Harry Burstoff, who lived at 8 Oman Avenue, was driving down South Hill Park, towards Hampstead Railway Station, at around 12.50 am, on Thursday 29 July 1954, with his wife in the front passenger seat. Harry and his wife were chatting with each other when, suddenly, a woman ran out into the road, signalling for him to stop, and shouting, ‘Taxi! Taxi!’
Harry stopped his car and rolled down his window. The woman approached and, in broken English, blurted out, ‘Please come. Fire burning. Babies sleeping.’ Then, before Harry could ask the woman what had happened, she dashed off back up the hill. Thinking that the woman might need his help, Harry turned his car around and followed her.
Even as Harry craned his neck to see where the woman was heading, she suddenly turned and ran up the steps, which led to number 11. The front door there was open and there was a light on in the hallway. Not sure exactly what he should do next, Harry tentatively followed the woman inside. The woman was waiting, just inside the hallway and Harry asked, ‘Where’s the fire?’ The woman put a finger to her lips and replied, ‘Ssh, babies are sleeping.’
As Harry’s wife, Fanny Burstoff, made her own way up the steps, the mysterious woman opened another door and vanished into one of the other rooms. Before Harry could venture after her, his wife called out, ‘Look, there’s somebody on the floor.’
There was indeed someone lying on the floor, in the entrance to the yard at the back of the house. As Harry and his wife moved closer, they could see that whoever that was, they were beyond all help. Not only was there a good deal of blood about the person’s head, but the body was badly burnt. As the strange woman came back to where Harry and his wife stood, Harry announced that he would have to telephone for the police.
The woman who had stopped his car in the street, pointed to a telephone. Harry had actually no idea where he was and asked her what the address was. She seemed to understand because, although she did not reply, she took him to the front door and pointed out the number. Then she handed him an envelope from a letter rack. This gave the name Christofi and the address of 11 South Park Avenue. Harry then telephoned the police and waited outside, with his wife, for them to arrive.
At 1.26 am, Sergeant Maurice Stevens was on duty in Cricklewood Broadway when he received a message to go to South Hill Park. On arrival at number 11, he found Harry and Fanny Burstoff outside and they told him, briefly, what had happened. Sergeant Stevens then went inside the house and found the woman who had summoned Burstoff to the body, which was lying nearby, just inside the yard. Sergeant Stevens then tried to question the woman, but she would only reply, ‘I no speak. I no understand.’
Sergeant Edward Welch arrived at the scene at 1.45 am. He, too, tried to question the woman, but could get no sensible answers from her. By now, his colleague, Sergeant Stevens, had discovered that there were children asleep upstairs. Welch managed to signal to the woman that she should go upstairs and look after them. She nodded and did as she was told.
Within moments of Sergeant Welch’s arrival, Dr Philip Hopkins also attended. He confirmed that the body was that of a young woman, who was dead. He noted too that there was a strong smell of paraffin around the body and in the yard itself. There was also a good deal of water around the body, possibly indicating that an attempt had been made to douse the flames.
The pathologist, Dr Francis Edward Camps, arrived at the scene at 5.00 am. He noted that the body was that of a slim, well-nourished female, who had been approximately five feet four inches tall. She was naked, apart from a pair of what looked like shorts. Her tongue was sticking out from between her teeth, which possibly indicated asphyxia, and her hair was soaked in dried blood.
Later that same day, Dr Camps performed the post-mortem which revealed that there were no carbon particles in the victim’s lungs or air passages, indicating that she had been dead before she was doused in paraffin, which was then set alight. The woman’s skull was fractured across the back and the wound showed that she had been struck with some round, linear object. The woman’s nose was also broken, but the direct cause of death was strangulation. It appeared that she had been hit over the head with something heavy, which may have rendered her unconscious. She was then strangled to death, soaked in paraffin and set alight.
By now, names had been put to the people involved in this tragedy. The house was occupied by the Christofi family. The head of the house was Stavros Pantopiou Christofi, who was a Greek Cypriot. He had come to Britain in 1937 and five years later, in 1942, he had married a German girl, Hella Dorothea Bleicher.
The union was a happy one and the couple had had three children, two boys and one girl, who were now aged between nine and twelve years. In July 1953, Stavros’ mother, Styllou, had come to England from Cyprus, but it was clear from the outset that she and Hella did not get along.
Over the next year, the atmosphere at South Hill Park grew worse and worse until, finally, Hella told Stavros that she thought it would be better if his mother returned to Cyprus. This was talked about at length and, finally, a decision was made. On 12 August, Hella was due to go for a holiday to Germany, taking the children with her to meet their relatives over there. When she returned, Styllou would see her grandchildren for the last time and then she would be sent back home. This would certainly have taken place before the winter set in.
Stavros was a wine waiter at the Café Royal in London’s West End, and it was there that the police called to inform him that all was not well at home and he should return at once. His wife, thirty-six-year old Hella, was the dead woman whose burnt body had been found in the yard and his mother, fifty-three-year-old Styllou, the one who had flagged down Harry Burstoff’s car, was the person accused of killing her.
The trial of Styllou Pantopiou Christofi took place at the Old Bailey, on 28 October 1954, with the case for the prosecution resting in the redoubtable hands of Mr Christmas Humphreys.
