It is 1947
Gay Gibson, a 21-year-old British actress, was crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a ship from Cape Town to the United Kingdom. Gay Gibson, traveling in first class, was given room number 126. However, on October 18, 1947, a staff cleaner who came to clean found that he was not in his room. There were stains on the bed sheet in her room and her belongings were nowhere to be seen. A look around revealed that the porthole (ship window) of his room was open. A ship-wide search was conducted for Gay Gibson, but she was missing.
The previous night she was seen dancing and having fun with her fellow passengers. Late at night he called the captain for help, but no one saw him after that.
His body was never found. But she was declared dead on the statement of the ship's captain. According to English law, this is the first case in the world where a murderer has been sentenced to death without the body being found.
But the fate of the murderer was such that the death penalty laws were changed before he was hanged. The case was so controversial that even the then British Prime Minister expressed regret for not hanging Gay Gibson's killer.
The murder is known throughout the world as the Porthole Murder, although Gay Gibson's body was never found, nor was the cause of his death revealed.
Today, in 3 chapters of the untold story, read the story of Jaipur-born British actress Gay Gibson's murder, which remains unsolved after 77 years.
Sailed from South Africa to London for the show Gay Gibson was born on June 16, 1926 in Jaipur, British India. This was the period in slave India, when many British came and settled in India. Gay Gibson's real name was Eileen Isabelle Ronnie Gibson, which was changed after appearing in films.
A photograph of Gay Gibson's play 'Golden Boy' set in South Africa, in which she appeared with actor Eric Boone.
In October 1947, 21-year-old Gay Gibson traveled from London to South Africa on a theater tour with popular actress Doreen Mantel. His next stage show was scheduled to take place at London's West End Theatre. After a successful show in South Africa, she left for London on the Union Castle Line ship MV Durban Castle. The ship, which started its voyage on October 10, was scheduled to reach the United Kingdom via Cape Town, South Africa, Southampton, England.
The vessel, MV Durban Castle, started her voyage on October 10, 1947
Gay Gibson was a first class passenger on the ship, assigned to cabin number 126 on B-deck. The very beautiful Gay Gibson spent most of her time on the ship with the first class passengers. While spending about a week on the ship, Gay Gibson became well acquainted with everyone. On the night of October 17, he had dinner with all the passengers and everyone enjoyed a dance. Around 11.30 am some of his friends dropped him at cabin number 126.
A cleaning worker reported missing The next morning on October 18, a female cleaner, Eileen Fields, arrived to clean cabin number 126. The door was open so she entered the cabin. He noticed that there were no belongings in the room, while the bed was stained. The ship's porthole (window) was open there. When the situation became suspicious, Eileen immediately contacted Duty Officer in Command Patte and informed him about it. Gay Gibson was searched for on the ship, but when no information was found about him, Officer Patte launched an investigation to find Gay Gibson. did
The investigation into the case first began with James Camb, the ship's duty steward. The reason was that, during the tour, James was steadily growing closer to Gay Gibson. The ship's crew were not allowed to communicate much with the passengers, leading James to be reprimanded by his superiors. However, despite this, he was often seen with Gay Gibson.
James Camb was steward of the ship Durban Castle, 30 years old in 1947
When James was questioned about Gay Gibson's disappearance, he categorically denied having anything to do with the incident. However, James came under suspicion because of the statement of watchman Frederick Steer on the same ship that night.
At 3 a.m. Gay Gibson's cabin was called for help Watchman Frederick Steer told investigating officers that he was on duty during the night between October 17-18. It was about 3 a.m. when he noticed that two lights (red and green) were on outside Gay Gibson's cabin number 126. These lights were installed for the convenience of first class passengers. If a passenger presses the red light button, the duty steward comes to attend to him, while another green light means that the duty host has also been called.
That night, both lights in Gay Gibson's room were on, which was a little strange. Usually the passenger turns on only one light. Frederick, who was on duty, arrived to help Gay Gibson, finding the case strange. James opened the door when he knocked. He only half opened the door and said everything was fine.'
Frederick, the watchman, thought that James was on duty and had come to attend to the passenger. After being reassured, Frederick left and Gay Gibson was missing the next morning.
Investigating Officer Patten was told that James was last seen with Gay Gibson, which was confirmed by watchman Frederick's statement. Hearing this, he narrated the story of Iqbal-e-Jurm, which neither the officials nor the doctors could believe.
Gay Gibson died during sex, the ship's staff admitted James Camb told officers that the two developed a close friendship. That night, the two have consensual sex, but while having sex, Gay Gibson dies suddenly. He felt that no one would believe him, so to avoid punishment and fear of losing his job, he threw Gibson's body out the porthole (window).
James' statement was hard to believe, as there was no mention of any such illness. At this time the ship Durban Castle was 140 kilometers away from the west coast of Africa (Guinea Bissau). Officer Payte immediately ordered the ship to turn back and search for Gay Gibson's body. He reported the incident to the London Union Castle Line and asked police officers to be sent to Southampton.
Gay Gibson's room was sealed. As soon as they reached the coast, the Southampton Police, together with the British Police, began to investigate the case. They detained James Cabe and began a forensic investigation of Gay Gibson's room.
A replica of Gay Gibson's cabin number 126 and porthole
During the investigation, traces of urine were found on the bed sheetIn the forensic report, pathologist Dennis Hockling revealed that bedsheets in cabin number 126 were stained with urine. The investigation noted that urine at the time of death is possible only when strangulation occurs. However, Dennis, who created the report, said that in some cases this could also be due to natural causes.
During the trial, James Camb confessed to the murder, but despite changing his statement four times, he remained adamant that Gay Gibson had died before being thrown from the ship. Finally, on March 22, 1948, James Camb was sentenced to death for the murder of Gay Gibson.
Blueprint of the Durban Castle ship.
This was a different kind of case, in which someone was convicted without a body being found. Some historians say that this was the first case of its kind in English law.
It would not be wrong to say that James Camb was fortunate, as he was not sentenced to death, despite the fact that at the time he was sentenced to death, Parliament was deliberating on the death penalty and the Home Secretary decided to pardon all pending death penalty cases. was done.
The then British Prime Minister said – Justice has not been done After James Camb's death sentence was stayed, the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said in a speech that the House of Commons had by its vote saved the life of a cruel and sensual murderer who had raped a poor girl and opened fire on a ship's porthole. Thrown from (a window) to a shark.
Gay Gibson was only 21 years old at the time of his death
James Camb was acquitted in the case in 1959. However, some girls still filed complaints accusing him of indecent assault. James was jailed again in this case. In this case too he was acquitted in 1978. James Camb died of a heart attack in July 1979, a year after his release. Many books have been written on the murder and investigation of Gay Gibson.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
