Elizabeth Jones

Elizabeth Jones was born in Neath, Wales, in 1926. At the age of 13 Jones ran away from home and eventually she was sent to an approved school because she was considered to be "beyond parental control".

At 16 Jones married an army corporal. The marriage only lasted a couple of days and Jones decided to move to London where she found work as a barmaid, waitress and a cinema usherette. Eventually she found employment as a striptease dancer at the Panama Club and the Blue Lagoon.

On 3rd October 1944, Jones met Karl Hulten, a deserter from the United States Army. On their first date they ended up using Hulten's stolen military truck to knock a young girl from her bike and stealing her handbag. The following day they gave a lift to a woman carrying two heavy suitcases. After stopping the car Hulten attacked the woman with an iron bar and then dumped her body in a river.

On 6th October the couple hailed a hire car on Hammersmith Broadway. When they reached a deserted stretch of road they asked the taxi driver to stop. Hulten then shot the driver in the head and stole his money and car. The following day they spent the money at White City dog track.

Jones now told Hulten she would like a fur coat. On 8th October they parked the stolen hire car outside Berkeley Hotel while they waited for a woman to emerge wearing a fur coat. Eventually Jones chose a white ermine coat worn by a woman leaving the hotel. Hulten attacked the woman but before he could get the coat a policeman arrived on the scene. Hulten managed to escape and drive off in his car. However, the following morning, Hulten was arrested as he got into the stolen hire car.

There was great public interest in the case of the GI gangster and his striptease dancer. The public was deeply shocked by the degree of violence the couple had used during their crime spree and it came as no surprise when both Elizabeth Jones and Karl Hulten were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Hulten was executed at Pentonville Prison on 8th March 1945 but Jones was reprieved at the last moment and was released in May 1954.