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				This list is intended to give both an historic and a modern look at murder. With both new and old cases included it is hoped that a more complete picture will be available. This list only contains murders committed by men.   This section currently has information on 50 cases

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Radcliffe, Thomas
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Ramage, Andrew John
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Raven, Daniel
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Rayner, Horace George
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Roberts, Harry Maurice & John Edward Witney & John Duddy
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Robertson, James Roland
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Robinson, John
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Robinson, George
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Rottman, Arthur
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Rouse, Alfred Arthur
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Rowland, Walter Graham
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Russell, George
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Ruxton, Dr Buck
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Rutherford, Lieutenant Colonel
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Ramage, Andrew John

He became involved in picketing the homes of Mr Ramage and other strike breaking miners, who were subjected to verbal abuse and called 'scabs. Some of the pickets carried sticks or had dogs with them and a list of 'strike breakers', including Mr Ramage, was put up in the local community centre.

At 1am he had met Andrew Ramage and his younger brother Martin on the way home from the Afton Water Inn. Andrew ramage and Meldrum started arguing after Meldrum called him 'Scab's Boy', All three started fighting. When it was over, Meldrum lay unconscious on the ground the two men thought they had killed him. They put Meldrum in a van, drove some three miles from the town and dumped him over a bridge into the River Nith. They then realised that he was not dead as he was moaning so Andrew Ramage went down to the river bank while his brother stayed with the van. He held Meldrum's head under the water and drowned him.

The next day Martin Ramage had told friends what had happened, unable to come to terms with it he then reported the killing to the police.

Andrew Ramage gave himself up to police in Milton Keynes a week later.

They were both arrested and charged. The case was heard in Milton Keynes and on the 27 September 1988 Martin was aquitted but Andrew was sentenced to life imprisonment. 

Radcliffe, Thomas

Edward Bly was a warder at Portland prison in Dorset. On 20 April he was in charge of seventeen convicts in a work party when he was threatened by twenty six year old  Thomas Radcliffe, a petty criminal from Wigan serving a seven year sentence, and another convict, after he ordered them to do some task. Later, while Bly wasn't looking, Radcliffe crept up behind him and struck him with a shovel. Radcliffe was then overpowered by other convicts and detained before the guards reached the scene and restored order. Bly died on 15 June from blood poisoning caused by the wound and Radcliffe was charged with murder. He was hanged by William Calcraft; on the 15th August 1870 in Dorchester.

Raven, Daniel

Daniel Raven was a 23-year-old Jewish advertising agent with a reputation for always being immaculately turned out. His wealthy in-laws, 49-year-old Leopold Goodman and his 47-year-old wife, Esther, were both Russian Jews.

After the murder Raven went home but was surprised when he received a telephone call from police about 10.30 that night asking him to come to his in-laws' house in Ashcombe Gardens. He had not expected the bodies to be discovered until the next day at the earliest so taken by surprise he had to quickly change into smart, clean clothes, stuffing the bloodstained, dark blue suit he had been wearing into the boiler. Unexpectedly Mr Goodman's business partner, Frederick Fraiman, along with his wife and daughter, had called at the house at about 9.55pm to inquire about Marie and the baby. Getting no response to his ringing Mr Fraiman climbed in through an open window and found the savaged bodies of the Goodmans in their blood-soaked dining-room.

Police investigating the killings noticed the smart way in which Daniel was dressed and it certainly did not look as if these clothes had been worn all day. The obvious question in their minds was why had he changed so late in the day. On checking they soon discovered that it was not the same clothes he had worn earlier in the day. A search of Raven's Edgewarebury Lane house soon turned up the remains of the blue suit in the boiler. Forensic examination of it showed bloodstains on the trousers and also on a pair of freshly-scrubbed shoes hidden in the garage. The driver's seat of Raven's car had also been scrubbed.

He was arrested and charged with the joint murder of his inlaws. At his Old Bailey trial that opened on Tuesday 22nd November, his defence was that, like Mr Fraiman, he had entered the house after getting no reply to him knocking and had discovered the bodies, got blood on the suit when he knelt by his mother-in-law's body and had fled in panic. On 24th November he was found guilty and sentenced to death. An appeal, supported with evidence of insanity, was dismissed and Raven was hanged at Pentonville Prison on Friday 6th January 1950. 

