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When someone is convicted of MURDER in the United Kingdom, there are various sentences which can be handed down; whether "life sentence", "whole life sentence" and (previously up until 1965) "death sentence". But what do these terms actually mean and how long in prison does each term represent? Murder Mile blog investigates.
DEATH SENTENCE: The last official executions carried out in the United Kingdom were the dual hangings on the 13th August 1964 of Peter Anthony Allen at Walton Prison (Liverpool) and Gwynne Owen Evans at Strangeways Prison for the murder of John Alan West on 7th April 1964. After this, the Death Sentence was suspended for five years in 1965 and abolished on 16th December 1969. Although under very specific circumstances, a death penalty was still applicable until 1998. These include:
Under Section 5 of the Homicide Act 1957 'Capital Murder', there were five specifically defined acts of murder which warranted the death penalty:
LIFE SENTENCE: The act of murder in England & Wales carries a mandatory life sentence to anyone aged 21+, with those aged 18 to 20 years sentenced to life in custody and those under 18 sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure*. Under Section 109 of the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 2000, life sentences are automatically applied for the following offences:
30 Years (before parole is considered)
12-15 Years (before parole is considered) - murder committed by a minor (ages 11-17) 15 Years (before parole is considered) - any other murder. not applicable above In the horrifying abduction, torture and murder of 2 year old James Bulger on 12th February 1993, Robert Thompson & Jon Venables (both aged just 12 years old at the time of the murder) were sentenced to custody until they reached 18, and in June 2001 were released under new identities on a lifelong licence. They are the youngest convicted murderers in modern English history.
WHOLE LIFE ORDER: Also known as a whole life sentence, it was established in 1983, and means that the prisoner will spend the rest of their life in prison without the possibility of parole. As laid down in Section 21 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the following warrants a whole life order:
If you "enjoyed" this blog post, take a peek at; Famous British Serial Killers - Where Are They Now? Also Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
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If you love true-crime podcasts, subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn
As a Valentine's Day treat, here's the second part of my list of deadly couples; whose dark fantasties, morbid passions and murderous desires only come to the surface when they fall head-over-heels in love with a kindred spirit, who is willing to do anything to prove their love for each other... even going so far as to commit murder. Often, when we think of "couples who kill", we usually think of Myra Hindley & Ian Brady, Fred & Rose West and even Bonnie & Clyde, but they were not the first and they won't be the last. What follows is a list of "murderous lovers", so shocking are the stories that it's hard to simplify them, and so long is the list that I've barely touched the surface and had to split this list into a two-part blog, the first part can be viewed here. Warning: this blog contains graphic (& very unromantic) details.
Jasmine Richardson & Jeremy Steinke
On 23rd April 2006, 23 year old self-confessed “vampire” Jeremy Steinke and his 12 year old girlfriend Jasmine Richardson brutally murdered her family including her father Marc (42), mother Debra (48) and brother Jacob (8) in the basement of their home, it is claimed they’d been inspired by the film Natural Born Killers which Steinke told an undercover officer is “the best love story of all time”.
On 15th December 2008, Steinke was sentenced to 3 life sentences and is eligible for parole in 25 years. On 9th July 2007, Richardson was found guilty of three counts of first degree murder, but was sentenced to 10 years (the maximum sentence given her age); with 4 ½ spent in a psychiatric institution and the remainder as a student at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University (Calgary). On 6th May 2016 her sentence was completed and she was freed. Read more.
Jens Söring & Elizabeth Haysom
In 1985, Canadian couple Elizabeth Roxanne Haysom & German national Jens Söring murdered her parents - Derek & Nancy Haysom – in their Boonsboro home (Virginia). They’d been brutally slashed, stabbed and (so ferocious was the attack that they were) almost decapitated. Both blamed the other during their trials – even though it is believed that Jens committed the murders - but both were found guilty.
Elizabeth Haysom acknowledged her guilt and was sentenced to 90 years at the Fluvanna Correctional Centre (Troy, VA) and won’t be eligible for parole until 2032, aged 68. Jens Söring fought extradition, and following a plea bargain (which saw the death sentence dropped) was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn (VA), and became eligible for parole in 2003... but his application was rejected. Jens Söring maintains his innocence. A recent documentary cast doubt on the conviction. Read more.
Judith & Alvin Neelley
On 25th September 1982, Judith & Alvin Neelley kidnapped Lisa Ann Millican from the Riverbend Mall in Rome (Georgia). Driven to the Neelley’s motel room, the frightened 13 year old girl was repeatedly raped and tortured for three days, and later injected with liquid drain cleaner in the neck, arms and buttocks, which – although a hideously painful death – didn’t kill her, so Judith shot her in the back and tossed her body off a cliff.
