It was a crime that shook a quiet Virginia community to its core and captivated international audiences for decades. In 1985, Derek and Nancy Haysom, a well-respected and affluent couple, were found brutally murdered in their Bedford County home. What truly elevated the case to infamy was the shocking revelation that their daughter, Elizabeth Haysom, and her boyfriend, Jens Soering, were the masterminds behind the slayings.
Their love story was as dark as it was destructive, culminating not only in murder but also in an audacious flight from justice. The couple’s nearly year-long run marked by deception, extravagance, and eventual recklessness, came to an unceremonious end in the most unexpected of places: a Marks & Spencer store at 10 George Street in Richmond-upon-Thames, London, where a sharp-eyed store detective brought about their capture.
Seeds of a Deadly Plot
Elizabeth Haysom, intelligent, captivating, and rebellious, harboured a deep-seated resentment toward her parents, Derek and Nancy. Derek, a retired steel executive, and Nancy, an artist and philanthropist. They were pillars of their Virginia community, but Elizabeth described them as controlling and judgmental. Her relationship with Jens Soering, a shy and studious German national at the University of Virginia, only seemed to exacerbate the tensions.
Jens was deeply infatuated with Elizabeth, who appeared to have an almost hypnotic influence over him. According to Jens, Elizabeth told him harrowing stories of abuse by her parents. Claims that were never substantiated but that may have helped to plant the seeds of their deadly plan.
On March 30, 1985, Derek and Nancy Haysom were brutally murdered in their home. Both had been stabbed repeatedly in what investigators described as a crime of passion. The couple’s alibi—that they had spent the weekend on a romantic road trip to Washington, D.C, and New York City—quickly fell apart under scrutiny. By the time police zeroed in on them as suspects, Jens and Elizabeth had vanished.
Fugitive Life: Luxury and Lies
The young lovers fled to Europe, travelling through multiple countries using forged passports and stolen identities. By late 1985, they had settled in Richmond-upon-Thames, where they created a new life. Blending in with the well-heeled locals, they were frequent visitors to the town’s shops.
Jens posed as the son of an Austrian diplomat, while Elizabeth played the role of a cultured and sophisticated socialite. They rented a modest flat, frequented high-end restaurants, and shopped at luxury stores, all funded by forged checks and stolen credit cards. Their lifestyle seemed carefree and indulgent, but their actions hinted at growing recklessness.
Despite their efforts to blend in, their financial fraud attracted attention. They forged checks with an increasingly boldness that would ultimately lead to their downfall.
Capture in M&S
The couple’s time on the run ended on a, probably rainy, Wednesday, 30th April 1986 inside a Marks & Spencer department store. Jens and Elizabeth who were going by the names of Christopher and Tara Lucy Noe were seen entering the store together but pretending not to know each other once inside. Where they were observed returning some clothes at a till for a cash refund, whilst also buying more clothes by cheque. The store detective smelt a rat.
Suspicious of the couple’s behaviour he called the local Richmond Police and was told to detain them and they were then taken to Richmond Police Station on Red Lion Street for initial questioning.
Scotland Yard detectives Terry Wright and Kennneth Beaver were called in for the case. A search of the couple’s rented accommodation had uncovered identification documents in fraudulent names along with items used for disguise. More intriguingly however, were among their belongings letters and diaries. The contents referenced a murder more than 3800 miles away. There was mention of a ‘clean up’ clearly suggesting their possible connection with wrongdoing and even discussion of detectives investigating the case in Virginia. The police in London were able to locate Rickie Gardner in the Sheriff’s Office who flew over to interview them, but this would not be a simple matter of a collection of the suspects.
The Legal Fallout
Once in custody, Jens and Elizabeth’s stories began to diverge. Jens, still under Elizabeth’s spell, confessed to the murders, claiming he had acted alone to protect her from her parents’ disapproval of their relationship. But over time, he recanted his confession, stating that he had only admitted guilt to shield Elizabeth and because he believed his status as the son of a German diplomat would result in leniency if extradited to Germany.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, admitted to conspiring in the murders but denied participating in the actual killings. Instead, she placed full responsibility on Jens.
Their arrests in England triggered an international legal battle. Jens fought extradition to the United States, arguing that he could face the death penalty. His case reached the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in the landmark Soering v. United Kingdom decision in 1989 that extraditing him to the U.S. would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights due to the psychological torment of “death row phenomenon.”
The United States eventually assured the UK that Jens would not face the death penalty, allowing his extradition to proceed. Elizabeth, a Canadian citizen, had not contested her extradition and was promptly sent back to Virginia, where she pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the murders before the fact.
Jens was convicted of first-degree murder in 1990 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Elizabeth received a 90-year sentence for her role in the crime.
The Richmond Connection
The time Jens and Elizabeth spent in Richmond-upon-Thames highlights the paradoxical nature of their lives on the run. They had been involved in the most horrific and cold-hearted of murders back home, however on the surface, they lived a provincial existence, rubbing shoulders with locals in this pretty but also typical English town. Their arrest is also a striking reminder of the banality that can accompany even the most infamous of stories. For all their elaborate lies and forged identities, it was a simple act of vigilance by a store detective that brought their flight to an end.
