Estate agent fails to mention the “historical significance” of an Eaton Square property that was home to a paeodphile for 40 years
Those in the property business like to wax lyrical about the merits of particular locations but none in their right mind would willingly mention, for example, that 79 Gloucester Road in London’s South Kensington was the scene where ‘Acid Bath Murderer’ John Haigh (1909 – 1949) disposed of a number of his six to nine victims after turning them to sludge with the help of sulphuric acid. Though No. 79 is now marked as No. 77 – no doubt as part of an attempt to distract ghouls – and the building next door has become No. 77a, anyone with the slightest comprehension of numbers could easily work out the truth of what went on in what is now a restaurant and the Frances King School of English.
In May 2016, we featured a story about how No. 1 Eaton Square – a building situated perhaps at the wrong end of the street of what an auction house earlier described as “one of London’s most desirable addresses” in 2010 – still bares a commemorative blue plaque to another equally undesirable individual, the late paedophile politician Lord Boothby (1900 – 1986).
Why on earth residents of this building have not demanded this monument to a monster known for loving “masochistic sex with rent boys” be torn down is beyond anyone, but now Savills are offering a third floor flat in the building with a guide price of £3.7 million ($4.6 million, €4.3 million or درهم 16.7 million). They unsurprisingly fail to mention the property’s infamous resident of 40 years from 1946 to 1986 and the parties he gave there with such people as the East End gangster Ronnie Kray.
Situated on the third floor of the building and including 2 bedroom suites, the 1,682 square foot portered apartment has a reception room overlooking the Eaton Square Gardens and is described as having “the benefit of the use of a key holding service”. It’s just a shame that the larger-than-life Boothby – whose nickname was ‘The Palladium’ because of his “twice nightly” sexual activities – wasn’t also subject to a bit of lock-and-key during his lifetime.
