On Saturday 25th April 1914 a woman was stabbed to death on a train between Horley and Three Bridges. Herbert Brooker left the train at Three Bridges, which arrived at 8:25 p.m., still holding the murder weapon. After a fierce struggle he was overpowered, eight men holding him down. Brooker had lodged in Crawley for ten years with the caretakers of the Council Schools. He was found guilty of murder at the Sussex Assizes Lewes in July and was hanged at Lewes Goal on 28th July 1914.
John George Haigh
John George Haigh did the accounts for a factory in the High Street, owned by Alan Stevens, which produced compacts and lighters. Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon came to Haigh with an idea for producing false fingernails. In February 1949 he took her to his workshop in Leopold Road, murdered her and then dissolved her body in a vat of acid. He was convinced that “You can't have a murder without a body”, but was tried and convicted for Mrs. Durand-Deacon's murder. He eventually confessed to nine murders. He was executed at Wandsworth Prison on Wednesday 10th August 1949.
The Trial of John George Haigh-the Acid Bath Murder (Notable British Trials Series. vol. 78), Edited by Lord Dunboyne (William Hodge, 1953)John George Haigh, the Acid-bath Murderer: A portrait of a serial killer and his victims, Jonathan Oates (Pen & Sword True Crime, 2014)
The Acid Bath Murders: The Trials and Liquidations of John George Haigh, Gordon Lowe (The History Press, 2015)