I've been doing my research over the last few days, which has involved searching through English Serial Killer documentaries and websites, and I have to say, some of the stories out there are truly disturbing! I started by searching UK Serial Killers in google and found a few interesting ones which I then watched documentaries to get a full understanding of each one. However, none of them had the controversy I was looking for, and I couldn't think of how I would illustrate them. But then I fell on the serial killer John Reginald Christie. He was a murderer from 1943 until 1953 (when he was hung). He killed 8 people, all female, including his own wife, and a baby girl. But what was even more shocking about this story was that he was a witness in the case of Timothy Evans for the murder of Timothy's wife and child, when Christie was actually the killer. Timothy Evans hung for this 2 years before Christie was found out and hung. After Christies capture, it was clear Evans hadn't been the murderer and was exonerated of his charge - a little too late! This eventually became a reason the death sentence was lifted in the UK. The police also had a play in the part of the hanging of Timothy Evans. When 10 Rillington Place (where both the Evans's and Christie's lived) was searched by Police, they did not do a full search of the house, where more bodies would've been discovered. There were also bones on display in the garden which were completed missed by Police. There is also evidence to show that Timothy's confession was written by the police. Timothy was illiterate and had a low IQ, but the confession was perfect English. Therefore, when he was asked to sign it, he would not of known what he was actually signing. After Christie was discovered, a long investigation was made to clear Evans's name which found that crucial evidence actually showed it would've been impossible for Evans to kill his wife and child due to certain time scales, and the missed questioning of builders which had been working on the house during the time of the murders.
A quick biro sketch I did of John Christie
A documentary about John Christie
I thought there were a lot of angles I could take on this story. Also as the time is 60-70 years ago, not too many people may know about this (I hadn't heard of it until reading about it), therefore I can teach people of the tragic event of Timothy Evans and the Rillington Place murders.
So here are the sources, I have found so far, that I am going to use to gather information about the case;
Here's a list of websites and video documentaries with information on John Christie, 10 Rillington Place, TImothy Evans and the Victims
A couple of books to help me out;
 |
| Book about 10 Rillington Place with a focus on Timothy Evans |
 |
| The Reverse Symbolism Dictionary that I discussed in the last post |
A paper on the miscarriage of justice of Timothy Evans
Ewan Macoll wrote a folk song named 'The ballad of Timothy Evans - Go Down Ye Murderers' -which I thought could be interesting to illustrate;
Here's the film '10 Rillington Place'. It is a movie from 1971 about the murders at 10 Rillington Place.
Link to Video '10 Rillington Place'
From looking at this information I have chosen three seperate points to illustrate;
From looking at this information I have chosen three seperate points to illustrate;
- The personality and life of John Christie - 3 prints showing his early life, his time as an active serial killer, and his arrest and conviction. I would like to use the way I illustrated Bluebeard to do these images. So using the reverse symbolism dictionary to find symbolic imagery for each time of his life to then combine into three images. Perhaps printing one on old wooden floor boards as he hid some of the bodies under the floor.
- The Misfortunate Events of Timothy Evans - I would like to create a concertina book, illustrating the life and events leading to his death. Using short sentences to explain each image and event or using the song lyrics of 'Go Down ye Murderers'.
- A chest filled with images, objects, 3-D illustrations and items for each victim of John Christie. I thought a chest would be a good idea as a closed chest symbolises secrets and when people open it, it will reveal the secrets of Christie, just like how his secrets were revealed in real life.
Now to starts some initial sketches and pitch the idea to my tutors!
No comments:
Post a Comment