Original Air Date – 19 October 2022
Episode – The Trail Went Cold – Episode 299 – Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Duration – 58:11 minutes
Host – Robin Warder
Whenever I hear a podcast host with a North American accent, about to tell the British story of Bella in the Wych Elm, I cross my arms and sit back scowling. I’ve listened to too many shallow podcasts, full of errors, to approach them with anything but caution. I know… it’s crazy, particularly as I am a Canadian! And in the case of this podcast, I was pleasantly surprised! Robin Warder, a fellow Canadian, did an excellent job of telling the tale while relying on solid sources. Well done!
Summary
The primary sources for this podcast were the two books by Alex Merrill, both of which I have reviewed on this blog (Volume 1 and Volume 2). The podcast host made it clear at the start that he wanted to keep the podcast factual. And Alex did an excellent job of returning to the source files, the original police reports, and supplementing them with his own research. In other words… Alex’s books are an excellent resource upon which to base a podcast about Bella!
Robin begins by reviewing the story of how the skeleton of a woman was found in Hagley Wood in 1943 by some school boys. We then learn of the series of events that followed, including the story of Anna of Claverley (Una Mossop/Hainsworth) and the Quaestor stories. Robin also covers the less than factual stories about Bella and Charles Walton, written by Donald McCormick. So far so good.
Robin then presents the theory that Bella may have been a German spy, specifically the German cabaret singer, mistress of German spy Josef Jakobs. My ears perked up but Robin put me at ease right away, noting that this theory has been officially debunked. Robin references my blog and notes that in September 2016, I tracked down a death registration for Clara Bauerle, proving that she had died in a Berlin hospital on 16 December 1942. Robin doesn’t even mention the original author of the article claiming that Clara WAS Bella. Great job. On the other hand, there is one lingering error that crept into the podcast, namely that Josef claimed Clara, his mistress, had sung in the Midlands before the war. That is not accurate. There is no evidence that Clara ever travelled to the UK. MI5 did find evidence that a Klara Sofie Bauerle (different birthdate from our (Hedwig) Clara Bauerle)) had traveled to Warwickshire in the mid-1930s, but there is no evidence that she was a singer.
The host then covers a few other intriguing stories of mysterious deaths around the world, noting that it is quite common for folks to link any mysterious death with espionage. The first story is of Jennifer Fairgate (a false name) who was killed in Norway in 1995. Never heard of her but the story sounds intriguing! The second story was that of Sommerton Man, a deceased male who was found on a beach in Australia in 1948. In both stories, the death was linked with espionage. Although in the Australian case, DNA evidence now seems to indicated that the unidentified male was Carl Charles Webb, an electrical engineer from Melbourne who disappeared from public record in 1947. Point being… just because a death is unexplained doesn’t necessarily mean it is connected to espionage. Although… in the case of the Trow Ghyll cave skeleton… I do lean toward the espionage theory!
The podcast then delves into some other theories, including one by Donald McCormick, who suggested that Bella was actually the spouse of Dutch spy Johannes Marinus Dronkers. The podcast host notes that there was never any official confirmation that Clarabella Dronkers existed, while adding that McCormick was a rather controversial figure (no kidding) whose books were filled with inaccuracies (let’s call it fiction, shall we?). I should note that Johannes Marinus Dronkers did indeed have a wife, but her name was not Clarabella but rather Elise Antoinette Eleanora (née Seignette) Dronkers. Elise passed away on 18 December 1944 in Amsterdam. Another debunked theory.
Robin then takes a closer look at the Una Hainsworth & Jack Mossop story. What if Jack’s story was some variation of the truth? What if he and Van Raalt met a Dutch prostitute in a pub but that their little trist went wrong, and that she was dumped in the wych elm in Hagley Wood. As the host notes, there are rumours that a Dutch sex worker from Hagley went missing in 1941. I guess it’s possible. Certainly Robin has devoted some thought to how Jack’s story might have a grain of truth in it, even after being run through Una’s memory.
Robin concludes the podcast by acknowledging that filtering out the truth is very difficult. But he rather doubts that her story involved witchcraft or espionage. Agreed! And yes, if the case is ever to be solved… then Bella’s remains would need to be found. Although, even that might not solve the case. The body of Jennifer Fairgate was exhumed for DNA testing and that hasn’t yielded any significant clues to her identity… yet.
Review
Apart from a few minor inaccuracies, this podcast was an excellent summary of the Bella in the Wych Elm story. I thought Robin did a great job of focusing on the most factual accounts and side-stepping, or avoiding completely, the less than factual accounts, of which there are many! His theory that Bella may have been a Dutch prostitute is possible.
Review Score
5/5 – very well researched with only a a couple of small inaccuracies. A great summary of the Bella story.