The Brighton Truck Murders
*The following true crime cases contain details on murder, and pregnancy that may be triggering for audiences. Viewers discretion is advised*
The Brighton trunk murders span across two decades with three bodies being found crammed into trunks from London to Brighton. The first body was found in a large black trunk in Charring Cross Station in 1927 and two bodies were found in King’s Cross and Brighton Station in 1934. All three victims were women.
The first murder of Mrs. Minnie Bonati
On May 11th, 1927, a foul smell was detected coming from a black trunk that had been left at the station 5 days prior. When opened the Police were shocked to find the dismembered body of a woman. Each piece was wrapped individually in paper and tied with string, alongside the body was a pair of shoes and a handbag. The body was determined to be a Mrs. Minnie Bonati.
Minnie was in her mid 30s and worked as a domestic servant for Mrs. P Holt in Chelsea. Prior to this she had been married to an Italian man who worked as a waiter, but whom she subsequently left and started a new life with a Mr. Rolls (whose name she would come to adopt.) The life of a domestic servant in the 1920s was tiring and thankless. Minnie’s wage would have been around 13- 20 pounds a year (£1,300-£1,900 in today’s money) and she supplemented this salary by partaking in sex work. Whilst not much is known about the particulars of her specific experience, it was not uncommon for working class women to work within the sex industry to improve their lot. Little opportunity was afforded to working women to better themselves or to move outside of their particular situations, mostly due to patriarchal standards and the strict class systems of the early 20th century.
On the night of May 4th, 1927, it is said that Minnie picked up a Mr. John Robinson at Victoria. He states that the two went back to his office for sex, however, an altercation happened after she demanded her money and he refused. He claims she ran at him, and he hit her, which caused her to fall and hit her head on a chair. He left her assuming she was merely unconscious and returned the next morning to Minnie’s lifeless body. It was following the realisation that he had killed her that he decided to dispose of the body in a trunk. Robinson claimed that she died of suffocation after lying face down on the carpet for so many hours. The pathologist stated that this was not the case, and the asphyxiation of Minnie Bonati was deliberate.
John Robinson was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by Mr. Justice Swift. He was hanged on August 12th, 1927, at Pentonville Prison in London.
Jane Doe and Violet Kaye
Seven years later on 17th June 1934, Southern Railway cloakroom attendant William Joseph Vinnicombe found the remains of a woman in a trunk at Brighton Railway Station, again after noticing a foul smell from the lost luggage room. After summoning Detective Bishop of Railway Police to assist with the situation, they found several layers of blood-soaked paper and cotton wool. There was also a parcel tied with a sash of cord that held together arms and a torso.
Meanwhile, in King’s Cross Station, London, an additional trunk was found containing the same woman’s legs. Following a post-mortem, it was concluded that the woman was pregnant and had sadly suffered a heavy blow to the head with a blunt instrument. The only clue in the case was a piece of paper found with the word Ford written on it.
The murder horrified the country and Brighton Police turned to the help of Scotland Yard to conduct a nationwide investigation.
The police reviewed 700 missing women’s cases and checked hospitals and known abortionists to try and identify the victim. They instigated one known abortionist in Brighton but found him not guilty of committing the murder. For the first time ever, the police appealed to the public for help. Unfortunately, this effort did not result in much, so the police ended up conducting door-to-door searches in Brighton.
July 15th 1934: The police search 52 Kemp Street. Inside: an additional trunk containing another woman!
This was the body of 42-year-old Violet Kaye who relocated from London to Brighton with her lover Tony Mancini in September 1933. Kaye was a known prostitute, and her real name was Violet Saunders. Kaye had doubts about the security of her relationship with Mancini and accused him of making a pass at a waitress where he worked. Following their argument, Mancini told his work colleague that Violet had left him and gone to Paris.
This trunk is a similar one to the ones used in the trunk murders. This one is kept at the museum.
Mancini was questioned after being found on the outskirts of London. He used a false name and claimed he found Kaye dead in their flat, assuming she had been killed by one of her clients. The door-to-door searches panicked him which is why he was on the run.
Mancini was charged with the murder of Kaye but was found not guilty in December 1934. However, many years later in 1976, Mancini ended up publicly confessing to the murder. The Director of Public Prosecutions ruled Mancini could not be tried again.
Unfortunately, the second trunk victim was never identified and the perpetrator for that crime was never found.
These attacks on women who worked in the sex industry were brutal. It is likely that if these crimes had taken place just 50 years early, the police would not have taken such drastic measures to find the perpetrators because of their line of work.
Do you think it is fair Mancini was able to get away with murder and not be put on trial again following his public confession?