A Troubled Upbringing
Donald Hume’s life was marked by a troubled upbringing from the very beginning. Born in 1919 in Swanage, Dorset, Hume was the illegitimate son of a schoolmistress who abandoned him to an orphanage at a young age. The orphanage was a bleak and unforgiving place, where the young Hume was subjected to harsh punishments and taunts from the staff, who even kept a parrot that would shout the word “bastard” to remind the children of their lowly status.
Hume’s misery only continued when he was sent to live with his aunt, Doodie, who was the headmistress of a local school. Far from providing a loving home, Doodie was as cold and unforgiving as the orphanage staff, and Hume was often excluded from family activities and left to tend to the house and chickens. In contrast, the rest of the family went on holiday. Hume’s resentment towards his aunt only grew when he discovered that she was, in fact, his real mother, a revelation that left him feeling deeply betrayed and rejected.
The Murder of Stanley Setty
Despite the hardships of his childhood, Hume managed to build a somewhat successful life for himself as an adult. He set up a legitimate electrician’s business and even married Cynthia, with whom he had a child. However, Hume’s life turned dark when he became involved with Stanley Setty, a shady car dealer.
Setty was a prosperous man who had made a fortune in the post-war black market, trading in everything from stolen cars to forged petrol coupons. Hume, who had a talent for flying and a penchant for criminal activities, became Setty’s associate, stealing cars and smuggling goods for him.
The relationship between the two men was tense, and it came to a head on October 4, 1949, when Setty visited Hume’s apartment. According to Hume’s later confession, the two men got into a heated argument, and Hume stabbed Setty repeatedly with a German SS dagger he had kept as a souvenir from the war. Hume then set about the grisly task of dismembering Setty’s body, cutting off his head and legs and disposing of them by plane over the English Channel.
The Sensational Trial
The disappearance of Stanley Setty quickly became a major news story, and the police were determined to find the killer. Their investigation led them to Donald Hume, who was arrested and charged with Setty’s murder.
Hume’s trial at the Old Bailey in 1950 was a media sensation, with the public captivated by the gruesome details of the crime and the bizarre circumstances surrounding it. The prosecution’s case against Hume was entirely circumstantial, with no direct evidence linking him to the murder. However, the discovery of bloodstains in Hume’s apartment and his suspicious behavior in the days following Setty’s disappearance made him a prime suspect.
Hume’s defense, led by the renowned lawyer R.F. Levy, was that he had been coerced into disposing of Setty’s body by three mysterious men who had approached him with the task. The jury was divided, and after several hours of deliberation, they could not reach a verdict.
A Confession and Further Crimes
Hume was formally acquitted of Setty’s murder, but he was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Upon his release in 1958, Hume made a shocking confession to the Sunday Pictorial newspaper, admitting that he had murdered Setty in a fit of rage after the car dealer had kicked Hume’s beloved dog.
Hume’s newfound freedom was short-lived, however, as he soon embarked on a series of bank robberies in both England and Switzerland, shooting and seriously injuring several bank employees in the process. In 1959, Hume’s criminal spree came to a tragic end when he shot and killed a taxi driver during a botched robbery attempt in Zurich.
The Psychological Factors at Play
Hume’s life story is a complex and disturbing one, shaped by the trauma and rejection he experienced in his early years. His deep-seated resentment towards society and authority figures, as well as his intense attachment to his dog Tony, suggest that Hume may have been a psychopath, with a fundamental lack of empathy and an inability to form meaningful human connections.
The fact that Hume was able to commit such heinous acts, including murder and attempted murder, without apparent remorse or guilt, is a testament to the power of the human psyche to be shaped by early experiences and environmental factors. While Hume’s intelligence and inventiveness suggest that he could have achieved success through legitimate means, his preference for the “high life” and criminal activities points to a deeper psychological drive that was never fully addressed or understood.
A Tragic End
Hume’s crimes ultimately caught up with him, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Switzerland, where he spent 17 years in harsh, maximum-security conditions. The Swiss authorities eventually extradited him to Britain, where he was committed to the infamous Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, spending a total of 27 years in various institutions before being released in his late 60s.
Hume’s life after his release was a quiet one, and he lived out his final years in a small apartment in London. In 1998, at the age of 78, he was found dead on the grounds of a hotel near where he had spent much of his childhood; the cause of his death was likely a heart attack.
The story of Donald Hume is a tragic one, a cautionary tale of how a troubled upbringing and a lack of support can lead a person down a dark path of violence and criminality. While the details of his crimes may have faded from public memory, the underlying psychological and societal factors that shaped Hume’s life and actions continue to be a subject of fascination and study for those who seek to understand the complexities of the human condition.
