This is a list of notable female serial killers from the UK, ranked by number of proven victims (deadliest):
| # | Name: | Number of victims: |
| 20. | Sarah Chesham | 0 - 4 |
| 19. | Sarah Dazley | 1 - 3 |
| 18. | Mary Bateman | 1 - 4+ |
| 17. | Catherine Flannagan and Margaret Higgins | 1 - 8 |
| 16. | Catherine Wilson | 1 - 8 |
| 15. | Margaret Waters | 1 - 19+ |
| 14. | Mary Elizabeth Wilson | 2 - 4 |
| 13. | Mary Ann Britland | 3 |
| 12. | Joanna Dennehy | 3 |
| 11. | Mary Anne Geering | 3 |
| 10. | Eliza Joyce | 3 |
| 9. | Mary Ann Milner | 3 |
| 8. | Amelia Sach and Annie Walters | 3 - 20+ |
| 7. | Beverley Allitt | 4 |
| 6. | Sarah Freeman | 4 |
| 5. | Elizabeth Eccles | 4 - 10+ |
| 4. | Myra Hindley | 5 - 5+ |
| 3. | Amelia Dyer | 6 - 400+ |
| 2. | Rosemary West | 10 - 20+ |
| 1. | Mary Ann Cotton | 14 - 21+ |
(See also Top 20 Famous British Serial Killers)
(See also Britain's 35 serial killers... who will die behind bars)
(See also 7 Myths About Serial Killers)
(See also The Last Words of 30 Famous Serial Killers)
(See also Top 30 Serial Killers By Number of Victims (20th century))
(See also Top 30 Intelligent Serial Killers With Highest IQ)
20. Sarah Chesham (0 - 4)
 |
| (Sarah Chesham) |
Nicknamed "Sally Arsenic". Hanged in 1851 for the attempted murder of her husband. The coroner found arsenic in the victim's body, but not in enough quantity to kill him, and the cause of death was ruled as tuberculosis. Chesham had been suspected five years earlier of poisoning two of her children, and also a neighbor's illegitimate baby after the father allegedly hired her to murder him. Although arsenic was found in both of her children's bodies, she stood trial for only one and was found not proven, as there was no evidence that she had been the person who had administered the poison. The trial for the other victim ended with both accused cleared because arsenic was not found and the symptoms were compatible with an infection caused by drinking raw milk.
The claim that Chesham was an acknowledged poisoner for hire and had multiple female pupils in rural Essex appears to be an invention of yellow journalism.
The claim that Chesham was an acknowledged poisoner for hire and had multiple female pupils in rural Essex appears to be an invention of yellow journalism.
Years active: 1845? - 1850?
Other names: Sally Arsenic
Born: Jul. 9, 1809, Sarah Chesham (nee Parker) born at Clavering near Saffron Walden in Essex
Died: Mar. 25, 1851
Proven victims: 0
Possible victims: 4
Location: England, United Kingdom
19. Sarah Dazley (1 - 3)
 |
| (Sarah Dazley) |
Sarah Dazley (1819–5 August 1843), later known as the "Potton Poisoner", was a Victorian murderess convicted of the poisoning of her late husband William Dazley. Dazley was suspected, but not tried, of the poisoning her first husband Simeon Mead and their son Jonah Mead both in 1840. The murder of William Dazley took place in Wrestlingworth, England.
Years active: 1840 - 1843
Other names: Potton Poisoner
Born: 1819, Potton, Bedfordshire, Sarah Dazley (nee Reynolds)
Died: Saturday, 5 August 1843
Proven victims: 1
Possible victims: 3
Location: United Kingdom
18. Mary Bateman (1 - 4+)
 |
| (Mary Bateman) |
"The Yorkshire Witch". Leeds career con woman and thief, hanged in 1809 for the arsenic poisoning of a married couple she had been scamming (the husband survived). Suspect in three more deaths.
After her execution, her body was put on public display with strips of her skin being sold as magic charm to ward off evil spirits.
