Murder conviction without a body

Conviction for murder in the absence of a body is possible. Historically, cases of this type have been hard to prove, forcing the prosecution to rely on other kinds of evidence, usually circumstantial. Developments in forensic science towards the end of the 20th century have made it more likely that a murder conviction can be obtained even if a body has not been found.

The rule in English common law that a body is necessary to prove murder is said to have arisen from the "Campden Wonder" case which occurred in the 1660s. A local man vanished and after an investigation, three individuals were hanged for his murder. Two years later, the supposed victim appeared alive and well, telling a story of having been abducted and enslaved in Turkey. The "no body, no murder" rule persisted into the 20th century.

In 1937, a young girl called Mona Tinsley disappeared, and Frederick Nodder was suspected of having killed her. He claimed that she had been alive when he last saw her, and on the basis of the rule was prosecuted only for abduction. Tinsley's body was found some time later and Nodder was then prosecuted for her murder. His defence was that he had already been acquitted of this charge, but this plea was rejected and he was hanged.

The idea that a body was required to prove murder was mistakenly believed by John George Haigh. Already a convicted fraudster, he believed that dissolving a body in acid would make a conviction for murder impossible. In 1949, the remains of his last victim, Mrs Durand-Deacon, were found to contain part of her dentures. From this, her dentist was able to identify the remains, and Haigh was found guilty, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed on 10 August 1949.

Haigh had misinterpreted the Latin legal phrase corpus delicti (referring to the body of evidence which establish a crime) to mean an actual human body. This was one of the first instances of forensic science being used in such cases.

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