Catherine Hayes

Who was Catherine Hayes?

Catherine Hayes, sometimes spelled Catharine Hayes, was an English murderer.

Catherine Hall was born near Birmingham in 1690. At the age of 16, she married John Hayes, a carpenter. The couple moved to London and set up a small shop in Oxford Road, Tyburn, while renting lodgings. Towards the end of 1725, two men named Wood and Billings lodged with the couple. Catherine Hayes was by then the mother of 12 children. She was intimate with the new lodgers, and the three lovers decided to kill John Hayes. On 1 March 1726, they got him drunk and then killed him. They cut up the body and flung a trunkful of body parts into a pond at Marylebone. The head was cast into the Thames and was found the next day. It was displayed in the churchyard of St Margaret's, Westminster, for several days, which resulted in John Hayes being identified.

On 24 March the trunk and limbs were discovered. Catherine Hayes and Billings had meanwhile been arrested on a warrant. Wood was captured shortly afterwards, and confessed. Billings then admitted his complicity, but Hayes denied all knowledge of the murder.