London's West End is associated with fashion and glamour but for centuries it has had a far darker side. Geoffrey Howse has uncovered an astonishing catalogue of sinister deeds, some of them famous but others long forgotten. Read about spying, treason, embezzlement, regicide, robbery, forgery, religious persecution, suicide, murder and mutilation; and 'witness' horrendous punishments such as drawing, hanging, disemboweling, quartering, castration, beheading and burning. Earlier cases include the execution of Scottish patriots (1305/6) and three monks who dared to question the supremacy of Henry VIII in 1535. Such events attracted great public attention, as did the extraordinary execution of Charles I in 1649 and, in 1820, the hanging and mutilation of the Cato Street Conspiritors. The foul murder of the famous actor William Terriss, by a madman, in 1897, is featured as are several notable cases from the twentieth century including the horrific wartime murders of Gordon Cummins, the strange disappearances of the socialist MP Victor Grayson and Lord Lucan, the Charing Cross Trunk Murder as well as the mysterious death of boxer Freddie Mills.

London's East End has been associated with some of the worst elements of human depravity, where foul deeds and murder were commonplace; and the area's notoriety was added to by the horrific murders committed by Jack, the Ripper. For centuries the East End's notoriety for foul deeds has remained unsurpassed in the annals of crime in this country.

Barnsley and the surrounding area has a dark and sinister past. There were many foul deeds committed throughout the centuries of the most heinous kind -and many suspicious circumstances. Poverty was at the root of many of the early cases. During the Victorian period some seemingly uncaring magistrates appeared to take the view that to be poor was a crime to be dealt with severely and meted out extreme penalties. The unhappy state of some criminals resulted in ending their days in the workhouse. Throughout the 20th century the area was periodically rocked with murder cases which often made the national headlines.

Tory gangs, madmen, war criminals, frauds, anarchists, duelists, kidnappers, and more scandal-makers throughout four centuries of Irish history. Dublin is a wonderful, energetic cultural center—the pride of Irish achievements in architecture, arts, and literature. But it is also a city of paradoxes and conflicts—and a long, fascinating history of crime. Stephen Wade now reveals Dublin’s “strange eventful history” in this thrilling collection of murderers, thieves, daredevil highwaymen, libelers, seducers, and bloody avengers—from eighteenth-century turncoats to Victorian-era rogues to a twentieth-century parliamentary candidate with a killer past. Amid tales of sensational investigations and infamous courtroom trials, readers will discover the truth behind the disappearance of the Crown Jewels in 1907; the bizarre motives of nineteenth-century serial killer John Delahunt; and the startling charges leveled against Oscar Wilde’s father, a revolutionary doctor embroiled in a felonious and sexual cause célèbre of his own.

The author of The A-Z of London Murders delves into the long and storied past of South Yorkshire to reveal infamous crimes and killings. Geoffrey Howse explores the darker and sinister side of South Yorkshire’s history in this diverse collection of true crime tales—from Victorian to modern times. Read about a shooting and “mob rule” in Doncaster; sensational murders in Darfield, Mexborough, and Attercliffe; trade outrages in Sheffield and Rotherham; highway robbery at Wentworth; embezzlement in Barnsley; and arson at Thorne. Unusual cases include a Doncaster elopement and robbery, burglaries by girls in Rotherham, the shocking killing of a police constable at Swinton, and “coal” riots and lawlessness in Wath-upon-Dearne and Hoyland. A dramatic event in Thurnscoe, a Wombwell stabbing, and a variety of long forgotten tragedies and crimes are also explored in some detail.

True-life tales of bloody killings and brutal crimes wind through the dark past of this historic town on the Thames. John J. Eddleston’s latest selection of notorious criminal cases takes the reader through a sequence of sensational episodes that have marred the history of Reading. His book, based on original research, recalls many grisly events and sad or unsavory individuals whose fate has hitherto been forgotten. Among the shocking crimes he reconstructs are those of the baby-farmer Amelia Dyer, the unsolved murder of Alfred Oliver, the suffocation of Beatrice Cox, the red Mini murder of June Cook, and the attempted murder of a family of five. This chronicle of the dark side of Reading’s long history will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in the town’s rich—and sometimes gruesome—past.

