Ethel Le Neve

Ethel Clara Neave (22 January 1883 – 9 August 1967), known as Ethel Le Neve, was the mistress of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, a homeopath hanged for the murder and mutilation of his wife in 1910.

Ethel Le Neve
Le Neve and Crippen during a remand hearing in 1910.
Born	Ethel Clara Neave (1883-01-22)22 January 1883 Diss, Norfolk
Died	9 August 1967(1967-08-09) (aged 84)[1] Croydon, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Typist
Known for	Mistress of Dr. Crippen
Spouse(s)	Stanley Smith ​ (m. 1915)​
Criminal charge	Accessory to murder
Penalty	Acquitted
Date apprehended	31 July 1910

She was born in Diss, Norfolk, the eldest child of Walter William Neave and Charlotte Anne Neave (née Jones),[2] Ethel was hired as a typist by Crippen in 1900[3] and was his mistress by 1905.

After the murder of Crippen's wife, Cora, they fled the country on the SS Montrose on which the couple aroused the suspicion of the ship's master, who telegraphed their location to Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard sent Chief Inspector Dew to arrest them upon their arrival in Canada. Returned to England, she was exonerated of the charge of complicity to murder.

After the trial, Le Neve traveled to Toronto, working as a typist there for three years before returning to London under the name Ethel Harvey. While working at Hampton's furniture store off Trafalgar Square, she met, and in January 1915 married Stanley Smith, with whom she had two children. They lived in Croydon, where Ethel died in 1967.[3]