Years active: 1803 - 1808
Other names: The Yorkshire Witch
Born: 1768, Asenby, North Yorkshire
Died: 20 March 1809
Proven victims: 1
Possible victims: 4+
Location: England, United Kingdom
17. Catherine Flannagan and Margaret Higgins (1 - 8)
 |
| (Catherine Flannagan) |
 |
| (Margaret Higgins) |
Catherine Flannagan (1829 – 3 March 1884) and Margaret Higgins (1843 – 3 March 1884) were Irish sisters who were convicted of poisoning and murdering one person in Liverpool, Lancashire, England and suspected of more deaths.
After a three-day trial in February 1884, they were both convicted of murder and hanged on Monday, March 3rd that year at Liverpool’s Kirkdale Prison. Police inquiries that continued after the double execution suggested that the sisters might have poisoned several other family members, friends and lodgers, for the small insurance payouts.
Years active: 1880 - 1883
Other names: Black Widows of Liverpool
Born: Catherine Flannagan (1829, Ireland, United Kingdom), Margaret Higgins (1843, Ireland, United Kingdom)
Died: Catherine Flannagan (1884 (aged 54–55), Kirkdale Prison, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom), Margaret Higgins (1884 (aged 40–41), Kirkdale Prison, Liverpool, United Kingdom)
Cause of death: Hanging
Occupation: Landlady
Proven victims: 1
Possible victims: 8
Victim profile: Thomas Higgins, 45 (her brother-in-law)
Characteristics: Poisoner - To collect insurance money
Method of murder: Poisoning (arsenic)
Location: Liverpool, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom
Date apprehended: October 1883
Status: Executed by hanging at Kirkdale Prison on March 3, 1884
16. Catherine Wilson (1 - 8)
 |
| (Catherine Wilson) |
Catherine Wilson (1822 – 20 October 1862) was a British serial killer who was hanged for one murder, but was generally thought at the time to have committed seven others. She worked as a nurse and poisoned her victims after encouraging them to leave her money in their wills. She was described privately by the sentencing judge as "the greatest criminal that ever lived."
Last woman publicly hanged in London.
Years active: 1854 - 1862
Born: 1822
Died: 20 October 1862
Proven victims: 1
Possible victims: 8
Characteristics: Poisoner - She worked as a nurse and poisoned her victims after encouraging them to leave her money in their wills
Date of arrest: February 1862
Victims profile: Acquaintances
Method of murder: Poisoning (colchicine - arsenic)
Location: England, United Kingdom
Status: Executed by hanging at Newgate Gaol on October 20, 1862. She was the last woman to be publicly hanged in London
15. Margaret Waters (1 - 19+)
 |
| (Margaret Waters) |
Margaret Waters was an English murderess hanged by executioner William Calcraft on 11 October 1870 at Horsemonger Lane Gaol (also known as Surrey County Gaol) in London.
Waters was born in 1835 and lived in Brixton. She was known for baby-farming, that is, taking in other women's children for money; a practice often resulting in infanticide.
Waters drugged and starved the infants in her care and is believed to have killed at least 19 children. Charged with five counts of wilful murder as well as neglect and conspiracy, Waters was convicted of murdering an infant named John Walter Cowen. Her sister, Sarah Ellis, was convicted in the same case for obtaining money under false pretences and sentenced to eighteen months' hard labour.
Years active: 1866 - 1870
Born: 1835
Died: October 11, 1870
Other names: The Brixton Baby Farmer
Characteristics: The first convicted baby farmer
Proven victims: 1
Possible victims: 19+
Method of murder: Drugged the babies with opiates, which suppressed their appetites leaving them to slowly starve
Location: Brixton, London, England, United Kingdom
Status: Executed by hanging at Horsemonger Lane Gaol on October 11, 1870
14. Mary Elizabeth Wilson (2 - 4)
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| (Mary Elizabeth Wilson) |
Mary Elizabeth Wilson (c. 1893 - 1963), also known as the Merry Widow of Windy Nook, was a serial killer and the last woman to be sentenced to death in Durham, in 1958. However, the sentence was not carried out as it was commuted to a prison sentence.
