A HOLIDAY snap shot shows a young doctor preparing for another cycle ride in the idyllic countryside surrounding Symonds Yat.

But behind his relaxed demeanour lies a cold and calculating murderer, who killed his wife before attempting to escape to Quebec with his lover whom he disguised as a young boy.

For the doctor pictured outside Victoria Cottage, Symonds Yat, in 1905 is none other than the infamous Dr Crippen.

It was during the long crossing that Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen shot to international notoriety when an electric telegraph sent by the ship's captain to police foiled his plans for a new life across the Atlantic.

Hanged

It was the first time that this new-age technology was used to catch a criminal and would eventually cost the American-born doctor his life.

Once captured, he was sent back to London for trial where a jury found the 48-year-old guilty of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging in 1910.

Taken five years prior to his death, this photo shows Dr Crippen in happier times while on a family holiday.

The photograph's current owner, June Alexander, who now resides in the featured home, says the man that handed her the 98-year-old print harboured early suspicions about the doctor.

"The photograph was given to me by the little boy sat on the wall," she explained.

"His name was Tom Berry and he was born in the cottage and lived around here all his life until he died a few years ago."

"He said Dr Crippen stayed in Victoria Cottage in Symonds Yat a few times and during these holidays the doctor would take him on cycle rides to Coleford and Christchurch."

"But Tom said there was something strange about the man and did not like him at all - in fact, he said he hated him," she added.

The photographic evidence of Dr Crippen's trips to the county first became public when June sent the picture to the Village News publication.

After working for four and a half years with her husband Jim on the magazine, June decided to send the image to her old colleagues and inform nearby residents of the evil that once pedalled through the south Herefordshire communities.