Timothy Evans

Who was Timothy Evans?

Timothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and infant daughter at their residence at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging. During his trial, Evans had accused his downstairs neighbour, John Christie, of committing the murders. Three years after Evans's execution, Christie was found to be a serial killer who had murdered a number of other women in the same house, including his own wife. Before his own execution, Christie confessed to murdering Mrs. Evans. An official inquiry concluded in 1966 that Christie had also murdered Evans's daughter, and Evans was granted a posthumous pardon.

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