Behind the Book: Researching Karl Hulten and Elizabeth Jones

It was the case famously described by George Orwell in his 1946 essay, Decline of the English Murder, in which he characterised the shooting of private car hire driver George Heath as a meaningless act carried out by two thrill-seeking criminals. ‘It was almost chance that the two people concerned committed that particular murder,’ he wrote, describing a world of ‘dance halls, movie palaces, cheap perfume, false names and stolen cars.’

The Cleft Chin Murder certainly contained those elements, and it was nothing short of a twist of fate that brought 18-year-old Elizabeth “Betty” Jones and 22-year-old Karl Hulten together in October 1944 when they embarked on the six-day crime spree that ended in murder. Yet I always suspected there was far more to the story. The faces of the two young killers had stayed with me for years, and I wanted to know more about them. What were their lives really like? What had brought them to this point? Those questions led me and my wife Melissa on a journey that culminated in the publication of Wartime London’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’: The Crime Spree of Betty Jones and Karl Hulten in February 2026. Looking back now with time to reflect, I realise the book became about far more than a wartime murder case. It was an attempt to recover lives that had been reduced to headlines and rumours.

Why We Decided to Write the Book

Although I had known about the case for many years, it wasn’t until 2023 that I decided to take a break from my true crime podcast to investigate it properly. The deeper I dug, the more questions arose. What happened to Karl’s wife and child after his execution? What became of Elizabeth after her release from prison? Why had so much misinformation about them been repeated for decades? And with that, the idea for the book was born.

Over the next 18 months, Melissa and I scoured archives, libraries, newspapers, prison records, official correspondence, and genealogical sources. We contacted museums, historical societies and archives across Britain, Canada and the United States to trace people connected to the case and fill in gaps in the historical record. Many enquiries led nowhere, while others produced only tiny fragments of information. But piece by piece, those fragments began to build a clearer picture.

Researching Wartime Britain

One fascinating aspect of the project was researching the wartime context of the case and understanding the world in which Elizabeth and Karl lived. Although the crimes took place in wartime London, we found ourselves exploring communities across Britain. In Neath, South Wales, where Elizabeth grew up, the Luftwaffe targeted important industrial sites, including the Llandarcy Oil Refinery where her father had once worked. Elizabeth would also have witnessed the devastation of Manchester’s ‘Christmas Blitz’ in December 1940 as a pupil at the Northenden Road Approved School for Girls in nearby Sale, Cheshire. The Blitz was over by May 1941, but air raids remained a reality, and later the threat of V1 flying bombs, known as doodlebugs, would bring a new threat to towns and cities. Despite the danger, Elizabeth was determined to move to London to chase her dream of becoming a dancer.

The lives of many people involved in the case ran in parallel with the wider events of the war. While Elizabeth was appearing before Neath Magistrates’ Court shortly before her 14^th birthday, more than 300,000 British and French troops were being evacuated from Dunkirk. On the Home Front, thousands of men and women were volunteering for civil defence work as ARP Wardens, including Elizabeth’s mother, Nellie. Karl Hulten was drafted into the US Army shortly after his marriage and was inducted just a week before his daughter June was born. Elizabeth’s husband, Corporal Stanley Jones of the 2^nd Air Landing Anti-Tank Royal Artillery Battery, fought and died at Arnhem shortly before the crime spree took place, though Elizabeth didn’t receive news of his death until later. The wartime setting ultimately became more than just a backdrop, and we were able to explore the conflict through the eyes and experiences of the people who lived through it.

Discovering What Happened to Elizabeth Jones

A breakthrough finally came one Saturday morning after a stroke of inspiration to follow just one more link in the chain we’d been forging for months. We had already discovered Elizabeth’s name change, her marriage, where she had lived and how she had rebuilt her life after prison. But the discovery that sent chills down our spines was when we learnt that the reason she had slipped out of the British records almost unnoticed was that she had emigrated to America to start a new life and had lived until 2006, dying at the age of 79. Even more incredibly, she had a daughter who was still alive. Our painstaking research had finally paid off.

For researchers, discoveries like this are difficult to describe. The people you spend months or years investigating become part of your daily life, and their stories follow you long after you switch off the computer. It was immensely satisfying to be the first to discover Elizabeth’s fate but it was equally rewarding to uncover new information about her childhood, family circumstances, and life in London, thanks in part to a collection of rare letters and documents that came into my possession through my Uncle Ted, who was alive at the time of the murder and whom I mention in the introduction to our book.

Contacting Betty Jones’s Daughter

One of the most meaningful parts of the project was making contact with Elizabeth’s daughter. It was also one of the most difficult things we have ever done. There is a huge responsibility that comes with telling someone about a family history they were only partially aware of, particularly when it concerns a notorious murder case. We debated for days whether we should contact her at all. When we did, she was understandably shocked and concerned about intrusion into her personal life. From the outset, we promised to protect her privacy and agreed not to reveal her name. As she learned more about us and our work, she gradually became willing to share fond memories of her mother.