One week later, with their sadism unsated, the Neeley’s abducted young couple Janice Chatman & John Hancock and were brought back to the same motel room, during which John Hancock was shot in the head… but did not die, and subsequently identified Judith & Alvin Neelley as the culprits. To avoid Georgia’s mandatory death penalty, Alvin pleaded guilty to murder and received a life sentence served at the Bostick State Prison until his death in November 2005, whilst undergoing surgery. Having given birth in prison, Judith Neelley was convicted of the torture & murder of Lisa Ann Millican and was sentenced to death at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women (Alabama), making her the youngest woman on death row in the USA. But on 15th January 1999, days from execution, she was granted clemency and the state governor commuted her sentence to life in prison without parole. She is now 52. Watch a documentary about them here.
Michelle Michaud & James Daveggio
On 2nd December 1997, sadistic lovers Michelle Michaud (38) & James Daveggio (42) lured 22 year old university student Vanessa Lei Samson into their green Dodge caravan (specially fitted with hooks and ropes) in Pleasanton (California) and repeatedly raped and tortured her as they drove to South Lake Tahoe, forcing her to wear a rubber-ball gag, strangled her with nylon rope and then dumped her body in the snow.
Both were found guilty, sentenced to death and are currently on Death Row. At their trial, Judge Goodman said "the death penalty is the appropriate penalty", adding that Samson's slaying and torture was "vile, cruel, senseless, depraved, brutal, evil and vicious", especially after – in her own defence – Michaud described each assault as an “adventure” and “huntings". Records show that Daveggio & Michaud sexually assaulted at least six other young women, two of whom were relatives. Read more.
Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka – The Barbie & Ken Killers
In October 1987, Karla Homolka met Paul Bernardo and fell in love. But unlike most loving/sexual relationships, between 4th May 1987 and 27th December 1992, she encouraged his sadistic sexual desires and together they’d stalk, assault, abduct, drug, rape, torture and murder at least 20 young women in the Scarborough area of Toronto (Canada), as they exited buses late at night… although the true victim count is estimated to be as many as 100+. Found guilty of sexual assault, kidnapping and murder, Paul Bernardo was declared a dangerous offender in 1995 having amassed a score of 35/40 on the psychopathy checklist and was sentenced to life imprisonment at Millhaven Institution.
He is eligible for parole this year. Karla Homolka agreed a plea-bargain, testified against Bernardo, and was subsequently sentenced to just 12 years in prison, having claimed she was an “unwilling accomplice”, even though there is evidence against this, including video footage of Karla performing oral sex on their victims. Karla Homolka is currently living with her children in Châteauguay, Quebec. Read more.
Ray & Faye Copeland
Aged 76 & 69, Ray & Faye Copeland are the oldest couple sentenced to death in the United States. Between 17th October 1986 and 1st May 1989, the Copeland’s killed at least five homeless drifters, shooting them with a .22 Marlin rifle to the back of the head and burying their bodies in a nearby barn. Following a conviction for fraud, Ray couldn’t buy or sell cattle, so he’d employ hobos as farmhands, got them to buy cattle for him using fake cheques, and then the men would ”disappear”.
Both were sentenced to death. When Ray learned that his wife of 50 years had been sentenced to death, he unemotionally said “well, those things happen to some, you know". But neither Ray nor Faye were executed. On 19th October 1993 Ray died of natural causes and in September 2002, following a severe stroke which left her paralysed, and having been moved to the Morningside Centre nursing home in Chillicothe (Missouri), Faye died aged 82. Read more.
Ricky Davis & Dena Riley
In April 2006, serial rapist and methamphetamine addicts Richard D. Davis & Dena D. Riley, who were once the FBI’s most wanted couple, kidnapped, tortured and murdered mother-of-four Michelle Huff-Ricci (36). When Police searched the couple’s apartment, whilst investigating the disappearance of Marsha Speer on 14th May 2006, they discovered a stash of videotapes depicting the torture, beating, rape and strangulation of Marsha Speer and Michelle Huff-Ricci. One tape was more than two hours long.
The bodies of Marsha Speer and Michelle Huff-Ricci were subsequently dumped and doused with lighter fluid. But before David & Riley could be arrested, they fled, sparking an 8-day manhunt, during which they abducted and sexually assaulted a 5 year old girl. In August 2008, Dena Riley & Ricky David were given nine life sentences. Read more.
