English serial killer Frederick Deeming finally brought to justice in Australia

Serial killer Frederick Deeming, once linked to Jack The Ripper, had been arrogant and defiant at his trial but broke down and wept on his day of execution

A crowd attends the inquest into the death of Emily Mather at the old Supreme Court building at the corner of La Trobe and Russell Streets in Melbourne. She was the last victim of the murderer Frederick Deeming in April 1892. Picture: Argus Collection

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Newspaper reports spoke of the arrogance of the accused when he stood in court. But when it came time to hang Frederick Deeming, who had “laughed so recklessly in the face of his accusers” the murderer was “utterly prostrated by the thought of his approaching doom”.

An account in The Daily Telegraph in May 1892 said “on bended knees and amid torrents of incoherent tears, he besought them to ward off the inevitable reparation he was so soon to make”.

But he couldn’t ward off the inevitable. After regaining some of his composure he was later led to the scaffold where he was asked if he had any final words he replied in “choking, inaudible tones”, the words “ Lord, receive my spirit”, and then “God, have mercy on my …” but he was unable to finish the sentence.

The platform beneath him dropped away and, on May 23, 1892, Deeming was sent to oblivion. According to the report, when the news of his death reached the hundreds of people outside they set up “a hoarse cheer, which might have proved disconcerting to the humanitarian”.

A photo of Fred Deeming taken by Western Australian Police in 1892.

News of his trial and execution had been followed by people around the colonies and the rest of the world. Deeming was a cold, cunning, killer who stole, swindled and murdered his way through life. He murdered his own children and was even suspected of being Jack the Ripper.

Born Frederick Bailey Deeming in Leicestershire in 1853, he was the youngest of seven children of a respectable tradesman, a brazier (working in brass), Thomas Deeming and his wife Ann (nee Bailey).

Physically abused by his mentally ill father, Frederick Deeming had problems as a child and was dubbed “Mad Fred” by his siblings. At 16 he ran away to sea, spending years sailing around the world, visiting the US, South America, South Africa, gaining a reputation as a thief and a conman. In February 1881, he was back in England where he married Marie James, in Cheshire, before going away to sea again. This time he deserted ship in Sydney in August 1881.

He went into business as a plumber but was soon in trouble for pilfering gas burners. Marie joined him in 1882 and two of his children were born in Sydney. He moved around the country working as a gas fitter but his business went bankrupt in 1887 and in 1888 he set fire to his workshop to claim the insurance. He then fled to Cape Town, South Africa, adopting the alias Harry Lawson and conning people out of their money.

His movements at the time of the five murders attributed to Jack the Ripper, from August to November 1888, are unknown, but he was definitely back in England in October 1889 when he was in Hull, posing as a wealthy Australian grazier, using his Lawson alias.

He was convicted of fraud and served time in prison, before undergoing a bigamous marriage to Helen Matheson in Yorkshire.

Frederick Bayley Deeming has several alter egos while conducting his killing spree.

He fled the country for South America but was extradited and imprisoned for fraud.

Released in 1891 he returned to Marie but she disappeared. Now going by the name of Albert Williams he married Emily Mather and then travelled to Melbourne in December 1891.

They took a cottage in Windsor, Victoria, where Deeming battered Mather unconscious, cut her throat and buried her under the fireplace in the home, using cement he had bought several days earlier.

He paid a month’s rent in advance then left Victoria, briefly heading to Sydney to get engaged to another potential victim before going to Western Australia, where he posed as a nobleman named Baron Swanston.

Deeming’s wife and final victim Emily Mather.

In March 1892, the foul smell emanating from the Windsor cottage resulted in the recently cemented floor being dug up and Mather’s body discovered. A trail of clues, including Deeming selling Mather’s clothing and giving another woman her jewellery, led police to hunt for the man calling himself Swanston.

They tracked him down to Western Australia and arrested him. His real identity was quickly revealed and in England the remains of Marie and three of their children discovered buried under cement in a home they had rented.

When Deeming was brought back to Victoria he was greeted by an angry mob. The mobs also surrounded the courtroom where he went on trial in April. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. He spent his time on death row writing a memoir, but after his execution the government ordered the manuscript destroyed. As yet no firm evidence has been found to directly link him to the Ripper murders.