Other names: "The Merry Widow of Windy Nook"
Characteristics: "Black widow" poisoner of husbands for profit
Proven victims: 2
Possible victims: 4
Date of arrest: December 1957
Date of birth: 1893
Method of murder: Poisoning (phosphorus)
Location: Windy Nook, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to death in March 29, 1958. Commuted to life imprisonment on June 1, 1958. Died in Holloway Prison on December 5, 1962
13. Mary Ann Britland (3)
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| (Mary Ann Britland) |
Mary Ann Britland (1847 – 9 August 1886) of Ashton-under-Lyne was a serial killer who was the first woman to be executed by hanging at Strangeways Prison, Manchester, England by James Berry on 9 August 1886.
Murdered her daughter, husband and the wife of her lover with mice poison.
Years active: March 1886 – May 1886
Classification: Serial killer
Born: 1847, Bolton, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Died: 9 August 1886, Strangeways Prison, Manchester, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Cause of death: Hanged
Criminal penalty: Death sentence
Number of victims: 3
Date apprehended: 1886
Method of murder: Poisoning (strychnine and arsenic)
Victims profile: Elizabeth Hannah Britland, 19 (her eldest daughter) / Thomas Britland, 44 (her husband) / Mary Dixon, 29 (her neighbor's wife)
Location: Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Status: Executed by hanging at Strangeways Prison on August 9, 1886
12. Joanna Dennehy (3)
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| (Joanna Dennehy) |
The Peterborough ditch murders were a series of three murders which took place in the United Kingdom, in March 2013. All of the victims were male, and died from stab wounds. The bodies of all three men were discovered dumped in ditches outside of Peterborough.
In November 2013, Joanna Dennehy pleaded guilty to all three murders and two further attempted murders.
Years active: 2013
Date of birth: 1982
Date of murders: March 19-29, 2013
Date of arrest: April 2, 2013
Number of victims: 3
Victims profile: Kevin Lee, 48, Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, and John Chapman, 56
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife
Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom
Status: Pleaded guilty to all three murders and two further attempted murders on November 18, 2013
11. Mary Anne Geering (3)
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| (Mary Anne Geering) |
Hanged in 1849 for the poisoning of her husband and three sons with arsenic. Hanged.
Victims:
Richard Geering, husband, died
James Geering, son, died
George Geering, son, died
Benjamin Geering, son, survived
Years active: 1848
Other names: The Guestling Murderess, Black Widow
Born: 1799? - 1800?
Died: 1849, Lewes, England, United Kingdom
Cause of death: Hanged
Number of victims: 3
Location: United Kingdom
10. Eliza Joyce (3)
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| (Eliza Joyce) |
Poisoned her daughter and step-children with laudanum. Though acquitted in 1843 because of lack of evidence, she confessed after being disowned by her family and living in poverty for a year, and was hanged in 1844.
Deaths:
Emma Joyce, step-daughter, 19-months, died Oct. 1841, (laudanum)
Ann Joyce, daughter, aged 6-weeks, Jan. 1812, (laudanum)
Edward William Joyce, step-son, of some years’ growth, arsenic
Years active: 1841 - 1843
Born: 1811 - 1812
Died: Friday, August 2, 1844
Cause of death: Hanged
Number of victims: 3
Location: Lincoln, England, United Kingdom
9. Mary Ann Milner (3)
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| (Mary Ann Milner) |
Poisoned her in-laws (father, mother, sister) and a niece with arsenic. The man survived but sustained brain damage. Killed herself in prison the day before her execution.
As a result of this suicide and the near riot that ensued as a result, it became the practice to guard all condemned prisoners around the clock, one which continued until abolition.