Suzan & James Carson
Now, I don’t wish to denigrate stoners but… between March 1981 and March 1983, heavy cannabis-users and radical anarchists (who predicted a nuclear apocalypse within the year) Suzan & James Carson murdered three people in California and San Francisco Bay. First, their 22 year old roommate Keryn Barnes, who’d been stabbed 13 times and had her skull bashed in with a frying pan, as Suzan was convinced she was a witch. Secondly, Clarke Stephen, a fellow worker at the cannabis farm, who Suzan also thought was a witch, who they shot, burned and buried.
And thirdly, whilst on the run, a 30 year old hitchhiker called Jon Charles Hellyar, who (have you guessed it?) Suzan thought was a witch. Whilst driving at speed on Route 101 near Santa Rosa (Sonoma County), Suzan repeatedly stabbed Jon and James shot him dead at point blank range, all in view of passing motorists. On 12th June 1984, the Carsons were found guilty of murder and sentenced to 25 years a piece for the murder of Jon Charles Hellyar, with their sentence extended to 50 to 75 years for the two subsequent murders. Read more.
Ray Fernandez & Martha Beck - The Lonely Hearts Killers
Between 1947-49, convicted fraudster Raymond Fernandez and his lover Martha Beck killed 20+ women who’d they’d met through lonely hearts adverts. Desperate to marry her lover, Martha fled Milton (Florida) to New York City, abandoning her children with the Salvation Army, believing this to be a sign of her unconditional love for him. Besotted and fully accepting of his criminal plan, Martha posed as his sister / chaperone as Raymond would lure hopeful “lonely hearts” to his Long Island apartment, and con monies out of them, having made them believe they were in love with a much younger man.
Unfortunately, Martha had an awful temper and – in fits of jealousy, witnessing the couples kissing, or worse – would smash the “lonely hearts” over the head with a hammer, strangle them, drown them... and even their children. Fernandez quickly confessed and on 8th March 1951, both were executed by electric chair at the infamous Sing Sing prison (Ossining, New York). Their final words were Raymond: "I wanna shout it out; I love Martha! What do the public know about love?" and Martha: "My story is a love story. But only those tortured by love can know what I mean. I am not unfeeling, stupid or moronic. I am a woman who had a great love and always will have it. Imprisonment in the Death House has only strengthened my feeling for Raymond". Read more.
If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at; Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Are More Serial KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
If you love true-crime podcasts, subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn
Some people don't feel like they aren a whole person until they meet that certain special someone who "completes them". Whether you believe this or not? This can be the basis of the world's most successful marriages. Unfortunately the same can also be said for serial killers, especially those sadistic couples whose dark fantasties, morbid passions and murderous predelictions only come to the surface when they fall head-over-heels in love with a kindred spirit, who is willing to do anything to prove their love for each other... even going so far as to commit murder.
So, when we think of "couples who kill", we usually think of Myra Hindley & Ian Brady, Fred & Rose West and even Bonnie & Clyde, three of the most sadistic couples who have every existed (it could be argued), but they were not the first and they won't be the last. As a Valentine's Day treat, what follows is a list of "murderous lovers", so shocking are the stories that it's hard to simplify them, and so long is the list that I've barely touched the surface and had to split this list into a two-part blog, to be continued next week. Warning: contains graphic (& unromantic) details.
Alton Coleman and Debra Brown
Alton Coleman was a spree killer who brutally raped and murdered eight adults and children (some as young as 9 years old) across six states in the American Midwest, between May 29th and 13th July 1984, with the help of his accomplice Debra Brown.
Although Brown previously had no criminal record nor history of violence, she was complicit in all of the murders having (it is claimed) had a childhood head trauma which caused her to suffer from dependent personality disorder. Coleman received a death sentence in three states and was executed in Ohio on 26th April 2002 by lethal injection. Having been declared as “intellectually disabled”, Brown’s death sentence was commuted to a life sentence, which she is serving at the Dayton Correctional Institution (Ohio). Read more.
Charles Starkweather & Caril Fugate – “The Badlands Killers”
Charles Starkweather was 19 year old spree killer who – with his 14 year old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate – raped and murdered eleven people (mostly by a shotgun blast to the head), during a 60 day crime spree from 1st December 1957 to 29th January 1958. Starkweather’s first victim was Robert Colvert, a gas-station attendant who refused to sell Starkweather a stuffed animal on credit and later killed Velda & Marion Bartlett (Carol’s mother and step-father). Although Caril Ann was complicit in the killings, she would later claim in court that she was Starkweather’s hostage.
