BBC - Great Crimes and Trials Series 3 Set 2 (1995) Part 4 The Trunk Murders

Stabbings, shootings, genocide, torture, abduction, robbery, serial killing and mass suicide are just a few of the horrific crimes explored in Great Crimes and Trials. True stories carefully researched and reconstructed with actual archive footage. Cases which have become almost legendary in the annals of crime and detection. Serial killers, gangsters, assassins and war criminals - Great Crimes and Trials sheds light on crimes that shocked the world, bringing back memories of some of the most notorious cases of the twentieth century. The murders of John Lennon and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, the unsolved Zodiac murders and the treasonous crimes of Lord Haw-Haw are all covered here in exacting detail, alongside other shocking stories of murder and mayhem. From the violent mob rule of the thirties to the fairly recent phenomenon of the serial killer, the motives, behavior patterns and killing techniques of some of the world's most evil felons are explored. Their detection, capture and trials are examined to give a complete picture of how crine and justice have evolved through the twentieth century. Narrated by Robert Powell, Great Crimes and Trials combines new and archive interviews to reconstruct each story, analysing the individual and his motive, explaining how the crime was committed and showing breakthroughs in investigations alongside details of the trial. With its researchers gaining unprecedented access to picture libraries and over 250,000 hours of archive footage, these are the definitive accounts of these appalling murders.

Part 4 The Trunk Murders

Trunks left in railway left baggage departments eventually revealed their grisly secrets. Only when the police re-examined vital evidence did the murderers get caught. A breakthrough for early forensic science. As the Charing Cross railway station in London began operating on the morning of 10 May 1927, station staff noticed an unpleasant smell coming from an unclaimed trunk. Prising it open, they were presented with the horrifying sight of five severed body parts from a woman's body. The person responsible had eliminated most evidence that could be used to identify her. But he had not removed everything, and was eventually caught. In 1934, police were conducting a house to house search in Brighton. At number 52 Kemp Street, they discovered a trunk containing a body in an advanced stage of decomposition. The body was soon identified as 42-year-old prostitute, Violette Kaye. The resident of the house, Tony Mancini had long since disappeared. When the police later picked up Mancini, he told them that he had discovered his girlfriend Violette dead on her bed, apparently killed by one of her clients. He panicked and hid the body in the trunk. But the police didn't believe his story, when they discovered the charred remains of a hammer in his basement. Mancini was charged with murder on 17th July. At the trial five months later, the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty. 42 years later, Mancini finally confessed to a British newspaper that he had indeed murdered Violette.

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Episode One Shown Here