Inside Britain’s ‘murder houses’ and their terrifying secrets

A cosy flat in Wales where a man was clubbed to death with a stone frog, a family home in England where a gentle landlady lost her life in an axe attack, an ancient castle in Scotland where a regal Lord was slain…

Across the UK, so-called ‘murder houses’ are physical reminders of Britain’s dark past. 

But how do you know if you’re living in one?

It’s rare a ‘murder house’ is torn down, more often than not the crime scene is simply cleaned and the property put back on the market – and estate agents in the UK are not legally obliged to mention to potential buyers if a death has taken place at a property.

In fact, when the former home of serial killer Dennis Nilsen was put on the market for £240,000 in 2013, the listing raved about the one-bedroom flat’s proximity to local stations and the fact it boasted a balcony. It was only near the bottom of the advert that a gentle warning could be found, saying: ‘Buyers are asked to research the history of this property.’ 

Here, Metro explores what became of the houses where some of Britain’s most notorious and grisly crimes took place.

White House Farm, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex

Several ‘murder houses’ across the country have been transformed in a bid to find a ‘new beginning’ for the buildings.

Over at Tolleshunt D’Arcy in Essex, colourful vintage cars sit outside the Georgian farmhouse where the White House Farm massacre took place. June and Neville Bamber, their adopted daughter Sheila Caffell, and her six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas, were all fatally shot on August 7, 1985.

The couple’s adopted son Jeffrey was found guilty of the murders. He has always protested his innocence and claimed Sheila, who was schizophrenic, committed the crimes before turning the gun on herself.

Today, White House farm is the home for East Coast Classics, a business that hires out VW Beetles and campervans for weddings and special events.

50 Irvine Drive, Margate, Kent

Across the UK, new life grows where evil once lurked.

At 50 Irvine Drive in Margate, Kent, a children’s slide and several toys are scattered in the garden where serial killer Peter Tobin buried the bodies of Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol.

At the time of the grim discovery in 2007, Dinah’s father Ian McNicol asked if the house could be bulldozed and a memorial built in its place. But Thanet Council refused due to a desperate need for housing in the area.

Single mum-of-two Abigail Dengate moved into the three-bedroom council property in 2009 and later told KentOnline: ‘Even though people might have thought it strange that we wanted to live here, to us we didn’t care about what had happened in the past – it’s a house. I stand by my kitchen window when I smoke and I see people go past, slowing down, pointing out ‘that’s the Tobin house’, probably thinking “wow, someone’s actually living there”.’

25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester

Of course, in a select few cases, ‘murder houses’ are torn down completely.

Excavation work at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, where evil murderers Fred and Rose West lived, left the redbrick house unstable and unsafe. Police had found nine decaying bodies, all of young girls, in the basement of the infamous ‘house of horror.’

Digging up the basement had left 25 Cromwell Street in too poor a condition to rebuild, so it was razed to the ground in 1996. Today, all that remains at the property is a footpath bordered by 16 cast-iron black bollards. Rose West’s own lawyer Leo Goatley previously described the path as ‘eerie.’

29 Gowan Avenue, Fulham, London

True crime fans often frequent 29 Gowan Avenue in Fulham, where Crimewatch journalist Jill Dando was gunned down just steps away from the flat. The TV presenter had moved into the property in 1995 after spending five years living with her cousin Judith in London. 

Jill, 37, was fatally attacked by an unknown assailant in 1999 as she unlocked her front door. It’s a case that has remained unsolved. At the time of her death, Jill had been in the process of selling 29 Gowan Avenue and reportedly spent most of her time at her fiancé’s in Chiswick. 

‘Jill was ridiculously naive about her security,” her cousin Judith would later tell the Mirror. ‘When she went for the house in Gowan Avenue I remember saying to her, ‘do you really want to do this, you are living on your own. Wouldn’t you be better off with a smart apartment where you have a security guard?’

29 Gowan Avenue sold for £350,000 with new owners moving in just three months after the murder. In 2009 the house was sold for £1,000,000. The identity of the new owners is unknown.

Flat 23D Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill, London

Directions to other infamous ‘murder houses’ exist online. In one YouTube video, viewers are guided via Google Maps to the former flat of Dennis Nilsen, who murdered at least 12 young men and boys at 23D Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill, London.

The killer lured his victims – which included boys, homeless men and sex workers -to the one-bedroom flat with the promise of food or alcohol. Nilsen had moved into 23D Cranley Gardens in October 1981 and was arrested just 16 months later after nearby drains became blocked by body parts he’d tried to dispose of.

The flat sold for £300,000 in 2015, but the buyer’s identity is unknown. At the time, one woman who viewed the flat said: ‘I wasn’t even born when these murders took place but everyone round here knows about what happened. I’m sure it will make a nice home for someone – and a tidy bargain – but I wouldn’t spend the night under that roof.’