Starkweather was executed by electric chair on 25th June 1959 in Nebraska State Penitentiary. Caril Ann was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nebraska Correctional Center in Nebraska, and after 17 years was paroled. She currently lives in Hillsdale (Michigan) with her husband Fredrick, and until her recent retirement was an observer for the National Weather Service. Read more.
Carol M. Bundy and Doug Clark – “The Sunset Strip Killers”
Sadistic sweethearts Carol M Bundy and Doug Clark had a n odd relationship fuelled by dark fantasies, as Clark would often bring home young prostitutes for them both to have sex with, his ultimate goal being to kill a woman during sex and “feel her vaginal contractions during death”. Between 1st June and 26th August 1980, Bundy & Clark’s sick fantasies turned into a reality as Clark murdered 6 teenage prostitutes; forcing them to perform lewd sex acts, shooting them in the head, defiling their corpses and dumping their bodies, once taking a victim's head as a trophy.
Clark is reported to have said that if ever they were arrested, he would take the blame… but at his trail, he blamed Bundy for everything. Found guilty by the court, Doug Clark was sentenced to death on 15th February 1983 and – 33 years on – still sits on Death Row in San Quentin Prison (California) with Carol M Bundy receiving a life sentence having entered a plea bargain. She died in prison on 9th December 2003 from heart failure. Read more.
Charlene and Gerald Gallego – “The Love Slave Killers”
Between 11th September 1978 and 2nd November 1980, married couple Charlene & Gerald Gallego murdered 10 victims, some as young as 13 years old, across the states of California, Nevada and Oregon. Unable to be aroused during normal sex, Gerald (aided by Charlene) lured their terrified teenage victims into a van, where they were repeatedly raped, tortured and abused over the course of an evening or night, and then driven to a secluded spot, bludgeoned, shot in the head and their bodies dumped.
Best-friends Brenda Judd (14) & Sandra Colley (13) who were abducted together, weren’t discovered until four years later when a tractor unearthed their skeletal remains. In 1984, Gerald Gallego was sentenced to death in two states (Nevada & California) but died of rectal cancer on 18th July 2002 at Nevada State Prison. Charlene testified against him in exchange for a plea bargain and having served 16 years and 8 months of her sentence, Charlene Gallego was released from Nevada State Prison and moved to Fair Oaks (California) where she changed her name to Mary Martinez. She is now 60 years old. Read more.
Cynthia Coffman and James Gregory Marlow
Between 11th October & 12th November 1986, newly-weds Cynthia Coffman & James Marlow murdered 4 women who were withdrawing cash from an ATM. Each victim was robbed, abducted, strangled, sodomised and their bodies were dumped in a shallow grave, all whilst Cynthia & Gregory were high on methamphetamine.
With very little evidence, Police hoped for a bit of luck, and it came when their third victim’s chequebook was found in a dumpster near Laguna Niguel, hidden inside a fast-food takeaway bag, which contained bank statements bearing the names Cynthia Coffman and James Marlow. Besotted with each other, Cynthia & Gregory married on 30th July 1986, barely months before the murders, and as a mark of her love, Cynthia had tattooed on her buttock “Property of The Folsom Wolf” (Gregory’s nickname). But upon visiting Cynthia during the trial, her lawyer asked if there was anything she wanted, she replied “Yeah! Find someone who can help me lose this damn tattoo!”. Both Cynthia & Gregory are on Death Row in San Bernardino (California) with Cynthia Coffman being the first woman to receive a death sentence in the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977. Read more.
David and Catherine Birnie – “The Moorhouse Murderers”
Between 6th October and 5th November 1986, married couple David & Catherine Birnie of 3 Moorhouse Street in Willagee (a suburb of Perth, Western Australia) murdered four young women - Mary Neilson (22), Susannah Candy (15), Noelene Patterson (31), Denise Brown (21) - and attempted to kill Kate Moir (17), many in their own home. Fuelled by sick fantasies, the Birnie’s would abduct, gag, chain to a bed and rape their victims, then drive them to a secluded spot, where their terrified victim would be strangled, stabbed and buried in a shallow grave.
Their victims were not known to them, they were merely strangers who were either hitchhiking, stranded, waiting for a bus or were replying to an advert for a set of tyres. Luckily, following her abduction and rape, 17 year old Kate Moir escaped and called the Police. David & Catherine Birnie were sentenced to four life terms. One day before his trial having raped a fellow inmate, David Birnie committed suicide by hanging in his cell at Casuarina Prison on 7th October 2005 at 1.33am. Catherine Birnie is imprisoned in Bandyup Women's Prison; her 2007 and 2010 application for parole was rejected, with Jim McGinty (Attorney General of Western Australia) marking her papers as “never to be released”. Her case is up for review in 2019. Read more.
