The Four-Hour Escape: John Thomas Straffen and the Murders of Three Little Girls
In the summer of 1951, three young girls in England went out to play and never came home. One was picking flowers. One was at the cinema. One was riding her bicycle. All three were strangled by the same man — a man the authorities had already locked away… then allowed to escape for just four hours.
Host Alexander Lawson tells the chilling story of John Thomas Straffen, the child killer whose crimes shocked post-war Britain and made him one of the country’s longest-serving prisoners. From Bath to Broadmoor and a quiet Berkshire village, this is a case of missed warnings, a failed system, and…
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