Tim Evans

In response to Evans's second statement, the police performed a preliminary search of 10 Rillington Place but did not uncover anything incriminating, despite the presence of a human thigh bone supporting a fence post in the tiny garden (about 16 feet (5 m) long by 14 feet (4 m) wide). On a more thorough search on 2 December, the police found the body of Beryl Evans, wrapped in a tablecloth in the wash-house in the back garden. Access to the locked wash-house was only possible by using a knife kept by Mrs Christie. Significantly, the body of Geraldine was also found alongside Beryl's body — Evans had not mentioned he had killed his daughter in either of his statements. Beryl and Geraldine had both been strangled.

On 16 November 2004, Westlake began an application for judicial review in the High Court, challenging a decision by the Criminal Cases Review Commission not to refer Evans's case to the Court of Appeal to have his conviction formally quashed. She argued that Evans's pardon had not formally expunged his conviction of murdering his daughter, and although the Brabin report had concluded that Evans probably did not kill his daughter, it had not declared him innocent. The report also contained the "devastating" conclusion that Evans had probably killed his wife. The request to refer the case was dismissed on 19 November 2004, with the judges saying that the cost and resources of quashing the conviction could not be justified, although they did accept that Evans did not murder either his wife or his child.

The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions (2003) states that some of the phraseology of the confession seemed more in line with language a police officer might use, rather than that used by an illiterate man as Evans was. Evans was kept in solitary confinement for two days before being handed over to the London police. He did not know what was happening other than his wife's body had not been found in the drain as expected. At Notting Hill police station, he was shown his wife's and daughter's clothing, and the ligature which had been used to strangle his daughter. This book cites Kennedy as a source for the conclusion that Evans felt tremendous guilt over not doing more to prevent the deaths of his wife and daughter, and particularly that his daughter's murder must have been a tremendous shock.

During his trial, Evans accused his downstairs neighbour, John Christie, who was the chief prosecution witness, of committing the murders. Three years after Evans's execution, Christie was found to be a serial killer who had murdered several other women in the same house, including his own wife (Ethel). Before his execution, Christie confessed to murdering Mrs. Evans. An official inquiry concluded in 1966 that whilst Evans had probably murdered his wife (Beryl), Christie had probably murdered Evans's daughter (Geraldine), and Evans was granted a posthumous pardon.

The case generated much controversy and is acknowledged to be a miscarriage of justice. Along with those of Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis, the case played a major part in the abolition of capital punishment in the United Kingdom for murder in 1965.

In 1955, David Astor, editor of The Observer, Ian Gilmour, editor of The Spectator, John Grigg, editor of The National and English Review and Sir Lynton Andrews, editor of The Yorkshire Post, formed a delegation to petition the Home Secretary for a new inquiry because of their dissatisfaction with the conclusions of the Scott Henderson Inquiry. In the same year, barrister Michael Eddowes examined the case and wrote the book The Man on Your Conscience, which argued that Evans could not have been the killer on the basis that if he were there were a number of extraordinary coincidences with his crimes and Christie's, most notably that two strangler murderers, who both used a ligature to kill their victims, had been living in the same property at the same time, unknown to each other.

Christie was arrested on 31 March 1953, on the Embankment near Putney Bridge and during the course of interrogation confessed four separate times to killing Beryl Evans. He never admitted to killing Geraldine Evans, however. He confessed to murdering Fuerst and Eady, saying he had stored their bodies in the wash-room before burying them in shallow graves in the garden. It was in the same wash-room that the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine Evans had been found during the investigation into their murders. Christie was found guilty of murdering his wife and was hanged on 15 July 1953 by Albert Pierrepoint, the same hangman who had executed Evans three years prior.

Evans was put on trial for the murder of his daughter on 11 January 1950. In accordance with legal practice at the time, the prosecution proceeded only with the single charge of murder, that concerning Geraldine. Beryl's murder, with which Evans was still formally charged, was not formally before the court, though evidence that he had murdered Beryl was used with the aim of establishing Evans's guilt of the murder of Geraldine. Evans was represented by Malcolm Morris. He withdrew his confession during consultations with his solicitor and alleged that Christie was responsible for the murders in accordance with his second statement given to the police at Merthyr Tydfil. Although this allegation was dismissed by the court as "fantastic" and Evans's solicitors had also warned him that it was difficult to prove, Evans maintained this defence until his execution. It was subsequently found that Christie, not Evans, was responsible.

Their marriage was characterised by angry quarrels; Beryl was alleged to be a poor housekeeper and incapable of managing the family's finances, while Timothy misspent his wages on alcohol, and his heavy drinking at the time exacerbated his already short temper. The arguments between Timothy and Beryl were loud enough to be heard by the neighbours and physical violence between them was witnessed on several occasions. In 1949, Beryl revealed to Timothy that she was pregnant with their second child. Since the family was already struggling financially, Beryl decided to have an abortion. After some initial reluctance, Evans agreed to this course of action.

On 20 September 1947, Evans married Beryl Susanna Thorley, whom he had met in January 1947 on a blind date. The couple initially lived with Evans's family at St Mark's Road but after Beryl discovered she was pregnant in 1948 they moved into the top-floor flat at 10 Rillington Place in the Ladbroke Grove area of Notting Hill. Their neighbours in the ground-floor flat were the serial killer John Christie, then working as a post office clerk, and his wife, Ethel Christie. Timothy's and Beryl's daughter Geraldine was born on 10 October 1948.

In 1935, his mother and her second husband moved to London, and Evans worked as a painter and decorator while attending school. He returned to Merthyr Tydfil in 1937 and briefly worked in the coal mines but had to resign because of continuing problems with his foot. In 1939, he returned to London to live again with his mother, and in 1946 they moved to St Mark's Road, Notting Hill. This was just over two minutes' walk from 10 Rillington Place, his future residence after he married. Evans was fined 60 shillings at West London Magistrates court on 25 April 1946 for stealing a car, and driving without insurance or a licence.

Tim Evans was born on May 9, 1937 in Houston, Texas, USA as Timothy Lawler Evans.

Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongfully accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried and convicted for the murder of his daughter; he was executed by hanging in March of the same year.