Delfina and María de Jesús González – “Las Poquianchis”
Following the arrest of Josefina Gutiérrez, a known kidnapper of young girls in Guanajuato on 14th January 1964, Police arrested Delfina and María de Jesús González, two sisters from Guanajuato (north-central Mexico) who ran a large-scale prostitution ring known as Rancho el Angel near the city of San Francisco del Rincón. Inside the brothel they found the rotting corpses of 80 women, 11 men and numerous fetuses.
From the early 1950’s onwards, Delfine & Maria had advertised for housemaids, but had abducted those who applied for the job, injected them heroin till they sustained a heavy drug-addiction and forced them into prostitution. When their prisoners/prostitutes became too ill, too unwilling, lost their looks, or were so badly damaged internally from being repeatedly raped, Defline & Maria murdered and dumped their bodies. Along with any unwanted babies, and any male customer who they felt was a suitable target for robbery. Both were sentenced to 40 years; Delfina died in Irapuato prison on 17th October 1968 when a workmen doing repairs above her cell “accidentally” dropped a bucket of cement on her head. Maria was subsequently freed in the mid-1990’s having completed her sentence, and vanished into obscurity. Read more.
Gwendolyn Graham & Cathy Wood – “The Lethal Lovers”
in January & February 1987, two nurses aides - Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine May Wood – at Alpine Manor (Walker, Michigan) suffocated five vulnerable elderly patients, aged 65 to 97 years old, who all had Alzheimer's disease. Their victims were not murdered out of malice or for financial gain, but as part of a twisted love-bond between the two lesbian lovers, who chose their victims based on whether their first initial would spell “M-U-R-D-E-and finally - R)”.
Ultimately the couple broke up, and Catherine Wood’s ex-husband went to the Police having been told about the murders which Wood blamed entirely on Graham. On 4th & 5th December 1988, both women were arrested and charged with two of the five murders (as three of their victims had already been cremated). On 3rd November 1989, Graham convicted of five counts of murder and given five life sentences at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility (Michigan). Wood – who testified against Graham – received a lesser sentence of second degree murder and is due for release from Federal Correctional Institution (Tallahassee, Florida) on 6th June 2021. The Alpine Manor nursing home – unsurprisingly - went out of business. Read more.
Part Two of Killer Couples is available here next Wednesday 25th January
If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at; Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Are More Serial KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
If you love true-crime podcasts, subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn
"How tall are the world's most infamous serial killers and murderers?" is a question often asked by wierdos like myself obsessed with pointless facts to clog up our brains. As along side famous dictators and despots, there is a belief that being off an abnormal height, causes those who are predisposed to being a serial killer or murderer to feel isolated, different and an outcast from society... but does it? Surely the heights of serial killers, murderers, despots and dictators are as varied as anyone else in the world? That said, even if it is, it's still interesting to see what height infamous serial killers actually were.
What follows is a list (updated as and when) of infamous serial killers and murderers, arranged tallest to shortest, in feet/inches and metres/cms, as taken from their medical records, Police arrest reports, witness statements or measurements taken from their execution.
Love true-crime podcast? Try Murder Mile, featuring 300+ untold, unsolved and long-forgotten murders in one square mile. To listen to Ep1, click PLAY on the media player below.
If you love true-crime podcasts, subscribe to the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn
Infamous serial killers and murderers by height. For more information on each person, click the red link to the right for a full biography, or check out my other blogs listed below. .
So, how do some of the world's most dangerous and demented serial killers compare to the world's most powerful people... in terms of height? As before, what follows is some of the world's most infamous world leaders, despots and dictators, arranged tallest to shortest.
If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at; Britain's Most Famous Murderers - Dead or Alive? Serial Killer IQ's, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Are More Serial KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals.
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
If you love true-crime podcasts, check out the Murder Mile true-crime podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Podbean, Pocketcast, Stitcher, Acast, Tune-In, Otto Radio or Libsyn
Myra Hindley - DEAD – Infamous as one of the Moor’s Murderers who, with her partner Ian Brady, lured five children to their deaths, burying four on Saddleworth Moor. Following her conviction and sentenced to 25 years (later increased to 30 years), Hindley successfully appealed to have her Category A status changed to B, which enabled Holloway’s prison governor Dorothy Wing to take her on walks around Hampstead Heath.