10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London

Number 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill was the sight of several horrific murders carried out by John Christie. He sexually assaulted and murdered seven women within its confines over the space of a decade. The murderer posed as a backstreet abortionist and cruelly lured desperate women back to his flat. Christie would then rape and murder them, then hide the bodies under floorboards, in the garden and in a secret alcove in his kitchen.

Shortly after his arrest in 1953, the street was renamed Runton Close in a bid to shake off the past. The home was then completely demolished in 1970.

Kjell-ole Haune, a 40 year-old composer from Norway, decided to move to the street, adding that it was no worse than anywhere else in London.

He previously told The Independent:  ‘Unless you can show me one plot of land where someone hasn’t been killed slaughtered, raped or stabbed in the past 1,000 years – well, I don’t think that plot of land in London exists.’

Trem-Y-Cwm flats, Beddau, Wales

When Juliet Eden was called to take some photographs in the village of Beddau, Wales – she never realised just how far her images would travel. The subject of the photoshoot was Lee Ann Sabine – a tall, blonde woman known as ‘Mad Lee.’ Juliet took glam photos of the pensioner in 2014 and was paid £30 for the job.

A year later, after Sabine had died, Juliet and the world found out that the old woman had been a secret killer. Sabine had murdered her husband John in 1997 and wrapped his body in layers of plastic and foil before stashing him beneath their marital bed. Juliet had been just metres away from the corpse when she unknowingly visited the murder house in 2014.

‘I never sensed anything sinister when I visited the flat but I did feel somewhat claustrophobic as the flat was dark, cluttered and stuffy,’ Juliet told Metro. ‘The furniture was staged for show and not comfort and was very old fashioned. It was like a time warp going back to 1970, which was also how Lee dressed.’

After the grim discovery of John’s body, the cosy flat was professionally cleaned and put back into use.

Aeolian House, Darlington

At Aeolian House in Darlington, a dog kennel company was founded at the country home after the death of Ann Heron in 1990. The mum-of-four was found dead in her living room on a warm summer’s day in 1990, and her killer never caught. 

Louise and Andy Bloomfield bought Aeolian House for £220,000 off Ann’s bereaved husband, Peter. A pony, dogs, geese, hens and ducks moved in with the couple as they got to work on building kennel’s on the premises.

Speaking to the Northern Echo in 2003, Louise said: ‘There is always going to be gossip because a good-looking woman in a bikini was murdered here and because the house took so long to sell. Nobody wanted to buy it. When we looked around I felt such warmth that I knew that this was the house for us.’

44 Severn Street, Hull

When Mike Covell pauses his day to watch television or catch up on work; he’s often reminded of the horrific death which took place in the corner of his living room. He lives with his family at 44 Severn Street in Hull where, in 1945, 49-year-old Emily Garbutt was bludgeoned to death by her lodger, 69-year-old Fred Watson. 

‘He grabbed an axe, put it through her head six times then dragged her body into a room at the back of the property,’ Mike told Metro. ‘He switched on the gas and took a rusty knife to try and end his own life. Neighbours heard the noise and called the police, who kicked down the door and took Watson to hospital.’ 

Mike has no qualms about living in a ‘murder house’ but did have to hire an exorcist after his two young children started to witness ghostly going-ons. Father Phil Lamb, from the Diocese of York, was called to rid the house of its demons in 2007. Mike adds that on the anniversary of Emily’s death each year, the family light a candle to remember her.

Barcaldine Castle in Oban, Scotland

Owners of older properties, steeped in generations of dark history, often captalise on their terrifying history. Ghost stories are linked to ancient manors, mansions and ruins across the country.

Barcaldine Castle in Oban, Scotland is today a B&B rather than a stronghold. The website for the property states that a ‘ghost’ of its former owner, Duncan Campbell, still roams its halls. Campbell was brutally murdered in the castle by his sworn enemy, Stewart of Appin, during the Massacres of Glencoe in 1692.

Today, guests at Barcaldine Castle have reported experiencing flashing lights and a strange pressure on their legs, which is thought to be the spirit of Duncan. Photographs taken in the property are also said to ‘sometimes display unexplained blueish outlines.’

5 College Close, Soham, Cambridgeshire

The home of Ian Huntley, who murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, has been destroyed out of respect for the victims’ families.

Holly and Jessica had left a barbecue in Soham on August 4, 2002 to buy sweets, before they were lured by Huntley into his house. He murdered the schoolgirls not long after they entered his home. Desperately covering his tracks, the school caretaker joined searches for Holly and Jessica, set up chairs for press conferences and even gave an interview to Sky News. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Maxine Carr carefully stuck a missing person’s poster to the window of the couple’s cottage at 5 College Close in Soham.

After Huntley and Carr were arrested, the community made it clear they wanted the house gone from existence. So, over the course of 90 minutes in 2004, 5 College Close was reduced to rubble by a 20-ton bulldozer. The wooden fence which encased the three-bedroom house was also torn down. 

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Kirsten.Robertson@metro.co.uk 

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