Gruesome tale of pregnant ‘Girl with Pretty Feet’ whose severed body was found in suitcases scattered across UK
A FOUL smell in the left luggage office was what first caught the attention of William Joseph Vinnicombe.
He pinpointed the wooden suitcase at the centre of the stench and – fearing the worst – he alerted the police.
Inside the bag was a horrifying discovery – the dismembered, rotting torso of a woman.
Brighton Police alerted other forces across the country – with the woman’s legs discovered in a suitcase 77 miles away at King’s Cross station.
Her head and arms were never found – causing the slain victim to be branded ‘the girl with the pretty feet’ or simply ‘pretty feet’.
A post mortem revealed she was aged around 25 and was five months pregnant at the time of her death.
Even more horrific, she was not the only victim of what became known as The Brighton Trunk Murders.
The sadistic crimes led to the popular resort to be dubbed ‘the queen of the slaughtering places’ – a play on ‘the queen of watering places’.
The chilling tale began back in June 1934 in the left luggage office at Brighton train station.
As well as the woman’s dismembered body, Chief Inspector Robert Donaldson also discovered several layers of paper and cotton wool soaked in blood.
The rest of her body was found the following day at King’s Cross.
After it emerged the woman was pregnant, Chief Inspector Donaldson suspected a local abortionist named Massiah could be behind the killing.
He had moved to Brighton from London after killing a woman during an abortion – although Massiah was never prosecuted.
But the theory was dispelled by the pathologist, who could find no evidence of interference with the pregnancy.
Despite a murder probe, officers were never able to solve who the woman was or find her killer.
But the police investigation did lead to a second gruesome discovery – the severed body of another woman who had been stuffed in a suitcase in Brighton.
While trawling through a database of missing people, cops were alerted to the disappearance of 42-year-old Violette Kaye.
The dancer had been in a relationship with 26-year-old Toni Mancini, who was known to have a dark side.
Chilling end
On May 10, 1932, the couple had a row in the Skylark Café where Mancini worked on the seafront.
Violette accused her partner of cheating with a teen waitress and was never seen alive again.
Mancini claimed she had fled to Paris but the reality was far more gruesome.
The twisted brute had killed Violette then chopped her body up before stuffing the severed remains in a trunk.
Chillingly, Mancini used the suitcase as a coffee table when guests visited – despite the smell and leaking bodily fluids.
Hunt for killer
Police discovered the remains while carrying out house-to-house enquiries but the case was not linked to the first trunk murder.
Mancini went on trial but in a shock twist, was cleared by a jury of murdering his girlfriend.
However he later confessed his crimes to a journalist – revealing he threw a hammer at Violette after a row.
At the time, double jeopardy laws had not been introduced to the UK, which meant he was unable to stand trial again.
While Violette’s killer had been found, the hunt for justice for the “girl with the pretty feet” continues.