One comment she made has always stayed with me. Although learning the truth about her mother’s past had been difficult, she said the book had given her a sense of healing and helped her to understand that history more fully. That conversation reaffirmed why I do what I do. I don’t just tell true crime stories; I research forgotten events and lives from the past, trying my best to honour those involved by examining both killers and victims with fairness, empathy, and humanity.

Hulten and Jones in Film

During our research, we watched two films loosely based on the Cleft Chin Murder. The 1948 British crime drama Good Time Girl, starring Jean Kent and Diana Dors, attracted criticism for its depiction of Approved Schools and scenes of girls fighting, rioting, and smoking. The 1990 film Chicago Joe and the Showgirl cast Kiefer Sutherland as a passive and sympathetic Karl Hulten, while Emily Lloyd’s Elizabeth Jones was portrayed as manipulative and almost bloodthirsty. This interpretation has been repeated in later accounts of the case, yet the evidence points to a more nuanced reality. It was striking to observe how Elizabeth became a symbol of perceived wartime moral decline and attracted intense scrutiny over her behaviour and sexuality, while Hulten, who admitted firing the fatal shot, received considerably less attention.

Hearing from Karl Hulten’s Family

Then, just as we were finalising the manuscript, we experienced the kind of sheer good fortune that every researcher dreams of. By this point, we felt we had finally achieved a sense of closure regarding Elizabeth’s life, but we had come to accept that we might never know what became of Karl’s family. Accessing American records from the UK proved difficult, and we kept reaching dead ends. Then out of the blue, we received a message from June Hulten herself. A relative had seen an article about our book and told her about it, prompting her to get in touch. June, whose current surname remains private at her request, was incredibly generous with her time. She spoke candidly and warmly about her life and the impact Karl Hulten’s execution had on the family. We were happy to learn that, despite the trauma she experienced as a young woman after discovering that her father had not died in the war as she had been told, but had been executed for murder, she built a happy and fulfilling life and raised a family of her own.

Other Characters Explored

The Heaths

George Edward Heath’s widow, Winifred, had to break the news of his death to their sons, 8-year-old Arthur and 6-year-old Tony, though she waited for some time before she felt able to do so. Winifred would later recount how Tony had asked her when his father would be home and whether he would be bringing a toy car with him as a present. George had been known as a generous person who was described as ‘full of life’ despite challenges of his own, which we explore in the book, including his war record and brushes with the law. The Heaths struggled financially after George’s death but were assisted by public fundraising campaigns. We were fortunate to speak to Tony’s daughter, who told us that her father went on to live a fulfilling life and was awarded a British Empire Medal for his service to the community. This included sharing his passion for football by establishing the first youth league in Ringmer.

Violet Hodge

Along the way, we were privileged to learn about many of the other people whose lives intersected with the case. One of these was Violet Hodge, who survived a brutal attack by Hulten and Jones when she was 18. After being rejected from her dream of joining the Women’s Land Army and leaving home following an argument with her mother, Violet found herself in London seeking a job when she crossed paths with the pair as she walked along the Edgware Road with her suitcase. After the attack, in which she was bludgeoned with an iron bar and thrown into the Thames, Violet suffered from ongoing physical and mental symptoms which affected her for the rest of her life.

George McManus

We were equally moved by the story of RAF Sergeant George McManus, whose brief encounter with Elizabeth Jones became part of the investigation. McManus was killed in a plane crash just four months later, leaving behind a wife, two sons, and an unborn daughter.

Joyce Cook

16-year-old Joyce Cook, who was Karl’s girlfriend for a few days in October 1944 and who knew him by his alias, Lieutenant Ricky Allen, was another person whose fate we were eager to unravel. Despite their short acquaintance, it must have come as a shock to discover that ‘Ricky’ was in fact Private Karl Hulten who was already married with a child. We were excited to find a photograph of her taken many years later, while in her 70s, having led a full and happy life.

Looking Back on the Journey

Looking back, the greatest satisfaction came not from finding a particular document or solving a specific mystery, but from being able to tell the story more completely. Some of my favourite memories of the project are of Melissa and I sitting together late at night, discussing theories at the kitchen table and wondering where the next lead might take us.

Behind the headlines, court reports and newspaper photographs were real people whose lives continued long after the case faded from public memory. Thanks to the generosity of surviving family members, the preservation of historical records and a great deal of persistence, many of those missing pieces have now been found.

Learn More

For readers interested in learning more about the murders, the police investigation, the trial, and the lives of those involved, additional information can be found on my dedicated Cleft Chin Murder page.

Uploaded: 10 June 2026
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