Chapter 38

Marilyn Anne Bain

1962

John Michael Hubbard was growing rather tired of the noise from upstairs, at 60 Redcliffe Square. Almost every morning it seemed to be the same. Yesterday, the two women who lived upstairs had been screaming at each other at around 3.00am, and now, on Thursday, 13 September 1962, it was happening all over again.

Mr Hubbard, a solicitor, was first woken at about the same time, 3.00am, when the two women started arguing. He was unable to distinguish any of the words but the noise was constant for an hour or so. Finally, Mr Hubbard was able to drift off to sleep again, only to be woken for a second time, at 5.00am, by yet another argument. Though he was not to know it at the time, Mr Hubbard would only ever have his sleep disturbed, by the women upstairs, on one more occasion.

One of the women who lived in the flat upstairs was Marilyn Anne Bain. She had been born, in Fife, Scotland, on 21 March 1937. An intelligent girl, she did not, however, seem to excel at school but, once she had left, Marilyn had appeared to blossom somewhat. She joined the Army and served as a nurse in Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and at various locations within the United Kingdom.

In 1959, Marilyn was based in London. By now, she had realised that she had lesbian tendencies, and as part of her new life, often visited the Gateway Club, a well-known gathering place for gay people. It was there, in May 1959, that she first met Jean Doreen McVitie, who preferred to be known as Jeannette Blake. The two women got on famously, and Marilyn ended up spending ten days with Jean at her flat in Oakley Street, Chelsea. The friendship between the two women soon became a love affair.

In September of that same year, 1959, Marilyn was discharged from the Army, with an excellent record. She immediately went to live with Jean, first at Oakley Street and later at Cremorne Mansions, also in Chelsea. After about a year there, the two lovers moved to Finborough Road, where they stayed for just two weeks, before moving to a basement flat at 16 Coleherne Road.

It was at that address that the physical relationship between Marilyn and Jean finally came to an end. One day, Marilyn met a man, who she knew only as Bob. They went out a few times and this led to tensions between her and Jean. At one stage Jean scathingly remarked that Marilyn must prefer men after all, but in fact, there was a deeper meaning to this argument.

The very early Sixties were not as enlightened as now, and many gay people still struggled with their own identities. Jean confessed to Marilyn, after another one of their arguments, that she wished she could be ‘normal’ like her friend, and seek the company of men. The two women talked through their problems and agreed that they would remain friends, and carry on living together, but their lesbian relationship was now over.

After about a year at Coleherne Road, the couple moved again, to the flat at 60 Redcliffe Square, Chelsea. Here, occasionally, despite the fact that she was not attracted to men, Jean would occasionally sleep with one in order to bring in some money. One such client visited the flat at some time between 8.30pm and 9.00pm, on the night of Thursday, 13 September 1962. When he had left, Jean had some extra money and she suggested to Marilyn that they should get some drinks in, and have a private party. Marilyn was all in favour and Jean then handed her £4, so that she could visit the off-licence.

Marilyn took the cash and went to the shop on the corner of Old Brompton Road and Earls Court Road. There she purchased a bottle of scotch whisky, a quarter bottle of brandy, three quarts of light ale, a bottle of ginger ale and five small bottles of cola to act as mixers. She then went back to the flat, where the two women began drinking heavily. By midnight, both were extremely drunk.

A game of ludo was suggested and played, but this was a little tame. Jean then suggested poker, but Marilyn did not know how to play. An hour or so passed with Jean teaching her friend the rudiments of poker, followed by a few games, and yet more drinks. Then, after one hand had finished, Jean got up to get some ice from the fridge.

Jean took a number of cubes out of the fridge and placed them onto a small blue plate, which she took back into the living room where Marilyn waited. Having dropped a cube into her own drink, Jean then dropped one into Marilyn’s, She, however, did not want ice so she took the cube out and dropped it back onto the plate. It was that simple event which led to a new argument, ending with the playing cards being thrown up into the air.

The cards were now all over the floor and yet another argument followed over who should pick them up. Eventually, it was Jean who collected the cards together, and the two women then sat in silence for a while, angry with each other. In due course, that anger boiled over into yet another heated discussion, ending in a physical fight between the two. Punches were exchanged and the fight only stopped when Jean slid to the ground, and Marilyn went to the toilet to be sick.

