George Joseph Smith was a professional conman.
He had a particular talent for persuading women to MARRY HIM
and an even greater talent for disappearing with their money.
Between 1908 and 1914, he married several women using false names.
Then, in 1910, he married Bessie Mundy in Herne Bay - calling himself Henry Williams.
Bessie had a trust fund worth £2,500. About £400,000 today.
She and Smith even made wills leaving everything to each other.
Less than ONE WEEK later...
Bessie was dead.
She had sadly drowned in a tin bath at their home in Herne Bay. He took the bath back and got a refund on it.
Two other women he had married...
… had also died in baths.
Three wives.
Three baths.
The police began to see a pattern.
Smith was eventually arrested and tried for Bessie's murder.
He insisted all three deaths were simply tragic accidents.
The jury didn't believe him. They took just twenty-two minutes to find him guilty.
George Joseph Smith’s life was ended at Maidstone Gaol in August 1915.
The case became known as...
The Brides in the Bath.
And perhaps the strangest thing of all?
When the judge was summing up - Smith shouted loudly from the dock:
“It is a disgrace to a Christian country, this is. I am not a murderer … though I may be a bit peculiar.”
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