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Magog Universal - Erradication Time (C-46 cassette)

A-01 - Untitled
B-01 - Untitled

"Erradication Time" is the only release of Magog Universal we know about. Also I couldn't find any correspondence leading to the origin or the maker of this cassette. It was released in early 1982 in Britain. The music on "Erradication Time" is a fine example of early sound-collages using found footage, synthesized and shortwave noise, and effects. Both sides contain one long piece. The back of the cassette has written "For Timothy Evans" on it, and the image used on the cover is taken from a newspaper article about Timothy Evans.

Timothy John Evans was hanged at the age of 25 in Pentonville Prison, London on 9 march 1950 for the murder of his infant daughter Geraldine. In november 1949 he was living with his wife Beryl Thorley at 10 Rillington Place in London, in the flat above John Reginald Christie. On 2 december 1949 the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine were found hidden in the wash house. Evans had gone to the police and confessed to killing his wife by giving her some 'abortion pills' . Later he confessed to strangling her in an argument about money when he found out she was pregnant, and strangling the baby two days later. A couple of days later he withdrew his confession and named Christie as the murderer. Supposedly Christie, who had been a medical attendant during the war, agreed to perform an abortion on Beryl, and she died in this attempt. In panic he also strangled the baby. The investigating officers concluded that Evans had committed both crimes, however he was officially only charged with the murder of his daughter Geraldine. Christie was they key witness heard by the court, and finally the jury found Evans guilty and he was convicted to death by hanging.
In march 1953 the new tenant of 10 Rillington Place discovered a door to a kitchen pantry plastered over with paper, when he removed the paper and opened the door, he found the bodies of three strangled women. After a search of the house and garden, three more bodies were found, including Christie's wife Ethel. On 31 march 1953 Christie was arrested. His modus operandi was to 'treat' women for various diseases ranging from headaches to bronchitis, as well as perform abortion operations. He would render them unconscious with gas, strangle and rape them. During interrogation he confessed to murders as early as 1943, including the murder of Beryl Evans. He was tried at the Old Bailey, and hanged at the age of 55, from the same gallows and by the same executioner as Timothy Evans, in Pentonville Prison, London on 15 july 1953.
While Christie never confessed to killing Geraldine Evans, there was a wide public outcry for the innocence of Timothy Evans, since Christie had been the key witness at the trial and obviously lied about the death of Beryl. In 1965 Ludovic Kennedy wrote his pièce-de-résistance "10 Rillington Place" in which he dug out the whole case to conclude with an apparent miscarriage of justice. In 1966 Timothy John Evans was awarded a posthumous pardon, later on the case led to abolition of capital punishment in Britain. "10 Rillington Place" was made into a landmark Serial Killer 'docudrama' by Richard Fleischer in 1971 with John Hurt playing Timothy Evans, Richard Attenborough playing John Christie and Judy Geeson playing Beryl Evans. The film was shot at the actual location of the murders in Rillington Place and is a must-see for true crime buffs with a truly stomach churning performance by Richard Attenborough.
Rillington Place was renamed to Ruston Close shortly after Christie's execution and is now demolished.

If anyone has more information about "Magog Universal", or if the author of the cassette reads about this, please contact us and we'll update the information.