Rayner, Horace George

He was charged and appeared at the famous Old Bailey in May 1907. George Raynor pleaded not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. He was to maintain that Whiteley, who had preached a high moral standard to his employees, was in fact his real father. George Raynor, the man who had brought Horace up, testified that Horace's mother, Emily Turner, now deceased, had improperly registered the birth and that he had agreed to act as father. Emily's sister, Louisa, caused a sensation when she gave evidence that not only had she, too, been Whiteley's mistress for many years, but that she also had a child by him. Sensational though this was the jury were not convinced about this plea and returned a guilty verdict and Horace Raynor was sentenced to death.

Because of the unusual circumstances of the case a petition for clemency was raised and collected 200,000 signatures in the first week.

Public opinion was running high and the Home Secretary was unable to ignore it and he commuted Raynors sentence to one of life imprisonment. George Raynor served twelve years before being released in 1919 on licence. If his story was true it meant that he would have on his concience for the rest of his life the fact that he killed his own father. 

Roberts, Harry Maurice & John Edward Witney & John Duddy

Roberts' criminal career began at the age of fifteen when he had been put on probation for receiving. Since then he had been convicted of larceny and robbery with violence. However you looked at it this was a car full of trouble. Although the police did not know this at the time the three of them were acutally driving around trying to find a car to steal that they could use in the planned robbery of a rent collector. They even had a set of false plates on the back seat ready to put on the new car.

They had in fact been looking unsuccessfully for some time and had decided to abandon their search temporarily and take a break. They were heading for Wormwood Scrubs common so they could sit in the sun and decide what their next move would be. At exactly 3.10pm Foxtrot Eleven received a radio message asking them to pick up a fellow officer, DI Coote, outside Marylebone Magistrates Court. They replied saying they would be there by three thirty.

What happened next was to change so many lives. For some reason there was something about the blue Vauxhall that made the officers curious. And they decided to pull the car over and speak to the occupants. Whatever made them make this decision when in Braybrook Street the Triumph pulled in front of the Vauxhall and DS Head flagged it down. DS Head and DC Wombwell got out of the patrol car and walked over to the Vauxhall. When asked for the documents Whitney admitted to the officers that he had no tax. DC Wombwell started to note down the particulars of the car and its driver. When DS Head examined the insurance it was to find that it had expired three hours earlier. DS Head moved away towards the rear of the car and DC Wombwell put his head in through the driver's window. As he did so Roberts raised a gun and shot him in the left eye. Seeing his colleague fall to the ground DS Head ran back to the police car. Roberts and Duddy leapt out of the Vauxhall and ran after a fleeing DS Head. Roberts fired a shot at Head but missed. On reaching the Triumph DS Head ducked down and tried to hide behind the front of the police car but Duddy shot him in the back.

While all of this was going on DC Fox had remained in the car. There was not much he could have done once the shooting started. He could not drive forward because his colleague lay in front of the car and reversing the vehicle would have taken him closer to the killers. Duddy fired at Fox twice from close range through the near side passenger's window. Incredible though it seems both bullets missed but a third shot hit him in the left temple. The shot caused the policeman's foot to push down on the accelerator and the car jumped forward going over the live body of DS Head and jammed there, with smoke pouring from its rear wheel. Roberts and Duddy ran back to the Vauxhall and the car reversed, turned around and sped off the way it had come.

Bryan Deacon and his wife, Patricia, were driving along Braybrook Street and were surprised to see the blue Vauxhall reversing towards them at some considerable speed. Because of the dangerous way it was driving as it swung around and raced off they noted down its number, thinking it might have been involved in a break-out from the nearby Wormwood Scrubs.

Driving further down the road they soon saw the carnage and now knew why the car had been in such a hurry. All three policemen were dead and so Mr Deacon drove on to find a telephone box to call the police. He also gave the number of the blue Vauxhall, PGT 726.

Being able to trace the car DI Stevenson, accompanied by a sergeant, paid a visit to John Witney at 9pm that evening. Witney told the officers that he had sold the car earlier that day to a stranger for £15, a story they did not believe. He was taken to Shepherd's Bush police station for further questioning.

Roberts had returned home to his common-law wife, Mrs Lilian Margaret Perry. Apparently when she asked him if he had heard about the shootings he told her "Shut up! It was us." He then went on to tell her that he knew that if they had been caught with the guns they would have got fifteen years so decided to shoot it out. The following morning the couple went shopping and, on their return, found Duddy in their flat with the guns. Roberts hid them under a bed.

The next evening police received a tip off from a man who told them that he had seen a blue Vauxhall being driven into a lock-up garage in Tinworth Street on the Friday. This was just the break the police were waiting for and they arrived within minutes and found the Vauxhall. Inside were three .38 cartridges from Duddy's Colt. More importantly they also found out that the garage was rented by Witney which destroyed his earlier story about selling the car. He was charged with the murder of the three police officers.

