Dr Buck Ruxton and the Jigsaw Murders: location photos 2020

In February, I made a couple of trips to Lancaster as part of research for The Jigsaw Murders.

I was given a guided tour of the former Police Court in Lancaster Town Hall, where Dr Ruxton made his first court appearances in late 1935 as well as the former police station and cells directly below. It was here that Ruxton was questioned by Chief Constable Henry Vann of Lancaster Police and arrested and charged with murder.

The cells below the former Lancaster Police Court in the Town Hall, Dalton Square, opposite Ruxton’s home. The former police station is also here and is where Ruxton was questioned and arrested in 1935. (Photograph: Jeremy Craddock)

I was also shown around Dr Ruxton’s home, 2 Dalton Square, which is directly opposite the Town Hall. The house is where Ruxton committed the murders and dismembered the bodies of Isabella and Mary.

Having grown up fascinated by the Ruxton case, I found it strange and eerie to see these places first-hand, and the experience left me with goose-pimples. I took many photos  and I have shared one or two of them here. They are pictures for my own research purposes and are unlikely to appear in the book, but once The Jigsaw Murders is published next year (May 2021), will post a full gallery of them on here.

The former bedroom of maid Mary Rogerson, Dr Ruxton’s second victim. It is now an office meeting room of Lancaster City Council (Photo: Jeremy Craddock)