I was given up for adoption as a baby and was always curious about my real family… then I found out they had a dark secret

Stephanie Howarth grew up with loving parents in the charming town of Herne Bay on the Kent coast, but when she looked in the mirror she felt different from her family.

His olive skin and black hair stood out against his parents’ pale skin, and when he turned eight, his mother and father decided to tell him why: he was adopted.

Such news could shake the foundations of even the closest family, but Stephanie went on to live a happy life with her ‘lovely’ adoptive parents who cherished their love and care.

Yet he was always curious about his biological family, and despite struggling with guilt, he embarked on a long journey to find the truth; She toured libraries across the UK to discover more about her mother and father.

Little did he know that his adoption papers contained a sinister secret linking him to one of Britain’s most notorious femicides, a notorious executioner and a street with a dark past.

Styllou Christofi’s victim Hella Christofi was photographed with her husband Stavros Christofi

Stephanie Howarth (pictured as a young woman), now 69, was given up for adoption – but a family link to Styllou Christofi, who was executed at Holloway Prison in 1953, was later discovered.

Stephanie He revealed his family connection to Styllou Christofi, who was executed at Holloway Prison in north London in 1953 after killing his daughter-in-law Hella.

Stavros Christofi is Stephanie’s father. He had three children with Hella before he had four children from his second marriage. Stephanie was born from an affair between the two in 1956.

Stephanie told Crime Squad: ‘I never met my biological father. It was hard to know how I felt when I found out.

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‘Finding out you are adopted is a very difficult thing and inevitably there will be a sad story behind it. My discovery involved the element of additional knowledge about murder and execution.

‘There was a piece of paper with my parents’ names, my biological father’s profession and address.

‘I went to a library in Manchester and found some notes; One of them was about my birth mother and a lot of things fell into place and there were family members I could communicate with.’

He adds: ‘This is very strange. Even though I’m not used to it, I’m happy to tell people that I’m Styllou’s grandson.

‘Some people step back when the subject is brought up; You should see their reaction, they are shocked.

‘I was told, ‘I won’t tell anyone about this,’ but it’s not something connected to me. ‘I’m not that.’

Researching her family, Stephanie discovered that her Greek Cypriot grandmother was no stranger to violence and was convicted in Cyprus of murdering her mother-in-law in 1925 by shoving a lit torch down the victim’s throat.

It is said that Hristofi, who came from Cyprus to live with his son and his family in 1953, 12 years after Stavros moved to London, frequently quarreled with his daughter-in-law.

Reports at the time of the trial said he was angry that Stavros and German-born model Hella were raising their three children as British.

The murder in July 1954 occurred when Hella was preparing to take the children back to her native Germany, while Stavros wanted to persuade his mother to return to Cyprus.

Styllou Christofi (pictured) was hanged at Holloway prison in north London in December 1954.

While Stavros was leaving for work at the Cafe de Paris in London on the evening of July 29, 1954, and the children were put to bed, Christofi approached Hella from behind in the kitchen and hit her on the head with a metal pan, knocking her unconscious.

The killer then strangled his victim, removed Hella’s wedding ring and carried the body into the garden, pouring paraffin and lighting a fire. A neighbor saw Hella’s body burned in the family’s garden but inexplicably did not raise the alarm.

When the flames got out of control, Christofi ran into the street to raise the alarm.

When the police were called, the neighbor who had passed by before told the police what he saw, thinking that the mannequin was on fire.

Later, during a search of the house, he found Hella’s wedding ring in Christofi’s bedroom.

While he could not give any explanation as to where the ring was, he told the police officers who questioned him: ‘I wake up, I smell burning, I go downstairs. Damn it’s burning. Throw water, touch your face. Don’t move. ‘Go out, get help.’

At the Old Bailey trial, which began in October 1954, Christofi’s lawyers argued the defense by insanity but this was rejected by the jury, who found him guilty of murder and he was hanged in Holloway prison on 15 December that year.

Fingerprint experts are seen examining the Christofi family’s home in Hampstead

Ruth Ellis (pictured) was the last woman hanged for murder in the UK

Ruth Ellis shot and killed David Blakely outside the Magdala pub in South Hill Park, Hampstead.

