Buck Ruxton
| Buck Ruxton | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Buktyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim 21 March 1899 Bombay, India |
| Died | 12 May 1936 (aged 37) Manchester, England |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Criminal charge | Two counts of murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death by hanging |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Children | 3 |
| Partner(s) | Isabella "Belle" Kerr |
| Killings | |
| Victims | Isabella Kerr Mary Jane Rogerson |
| Date | 15 September 1935 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Location(s) | Lancaster, Lancashire |
| Killed | 2 |
|
Date apprehended
|
13 October 1935 |
| Imprisoned at | Strangeways |
Buck Ruxton (21 March 1899 – 12 May 1936), also known as Buktyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim, was an Indian-born British physician and executed murderer. Ruxton was the perpetrator of one of the United Kingdom's most publicised murders of the 1930s, which gripped the nation at the time. The case is remembered now for the innovative forensic techniques employed in solving it.
Ruxton was born Bukhtyar Chompa Rustomji Ratanji Hakim in Bombay, India. He was a Parsi of partly French descent. He earned his medical degree from the University of Bombay. In 1930, he moved to Britain and set up as in practice as a doctor in Lancaster. Around the same time, he changed his name to "Buck Ruxton" by deed poll. Ruxton was reputedly a diligent general physician well respected and popular with his patients, and known to waive his fees when he felt patients could not afford to pay them.
Ruxton lived in a large house at 2, Dalton Square, with his common-law wife, Isabella ("Belle") Kerr, and their three children: Elizabeth, William, and Diane. Kerr was an outgoing woman who enjoyed socialising with leading Lancaster residents (the "Town Hall Set") and was a popular guest at functions.
Mary Rogerson lived in Poulton Square, Morecambe, and was walked to the bus stop that morning by her cousin Richard Towers.
Ruxton became increasingly jealous of Kerr's supposed infidelity, allegedly exploding into fits of rage behind closed doors. Eventually his jealousy overwhelmed him and, on 15 September 1935, he most likely strangled Isabella with his bare hands. To prevent their housemaid, Mary Jane Rogerson, from discovering his crime before he could dispose of the body, or because she witnessed Kerr's murder, he most likely stabbed her to death, or cut her throat after a blow on the head. The amount of blood on the stairs indicates a knife crime. Ruxton then proceeded to dismember and mutilate both bodies in the bathroom to hide their identities. His problem then was to find somewhere to get rid of the remains.
Various human body parts were found over 100 miles (160 km) north of Lancaster, dumped in Gardenholme Linn – a stream running into the River Annan crossed by the Edinburgh–Carlisle, Cumbria road, 2 miles (3 km) north of the town of Moffat in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. They were found wrapped in bedsheets, children's clothing and newspapers (the Daily Herald dated 6 and 31 August 1935, Sunday Graphic dated 15 September 1935 and Sunday Chronicle) on 29 September 1935, by Miss Susan Haines Johnson who was visiting from Edinburgh.
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