Later that evening after Witney had been given time to consider his position he decided to make another statement. If he was going to be facing a murder charge he was not facing it alone. In his statement he implicated Roberts and Duddy and took police officers to show them where they both lived.

At 5am the following morning both properties were raided by armed police. It seemed they were too late as there was no sign of Duddy at his house and his children hadn't seen him since the Saturday, their mother had walked out several weeks before. There were also no signs of Roberts or Mrs Perry.

Knowing that time was running out for them that Sunday morning Duddy and Roberts had buried the guns on Hampstead Heath. After that Duddy left saying he was heading for Scotland and Roberts booked into the Russell Hotel with Mrs Perry as 'Mr & Mrs Crosby'. Roberts had intended to also go to Scotland but on the Sunday morning, after he had got to Euston Station, he tore up his ticket and instead bought camping equipment and food. Roberts and Mrs Perry caught a bus to Epping where he said goodbye to her. Mrs Perry returned to her flat in Wymering Mansions where she was immediately picked up by police and interviewed. She did not want to get involved and so told them all she knew about their intentions.

The following morning Duddy was picked up by police in Glasgow and brought back to London. On Thursday believing Roberts to be camping in Epping Forest police started to search the 6,000 acres. Despite using 500 police officers, tracker dogs and a helicopter there was no sign of him and the search was abandoned on Saturday.

The trial of Duddy and Witney opened at the Old Bailey on Monday 14th November. By this time there had been over 6,000 'sighting' of Roberts none of which led to his apprehension. On the night of Thursday 10th November a gipsy, 21-year-old John Cunningham, had been looking for small game in Thorley Woods at night when he saw a light coming from a tent buried in the undergrowth. He had told his father about the strange sight when he returned to his caravan but his father had been dismissive. On the Saturday a local policeman was making enquiries about minor thefts in the area and visited the Cunningham's caravan. From them he heard about the stranger living in the woods and, accompanied by a colleague, went to investigate. Eventually they located the tent and its contents but there was no sign of its former occupant. The two policemen kept observation on the hideout the rest of the day and all night but no one approached it.

In order to be sure that the occupant of the tent was indeed the man they were looking for a forensic team took fingerprints from items in the tent and they were identified as belonging to Roberts. At dawn on the Tuesday a team of over 100 policemen, who had surrounded the wood during the night, closed in. Just before noon Sergeants Thorne and Smith were checking a disused hangar on the edge of neighbouring Nathan's Wood. Noticing a bottle of methylated spirits, Smith parted a couple of bales of hay piled up in the old hangar. There was a torch and a primus stove. He moved aside another bale and, finding a sleeping bag, poked at it with his rifle. Roberts emerged from the sleeping bag and the hunt was over.

DCS Chitty, leading the murder hunt, interviewed Roberts at Bishop Stortford police station. Roberts admitted to everything except the killing of DC Fox. It was decided that the three men should stand trial together and a new date was set for the trial. It opened at the Old Bailey on Tuesday 6th December 1966. Roberts pleaded guilty to all the charges except the killing of DC Fox while Duddy and Witney denied all charges and accused Roberts of terrorising them. All three were found guilty of murder and of possessing firearms and each was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that they serve a minimum of thirty years for what the judge, Mr Justice Glyn-Jones, described as 'the most heinous crime to have been committed in this country for a generation or more.' Duddy died in the hospital at Parkhurst Prison in February 1981. 

Robertson, James Roland

The vehicle involved was found abandoned in a side street. It's owner was registered as James Robertson, who was a police officer. He was arrested and charged with murder. His said that he had found the car abandoned and on checking the records had discovered it had been stolen and decided to keep it. He also admitted knowing Catherine McCluskey and said that he was the father of her second child. His story as to the events of that day were that he had been driving down Prospecthill Road when he spotted Mrs McCluskey and had stopped to speak to her. He said she had asked him for a lift but that he had refused because he was on duty. He had left her and driven away but had then changed his mind and stopping had reversed the car, he could not see her but then felt the car bump over something. He had in fact run her down. When he tried to move the car off her he found her body had become jammed under the vehicle and he had driven backwards and forwards until he had managed to get clear.

At his trial at Glasgow in November 1950 he chose to repeat his story from the witness box and it was quickly destroyed under cross-examination. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, being executed on 15th December 1950 at Barlinnie prison at the age of 33. 