Years active: 1847
Born: 1819? - 1820?
Died: July 29, 1847
Cause of death: felo-de-se (suicide)
Number of victims: 3
Location: United Kingdom
8. Amelia Sach and Annie Walters (3 - 20+)
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| (Amelia Sach) |
 |
| (Annie Walters) |
Amelia Sach (1873 – 3 February 1903) and Annie Walters (1869 – 3 February 1903) were two British murderers better known as the Finchley baby farmers.
Amelia Sach operated a "lying-in" home in Stanley Road, and later at Claymore House in Hertford Road (both in East Finchley), London. Around 1900, she began to advertise that babies "could be left", and took money for adoptions.
Annie Walters would collect the baby after it was born, and then dispose of it with poison — chlorodyne (a medicine containing morphine).
They were caught after Walters raised the suspicions of her landlord in Islington who was a police officer. An unknown number of babies were murdered this way, possibly dozens. During their trial at the Old Bailey, the quantity of baby clothes found at Claymore House was used as evidence of the scale of their crimes. A local campaign to have their sentences commuted to life failed, and they became the first women to be hanged at Holloway on 3 February 1903, by Henry Pierrepoint, in what was the only double hanging of women to be carried out in modern times.
The plot of Nicola Upson's novel Two for Sorrow (2010, Faber & Faber, London; Harper, New York) revolves around the aftermath of the Finchley Baby Farming affair. Both Sach and Walters appear as characters.
Years active: 1900? - 1903
Other names: The Finchley baby farmers
Born: Amelia Sach (1873), Annie Walters (1869)
Died: Amelia Sach (3 February 1903), Annie Walters (3 February 1903)
Cause of death: Amelia Sach (Hanged), Annie Walters (Hanged)
Proven victims: 3
Possible victims: 20+
Location: United Kingdom
7. Beverley Allitt (4)
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| (Beverley Allitt) |
A nurse, Allitt attacked 11 children in her care during a period of 59 days, killing four of them. Some of the victims were overdosed with insulin, others were injected with air bubbles. Imprisoned for life since 1993.
Years active: February-April 1991
Other names: Angel of Death
Characteristics: Nurse suffering from the mental illness Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy
Number of victims: 4
Date of birth: October 4, 1968
Date of arrest: November 1991
Victims profile: Liam Taylor, 7-months-old / Timothy Hardwick, 11-years-old / Becky Phillips, 2-months-old / Claire Peck, 15-months-old
Method of murder: Poisoning (insulin - lignocaine)
Location: Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to 13 concurrent terms of life imprisonment on May 28, 1993
6. Sarah Freeman (4)
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| (Sarah Freeman) |
Poisoned her husband, son, mother and brother with arsenic. Hanged.
Deaths:
Henry Freeman, husband
Charles Dimond, brother
James, illegitimate son
Mary, her mother
Years active: 1840 - 1845
Born: 1817
Died: April 23, 1845
Cause of death: Hanged
Number of victims: 4
Location: United Kingdom
Born: 1817
Died: April 23, 1845
Cause of death: Hanged
Number of victims: 4
Location: United Kingdom
5. Elizabeth Eccles (4 - 10+)
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| (Elizabeth Eccles) |
Poisoned her stepson and daughters with arsenic. Hanged in 1843.
At the time of her arrest she claimed to have had 10 children. If this were true then the judge’s suggestion that there were five victims could have been an under-estimate. The police believed that she was also responsible for other relatives’ deaths – the total running into double figures.
Deaths:
Alice Haslam, 10, daughter from previous marriage – died September 10, 1842, daughter, died in 1840 (?)
Nancy Haslam, 6, daughter from previous marriage – died early September, 1842
William Eccles – stepson, 13 (or 15?), died September 1842
Hannah Haslam – daughter, died in infancy
William Heywood – baby boy, died
Years active: 1840? - 1842
Other names: Elizabeth “Betty” Eccles – Bolton
Died: Saturday, May 6th, 1843, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Cause of death: Hanged
Proven victims: 4
Possible victims: 10+
Location: United Kingdom
4. Myra Hindley (5 - 5+)
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| (Myra Hindley) |
Hindley and fellow Moors Murderer Ian Brady are two of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century.
