Notorious murderer Dr Crippen's prayer book to be auctioned in Lichfield

Killer had leather-bound volume in jail before his execution in 1910

A PRAYER book belonging to ‘infamous’ murderer Dr Crippen is heading to auction in Staffordshire.

The pocket-sized tome goes under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers at The Lichfield Auction Centre on Monday, March 24.

American homeopath, ear and eye specialist and medicine dispenser Hawley Harvey Crippen was hanged in 1910 after the disappearance of his wife Cora, a music hall singer.

Crippen claimed his wife had left him and gone to the US but her friends convinced police to pursue investigations and they found a boneless human torso buried under the cellar of the doctor’s London home.

Traces of toxins were later found in the remains, which were identified as Cora's due to a scar on the abdomen. The head, limbs and skeleton were never recovered.

By the time of the search, Dr Crippen and his typist mistress Ethel Le Neve had left London in a bid to sail to Canada but the couple were recognised by the ship’s captain, who telegraphed the authorities.

Chief Inspector Walter Dew from Scotland Yard – who was also a detective in the hunt for Jack the Ripper – caught a faster boat and arrested them on the St Lawrence River, making Dr Crippen the first to criminal to be captured with the aid of wireless telegraphy.

At the ensuing trial, Ethel was acquitted but the jury found Crippen guilty after just 27 minutes and he was hanged at Pentonville Prison at 9am on November 23 1910.

Now the notorious doctor’s personal Book of Common Prayer, which he had in jail before his execution, is due to go under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers as Lot 878 on Monday, March 24.

The leather-bound book has been in the possession of a UK collector who bought it at auction in 2007.

Its inside front cover is signed in pencil: “Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, Hilldrop Crescent, London.”

“This prayer book is a chilling artefact of one of Britain’s most notorious crimes,” said auctioneer Richard Winterton.

“One wonders whether the hymn The Lamentation Of A Sinnner – appropriately at the very end of the book – was the very last thing Crippen read in his cell before he was fetched for sentence to be carried out.

“Much has been written about the case since it happened 115 years ago and it has inspired countless films, plays and TV programmes.

“In recent years some have cast doubt on the conviction but in 2009 the Criminal Cases Review Commission said the Court of Appeal would not hear the case to pardon Crippen posthumously.

“We’ve guided the prayer book at £250 to £350 but given the continued interest in the infamous Dr Crippen it could fetch far more on the day at auction.”

The catalogue can be viewed online a week before the auction via our Auction Calendar and viewing in person takes place on Friday, March 21, from 10am-4pm.

Appointments for free valuations at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, may be booked by email to office@richardwinterton.co.uk or telephoning 01543 251081.