HISTORIC CRIME
A DANGEROUS ATTRACTION BETWEEN TWO FANTASISTS WOULD TURN DEADLY IN 1944
During the London Blackout of 1944, acrime spree that began with petty theft ended in brutal murder. The culprits were two young lovers and fantasists, who saw themselves as agangster and his moll, and were inspired by the US bank robbers and murderers Bonnie and Clyde.
FATAL MEETING
Born in 1926 in Glamorgan, Wales, Elizabeth Jones was often in trouble. After running away from home at the age of 13, she was admitted to an approved school, where young people would be sent when they were deemed to be “beyond parental control”. At 16, she married Corporal Stanley Jones, who was ten years older than her. But when he hit her on their wedding day, she walked out, and in January 1943, she headed for the bright lights of London.
There, she picked up work as an usherette, waitress and barmaid, but she had bigger dreams. By the time she was 18, she had become aself-styled “striptease dancer” who called herself Georgina Grayson. However, she was unemployed when, on 3October, in acafé in Hammersmith, she was introduced to the man who would change her life forever.
Second Lieutenant Ricky A llen looked handsome in his uniform, ababy-faced American soldier from the 501 Parachute Regiment. But, in fact, the uniform was stolen, and Ricky was actually a Private, and army deserter, called Karl Gustav Hulten, 22. Swedish-American Hulten saw himself as atough guy, the kind of man he watched in all those Hollywood gangster movies he loved so much. He regaled the impressionable Jones with yarns about being involved with the Mob back in Chicago, but again it was all lies, as before enlisting, he’d worked as ashoe salesman. But it seems they were apair of fantasists together, as Jones claimed to be an experienced exotic dancer when she’d only ever had one low-end job. United by alove of dance halls, seedy bars and American film-noir cinema, Hulten pretended to be agangster and Jones loved the idea of being his moll. As they left the café that day, they arranged adate at the cinema for afew hours later, and their fates were sealed.
SIX DAYS OF MAYHEM
The couple had arranged to meet outside the picture house, but Jones thought Hulten had let her down when he failed to show at the agreed time. Disappointed, she was just about to head home when Hulten pulled up in an army truck. He’d stolen it, and the pair proceeded to go on ajoy ride. When Jones told Hulten she wanted to do something “dangerous” like fly over to Germany in abomber, Hulten showed her his Remington automatic pistol, which was also stolen. Keen to impress his naïve companion, Hulten told her he was going to hold up ahotel in Maidenhead.
On their way along the darkened roads, they passed agirl on abicycle. Wanting to show Jones how tough he
