John George Haigh

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John George Haigh (July 24, 1909 – August 10, 1949) was a serial killer in England in the 1940s.

Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire. His parents were members of the Plymouth Brethren. Haigh received a scholarship to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, where a desk with his name carved in still remains. He then won another scholarship as a choirboy at Wakefield Cathedral.

Although he killed six people, he claimed that he killed eight. He also claimed to have drunk a cup of their blood after killing them and before placing the bodies in a container of sulphuric acid. He forged papers allowing him to sell their possessions and collect substantial sums of money; he also believed that the police needed a body before they could bring a charge of murder, and boasted about this to the police. Pathologist Keith Simpson spotted a human gallstone in the yard of Haigh's workshop. By sifting the surrounding earth he later recovered several pounds of human fat and a set of false teeth.

Haigh was imprisoned in Cell 2 of Horsham Police Station when it was sited in Barttelot Road. He was charged with murder at the neaby courthouse in what is now known as the Old Town Hall. The trial took place in nearby Lewes.

Haigh was nicknamed "The Vampire of London" and the "Acid Bath Murderer". There is no evidence for the "cup of blood" claim, and it seems to have been an attempt to plead insanity. A jury refused to accept this plea and convicted him of murder. He was sentenced to death by hanging. Under British law no transcripts were ever recorded of statements by convicts who were to be hanged whilst they waited in the condemned cell. However, it is reported that Haigh asked one of his jailers (Jack Morwood) whether it would be possible to have a trial run of his execution on the eve of his actual execution, as Haigh claimed he wanted everything to run smoothly. More than likely his request went no further than the cell he was housed in at Wandsworth Prison; if it did go further, the request was denied. Whatever the case, John George Haigh was led to the gallows by Britain's Chief Executioner (Albert Pierrepoint) on August 10, 1949. There were no delays and everything ran smoothly.

In 2002, Martin Clunes played Haigh in an ITV drama, A is for Acid.

Haigh is often compared to French serial killer Marcel Petiot. It is possible that Haigh had read about the exploits of another Frenchman, Georges "Sarret" Sarrejani, the Marseilles lawyer who used similar methods in 1925 to eliminate the bodies of his victims.