Robinson, John

The body parts were examined by Sir Bernard Spilsbury and he concluded that the body was that of a stout woman about 35-years-old. She had bruises on her stomach, forehead and back and that these had been caused, while unconscious. The woman had died of asphyxiation. Sir Bernard believed that the woman had been dead about a week. Also in the trunk were a number of other items such as, a pair of black shoes, a handbag, a pair of knickers that had a tab marked 'P. HOLT' and several items of clothing bearing laundry marks.

From the laundry marks the police were able to trace the knickers to a Mrs Holt who lived in Chelsea. The police were surprised to find that she was still alive. Even so the police were still confident that they were getting closer to the murderer. It was considered likely that the knickers had been stolen by one of the ten female servants that Mrs Holt had employed in the last two years. All the servants were accounted for except Mrs Rolls. The police asked Mrs Holt to identify the head of the victim and she confirmed it as that of Mrs Rolls.

Mrs Rolls was really called Mrs Minnie Alice Bonati. She had been married to an Italian waiter named Bonati but had left him to go and live with a man named Rolls and had subsequently taken his name. She was 36-years-old and had been working as a prostitute. She had last been seen alive in Sydney Street, Chelsea, between 3.45pm and 4pm on Wednesday 4th May.

Meanwhile police had also been trying to trace the origins of the trunk and had published photos of it in the press. A shopowner recognised it and identified it as being one that he had sold, for 12/6, to a dark man of average height with a military bearing. The next stroke of luck occured when the taxi-driver came forward who had taken the man to Charing Cross Station. He told police that he had taken two men to Rochester Row police station some time after 1pm on the Friday. After he had dropped this fare he was returning when he was hailed by a man standing outside a building opposite the police station and he had helped him to carry a large trunk from the building to the cab. He had taken the man to Charing Cross Station where the trunk had been deposited. The building in Rochester Row was identified as No. 86. The tenant of two rooms on the second floor was missing. He was John Robinson, an estate agent who had been struggling to stay in business.

Police traced Robinson's lodgings in Kennington but he had left. However, police found a telegram that had been returned and it was addressed to 'Robinson, Greyhound Hotel, Hammersmith'. This turned out to be Mrs Robinson, who worked there. Mrs Robinson wasn't his real wife as he had still been married to another when they married. Robinson had bigamously married her after he had left his first wife and their four children. When she found this out she agreed to assist the police by meeting Robinson as he had requested. On Thursday 19th May she went to the Elephant & Castle, Walworth, accompanied by Chief Inspector George Cornish.

Robinson was arrested and taken back to be interviewed at Scotland Yard where he denied any involvement in the killing. He was placed on an identity parade but the shopkeeper, the taxi-driver and the porter all failed to pick him out and he was released.

Chief Inspector Cornish decided to back a hunch and had the duster from the trunk washed. It revealed the word 'GREYHOUND' and a further search of Robinson's office turned up a bloodstained match caught in the wickerwork of a wastepaper basket. Robinson was brought back to Scotland Yard on the 23rd May. He then made a statement in which he stated that

"I met her at Victoria and took her to my office. I want to tell you all about it. I done it and cut her up."

The trial took place at the Old Bailey and opened on Monday 11th July. Robinson's defence was that he had been accosted by Mrs Bonati at Victoria Station and they had gone back to his office in Rochester Row. When they got there he said she had demanded money and when he refused she had become abusive and had tried to strike him. In order to protect himself he had pushed her away but she had lost her footing and had fallen and hit her head on a coal-scuttle. He had, he said, left the office expecting her to recover and leave but when he returned the woman was still lying there.

Feeling sure no one would believe him he had been in a panic. He had bought a knife and the trunk and had dismembered the corpse and deposited it at Charing Cross Station. He admitted to everything except an intent to kill. One witness for the defence was the victims husband Frederick Rolls who testified that the dead woman was an alcoholic and could become very violent. This statement however true did not impress the jury and they retired for an hour before returning a guilty verdict.

On Wednesday 13th July, 36-year-old Robinson was sentenced to death. It was perhaps not the murder that had disgusted everyone but the manner in which he had tried to dispose of the body, she was left no dignity. He was hanged at Pentonville Prison on 12th August 1927. 

