Murder Maps

Amelia Dyer - The Baby Farmer

Amelia Dyer was perhaps the most prolific killer in British history. She earned a living through murder, and her victims were babies. There was a grim trade which flourished in the Victorian age. In a time when unmarried mothers were shamed and shunned, giving up children to a 'baby-farmer' was often the only option. Dyer promised mothers that for a fee, she would adopt the babies and raise them as her own. In fact, she neglected and murdered them. In this episode we tell the shocking story of Dyer and of Evelina Marmon, one of the desperate young mothers she deceived.