Although Stephanie never knew her biological father, she had at least learned family stories about him; including a brush with Hollywood star Marlene Dietrich while visiting the Café de Paris in central London while working as a head waiter in the 1940s and 1950s.

Mrs Howarth said: ‘My father found himself being taken away in a taxi with Marlene Dietrich.

‘He was followed by photographers and asked to fold his jacket over himself to hide.’

But Stephanie had other twists and turns in her family story to discover; this time he linked his grandmother to Ruth Ellis, one of Britain’s most notorious femicides.

Coincidentally, both Christofi and Ellis committed their murders on the same street in South Hill Park in Hampstead, north London, in the 1950s.

Hella’s death came just 11 months before Ellis shot her lover David Blakely outside the Magdala pub in Hampstead, just 100 yards from Christofi’s home.

South Hill Park later became the home of celebrities including Bill Oddie, Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Ross, Frank Skinner and David Baddiel; Comedian Skinner commented darkly on his podcast about how this place resembles a noose shape on a map.

Albert Pierrepoint, the executioner who executed both women at Holloway prison, later commented sympathetically on how the Greek Cypriot woman’s death was made light of by this contrast.

Stavros Christofi, in the photo taken in front of his home in Hampstead after the murder of his wife in July 1954, moved to England from Cyprus 13 years ago.

Investigators are seen at the scene on South Park Hill in Hampstead, north London, in July 1954.

Ellis was hanged by Pierrepoint on July 13, 1955; This was seven months after Christofi suffered the same fate in the same prison on December 15, 1954.

After Ellis’ death, the executioner was asked: ‘How did it feel to hang a woman, Mr. Pierrepoint?’

He replied: ‘Why didn’t you wait to ask me that question last year, son? Wasn’t Miss Christofi a woman too?

Pierrepoint writes in his 1974 biography Executioner: Pierrepoint. He noted how Ellis, as a “blonde nightclub hostess,” attracted more attention than “a gray-haired and confused grandmother who spoke no English.”

Speaking of her grandmother, whom she had never met, Stephanie expressed sympathy for the difficulties faced upon arrival in Britain in the post-war years.

He said: ‘He came alone; He was probably illiterate. He didn’t speak English the whole time he was going through the court process.

‘He came from a very strict Greek Orthodox community in Cyprus. The police came to the families there.

Stavros Christofi, husband of murdered Hella Christofi, photographed outside his home in Hampstead following her death in July 1954.

Albert Pierrepoint was the executioner who carried out the executions of both Ruth Ellis and Styllou Christofi at Holloway prison in north London.

Ruth Ellis was sentenced to death for shooting her violent racing driver boyfriend David Blakely (above) after a trial lasting less than two days.

The Magdala in north London closed in 2016 but reopened as a pub and restaurant in 2021

Daily Mail’s report on the execution of Ruth Ellis in July 1955

‘I don’t think people fully realize what hanging is, how cruel it is.’

Christofi and Ellis were buried in unmarked graves in Holloway and then exhumed in 1971 along with three other female murderers of the 20th century.

These included Edith Thompson was executed for the murder of her husband, Percy, in 1923.

Among those interred and also exhumed at Holloway were ‘baby farmers’ Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, who were hanged in the prison in February 1903 after being found guilty of murdering babies in East Finchley, north London.

All were transferred to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey in 1971, except Ellis, whose remains were returned to his family.

Thompson was exhumed in 2018 and buried with his family next to his mother.

It was Ellis’ case that attracted the most attention, not only in the headlines at the time but also in subsequent film and TV productions.

These include the 1985 film Dance With A Stranger, starring Miranda Richardson, and last year’s ITV documentary series A Cruel Love, starring Lucy Boynton.

Looking back after her investigation into the Christofi case, Stephanie added: ‘All I wanted to do was find out why I looked the way I did and what the situation was.

‘I’m not sure I’ve really found what I’m looking for, but I do know that I inherited my olive complexion from the Greek side of the family.

‘Especially in that photo, comments were made that I had a Greek appearance.

‘I still wonder if I look like my birth father or even my biological grandmother.’