Robinson, George

Rouse, Alfred Arthur

The young men carried on down the lane and could see a glow from a fire up ahead. When they got closer they could see that it was a car that was ablaze. They quickly ran to the village and fetched two local constables. After they had put the fire out they could see that someone had been in the car which was a Morris Minor. Senior officers arrived and they slowly began to build up a picture of what had happened. One stroke of luck seemed to be that the car's rear licence plate had survived the fire and it was determined to be MU 1468. They were soon able to trace that the car was registered to 37-year-old commercial traveller A. A. Rouse of Buxted Road, Finchley, north London. Mrs Rouse was unable to identify the remains from the car as her husband.

One part of the puzzle that was missing seemed to be the man the two youths had seen. At that time in the morning it was too much of a coincidence for him not to be connected. They circulated his description to the press. Miss Phyllis Jenkins, of Gellygaer, Glamorgan, bought a copy of the 'Daily Sketch' with the description of the incident. She showed it to a man who had arrived the previous evening who had told her that his car had been stolen near Northampton. He denied that it was his car. The man was Rouse and Phyllis' sister, Ivy, was his pregnant girlfriend. The 'Daily Sketch' the next day carried more details, including Rouse's name. He returned to London by bus on 7 November, but gossip about his visit and departure had reached the ears of Cardiff police. They quickly informed Scotland Yard and, when he got off the bus at Victoria Bus Station, he was met by DS Skelly.

In his story he told detectives that he had been travelling overnight to Leicester and had picked up a hitchhiker. He had taken a wrong turn and found himself in Hardingstone Lane. At that point he decided to stop for a nap. He had got out of the car to relieve himself and asked his passenger to fill the petrol tank with the contents of a can that was in the car. The man had then, according to Rouse, asked him if he had something he could smoke. Rouse, a non-smoker, conveniently had a cigar with him and he had given it to the man. This seemed to the police to be a little strange. Rouse went on to say that he had left the car and walked over 200 yards to relieve himself. It was strange but he had taken his suitcase with him on this call of nature. He said that on his way back he saw the car burst into flames. He said he tried to reach the man trapped in the car but had failed and panicked.

Police started to look into the background of this man and found out some interesting facts. He had been born on 6 April 1894, the son of shopkeepers in Herne Hill, London. He had married Lily May Watkins in November 1914 and had almost immediately left to serve in France in the Great War. It was during this service that he had been injured when he had received a head wound in May 1915 and had never been the same since.

When he left the army he got a job as a commercial traveller with his job taking him over a large area. This had given him chance to charm his way into the lives and beds of dozens of women. He had over 80 women on his 'visiting list' by 1930, had fathered several illegitimate children and had even married bigamously. One of his girlfriends was in hospital expecting her second child by Rouse just four days before the incident. Rouse had a pile of maintenance orders building up against him and knew that there was no way that he keep up the payments on his wages. This being the case the police suddenly realised that they now had their motive. The only way Rouse could see out of this situation was to vanish. What better way than to die in a fire.

Alfred Arthur Rouse was charged with murder of an unknown man and brought to trial on 26 January 1931 at Northampton Assizes. Mr Norman Birkett, prosecuting, made no attempt to play on Rouse's lifestyle, he didn't have to. Rouse had told enough lies to condemn himself. Technical evidence was given that showed that the carburettor had been tampered with before the fire had started and Rouse's fate was sealed.

The trial took six days the jury retired to consider their verdict taking just 75 minutes to return a guilty verdict. Rouse was hanged at Bedford prison on 10 March by Tom Pierrepoint . The identity of the victim remains unknown but it may have been an innocent hiker as Rouse had said. 

Rowland, Walter Graham

He was tried at Manchester Assizes in December 1946 and found guilty. It was later disclosed that he had previously been convicted of the murder of a child, but had been reprieved. While Rowland awaited his appointment with the gallows David John Ware, an inmate at Walton Jail, Liverpool, confessed to Olive Balchin's murder. Rowland appealed but the appeal was dismissed. Ware admitted to a Home Office inquiry that his confession had been false and the original sentence was confirmed. Rowland was executed at Strangeways Prison by Albert Pierrepoint on 27th February 1947. 

Russell, George

It was assumed that robbery was the motive for the killing and in the dust on top of a cardboard box police discovered the partial prints of a possible assailant. The prints were soon traced to George Russell, who had previous convictions for theft and housebreaking. He was arrested in St Albans and initially denied any involvement in the murder. Police, however, discovered in his possession a scarf that had belonged to Mrs Lee. He went on to admit that he had approached Mrs Lee about a job as gardener.

Russell was tried at Berkshire Assizes and found guilty. He was hanged at Oxford Prison on 2nd December 1948. 

Ruxton, Dr Buck

Rutherford, Lieutenant Colonel

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