Keith Simpson (pathologist) - Famous Cases

Famous Cases

• 1942 Rachel Dobkin, murdered by her husband Harry
• 1942 Joan Pearl Wolfe, victim of August Sangret in the “Wigwam murder”.
• 1943 The Bethnal Green tube station disaster.
• 1946 Margery Gardner, murdered by Neville Heath.
• 1946 Consultant for the Surrey Police on the “Chalk-pit Murder”.
• 1948 The death of Ananda Mahidol, King Ananda of Siam, Simpson’s first case outside England, when a Major-General of the Police of Siam asked his help interpreting what had happened.
• 1948 The “Gorringe case”, in which Simpson used forensic odontology (the identification of an individual from their teeth and bite marks) to seal a murder conviction against Robert Gorringe for the murder of his wife Phyllis, one of the first recorded instances of such evidence being used in an English court.
• 1949 After searching through slurry, Dr Simpson found gallstones and bones that identified Mrs Durand Deacon as a victim of the "Acid Bath Murderer", John George Haigh.
• 1953 Exhumation of Beryl Evans after John Christie confessed to her murder. Dr Simpson acted for Christie, observing the exhumation and autopsy, which was performed by Francis Camps.
• 1956 Acted for the Medical Defence Union in the defence of Dr John Bodkin Adams, acquitted of murdering one of his patients.
• 1961 Michael Gregston and Valerie Storie, victims of James Hanratty, the “A6 murderer”.
• 1964 The Lydney Murder, an unidentified body near Lydney, and a significant case in the development of entomology for criminal investigation.
• 1966 George Cornell, victim of the Kray twins.
• 1967 Invited by the Canadian government to review the case of Steven Truscott after publication of the book The Trial of Steven Truscott on the case by Isabel LeBourdais.
• 1974 Sandra Rivett, victim of Lord Lucan.
• 1975 Leslie Newson, driver in the Moorgate tube crash.
• 1982 Roberto Calvi, Vatican banker. The cause of death was asphyxia by hanging from Blackfriars Bridge.