Amelia Dyer part two

Good evening all, hope you're all well, tonight I will continue with part two of my blog on Amelia Dyer

The Evil Amelia Dyer

So we left part one after Dyer had taken baby Doris from a barmaid called Evelina, Dyer had promised that the child would be well loved but what actually happened was that the little girl was killed as soon as Dyer got her home, she tied white tape around her neck and waited till she died, in a statement Dyer  said 'I used to like to watch them with the tape around their neck but it was soon all over'

(This leads me to believe that Dyer got some enjoyment from these killing and not as she claimed she did it for money to survive and that mental health issues had clouded her judgement) 

In April of the same year Dyer took another baby in named Henry he too was taken back to Dyers and killed but having run out of white tape Dyer had taken the tape from little Doris's corpse and used that, she then packed both babies into a carpet bag and weighted it down with bricks before travelling to reading where she used a secluded weir at Caversham lock to put the bag into the Thames through the bars of the lock. On the 30th of March that year unbeknownst to Dyer a package had been retrieved from the Thames in reading by a bargeman, it had not been weighed down and inside was the body of a baby girl. At the time police had limited resources forensic wise but after a lot of hard work they found a label in the package from temple meads station a piece of white tape and a faint piece of writing that gave them the name Mrs Thomas and enough of an address to find Dyers home, the police still had little evidence connecting her to a serious crime as the little girls cause of death had not been determined. The local police placed Dyer and her family under surveillance and sent a decoy young woman to secure a meeting with Dyer when Dyer replied the police had enough to search her home as technically baby farming was illegal. As soon as officers entered Dyers home the stench of human decomposition was very strong but no bodies were found on the premises, police did find letters from mothers asking how their babies were doing and some asking where their babies were! None of them had been answered, the police also found pawn receipts for baby clothing and fake adoption arrangements and lastly they found white tape the same as which had been found inside the package with the little girl. Dyer was arrested along with her son in law who was charged with accessory to murder, this charge was later dropped and he walked free. By the end of April the police had dredge the Thames near to reading and found a total of 6 bodies all babies and all with white tape around their necks. Dyer told police 'you'll know it's one of mine if there's white tape' From the bodies they found they managed to identify Henry and Evalina's little girl Doris as they were Dyers last victims, Evalina was asked to identify her little girls remains and she testified to her meeting with Dyer and how she had paid her to take Doris to a loving home.

On the 22nd May 1896 Emilia Dyer pleaded guilty to 7 counts of murder, one of Dyers own daughters was forced to testified against her mother and the prosecution successfully argued Dyers insanity plea, claiming this was just a ploy by Dyer to avoid the noose, the jury took only 4 and a half minutes to find Dyer guilty and she was sentenced to death by hanging. 

WARNING UPSETTING PICTURE BELOW

Dyer shown in court above and little Henry's body along with Dyers kit she used to kill the babies.

Amelia Elizabeth Dyer was hung in the grounds of Newgate prison on the 10th June 1896, Dyer had no last words but had said previously that she knew what she had done was wicked and that she would have to face god when she died.

After Amelia Dyers case the laws on adoption in England changed but sadly this did not stop all baby farming for a few more years. Two years after Dyer was hung a baby was found wrapped in brown paper on railway lines, 2 rail workers found the package in the pouring rain, inside was a baby girl, amazingly the baby was still alive, she was cold and wet but alive. The mother of the baby was somehow traced and she informed police that she paid a Mrs Stewart £12 to have her baby adopted, it was claimed that Mrs Stewart was Amelia Dyers daughter Polly! Sadly Polly was never found.

This case is one of the worst I've found, it is believed through records and witness statements over the years that Dyers victim count was over 400 making her the most prolific serial killer ever. 

I hope you enjoyed part two of Amelia Dyers tale, a truly evil woman who finally got what was coming to her, please join me next week for my next instalment of Forgotten Killers and don't forget to follow my blog so you never miss one also don't forget to follow me on instagram Forgottenkillersonig.

Goodbye for now and stay safe.