Although fictional, the main elements presented in the film match an actual murder case. On 27 January 1943 Harry Dobkin was executed at Wandsworth prison for the murder of his wife Rachel. The murder was likely committed in April 1941 at Vauxhall Baptist Church in London. She was reported missing by her sister, strangled, identified by dental records, last seen alive when she met her husband in a cafe to discuss outstanding maintenance payments, and there was a mysterious fire, a few days after she went missing, at the church where her husband was the firewatcher.