40 Facts About Ronald True

Ronald True was an English murderer who was convicted of the 1922 bludgeoning and murder by asphyxiation of a 25-year-old prostitute and call girl named Gertrude Yates.

Ronald True was sentenced to death for Yates's murder, and an appeal was dismissed by the Lord Chief Justice.

True was later reprieved following a psychiatric examination ordered by the Home Secretary which determined that True was legally insane.

Ronald True was then confined for life in Broadmoor Hospital in lieu of his death sentence.

Ronald True died of a heart attack while still confined at Broadmoor in January 1951, aged 59.

Ronald True was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England on 17 June 1891, the son of an unmarried 16-year-old girl named Annabelle Angus, who doted on her son.

Ronald True was regularly disciplined for acts of truancy and disobedience, and is known to have regularly committed acts of petty theft.

Ronald True is known to have frequently exhibited cruelty to animals.

In 1902, Ronald True's mother married a wealthy man named Arthur Reginald French, who would later inherit the title Baron de Freyne, enabling both mother and son access to many provisions money could not previously afford.

In 1909, at age 17, Ronald True left Bedford Grammar School.

Ronald True had grown into a well-built man, well above the average height of his peers, although he displayed little interest in finding employment or learning a trade.

Ronald True joined the Royal Flying Corps as a student pilot in 1915, training at a flying school in Gosport, Hampshire.

Ronald True is known to have crashed his plane on his first solo cross-country trial flight in Farnborough in February 1916, suffering severe concussion and remaining unconscious for two days.

Seven months later, in October 1916, Ronald True was discharged from the Royal Flying Corps.

Early the following year, Ronald True obtained a job as a test pilot at the Government Control Works in Yeovil, although he soon lost this job due to his erratic behaviour, short temper, and poor performance.

Ronald True was deployed to Houston, although his poor performance soon saw his dismissal.

At a party in New York, Ronald True became acquainted with a young actress named Frances Roberts; introducing himself as a Royal Air Force pilot.

Shortly after relocating to England, Ronald True's family secured a job for him as an assistant manager at the Taquah Mining Company, located within the Gold Coast.

Ronald True's habitual lying and general poor conduct saw him dismissed from the position within six months, and he and his wife again returned to England.

Ronald True was convinced he was shadowed by a doppelganger who shared his name and who was his mortal enemy.

At the insistence of his family, Ronald True again became an in-patient at a nursing home in an effort to cure him of his morphine addiction.

On or about 7 January 1922, Ronald True severed all physical contact with his family and relocated to London, where he frequented various West End bars and clubs, living affluently but surviving upon his allowance, via acts of theft, and by paying various hotel and restaurant bills with forged cheques.

Ronald True had first become acquainted with True in a West End lounge, being informed by True that he was a Major within the British Army.

However, over the following fortnight, Ronald True regularly pestered her with both haranguing and pleading telephone calls and by calling at her flat unannounced, although Yates would invariably refuse to speak with him.

Ronald True's appointed chauffeur was a man named Luigi Mazzola, who frequently drove True to destinations across London as far afield as Richmond to locations such as dance-halls and hotels.

Typically, Ronald True would spend all his money at these venues and, in the short duration of time Mazzola was employed as his chauffeur, Ronald True never paid the chauffeuring firm for his services.

Some time after 7:30 the following morning, Ronald True prepared a cup of tea for himself and Yates.

Ronald True then drank his own cup of tea and ate some biscuits before dragging her naked body to the bathroom.

Ronald True was then driven to a menswear shop in Coventry Street where he purchased a new suit and bowler hat with money stolen from his victim, remarking to the salesman he had arrived from France via air that very morning and that he had acquired the blood on his clothes in an "aeroplane accident" shortly after crossing the English Channel.

Ronald True admitted to the arresting officers that he had been in Yates's flat the previous evening, but claimed to have left the premises when a "tall man, aged thirty-one" had begun arguing with Yates.

Ronald True was held on remand at a Brixton prison, to await trial.

Muir contended that Ronald True needed money; that he had known Gertrude Yates had ample cash and valuables; and he had thus murdered her for her possessions.

Muir did not call any prosecution witnesses; instead extensively cross-examining several defence witnesses in efforts to prove that, as Ronald True had made numerous efforts to avoid detection such as attempting to deter Yates's cleaning lady from entering her bedroom and claiming to a salesman the bloodstains on his clothes had been caused in an aeroplane accident, that he thus appreciated the criminality of his actions and was therefore criminally responsible.

Muir extensively discussed the M'Naghten Rules; emphasising that Ronald True knew the nature of his act, and since he had used every means that suggested itself to his mind to escape detection, he knew that what he had done was wrong.

Ronald True did appeal his conviction, contending that, in reference to the M'Naghten Rules, Judge McCardie had misdirected the jury as to the criminal responsibility of the insane within his final address prior to their deliberations.

The Home Secretary's decision to reprieve Ronald True caused considerable political and public controversy.

Many believed, incorrectly, that Ronald True was being leniently treated for the crime of murder solely on account of his hailing from an influential family.

Shortt was obliged to explain to the House of Commons that Ronald True's reprieve was not left to his personal discretion; the law gave him no option.

At trial, Ronald True was found guilty by the stringent standards of the M'Naghten Rules, but the Home Secretary was legally held to different standards.

Ronald True died of a heart attack while still incarcerated inside this facility on 8 January 1951 at the age of 59.