There Must Be Evil

In 1887, Elizabeth Berry, an attractive young nurse from the grim Oldham workhouse, found notoriety throughout the nation after the death of her daughter, perceived by many to be the cruellest of murders - performed with an ice-cold callousness that was almost beyond belief. There were many who protested her innocence in the affair, but there were also suspicions surrounding another death related to the nurse: that of her mother. Suddenly Elizabeth Berry's dark story began appearing darker still. Was she in fact a coldblooded serial killer? In his new book celebrated crime author Bernard Taylor investigates the disturbing life of Elizabeth Berry endured during an era of grinding poverty when Victorian England was obsessed with the exploits of murderers and forensic science was in its infancy. He takes a fresh look at the demise of Berry's husband and two other young children, deaths that for a long time were considered to be of natural causes. For the first time we discover the true story behind this infamous case of the first woman to be hanged at Liverpool's Walton Prison and one of the Victorian period's most harrowing set of homicides.