The first witness was Detective Constable William Carter who had gone to 11 South Hill Park, on 29 July, to take some photographs of the scene. Later that same day, he had gone to the mortuary at St Pancras to take further pictures of the deceased. Some of those photographs are reproduced in the plates section of this book.
Stavros Christofi told the court of the problems between his wife and mother. Styllou, it seemed, was of the old-school and was constantly telling Hella how she should be bringing her children up. This led to constant arguments between the two, which had culminated in Styllou being told that she would have to go back to Cyprus.
On the night his wife had died, Stavros had gone to work at 8.30 pm, which was the last time he had seen his wife alive. At 3.00 am on the 29th, the police had called the restaurant and told him that he needed to go home. He arrived there at 3.30 am to find his wife dead and the police waiting for him. Stavros was asked to act as translator whilst the police asked Styllou some questions. As he told the officers what his mother said, it was written down and later Styllou put her mark on the paper.
Stavros, however, had one more important piece of evidence to give.
A pair of French windows led out to the yard where Hella’s body had been found. They were not capable of being locked, so Hella had come up with the idea of placing a large garden fork beneath the handle, at night, to secure them. When the police and others had arrived at the scene, that fork had been found next to the doorway. This would prove crucial when Styllou’s statement to the police was read out later.
Eric Porter was a partner in Fashion Ways Limited, a clothing company who traded from premises at St George’s Street. He confirmed that Hella had worked for his company, since 3 July 1953 and was a valued employee. She always seemed to be happy, doted on her family and was very happy with her husband.
Robert William Cooper now lived at 1 Frognal Close, but in July 1945, he had moved into the second floor flat at 11 South Hill Park, where he remained until October 1953. He knew the Christofi family very well and had been back to visit them a number of times since he had moved. His last visit was on the evening of Wednesday 28 July, the evening Hella was attacked. Robert had arrived there at 9.35 pm and only stayed for five minutes or so. When he left, Hella was alive and well. He had not seen any sign of Styllou that night.
John Byres Young lived next door but one to the Christofis, at number 15 South Hill Park. At some time between 11.30 pm and 11.45 pm, on 28 July, he had gone into his back garden with his dog. Immediately he noticed an orange glow from the garden of number 11, as if there was someone burning something.
Curious as to what could be happening, John called out but there was no reply from number 11. He then called his wife, Thomasina, who came out to take a look for herself. As she waited in her own yard, John crossed the intervening yard and looked over the wall into the yard of number 11. There was indeed a fire, which appeared to be a wax model. There was also a very strong smell of paraffin. As he watched, John saw Styllou come out and bend over the burning figure and had the impression that she was about to stir the fire up. Seeing no reason to interfere, John returned to his own yard and told his wife what he had seen.
After Harry and Fanny Burstoff had given their evidence, a number of police officers, including Sergeant Stevens and Sergeant Welch, gave their testimony. They were followed by medical evidence, given by Dr Hopkins and Dr Camps.
Albert Evans, another police officer, had searched the premises on 30 July. At one stage he had noticed that a clock on the mantelpiece in the back bedroom appeared to have been recently moved. Taking it down, Evans found a small cellophane parcel behind it and, upon unwrapping this, found a gold wedding ring. This had since been identified as belonging to Hella Christofi. The bedroom in which it was found, was that of Styllou.
Styllou did not speak English very well, her native tongue being Greek. When she had been interviewed by Detective Inspector Robert Fenwick, at Hampstead police station, the services of an interpreter, Mr Christodoulous Protopapa, had been provided. According to Styllou’s statement, she had been asleep in bed when she had been woken by the smell of smoke. Upon investigating, she had found Hella’s body ablaze in the yard and had thrown water over it in an attempt to save her. Someone must have broken into the house and attacked
Hella.
Unfortunately for Styllou this did not explain how the garden fork had been moved to the side of the French windows, how Hella’s wedding ring, which she never took off, had found its way into Styllou’s bedroom or why John Young had seen her merely looking over the body.
There was, perhaps, just one hope for Styllou. Dr Christie was the Chief Medical Officer at Holloway prison and he had been observing the prisoner since her incarceration there. He noted that she had had very little schooling, was hysterical, distressed, restless and aggressive. She spent some nights just sitting up in bed, screaming. Dr Christie had come to the conclusion that Styllou was mentally deranged. However, curiously, although his report clearly stated that Styllou was insane, it went on to say that she was fit to plead to the charge and stand trial.
In the event, the jury chose to dismiss the suggestion of insanity and found Styllou guilty as charged. Only now could it be revealed that, in 1926, when she was just twenty-five years old, Styllou had been charged with murder in her native Cyprus. She had, apparently, killed her mother-in-law, by ramming a burning torch down her throat. On that charge, she had been found not guilty!
An appeal was heard, and dismissed, on 29 November. Exactly sixteen days later, on Wednesday 15 December 1954, Styllou Christofi was hanged at Holloway by Albert Pierrepoint. As a member of the Greek Orthodox church, Styllou had asked that a cross from her faith should be placed in the execution chamber so that it would be the last thing she should see. The request was granted and the cross remained until the cell was dismantled in 1967. That meant that only one more condemned woman, the subject of the next chapter, would ever see that cross.