Styllou Christofi

Case record: Styllou Christofi

Background

Styllou Christofi, also referred to as Styllou Pantopiou Christofi and Mrs Styllou Christofi, was a Greek Cypriot woman. She was born in 1900 and was executed on 13 December 1954.

Christofi was tried in Cyprus in 1925 on a charge of murdering her mother-in-law by ramming a lighted torch down her throat, and she was found not guilty and released.

In 1953, Christofi came to Britain to see her son, Stavros, whom she had not seen for 12 years. Stavros worked as a waiter in London. He was married to a German wife, Hella (also referred to as Hella Dorothea Christofis), and the couple had three children. In one account, the family resided in Hampstead and Christofi moved in with her son and daughter-in-law. Christofi spoke little English and lived as the mother-in-law dominating the household.

The offence

On the night of 29 July 1954, Christofi hit Hella on the head with an ash pan (also described as the kitchen stove’s ash plate) from the range. She then strangled Hella using a scarf.

Christofi dragged the corpse into the garden and, in order to dispose of it, poured paraffin over it and set it alight. In one account, she covered the body with paraffin-soaked newspaper before setting it on fire.

A neighbour witnessed flames in Christofi’s garden but did not realise the article being burnt was a body.

Christofi later ran into the street to raise the alarm and stopped a passing car. She said: "Please come. Fire burning. Children sleeping".

Investigation and arrest

When the police arrived, they became suspicious on finding blood stains in the house.

In one account, Christofi explained: "I wake up, smell burning, go downstairs. Hella burning. Throw water, touch her face. Not move. Run out, get help."

In another account, Christofi claimed she had been awakened by the smell of smoke and found Hella lying in a piece of paper in her mother-in-law’s room, then went downstairs to investigate. She told officers she had been asleep and had been awakened by the sound of two male voices downstairs; she said she went down stairs, saw one man in the yard, went to Hella’s bedroom, heard no reply, then saw the body on fire in the yard and went for water to douse the flames. The police were less than impressed with this explanation and arrested Christofi at the scene.

Trial

Christofi was charged with murder.

Her trial started at the Old Bailey on 28 October 1954. In court, her counsel offered a defence of insanity, but the jury rejected it.

In one account, Christofi came to trial at the Old Bailey on 25 October 1954 before Mr. Justice Devlin, and the jury of ten men and two women took just under two hours to bring in a guilty verdict.

In one account, Christofi declined an appeal to insanity, saying: "I am a poor woman of no education, but I am not a mad woman."

Pathologist Francis Camps examined the body.

Sentencing

Christofi was sentenced to death and returned to Holloway after conviction.

In one account, she appealed against her conviction on 29 November 1954 (appeal number 912) but this was dismissed.

Appeals and mental health findings

A report dated 5 October 1954 was prepared by Dr. T. Christie, Principal Medical Officer at Holloway Prison. The report stated that after observation of Christofi since 30 July 1954, he had formed the conclusion that she was insane, but that she was medically fit to plead and to stand trial. Dr. T. Christie found that she was suffering from a delusional disorder that made her fear her grandchildren would not be bought up properly by Hella and that she would in time be excluded from seeing them due to the clash of cultures between the two women. A copy of that report was furnished to the defence.

Christofi would not consent to an electro-encephalograph examination and it was not carried out.

In one account, under the provisions of the Criminal Lunatics Act of 1884 the Home Secretary had a duty to have a condemned prisoner examined by prison psychiatrists if there was concern over their sanity. Gwilym Lloyd George, the then Home Secretary, ordered this, and Christofi was found to be sane by three psychiatrists against the legal standards of the day. The doctors reported that the prisoner was not, in their view, insane; and that she did not suffer from any minor mental abnormality which would justify any recommendation for a reprieve on medical grounds.

Outcome

It was announced that there would be no reprieve and the execution would be carried out on 13 December 1954.

Execution

Christofi was executed at Holloway Prison on 13 December 1954. In one account, it was stated to have taken place on Wednesday the 15th of December; in the provided status field and in multiple parts of the case narrative, the execution is stated as 13 December 1954.

Her execution was carried out by executioner Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Allen.

In the execution room, she was asked to have a Greek Orthodox cross put on the wall of the execution chamber where she would be able to see it in her last moments, and the request was granted. The cross was nailed to the wall in front of the drop and remained there until the room was dismantled in 1967.

In one account, on the morning of execution, Christofi was made to wear the mandatory rubberised canvas underpants.

In one account, Albert Pierrepoint gave her a drop of eight feet four inches.

Her autopsy was performed and a formal inquest was held at 11 am prior to burial within the grounds just after noon. The burial was conducted by Fr. Kalenicos and Rev J. H. William.

Burial and later developments

Christofi’s body was buried in an unmarked grave within the walls of Holloway Prison, as was customary.

In 1971, Holloway Prison underwent extensive rebuilding during which the bodies of all the executed women were exhumed. With the exception of Ruth Ellis, the remains of the four other women executed at Holloway (Styllou Christofi, Edith Thompson, Amelia Sach and Annie Walters) were subsequently reburied in a single grave (plot 117) at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.

Other details

Albert Pierrepoint claimed in his autobiography, "Executioner: Pierrepoint", that Christofi failed to attract much media attention or sympathy, comparing her to Ruth Ellis.

Stavros Christofi begged his mother and her lawyers to plead insanity.

In one account, Christofi was guarded round the clock by teams of wardresses in the Condemned Suite Prisoner 8034 Christofi was guarded round the clock by teams of wardresses.

Christofi’s wish to have a Maltese Cross put on the wall of the execution chamber was granted; the cross remained there until the room was dismantled in 1967.

In one account, it was stated that Christofi was the penultimate British female hanging, followed in 1955 by Ruth Ellis. It was also stated that Christofi’s execution was the first at Holloway since Edith Thompson had been hanged there over thirty years previously in January 1923 and took place in the execution room on E Wing.

A witness neighbour named John Young noticed the flames in the back yard and initially thought it was a tailor’s dummy being burnt.

In one account, Mr Burstoff and his wife were on their way home from their restaurant when the alarm was raised.