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John George Haigh was executed in 1949 after being convicted of the murders of six people.

He became notorious for his gruesome method of disposing of his victims' bodies using sulphuric acid and forging their signatures on documents, allowing him to sell their possessions for vast profits.

But before he became known for his crimes, Haigh was a schoolboy and chorister in Wakefield.

John George Haigh was executed in 1949 after being convicted of the murders of six people.But as a child, he lived in Outwood with his family, and was a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral. Photos: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images/NationalWorld

Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1909, and raised by strictly religious parents.

The family moved to Wakefield when he was young, where they lived on Ledger Lane, Outwood.

He secured a scholarship to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, the city's independent school for boys.

Many years later, Stephen Griffiths, also a former pupil of QEGS, would go on to be convicted of the killing of three women in Bradford.

VICTIMS: Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose on holiday during one of the doctor's wartime leaves, circa 1944. They were both murdered in West Sussex on February 12 1948 by John George Haigh, aka The Acid Bath Murderer. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

During his time in the city, Haigh became a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral, where he was described by fellow choristers as "a brainy lad, but a bit of a loner".

A photo submitted to the Wakefield Express in the years following his death shows Haigh as a smiling choir boy, and it was widely reported that his childhood ambition was to become a vampire.

In later life, Haigh worked a series of short-lived jobs, before he was jailed for fraud in 1934.

Ostracised by his family, he moved to London after his release in 1936, and in the following years was sentenced to several more jail terms for fraud.

A policeman carries evidence, wrapped in canvas, into the court at Horsham, Surrey, for the case of 'The Acid Bath Murders' involving John Haigh. (Photo by Don Price/Getty Images)

Between 1944 and 1949, he committed at least six murders.

In each case, after murdering his victims, he would dispose of their bodies by dissolving them in sulphuric acid and simply pour their remains away.

He would then use forged signatures to gain control of his victims' assets, before selling property and possessions for his own financial gain.

In 1949, Haigh was arrested after police investigating his neighbour's disappearance became suspicious of his behaviour and criminal record.

John George Haigh leaves Horsham Magistrate's Court after an adjournment in his trial for the murder of wealthy widow Olivia Durand-Deacon, 1st April 1949. Haigh is accused of shooting Mrs Durand-Deacon and dissolving her corpse in acid, hence his subsequent nickname of 'The Acid Bath Murderer'. He was found guilty of the murder and several others, and executed. (Photo by Douglas Miller & J. Wilds/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On being arrested and questioned, he admitted the murder of his missing neighbour and five linked cases, as well as an additional three murders which detectives were unable to prove.

During an interview, he bragged to officers that he had drunk the blood of his victims, leading some papers to dub him the 'Vampire Killer'.

Haigh wrongly believed that he had disposed of all the bodies, but his last victim’s dentures, found amid the acid sludge in a drain, proved crucial in his trial.

He was hanged by executioner Albert Pierrepoint on August 10, 1949.

In 2002, his life was documented in Yorkshire Television's A is For Acid, starring Martin Clunes and Keeley Hawes.

John George Haigh: The Wakefield schoolboy and chorister who became a serial killer