Discover the darker side of this scenic destination with over twenty true-crime tales, accompanied by photos and illustrations. Its natural beauty attracts countless visitors—but notorious cases of murder, deceit, and pure malice have marked the long history of this apparently peaceful island. From crimes of passion to opportunistic killings and coldly premeditated acts of murder, the full spectrum of criminality is recounted here. For this journey into a bloody, neglected aspect of the past, Isle of Wight historian and crime writer M.J. Trow has selected over twenty notorious episodes that give a fascinating insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind. He throws light into the shadowy world of the smugglers, pirates, and robbers who plagued the island’s early history. He recalls the escape attempts of Charles I from Carisbrooke Castle, the mysterious loss of the Mary Rose and HMS Royal George, and the scandalous conduct of Lady Worsley. In vivid, sometimes shocking detail, he reconstructs notable criminal cases, including the brutal murders that have marked the island’s more recent past. In addition, he delves into the history of the island’s three prisons—Albany, Parkhurst, and Camp Hill—which have housed many of Britain’s most violent criminals.

Discover the Welsh city’s history of crime with these true stories and photos. This book will introduce to you villains of all sorts—casual or calculating killers, murderous husbands and lovers, gangsters, robbers, poisoners, and suicides. There is no shortage of harrowing episodes in Cardiff’s past, and this fascinating book recalls many grisly events and sad or unsavory individuals whose conduct throws a harsh light on the history of the city. Among the many shocking cases the author describes are: The murder of a Welsh Protestant by an Irish Catholic that provoked rioting The double life of a respectable widow poisoned with arsenic The exploits of a “Jack the Ripper” killer in Cardiff’s back streets The throat-slashing revenge of the Cardiff Race Track Gang The still-mysterious wartime murder of Alice Pittman The case of the Somalian sailor arrested for the brutal slaying of an elderly shopkeeper The demise of Granville Jenkins, who was cut to ribbons by a machete The accidental—or deliberate?—electrocution of Mrs. Darling This chronicle of Cardiff’s hidden past and the history the city would prefer to forget is compelling reading for anyone interested in the dark side of human nature.

This west London town has its own character—and its own deadly criminal history—from the author of Unsolved Murders of Victorian and Edwardian London. Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths Around Uxbridge takes the reader on a sinister and sad journey through centuries of local crime and conspiracy, meeting victims and villains of all sorts along the way. There is no shortage of harrowing—and revealing—incidents of evil and despair to recount from the earliest recorded history of the Uxbridge district up to the present day. Jonathan Oates’s fascinating research has uncovered some grisly events and unsavory individuals whose conduct throws a harsh light on the history of this suburban area west of London. His book records crime and punishment in all its dreadful variety. Among many acts of violence and wickedness are the burning to death of five Protestant martyrs and the execution of a turbulent priest in Tudor times, a family massacred at Denham in 1870, and several brutal murders that have never been solved or explained. Cases that stand out as particularly shocking or bizarre include a son who was killed by his mother, a woman who died after an illegal operation, the Uxbridge tea-shop murder of 1951, and a man tried for manslaughter and later murder in West Drayton, who committed suicide two decades later. This chronicle of Uxbridge’s hidden history will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the local history of the area and in the dark side of human nature.

In a superb companion volume to her best-selling book Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Guernsey, Glynis Cooper turns her attention to the dark side of the past in Jersey. And there is no shortage of shocking stories to tell—crimes of passion and despair, cases of murder, deceit and pure malice, opportunistic killings and coldly premeditated acts of wickedness that are as disturbing today as they were in their own time. For this journey into a neglected area in Jersey's history she has selected a revealing series of cases dating from the medieval period to the present day. She recalls the torture and execution of four female witches, the murderous outcome of a clash with Norman sheep stealers, a woman who married her husband's murderer and wreckers who preyed on Spanish treasure ships. And among the sensational episodes from more recent times are a schoolboy who raped a woman, the suicide of a jilted bride, the murder of French political refugees, a French general who was ruined by his lady love and corrupt officers who disgraced the Victorian police force.The human dramas Glynis Greenman describes are often played out in the most commonplace of circumstances, but others are so odd as to be stranger than fiction. Her fascinating account of Jersey's secret history will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the flaws in human nature.