Myra Hindley died on 15th November 2002 aged 60 of bronchial pneumonia. So vehement was the anger at Hindley that even 35 years after the murders, twenty undertakers refused to handle her corpse for cremation. In February 2003, Patricia Cairns – Hindley’s ex-partner – scattered her ashes in Stalybridge County Park, less than ten miles from Saddleworth Moor. Want to know more? Do serial killers make great pet lovers? Click the red link to find out.
Ian Brady – DEAD – Along with fellow Moor’s Murderer Myra Hindley, he lured five children to their deaths and even today heartlessly refuses to tell his victim’s grieving families where their children are buried. Brady served the first 19 years of his life sentence in various Category A prisons – Wakefield, Full Sutton, Frankland and Strangeway (it’s almost like nobody wanted him) – before he was diagnosed as a psychopath in November 1985 and transferred to the high-security Ashworth Psychiatric Hospital in Sefton, stating he never wanted to be released.
On 15th May 2017, Brady died of lung cancer at Ashworth Prison aged 60. He never apologised for his crimes, instead he stated that he “expresses his remorse through actions”, but after 20 years of transcribing classical texts into braille, his translating machine was confiscated for fear that he may ”use it as a weapon”. Want to know more? Ever wondered what a serial killers favourite drink is? Click the red link to find out.
Peter Sutcliffe - ALIVE – Dubbed the "Yorkshire Ripper"; Sutcliffe murdered 13 women and attacked 7 others between 1975-80. Although his defence pleaded diminished responsibility owing to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, this was rejected by the jury, and although he has served much of his whole life tariff (twenty concurrent sentences with no chance of parole) in Broadmoor’s psychiatric prison, Sutcliffe was moved to HMP Frankland in Durham on 24th August 2016, having been deemed mentally fit to return to prison. Ever wondered what most serial killer's musical tastes are? Click to find out.
Fred West - DEAD – Along with his wife Rose West, Fred raped, tortured, murdered, dismembered and buried at least twelve young women (including Fred’s own step-daughter) in the cellar or garden of their Cromwell Street house in Gloucester. On 1st January 1995 in his cell in Winson Green Prison, Fred West committed suicide by asphyxiation by fashioning a makeshift rope using bedsheets which he attached to the bars on his window and sunk to his knees. He killed himself just a few weeks before his trial. Want to know more? Are serial killers more likely to have a specific star sign? Click to find out.
Rose West - ALIVE – On 22nd November 1995, Rosemary West was found guilty by a unanimous jury of 10 murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment at HMP Low Newton (a closed prison for females, part of HMP Frankland) with a recommendation that she never be released. In July 1997, Home Secretary Jack Straw had this increased to a whole life tariff meaning she will never be released. Rose West has never appealed this, whilst also maintaining her innocence of all crimes. Want to know more? Are more serial killers born under a full moon?
Beverley Allitt – ALIVE – Dubbed “The Angel of Death”, Allitt murdered four children with lethal doses of insulin and "air-bubbles in their blood" between February & April 1991, as she worked as a state registered nurse at the Grantham & Kesteven Hospital (Lincolnshire). She's serving thirteen life sentences at Rampton Secure Hospital (Nottinghamshire), with the judge - Mr Justice Latham – commenting that it is unlikely she will ever be considered safe enough to be released. Want to know if serial killer's share common first names?
Levi Bellfield - ALIVE – Dubbed the Bus Stop Stalker, but more infamously known for the 2002 murder of Amanda “Milly” Dowler, Levi Bellfield has since been charged with the fatal hammer attacks of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, as well as being investigated for a string of abductions, rapes and murders across West London in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Bellfield is currently serving a life sentence with the recommendation that he is never released at HMP Frankland (Durham) and has since converted to Islam. Of course, it's not just strangers who kill, there's been many celebrities who have murdered too.
Peter Bryan - ALIVE – In 1993 Peter Bryan fatally attacked a stranger with a hammer for which he was institutionalised, until February 2004 when he walked out of a psychiatric unit in Newham and paid a little visit to his friend Brian Cherry. Alerted to screams by the neighbours, when the Police broke down the door, he was cooking Cherry’s brain in a frying pan. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Peter Bryan was committed to Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital for treatment, where he battered and strangled a fellow inmate (Richard Loudwell) to death. Bryan – a self-confessed cannibal – has since said, had he not been interrupted, he would have devoured Loudwell’s flesh. Ever wondered what a serial killer's favourite food is?