Convicted of five killings and the subsequent burials Hindley was widely known in the press as the "most evil woman in Britain".
Five children - Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans - were killed between 1963 and 1965.
The full extent of the pair's killing spree didn't come to light until after their confessions in 1985, some 20 years after their initial trial.
Despite making repeated appeals against her life sentence Hindley was never released from prison and she died in incarceration in 2002 aged 60.
Years active: 12 July 1963 – 6 October 1965
Born: 23 July 1942
Died: 15 November 2002 (aged 60)
Cause of death: Bronchial pneumonia caused by heart disease
Other names: "The Moors murderers", "The most evil woman in Britain"
Criminal penalty: Life imprisonment
Proven victims: 5
Possible victims: 5+
Location: England, United Kingdom
Date apprehended: 11 October 1965
Amelia Elizabeth Dyer (née Hobley; 1837 – 10 June 1896) was one of the most prolific serial-killers in history, murdering infants in her care over a 20 year period in Victorian England. She was tried and hanged for one murder (6 confirmed), but there is little doubt she was responsible for many more similar deaths—possibly 400 or more.
Because she was a murderer alive at the time of the Jack the Ripper killings, some have suggested that Amelia Dyer was Jack the Ripper, who killed the prostitutes through botched abortions. This suggestion was put forward by author William Stewart, although he preferred Mary Pearcey as his chosen suspect. There is, however, no evidence to connect Dyer to the Jack the Ripper murders.
Years active: 1879 - 1896
Other names: "The Reading Baby Farmer", "Angel Maker"
Born: 1837, Pyle Marsh, Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Died: 10 June 1896 (aged 58), Newgate Prison, London, England, United Kingdom
Cause of death: State execution by hanging
Characteristics: The most prolific baby farm murderer of Victorian England
Proven victims: 6
Possible victims: 400+
Date of arrest: April 4, 1896
Victim profile: Children ("adopted" illegitimate infants for lump-sum payments)
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: Reading, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
Status: Executed by hanging at Newgate Prison on June 10, 1896
2. Rosemary West (10 - 20+)
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| (Rosemary West) |
Rosemary Pauline "Rose" West (née Letts; born 29 November 1953) is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995. Her husband Fred, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial, is believed to have collaborated with her in the torture and murder of at least 10 young women, many at the couple's home in Gloucester, England.
Fred West is known to have carried out 12 murders. Rosemary West had no involvement in the first two.
Years active: June 1971 - May 1987
Born: Rosemary Pauline Letts, 29 November 1953 (age 61), Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK
Criminal penalty: Life imprisonment
Spouse(s): Fred West (1972-1995, his death)
Proven victims: 10
Possible victims: 20+
Location: England, United Kingdom
Date apprehended: April 1994
1. Mary Ann Cotton (14 - 21+)
 |
| (Mary Ann Cotton) |
Mary Ann Cotton (born Mary Ann Robson; 31 October 1832 – 24 March 1873) was an English woman convicted of murdering her children. She was believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning.
Years active: 1852 - 1873
Born: 31 October 1832, Low Moorsley, County Durham, England, United Kingdom
Died: 24 March 1873 (aged 40), Durham Gaol, England, United Kingdom
Date apprehended: 1873
Cause of death: Hanged
Occupation: Dressmaker, Nurse, Housekeeper
Criminal penalty: Death by hanging
Proven victims: 14
Possible victims: 21+
Victims profile: Eight of her own children, seven stepchildren, her mother, three husbands, a lover – and an inconvenient friend
Method of murder: Poisoning (arsenic)
Location: North East England, England, United Kingdom
Status: Executed by hanging in Durham prison on March 24, 1873