Walter Dew

Walter Dew served in London’s Metropolitan Police and worked on major investigations before becoming chief inspector. In 1910 he investigated the disappearance of Cora Crippen and the remains found at her home after Hawley Harvey Crippen and Ethel Le Neve fled Britain.

After the captain of the SS Montrose sent a wireless warning, Dew boarded a faster ship, travelled to Canada and arrested the pair. John Boyne’s Crippen uses Dew’s pursuit to connect the domestic investigation with the developing technology and international publicity of the case.