WW2’s ‘Blackout Ripper’: how a respected war hero manipulated the Blitz and became a serial killer

Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, historian Professor Amy Helen Bell explains how Cummins became one of Britain’s most notorious wartime killers.

A killer hidden by the Blitz

During the Blitz, London was a city of devastation and darkness. The nightly blackouts – combined with the ready availability of abandoned bomb sites and empty air raid shelters – gave criminals the opportunity to operate undetected. Born in 1914 and raised in ordinary circumstances, Cummins was one of these figures.

Cummins “was in the RAF during the Blitz,” explains Professor Bell. “He was fairly well-respected by his peers and happily married.” On the surface, he was near indistinguishable from scores of other young men serving their country during the Second World War.

• Read more | The cruel cost of the Blitz

However, while he was stationed in London in 1942, Cummins took deadly advantage of this bombed-out environment, using it to lure victims into deserted areas where no one would see or hear their final moments.

Over the course of just six nights in February, he killed at least four victims. These heinous crimes have led some historians to dub him the ‘Blackout Ripper’.

How Cummins used his uniform to kill

In wartime Britain, servicemen were seen as heroes: symbols of strength and national unity. Cummins, Bell says, used the trust that people placed in his uniform as the perfect cover.

“People thought he was just this nice, handsome guy,” says Bell. “He was in uniform, so he couldn’t be that bad.” In reality, however, it was Cummins’ uniform that allowed him to blend into the crowds of soldiers stationed in London.

• Read more | The Battle of Britain: how the RAF turned back the Luftwaffe

“That was the irony of having such a large number of servicemen in the capital,” Bell continues. “You could use your uniform as the perfect screen to hide behind. There were so many people wearing the same clothes that you would be impossible to trace.”

This was a further fact manipulated by Cummins: while civilians lived under strict wartime curfews, the movements of uniformed servicemen were rarely questioned.

The Blackout Ripper’s victims

Cummins’ first known victim, Evelyn Hamilton, was in London for just one night in early February 1942, staying in a hotel near Bloomsbury. She stepped out for dinner and never returned.

“Her body was found the next morning inside an empty air raid shelter,” Bell explains. “Her purse was missing, her clothing was disarranged, and there were absolutely no clues.”

With no connections to the city and no obvious suspects, the crime appeared random – a perfect scenario for a predator like Cummins.

The mistake that ended the Blackout Ripper’s spree

Over the next few nights Cummins continued to kill while evading capture. His known victims were Evelyn Oatley, Margaret Florence Lowe and Doris Jouannet. But Cummins left no obvious clues behind.

That is, until he made a fatal mistake.

On 13 February 1942, he attempted to strangle a woman named Greta Haywood in a darkened doorway. Before he could kill her, however, a passerby named John Shine noticed the struggle and called out.

• Read more | The history of London

Cummins immediately ceased his attack, giving Haywood the chance to escape. But in the chaos, Cummins dropped his RAF-issued gas mask and duffel bag, providing the police with clear and crucial evidence as to the perpetrator’s identity.

“He was traced by the items’ serial numbers,” Professor Bell explains, and this information led police back to Cummins’ unit.

Cummins was swiftly arrested, convicted and hanged at Wandsworth Prison in June 1942. Unlike the still-unknown killer known as Jack the Ripper, the so-called Blackout Ripper’s identity was exposed within weeks of his crimes.

However, had he not been interrupted that night, Bell suggests that “he could have gone on for months and not been caught”.

Amy Helen Bell was speaking to Jon Bauckham on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to the full conversation

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