state
of poverty and piled pressure onto Arthur.
In 1905 he purposely went out and purchased a large
trunk and some Morphine and Chloroform. He persuaded his wife to drink
the drug and then gave it to the children telling them it was a cough
medicine. He only gave it to the twins. Once they were dead he put their
bodies in the trunk and then sealed it. It was then taken to a warehouse
in Harrow.
Once this had been done he then moved with his son to
a new address. His mother in law tried on several occasions to contact
her daughter and he kept making excuses. After a while these excuses
made less and less sense until she was very suspicious. She somehow
found out about the furniture van calling at the house and managed to
trace the company. When she discovered that it had removed a large trunk
from the house and taken it into storage she ordered it to be opened.
Her hunch had unfortunately been right and the decomposed bodies of her
daughter and two grandchildren were discovered.
Devereux was arrested and charged. Devereux's defence
was that his wife had been depressed and killed herself after first
killing the twins. He had found the bodies and panicked, buying the
trunk to conceal them. It was a weak story made all the less believable
by the fact that before her death he had applied for a job describing
himself as a widower. He was hanged at Pentonville prison on the 15
August 1905.
