S14 Ep15: The Blackout Ripper Pt1
Blood Ties Podcast
Peter Shevlin
4.4 • 668 Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Blood Ties, Geoffrey and Molly Wansell uncover the terrifying story of Gordon Frederick Cummins, the RAF serviceman who became known as the Blackout Killer.
Over just five days in wartime London, Cummins murdered four women and brutally attacked two others while the city lay hidden beneath the enforced blackout of the Blitz.
His victims were strangled, and several were shockingly mutilated, crimes so savage they stunned even seasoned detectives.
Dubbed the Blackout Ripper and the Wartime Ripper, Cummins preyed on vulnerable women as bombs fell across the capital during the darkest days of the Second World War. Convicted of murdering Evelyn Oatley, he was sentenced to death and hanged at Wandsworth Prison in June 1942, becoming the only murderer in British history executed during an air raid.
CREDITS:
Presenters: Geoffrey and Molly Wansell
Producer: Peter Shevlin https://pod60.com/
Artwork: George Leigh
Music: Dan Wansell
CONTACT:
Twitter: @BloodTies_Pod
Instagram:@bloodtiespodcast
Email: bloodties.podcast@gmail.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloodtiespodcast
Support: patreon.com/bloodtiespodcast
Please complete our survey if you have time: http://bit.ly/bloodtiespodcast-survey
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This week on Blood Ties. |
| 0:15.0 | He was very keen not to display anything you could describe as an ordinary characteristic. |
| 0:26.6 | He had, what we would now say, a very high opinion of himself. |
| 0:40.3 | We might also say that he was, he developed extraordinary vanity. Quite a lot of aggression and a feeling of entitlement. |
| 0:54.6 | He's a narcissist? |
| 0:56.3 | A bit of a narcissist, you might say. |
| 0:58.8 | And certainly, he came to believe in a certain godlike quality in himself. |
| 1:18.6 | And... Hi, I'm Molly Wonsall. And I'm Geoffrey Wonsall. |
| 1:20.6 | We're a father and daughter, as those of you who listened to Blood Ties in the past will remember, |
| 1:24.6 | and we meet every week and often our conversation has turned to murder, |
| 1:29.0 | which is why we originally launched blood ties and why we've now decided to bring it back |
| 1:34.0 | in its new fresher form. |
| 1:36.2 | We're really excited to be back and we would love it if you could also check out our Patreon. |
| 1:41.2 | Just search Blood Ties on Patreon. |
| 1:43.2 | Thanks so much. |
| 1:43.9 | Thank you. |
| 1:49.5 | Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Blood Ties podcast. I'm Molly Wansel and I'm here with my father, |
| 1:54.4 | Jeffrey Wansel. Hi everyone. Welcome back to Blood Ties 2.0. We're very much enjoying being back. I hope you're enjoying it too. |
| 2:03.9 | And Molly's in a very relaxed form. She's having a holiday. She's having a somatical. |
| 2:10.1 | I don't know about relaxed. I don't know about relaxed. I'm in a doing a lot of thinking. |
| 2:16.6 | That's good. Thinking is not always relaxing, I think. |
| 2:20.1 | No. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 11 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Peter Shevlin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Peter Shevlin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.