Lady Killers

British crime writer, Martina Cole, examines the life and times of the most notorious female serial killers across history and asks: why do women kill and why are we surprised when they do?

Episode 1: Myra Hindley

Intercut with interviews with experts Martina Cole tells the story of Myra Hindley, dubbed ‘the most evil woman in Britain’ by the tabloid press, who, in company with the petty criminal Ian Brady, with whom she was besotted, killed five children in the 1960s, burying their bodies on the vast moorland. Despite her claims that she had reformed whilst in prison, Hindley was always to be denied a release and died in jail aged 60. Famously, they refused to tell the parents where their victims were buried so there was no chance for a proper burial for the families.

Episode 2: Amelia Dyer

As a young girl, Bristol-born Amelia Dyer watched her mother die in pain and it is assumed this had a traumatising effect on her. She qualified as a nurse and became a baby-farmer, looking after others’ babies. After deaths of children in her care she was charged with neglect and served six months in jail. Later she spent time in a mental asylum but carried on baby-farming. In 1896 she was hanged for the murder of Doris Marmon, a child in her care, but is suspected of having killed many more infants.

Episode 3: Beverly Allitt

Always an attention seeker from childhood who fabricated imaginary illnesses, Grantham-born Beverly Allitt studied nursing. Due to staff shortages she obtained a job in a local hospital, where she is well regarded. While working there she kills four children and attempts to injure another nine, for which she is put away in a secure hospital for life.

Epsiode 4: Rose West

Rosemary West was born in Barnstaple and after her parents split up, spent time with her father who repeatedly sexually abused her. She met Fred West, a man who had already killed two girls. Together, they would kill ten more, usually lodgers at their house but family members too. Fred West killed himself in prison. Rose was originally subject to a life sentence of at least twenty-five years but it was later amended to mean life. As a result, along with Myra Hindley, she is the only other British murderess denied any hope of release.

Episode 5: Mary Ann Cotton

Mary Ann Cotton was a Victorian serial killer, hanged in Durham in 1873. She was nicknamed The Black Widow. Killing for greed, she murdered three of her four husbands for their insurance policies, her step children, her mother and even her own children.

Episode 6: Elizabeth Bathory

Born in Hungary in 1560 Countess Bathory was a lesbian. With her son, two sons-in-law and several female helpers, she encouraged young girls to come to her castle on the pretext of finding them work and then tortured and killed them. She was eventually found out and died walled up in her castle. It is claimed that she killed 600 victims, making her the most prolific female serial killer of all time. A myth grew up that she bathed in her victims’ blood to stay young, a fact used in the horror film ‘Countess Dracula‘ starring Ingrid Pitt, one of the programme’s contributors.