The Brighton Trunk Murders

The Brighton Trunk Murders were three murders over the span of a hundred years that earned Brighton the nickname ‘Queen of the slaughtering places’. Unfortunately, only one of the murders was solved and the murderer convicted.

In August 1831, a trunk was found in Lover’s Walk near Preston Park. Inside, the trunk was a body, missing its head and arms. 

Celia Bashford met John Holloway in 1825 at the racecourse. Celia was six years older than John and completely enamoured with him. He, however, was not certain about Celia but kept seeing her anyway. In 1825, Celia became pregnant and was fired from her job at a pub. Money was tight and John refused to marry Celia, so she had to get financial help from the Parish Relief. The Parish Relief told John that he would have to marry Celia and sent him to prison when he refused. John spent five weeks in Lewes Prison before agreeing.

Unfortunately, the baby was stillborn. John was furious at having to marry Celia for a baby that had ultimately died. A short while later, Celia became pregnant again and the couple had a baby girl named Agnes. Tragedy struck again and Agnes died when she was around a year old.

After the loss of a second child, John began to go out to visit a woman named Ann Kennett. The two of them were married illegally and lived together under the names of Mr and Mrs Goldsmith. 

By the summer of 1831, both Ann and Celia were pregnant. John wanted even less to do with Celia and she was forced to return to Parish Relief who demanded that John pay Celia two shillings a week. During her pregnancy, Celia stayed with a friend, Ms Simmons.

On the 31st August 1831, a local fisherman was walking down Lover’s Walk and found a trunk. Around the trunk was bloodied clothing; inside was a body missing its head and arms. The body was easily identifiable as Celia Holloway due to her uniquely short stature of 4’3”. 

Ann was arrested first and the police searched for John. During the time of the search, Celia’s body was put on display for people to pay money to see. Eventually, John walked into the police station after hearing they were looking for him. He denied having anything to do with Celia’s murder. 

Simmons reported to police that she hadn’t seen Celia in a month because John had come to pick her up, claiming that he had made a mistake and wanted to live with her once again. Celia willingly went with him. Simmons also said that on several occasions, John would threaten Celia. John denied the accusations, claiming that he thought Celia was in London the entire time.

Then, John changed his tune. 

In July, John called Celia up and asked her to pack her bags. On the 14th, he picked up her bags and then later, took Celia to a residence in North Steine Row. He, reportedly, said lots of sweet things to Celia about how he had changed and how he was going to be faithful and that she was the only one for him. In response, Celia hugged him and he slipped a cord around her neck and tightened it. After, he cut her throat twice before dragging her to the cupboard where he attached the rope to a nail in the wall and left her there to make sure she was dead. During this confession, John said that he was alone and had no help.

John went back the next day after burning Celia’s belongings, cut her down and then cut off her head and arms. He placed the severed limbs in a bag, before placing the rest of her body in a trunk that she had owned. He used a wheelbarrow to transport the trunk to Lover’s Walk. Her head and arms were disposed of near Margaret Street close to where John lived with Ann. 

During the investigation, the coroner stated that Celia’s body had been amputated with skill which further proved John’s guilt as he had once worked as a butcher’s boy.

Ann was acquitted as it was not believed that a woman would be able to commit such a murder. John was hanged on the 16th December at Lewes Prison. Before his death, John relayed the full details of Celia’s murder, but this time, implicated Ann in the crime. Due to contradictory statements, Ann was not re-arrested. After his death, John’s body was put on display for those who would pay to see it.

Flash forward one hundred and three years and in Brighton station, a trunk left in the left luggage room is beginning to smell bad. No one wanted to touch the trunk just in case the owner reclaimed it. 

On the 17th June, an employee opened the trunk and found paper bags. In one paper bag was the torso of a woman. The other bag contained her hands. There were no other body parts in the trunk. 

A message was sent out asking all train stations, local and not, to be on the lookout for similar trunks. A day later at King’s Cross station in London, a trunk was found with dismembered legs wrapped in paper bags. The rest of the woman was still missing.

Handwritten on the paper containing the legs was the word ‘ford’. It was the only lead and soon it led nowhere, as a woman rang up the police and admitted that it was her handwriting. She had sent the paper bag back to a sweets factory and didn’t know how it had gotten to King’s Cross. Police followed up the lead and found that the sweets factory reused the paper and had no way to know who the reused paper had been sent to.

The coroner determined that the woman was roughly twenty-five, five weeks pregnant and 5’2”. Her feet were well cared for, possibly a dancer’s feet, and for this reason she was known to the public as pretty feet. Due to her missing head and arms, they couldn’t identify a cause of death, nor who she was.

At the time, the only suspect the police had was a local abortionist named Massiah. When asked by the police, he gave them a full list of names. He was cleared and moved to London. The police questioned seven hundred others during their investigation but had no real suspects. They continued looking for the missing body parts.

On the 15th July 1934 in an apartment at 52 Kemp Street, the police found a black leather trunk. Inside was the complete body of forty-two-year-old Violet Kaye. The cause of death was determined to be a blow to the head. Violet was a sex-worker and dancer and had moved from London to Brighton with her twenty-six-year-old boyfriend, Tony Mancini. 

Tony worked at a restaurant on the seafront called the Skylark Cafe. It was at this cafe that witnesses last saw Violet. She was very drunk and was seen arguing with Tony over him flirting with a younger waitress. 

After, Tony continued working, claiming that Violet had gone to Paris. He even sent Violet’s sister-in-law a telegram which read “Going abroad. Good job. Sail Sunday. Will write. — Vi”.

Tony hid the body in a black leather trunk which he took with him when he moved Kemp Street and covered it with a cloth to use it as a coffee table despite the fact that it was leaking bodily fluids and the neighbours complained about the smell.

When Violet’s body was found, Tony was on the run. Police caught up with him in South East London.

Tony’s trial lasted five days in the December of 1934 and it took the jury only two hours deliberation to declare him not guilty.

In 1976, after a change of name, Tony confessed to a newspaper. He said that he and Violet were arguing and Violet attacked him with a hammer. He wrestled it off her and then threw it. It hit her on the side of the head and killed her instantly. Scared that the police would not listen to him because of his past, he hid the body. 

Unfortunately, the second trunk murder is still unsolved and the body still unidentified.