Kenneth Erskine – ALIVE – Dubbed “The Stockwell Strangler”; burglar, drug-addict and homeless drifter Kenneth Erskine was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum recommendation of forty years for the murder of seven pensioners (and suspected murder of four others) in Stockwell, South London, many of whom had been strangled, beaten and sodomised. Erskine – who was witnessed masturbating during his trial – has since been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and committed to Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, with his convictions for murder reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Interested in serial killer's birthdays?
Steven Grievesen - ALIVE – Dubbed “The Sunderland Strangler”, Steven Grievesen strangled four teenage boys in Sunderland (Tyne & Wear) between 1990 and 1994. He was sentenced to four terms of life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 35 years at HMP Full Sutton (Yorkshire) before his release is considered by the Home Secretary. Want to know more? Ever wondered who Britain's deadliest family is?
Stephen Griffiths - ALIVE – Dubbed “The Crossbow Cannibal” by himself, as at his own trial, when asked by the judge for his name, this was what he gave (although there’s no evidence he ever ate any parts of his victims). Between June 2009 and April 2010, Stephen Griffiths murdered three local prostitutes – Susan Rushworth, Shelley Armitage and Suzanne Blamires - in Bradford, with the body parts of the final two victims found floating in the River Aire. No remains of Susan Rushworth have never been found.
Although he was diagnosed as a schizoid psychopath in 1991 and received a two-year sentence for assault on a young girl with a knife, Griffiths was free to roam Bradford and even started a PHD at the University of Bradford in Homicide Studies. He is currently serving a whole life tariff at Wakefield Prison. Although, there are many festive customs acorss the world which are weirder.
Dennis Nilsen – ALIVE – Dubbed “The Kindly Killer” and the "Mullwell Hill Killer", Dennis Nilsen was a north London serial killer who between 1978-83 strangled, drowned, sodomised and dismembered 15 young men and attempted to kill 7-9 others. Convicted of 6 counts of murder and 2 counts of attempted murder, Nilsen was sentence to life imprisonment – a 25 year term, which was later extended to a whole life sentence - at HMP Full Sutton (East Riding, Yorkshire).
Nilsen was declared sane and never lodged an appeal against his conviction as he fully accepts his punishment. Now aged 71, Nilsen spends his days reading, painting and composing music. In December 1983, Nilsen was briefly transferred to Parkhurst Prison having been attacked with a razor to the face & chest by fellow prisoner Albert Moffatt, requiring 89 stitches. To learn more about London’s most dangerous pubs, and the place where Nilsen’s murderous rampage began, click the link. Or book onto Murder Mile Walks to hear the full story of Dennis Nilsen.
Anthony Hardy - ALIVE – On 30th December 2002, a hungry homeless man discovered the dismembered corpses of two women - Bridgette MacClennan and Elizabeth Valad – stuffed into bin-bags outside Anthony Hardy’s flat. When Police investigated, they found the battered body of Camden prostitute – Sally White – in his bed, which Hardy claimed he had no memory of, owing to his severe drink problem and tendency to blackout. Dubbed “The Camden Ripper”, Anthony Hardy is serving a whole life sentence at Broadmoor Psychiatric Prison.
Ever wondered what most serial killers do as a day-job?
Colin Ireland - DEAD – Dubbed "The Gay Slayer" by tabloid hacks, (supposedly) heterosexual married man Colin Ireland preyed on gay men in the early 1990’s at the infamous Coleherne pub in Earls Court. Here you could pick up men with very specific sexual desires, such as sexually passive men who were into sadomasochism by the distinctive colour of handkerchief they wore, which made finding the perfect victim easier. Ireland – who always carried a murder kit and a full change of clothes with him – would often spend the night in his victim’s flat to avoid suspicion having scrubbed it of any forensic evidence.
Sentenced to a whole life sentence in HMP Wakefield (West Yorkshire), Ireland died on 21st February 2012 (57 years old) from pulmonary fibrosis, caused by a fractured hip. Ever wondered which London pubs most serial killers frequent?
Michael Lupo – DEAD – Real name Michele de Marco Lupo, dubbed “The Wolfman” (as his surname means “wolf” in Italian) Lupo – who boasted of having had 4000 lovers – was a serial killer who worked out of Yves Saint Laurent on Brompton Road in Kensington and was sentenced to four life terms plus 14 years at HMP Frankland (Durham) for four seemingly unrelated deaths and two attempted murders.
In February 1995, Lupo died at HMP Frankland of an AIDS related illness. Lupo confessed that his urge to kill was out of loathing and revenge for sexually promiscuous homosexuals who had infected him with (what in the 1980’s was) a walking death sentence.
