(Arthur Hutchinson. Picture credit: gazettelive)*Please be aware that the details I will be sharing in this post are extremely horrific and disturbing. I will be talking about murder, sexual assault and domestic violence. I will be as sensitive as I can be with the details whilst also not taking away from the facts of the case. Any enquiries, please feel free to email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*
Arthur Hutchinson is still a name that sends chills down the spine of many people who live in Hartlepool, England to this day. He nicknamed himself' The Fox' and from childhood it was plain to see that Arthur was never going to be on a positive path in life. Having been born into poverty on the 19th of February 1941 in Hartlepool, County Durham, his upbringing was difficult and his sisters often tormented him and taunted him. Despite the difficulties in the household, Arthur was close with his mother and had gotten on well with his step-father, very little is known about his biological father.
He'd suffered an accident when he was a young child which resulted in him being hospitalised. He reportedly spend three days in a coma and when he finally came around he was confused and his personality had changed. The trauma of what had happened to him had a profound physical and psychological effect on him and according to those who knew him closely, he was never the same. Some people believe that it was this particular accident and head trauma that resulted in what was to be come of him later on.
There was an incident when Arthur was around the age of seven when he and one of his sisters got into an argument. He flew into one of his rages (which were becoming something of a regular occurrence since the accident) and lunged at his sister with a pair of scissors. Luckily she escaped with minor scratches but this was another frightening sign that Arthur was becoming out of control and his temper was getting worse. His mother and family hoped for the best that he would grow out of it and put his erratic behaviour down to his age and still recovering from the trauma of the accident.
However things did not improve, they continued to get worse....far worse! As a child of just 11 years old, Arthur was continuing his spiral out of control and his behaviour was becoming more disturbing as he developed an urge to commit sexual crimes. It's not known if he saw something on TV that he shouldn't have been exposed to, or that he had been abused himself (there's been no mention over the years about himself being abused) but he was involved in a sexual attack of a young girl. It's a horrific thought to think that he could have been capable of such a sickening act at such a tender age but that is what was happening and it continued throughout the following years, he'd faced the courtroom numerous times because of his disgusting and predatory behaviour.
It wasn't until he attempted to murder his half brother over a dispute about money that he was finally locked up for just over five years. His behaviour up until this point was not addressed properly. Arthur had been in nothing but trouble from a young age he'd been involved in petty crime, violence, attempted murder and sexual assault, it was clear that things were only going to get worse but still, he learned nothing from his time in prison, as soon as he was released he was set to go on and commit the most evil and sickening crimes imaginable.
During his time out of prison there were moments when it looked like Arthur could have had a chance at a normal life and worked on changing his ways but he was too far gone and any moments where he had demonstrated a 'nice side' was short lived. He'd been married a few times and each marriage did not last long due to his constant infidelity and he couldn't keep his temper in check, often lashing out violently and during sex he would often be extremely aggressive. Arthur was a danger to women and even his own mother fell victim to his evil rages, he had struck his mother quite a few times over the years and had no problems doing this in front of other people.
Arthur was never out of trouble, constantly committing burglaries and had also committed a horrendous sexual assault. The police finally managed to get their hands on him but whilst he was at the police station he asked if he could use the bathroom, before anyone knew what was happening, Arthur Hutchinson had escaped out of the bathroom window (it makes one think about the time that infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy, managed to escape from a courthouse after he tricked officers into letting him use the library for study. You can find my post on the Ted Bundy case here as well as the '10 Facts You May Not Know About Ted Bundy' post here).
So Arthur was on the run for nearly a month and it was during this time that on the 23rd of October 1983 his horrible career or crime was to take and even more sickening and evil turn. Whilst on the run he had been trying to keep a low profile and was continuing to break into homes, steal items, steal food and drift from place to place. However, on the cold night of the 23rd of October his plan to break into another home turned deadly.
Arthur had broken into the family home of the Laitner family who had just been celebrating the wedding of Basil (59) and (55 year old) Avril's oldest daughter, Suzanne. It was a beautiful ceremony which took place at the house and the two parents couldn't have been more proud. After the celebrations were over, Basil, Avril and their younger daughter (18 year old Nicola) and their son Richard, all settled down in the house for the night when Arthur Hutchinson broke in via a patio door. The Laitner's were a well respected and hardworking family who had worked hard for everything they had, they had a beautiful, luxurious home and the wedding had been attended by numerous relatives and friends who'd travelled far and wide. They were well liked in their local community and were very popular, but on this night, which was supposed to be a night of joy, happiness and contentment after a beautiful celebration of marriage at their dream family home, it all ended with a horrifying nightmare.
Arthur managed to get into the house after he had been watching the house all day, he knew there had been a wedding and could see how well-off the family were. His first victim was reportedly Richard who was repeatedly stabbed to death in his bedroom. It was a ferocious attack and the scene was horrifying. A very gruesome and horrifying end for a young man, who at only 28 years old, had his whole life ahead of him and dreams and goals he was working on never to have the chance to accomplish. With all the commotion Richard's father Basil decided to get up and check on him, this was the horrible moment in which the 59 year old man was greeted by Arthur Hutchinson who stabbed him three times, the force and shock of the vicious attack caused Basil to fall backwards down the stairs.
Arthur was not yet done his horrendous rampage on this innocent, lovely family who did nothing to deserve this evil. Avril was next to suffer with repeated stabbings that reportedly totalled 26 times, she fought as hard as she could for her life against this evil monster. There was no need for this level of sick murderous violence, he could have just burgled the house and then left but he was full of rage, full of demonic anger, who knows what was going through his sick mind but if all that wasn't enough hell, he coldly walked up the stairs to 18 year old Nicola's bedroom and planned for her to be his final victim.
