Gay Gibson | |
|---|---|
 Gibson c. 1947 | |
| Born | Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson 16 June 1926 |
| Died | 18 October 1947 (aged 21) Atlantic Ocean (aboard MV Durban Castle) |
| Nationality | British (Anglo-Indian) |
| Occupation | Actress |
Eileen Isabella Ronnie Gibson (16 June 1926 – 18 October 1947),[1][note 1][2] known professionally as Gay Gibson, was a British actress who went missing during a voyage between Cape Town, South Africa, and Southampton, England, United Kingdom, in October 1947. The criminal case that followed was known as the Porthole Murder, as James Camb, the man who would be convicted of killing Gibson, admitted that he had pushed her body out of the porthole in her cabin aboard the MV Durban Castle into the Atlantic Ocean. Camb claimed that the two had engaged in consensual sex and that she had died of an apparent sudden illness; he had then panicked and thrown her body out of the porthole.
Whilst Camb acknowledged that pushing Gibson's body through the porthole was "a beastly thing to do," he always strenuously denied having killed her, insisting that she had either choked or suffocated whilst the two were in bed together. Camb was convicted of Gibson's murder and sentenced to death by hanging, but a temporary-turned-permanent suspension of the death penalty meant he originally served eleven years in jail before being released on licence. Following further convictions Camb was recalled to jail and served another ten years, being released a year before his death in 1979. He denied murdering Gibson for the rest of his life.
The Gibson case attracted widespread attention at the time, drawing parallels with film noir and Agatha Christie novels. Even British Prime Minister Winston Churchill commented on the outcome of the case, stating his regret that the punishment of Camb had been commuted to a lesser sentence.
- ^ Clark 1949, p. 1.
- ^ Clark 1949, p. 100.
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