Going back into the living room, Marilyn saw, to her horror, that Jean was slumped on the floor, an ever-widening pool of blood seeping through her blouse. Though she was still quite drunk, Marilyn realised that something was wrong. She immediately ran off to find a telephone and ring for an ambulance.

Harry Sidney Fox was the driver of the ambulance sent to Redcliffe Square. He timed his arrival at 8.20am on the morning of 14 September. As he pulled his vehicle into the street, he saw Marilyn Bain waiting outside, frantically waving to attract his attention. She shouted, ‘Come in the house quickly. My friend has collapsed on the floor.’ Going into the flat, Fox found Jean lying near the sideboard, her head resting on a pillow. It was clear that she had been stabbed, though there was no sign of a knife anywhere in the room. Both the injured woman, and her friend, were taken to the Princess Beatrice Hospital. On the way, Jean remarked, ‘She knifed me. ’ She then paused for a few seconds before adding, ‘She doesn’t know anything about it.’

In a case of stabbing, the police are, obviously, informed that an incident has taken place. The hospital duly contacted them and, at 8.45am, Detective Sergeant Edward Smith and Detective Sergeant Alan Busby, attended the hospital to investigate. Jean was still being treated for her injury, but Smith did speak to Marilyn. He began by saying, ‘I understand a friend of yours has been stabbed.’ To this, Marilyn replied, ‘I don’t know what happened. I saw her in the room. She was holding her chest and she said she couldn’t breathe. I rushed out and phoned for an ambulance.’

After some time, Sergeant Smith was informed that Jean was able to make a statement. Having heard her side of the story, he then returned to Marilyn and said, ‘Miss Blake says you stabbed her. What happened?’ Marilyn replied, ‘I can’t remember. We had been drinking all night and we always fight.’ She was then taken to Chelsea police station where she was charged with wounding and released on police bail, having been told to return to the station at 2.00pm the next day.

The following day, when Marilyn did return to the police station, she was given some good news. By now, Jean had been interviewed again, and she had made it clear that she did not wish to press charges against her friend. The charges were now dropped and Marilyn was free to go. It was not, however, the end of her problems, for the next day, Monday, 17 September, Marilyn received a visit from a policeman, at her home.

That officer was Chief Inspector Lansdall and he informed Marilyn that Jean had now died, and that she might now be charged with a serious offence. First, there would have to be a post-mortem, and if that showed that Jean had died as a direct result of the stab wound, then Marilyn would be facing a charge of murder. In the meantime, she was to return to Chelsea police station in order to make a full written statement.

Marilyn made no attempt to hide what she had done. In fact, she actively helped the police in their enquiries. Before she left the flat to go back to the police station, Marilyn said that she had been tidying the flat and had found the knife she had used, underneath the fridge. It must have fallen there, or perhaps been knocked under there, in the struggle with Jean. Chief Inspector Lansdall could not help but notice the dried blood on the knife. Marilyn had made no attempt to clean it or wipe away any of the evidence against her.

Whilst Marilyn was at the station, news came through that a preliminary post-mortem had shown that the stab wound was the direct cause of death. Dr Robert Donald Teare had noted a single stab wound on the left side of the chest, at an angle of twenty-five degrees to the horizontal. That stab had gone through between the sixth and seventh rib, into the diaphragm, through the top of the stomach and into the centre of the chest. The wound was five inches deep, but would only have required light to moderate force to inflict, as the flesh there was easily penetrated. Indeed, the wound might well have been caused by Jean falling onto the knife, accidentally, during the fight. The track of the wound had since become infected and it was that, which had led to Jean’s death.

Marilyn was then charged with murder. When the case came to trial, however, it was clear that this had all been a tragic accident. Mr Sebag Shaw, for the defence, said that his client pleaded not guilty to murder but would plead guilty to manslaughter. After a brief discussion, that plea was accepted and the murder charge was not proceeded with. It remained only to detail any previous convictions against Marilyn. There was only one. On 20 April 1960, at the West London Metropolitan Magistrates’ Court, she had been given eighteen months’ probation for stealing two wing mirrors from a car.

Marilyn Anne Bain, a woman who deeply regretted that she had taken the life of her friend, was then sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.