- published: 10 Mar 2009
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True may refer to:
Ronald True, registered at birth as Angus Ronald True, (Manchester, England, 1891 – Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, 1951) was an English murderer. He was found guilty of the murder of a prostitute in 1922 but reprieved by the Home Secretary on the grounds of insanity and confined for life in Broadmoor Hospital. His case raised important issues relating to the legal defense of insanity.
True was born in Manchester in 1891 and educated at Bedford School. He failed to settle to a career and his family found a series of positions for him overseas. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1915 but his increasingly eccentric behaviour combined with addiction to morphia led to his discharge in 1916. He visited the United States in 1912 and 1917, marrying on his second visit Frances Roberts, with whom he had a child. He returned to Britain where his family made him an allowance. His behaviour was now even more eccentric and he was convinced that he had a doppelgänger who was his mortal enemy. He abandoned his wife and child and lived on his allowance and on various petty frauds and thefts.