The Lady Killer

Neville Heath, born in 1917, was a charming former officer who was dismissed from the Royal Air Force in 1937 and later served in the South African Air Force during the war. He had a long record of fraud and impersonation, using names such as “Lord Dudley” and “Group Captain Rupert Brooke.” In June 1946 he met Yvonne Symonds, promised to marry her, and took her to the Pembridge Court Hotel in Notting Hill. She came to no harm.

On June 20, 1946, Heath brought Margery Gardner back to the same hotel. She was found dead in his room the next day after a violent assault. With police searching for him, Heath visited Symonds in Worthing, then moved on to Bournemouth using the Brooke alias. There he met Doreen Marshall, 21, who was last seen with him on July 3. Heath went to the local police station to view her photograph. An officer recognized him as the man wanted in London, and he was held on July 6. Doreen’s body was found soon after at Branksome Dene Chine.

Heath went on trial at the Old Bailey for Margery Gardner’s murder on September 24, 1946. His defense argued that he was insane, but the jury rejected that claim and found him guilty. He was hanged at Pentonville Prison on October 16, 1946, at age 29.