Gloucester Road

I had a friend at school, um, and, um, uh, they were Americans.

And they lived in London in a very, very smart part of London, Gloucester Road, in a beautiful apartment, as I recall.

Um, and, and my friend and I used to spend a lot of time there playing at the weekends and everything.

And, um, and one year I was invent- uh, invent- I was invited to, um, spend the, part of the summer holidays with them.

Another boarding housekeeper was so sorry I had not one hundred pounds to invest in the business as she would have liked to have taken me into partnership.

In Gloucester Road, a Mrs. Weldon, living in a small house with only herself and husband in family, said she liked my appearance and manner, but that I did not give her enough particulars concerning my private history and family affairs.

I thought her suspicious manner of treating me far from delicate, especially as I gave her the name of a well-known London lady as reference, who I informed her had known me from childhood.

Had I been an ordinary applicant for a situation, I should have attempted to give her a lesson in politeness and considerateness for the feelings of others.

Another boarding housekeeper was so sorry I had not one hundred pounds to invest in the business, as she would have liked to have taken me into partnership.

In Gloucester Road, a Mrs. Weldon, living in a small house with only herself and husband in family, said she liked my appearance and manner, but that I did not give her enough particulars concerning my private history and family affairs.

I thought her suspicious manner of treating me far from delicate, especially as I gave her the name of a well-known London lady as reference, who, I informed her, had known me from childhood.

Had I been an ordinary applicant for a situation, I should have attempted to give her a lesson in politeness and considerateness for the feelings of others.

When they encountered each other again by chance in Kensington Public House in the summer of 1944, Mack was pleased to see his old employee and the friendship resumed.

On the 9th of September 1944, John Haig murdered Mack in a basement at Gloucester Road in Kensington and dissolved his body in a drum of acid.

Mack's parents, William and Amy McSwan, were naturally distressed by their son's sudden disappearance.

Haig himself reassured them.

For nearly a year, Haig kept up this fiction, even collecting Mack's income on his behalf while living off the dead man's money.

By the summer of 1945, that money was running low.

So, on the 2nd of July 1945, Haig lured William and Amy McSwan to the same Gloucester Road basement by telling them that their son had come back and wished to see them.

And there he killed them both.