There was blood all over the place and the demon himself, Arthur Hutchinson, was covered in blood. Nobody could imagine the sheer terror that Nicola must have felt seeing this evil thing in her bedroom. He threatened to kill the poor girl if she didn't do what he demanded, he sexually assaulted her as he was covered in the blood of her family. His sickness knew no bounds, after what he had just done, he was turned on by it all and it just makes you feel sick to think of such evil but these were his actions that night. Nicola at this point was unaware that he had murdered her parents and her brother but seeing the blood gave her an idea that something horrendous must have happened to her family.
It was only when the sick killer and ra*ist forced the poor girl to walk down the stairs after he'd finished attacking her that the realisation of what he had done to her family had come to be known. The deceased body of her father Basil was lying on the ground, his blood everywhere and she was forced to walk through her father's blood in her bare feet and out into the wedding marquee that was still in the garden from the wedding celebrations just hours before.
It was in this beautiful marquee that more hell was to be suffered as the sick and evil monster that is Arthur Hutchinson, handcuffed the utterly terrified and traumatised young girl to a chair where she was subjected to more sexual assaults before he blindfolded her. He only stopped the sexual assaults when he decided that he wanted to take a break and eat some of the leftovers from the wedding buffet that was still left on one of the tables. He even drank wine and talked random things about what he had done to her parents and brother. He was determined to put this poor child through never-ending hell. The ordeal was still not over as Nicola was dragged back up to her bedroom where more sexual assaults continued over and over and over again. Nicola believed that she was going to to die and at that point, any bit of strength left in her had evaporated, she was beyond traumatised. Nobody could imagine the sheer pain and trauma of what going through that must have been like, none of us ever want to know for that matter.
He finally brought Nicola back downstairs, still covered in the blood of her family and in utter despair to her surprise he left her there alive. It took Nicola three days to be able to talk after this horrifying ordeal, the hell was unimaginable for this young girl. Investigators were able to take the details of what Nicola had been brave and strong enough to have given them plus the teeth marks that had been left on a piece of cheese found on one of the tables in the marquee which had partially been eaten by Arthur. There was also a thumb print off his which had been left behind on a glass. He was very careless in leaving evidence behind but he was that pathetically sure of himself and how clever he thought he was that he probably assumed that the police wouldn't examine them because hundreds of people had been in the marquee previously. So he probably believed that evidence of the murderer would be hard to track.
He managed to evade justice for about two weeks but was finally caught on the 5th of November 1983, hiding on a farm in Hartlepool. Initially he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 18 years which horrifically he would have been out right now if it wasn't for Leon Britton (who was the home secretary in 1983) having it determined that he serve a whole life tariff, meaning he will never leave prison alive. I'm sad to say that this monster is still breathing at the current age of 83 (at the time of writing this post - 2024), he's appealed his sentences numerous times to no avail and never expressed any remorse for what he did.
Despite how evil he truly is and everything he had done, his mother (Just like Ted Bundy's mother) had this never-ending unconditional love for him and stood by him despite everything. She refused to believe that he was responsible for the horrifying events that occurred on the 23rd of October 1983. The red flags had always been there from his childhood right up until the prison gate was shut behind him for the final time, she lived in denial about him. Maybe because the thought of your own son being this horrific monster was just too much to take. You can't help but feel sorry for her in some regard because obviously she never wanted any of that to happen. She was also a victim of her own son and possibly psychologically damaged in some ways herself. I think the knowledge that your own son could do such things is enough to drive anyone insane and mentally ill.
Nicola who was incredibly brave during the trial as well as on that horrific night in which she was subjected to the most unbelievable nightmare as well as losing her family in the most evil way, stood and faced Arthur Hutchinson in court. The evil monster claimed that she was actively part of everything that had happened. Nicola bravely stated the facts of the case and it was revealed how she was so incredibly brave that night that she went into automatic survival-mode. Whilst the sexual assaults were taking place, Nicola pretended to Arthur that she was enjoying what was happening in an attempt to survive, she knew that if she protested against him, he would most likely kill her too. Despite the horrendous ordeal that she was going through she had the remarkable presence of mind to keep composure, follow his demands, play the role and keep herself alive. When she was able to speak about what happened her information which was in remarkable detail, was invaluable to the police.
She may have only been 18 years old but she was an incredibly strong and brave young woman to be able to do everything that she did. Today Nicola would be 59 years old (I hope she is still alive and well and has been able to go on and live a full and healthy life), the same age her father Basil was when he was horrendously murdered. Wherever Nicola is I wish her nothing but the best and truly admire her. I can imagine that knowing that monster is still alive must be hard, one wonders what she must think about that. Would his death bring her some sort of closure? Maybe she has come to some sort of peace in her mind knowing that he's been behind bars all of these years? It's hard to imagine what she and the rest of her family have been going through all of these years.
This case might be 41 years old but time has done nothing to dull the horrendous facts of this case, it truly is the stuff of nightmares. I know it must have been a very difficult read and it was a very difficult case to research and write about. My heart goes out to Nicola and the surviving members of her family as well as anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of having had Arthur Hutchinson in their lives. RIP Basil, Avril and Richard, you will never be forgotten.
Further reading & sources:
- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | BBC News
- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | Hartlepool Mail
- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | Scottish Legal News
- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Independent
- Arthur Hutchinson: Documentary | Britain't Most Evil Killers - Sky TV
- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Guardian
- Arthur Hutchinson | Wikipedia
- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Times
- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Northern Echo
- List of Prisoners With Whole Life Orders | (UK) Wikipedia
Thank you as always for taking the time to check out my latest post, I know it was a difficult one to get through. I hope you will join me again in the next post and if you would like to share your thoughts on this case please do so below in the comments section or in confidence by email to jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com
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See you in the next post, keep safe x
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