Timothy Evans - Married Life

Married Life

On 20 September 1947, Evans married Beryl Susanna Thorley, whom he had met through a friend. They initially lived with Evans's family at St Mark's Road but in early 1948 Beryl discovered she was pregnant and they decided they would find their own place to live with their child. In Easter 1948, the couple moved into the top-floor flat at 10 Rillington Place in the Ladbroke Grove area of Notting Hill. Their neighbours in the ground-floor flat were John Christie, a post office clerk and former Special Constable, and his wife, Ethel Christie. Unknown to Evans, Christie was also a serial killer who had already killed two women at the property prior to the Evanses' arrival; he would go on to murder at least another three women as well as his wife over the next five years. Timothy and Beryl's daughter Geraldine was born on 10 October 1948.

Their marriage was characterised by angry quarrels, exacerbated by Beryl's poor housekeeping and inability to manage the family's finances. However, Timothy also misspent his wages on alcohol and his heavy drinking at the time exacerbated his already short temper. The arguments between Timothy and Beryl were loud enough to be heard by the neighbours and physical violence between them was witnessed on several occasions. In late 1949, Beryl revealed to Timothy that she was pregnant with their second child. Since the family was already struggling financially, Beryl decided to have an abortion. After some reluctance, Evans agreed to this course of action.