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Gordon Cummins
Gordon Frederick Cummins (18 February 1914 – 25 June 1942) was a British serial killer known as the Blackout Killer, the Blackout Ripper and the Wartime Ripper, who murdered four women and attempted to murder two others over a five-day period in Central London in February 1942. He is also suspected of committing two earlier murders in October 1941.
Convicted of the murder of 33-year-old Evelyn Oatley, Cummins was sentenced to death on 28 April 1942; he was hanged at HMP Wandsworth on 25 June, and is the only convicted murderer in British criminal history known to have been executed during an air raid.
All the victims of the Blackout Ripper were strangled, with the bodies of three of his victims extensively mutilated at the point of or after death. The murders themselves have been described by one former detective superintendent within the Metropolitan Police as "by far the most vicious" he ever investigated during his entire career.
Cummins became known as the "Blackout Killer" and the "Blackout Ripper" because he committed his murders during the imposed wartime blackout and because of the extensive mutilations inflicted upon his victims' bodies. He is also known as the "Wartime Ripper" as his murders were committed at the height of World War II.
Gordon Frederick Cummins was born in New Earswick, North Riding of Yorkshire, on 18 February 1914, the first of four children born to John Cummins and his wife Amelia (née Lee). Cummins's father was a civil servant who ran a school for delinquent youths; his mother was a housewife. As a child, Cummins received a private education in Llandovery, South Wales, although contemporary reports from his years at the Llandovery County Intermediate Secondary School describe his academic performance as unremarkable, with teachers later recollecting he was much more preoccupied with socialising than his studies. Nonetheless, Cummins did obtain a diploma in chemistry at age sixteen. After completing his schooling in 1930, Cummins attended Northampton College of Technology, where he was again a lackadaisical student. He abandoned his studies on 1 November 1932, determined to establish a career on his own terms.
At the age of eighteen, Cummins moved to Newcastle, where he briefly worked as an industrial chemist. He was dismissed from this employment after five months. In August 1933, Cummins found work as a tanner in Northampton, although he was fired from this employment for poor timekeeping after thirteen months, thereafter briefly alternating between part-time work and casual labour. In October 1934, Cummins relocated to London and obtained a job as a leather dresser in a clothing factory, earning £3 a week (the equivalent of approximately £188 as of 2026[update]). He later trained to become a foreman at this firm.
While residing in London, Cummins developed a desire to live the life of an aristocrat. He frequented hotels and clubs in the West End, falsely claiming to acquaintances to be the illegitimate son of a peer and to be receiving an allowance from this fabled individual. To support this contention, Cummins refined his accent to imitate that of an Oxfordian, invariably smoked expensive cigarettes, and insisted on being referred to as "the Honourable" Gordon Cummins. He frequently engaged in acts of theft or embezzlement to financially maintain this facade, and regularly bragged to colleagues of his sexual excursions with local women. To his employers, Cummins's extravagant lifestyle impacted his work performance, and he was fired from his job on 8 February 1935. Shortly thereafter, he moved into his brother's flat in Queens Mews, Bayswater, as he considered his next career move.
In November 1935, Cummins volunteered to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). He enlisted at the Air Crew Reception Centre in Regent's Park, London, where both serving members of the RAF and new recruits were assessed for training. Cummins initially trained as a rigger, tasked with undertaking pre-flight checks on aircraft. He was regarded by his superiors as an ambitious individual, although his boastful attitude and false claims of bastard nobility made him unpopular with many of his fellow servicemen, who viewed him as somewhat vain and derisively nicknamed him "the Duke." In May 1936, Cummins became acquainted with Marjorie Stevens (b. 10 March 1915), the secretary of a West End theatre producer, at an Empire Air Day event in the village of Henlow. Following a seven-month courtship, the couple married at the Paddington Register Office on 28 December and moved into their own flat. They had no children.
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Gordon Cummins
Gordon Frederick Cummins (18 February 1914 – 25 June 1942) was a British serial killer known as the Blackout Killer, the Blackout Ripper and the Wartime Ripper, who murdered four women and attempted to murder two others over a five-day period in Central London in February 1942. He is also suspected of committing two earlier murders in October 1941.
Convicted of the murder of 33-year-old Evelyn Oatley, Cummins was sentenced to death on 28 April 1942; he was hanged at HMP Wandsworth on 25 June, and is the only convicted murderer in British criminal history known to have been executed during an air raid.
All the victims of the Blackout Ripper were strangled, with the bodies of three of his victims extensively mutilated at the point of or after death. The murders themselves have been described by one former detective superintendent within the Metropolitan Police as "by far the most vicious" he ever investigated during his entire career.
Cummins became known as the "Blackout Killer" and the "Blackout Ripper" because he committed his murders during the imposed wartime blackout and because of the extensive mutilations inflicted upon his victims' bodies. He is also known as the "Wartime Ripper" as his murders were committed at the height of World War II.
Gordon Frederick Cummins was born in New Earswick, North Riding of Yorkshire, on 18 February 1914, the first of four children born to John Cummins and his wife Amelia (née Lee). Cummins's father was a civil servant who ran a school for delinquent youths; his mother was a housewife. As a child, Cummins received a private education in Llandovery, South Wales, although contemporary reports from his years at the Llandovery County Intermediate Secondary School describe his academic performance as unremarkable, with teachers later recollecting he was much more preoccupied with socialising than his studies. Nonetheless, Cummins did obtain a diploma in chemistry at age sixteen. After completing his schooling in 1930, Cummins attended Northampton College of Technology, where he was again a lackadaisical student. He abandoned his studies on 1 November 1932, determined to establish a career on his own terms.
At the age of eighteen, Cummins moved to Newcastle, where he briefly worked as an industrial chemist. He was dismissed from this employment after five months. In August 1933, Cummins found work as a tanner in Northampton, although he was fired from this employment for poor timekeeping after thirteen months, thereafter briefly alternating between part-time work and casual labour. In October 1934, Cummins relocated to London and obtained a job as a leather dresser in a clothing factory, earning £3 a week (the equivalent of approximately £188 as of 2026[update]). He later trained to become a foreman at this firm.
While residing in London, Cummins developed a desire to live the life of an aristocrat. He frequented hotels and clubs in the West End, falsely claiming to acquaintances to be the illegitimate son of a peer and to be receiving an allowance from this fabled individual. To support this contention, Cummins refined his accent to imitate that of an Oxfordian, invariably smoked expensive cigarettes, and insisted on being referred to as "the Honourable" Gordon Cummins. He frequently engaged in acts of theft or embezzlement to financially maintain this facade, and regularly bragged to colleagues of his sexual excursions with local women. To his employers, Cummins's extravagant lifestyle impacted his work performance, and he was fired from his job on 8 February 1935. Shortly thereafter, he moved into his brother's flat in Queens Mews, Bayswater, as he considered his next career move.
In November 1935, Cummins volunteered to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). He enlisted at the Air Crew Reception Centre in Regent's Park, London, where both serving members of the RAF and new recruits were assessed for training. Cummins initially trained as a rigger, tasked with undertaking pre-flight checks on aircraft. He was regarded by his superiors as an ambitious individual, although his boastful attitude and false claims of bastard nobility made him unpopular with many of his fellow servicemen, who viewed him as somewhat vain and derisively nicknamed him "the Duke." In May 1936, Cummins became acquainted with Marjorie Stevens (b. 10 March 1915), the secretary of a West End theatre producer, at an Empire Air Day event in the village of Henlow. Following a seven-month courtship, the couple married at the Paddington Register Office on 28 December and moved into their own flat. They had no children.
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