Robert Maudsley - ALIVE – In 1978, whilst already serving a life sentence for the brutal (but possibly warranted) murder of a sadistic paedophile and child-rapist in Edmonton, Robert Maudsley went on to kill fellow prisoners – Salney Darwood and Bill Roberts – the latter he stabbed in the head, impaling his brain.
Dubbed “Hannibal the Cannibal” by useless tabloid hacks, Maudsley supposedly ate Robert’s brain using the knife as a scoop and is serving a whole life sentence in solitary confinement at Wakefield Prison in a 5.5m by 4.5m glass cage, just like fictional serial killer Hannibal Lector. Which is true… unlike the cannibalism which was entirely made-up by the press, but when did that ever stop them?
Donald Neilson – DEAD – Dubbed “The Black Panther”; burglar Donald Neilson murdered three people whilst robbing sub-post-offices between 1971 and 74 as well as kidnapping an heiress in 1975. Always believing he was smarter than the Police, Neilson briefly alluded them by adapting key aspects of each robbery, firstly by deliberately stealing a radio from each scene (almost like he had a compulsion)… and then he would suddenly stop.
In 1976, Neilson was sentenced to a whole life tariff (five life sentences with an extra 61 years for kidnapping and blackmail) at HMP Norwich (oddly a category b/c prison), but was transferred to Norwich University Hospital on 17th December 2911 owing to breathing difficulties and died the following morning. Want something different? What about London's deadliest disasters?
Stephen Port - ALIVE – Between 2014 and 2015, bus-garage chef Stephen Port lured four gay men to their deaths in Barking (East London) having met them online via dating app’s and lured them home with the promise of sex. Port drugged his victims with a lethal mix of GHB, amyl nitrate, Viagra, mephedrone (aka “meow meow”) and methamphetamine (“crystal meth”), raped and strangled the men whilst they were unconscious and dumped their bodies in a local cemetery, a faked suicide note nearby. Port was sentenced to a whole life order (with no chance of parole) on 25th November 2016.
His current location has not been announced, but as he has not been declared insane (which would require him to be committed to s secure psychiatric facility such as Broadmoor or Ashworth), murderers will often serve their sentence in a Category A prison, of which the England & Wales currently has nine (HMP Bellmarsh, Frankland, Full Sutton, Long Lartin, Manchester aka Strangeways, Wakefield, Whitemoor and Woodhill, with Bronzefield being the only category a female & young offenders prison). Read more about prison categorisation.
Harold Shipman - DEAD – Dubbed “Dr Death”, Harold Shipman – a friendly family GP in the sleepy towns of Hyde and Todmorden - was convicted of the murders of 15 pensioners (mostly elderly female patients who he “euthanized”), although a later inquiry concluded he killed at least 215, and possibly as many as 457 over a 25 year period, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in history.
Sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he never be released, Shipman hung himself on the 13th January 2004 (aged 57) in his cell at HMP Wakefield, using bedsheets hanging from the bars on his window as a makeshift noose. It is said that Shipman’s “desire” to bring a peaceful end to many elderly women began when as a young boy he witnessed his mother die after a painful and protracted battle with cancer. Ever wondered what serial killers looked like as children and babies? Horrible, right? You'd be surprised.
Steven Wright – ALIVE – Dubbed "The Suffolk Strangler" and the “Ipswich Ripper”; Wright murdered six local prostitutes over six weeks in 2006 and dumped their bodies in ditches, but was arrested owing to keen-eyed sex-workers who had nicknamed him “Mondeo Man” and the “Silver-backed Gorilla” owing to his silvery hair, stocky build and the make of car he drove. His identity was pinpointed further because of his prediliction for wearing women’s clothes and a curly black wig. Wright was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the recommendation that he never be released, from HMP Bellmarsh (Thamesmead).
Graham Young - DEAD – Dubbed “The Teacup Poisoner”, chemistry-obsessive Graham Young poisoned three members of his family at their family home in Neasden in 1962, using antimony (a poison which in small doses causes vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps, but with higher and prolonged exposure causes death), killing his step-mother Molly, for which he was transferred to Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital with a “personality disorder”*.
But in 1971, having been declared mentally fit, Young was released, and began work at Hadland Laboratories (Bovington, Herts) where he would poison a further 70 people – spiking their tea with antimony – two of whom died. Graham Young died in 1990 at HMP Parkhurst having suffered a heart attack. * subsequently, Young was later diagnosed as a schizophrenic on the autism spectrum.
Peter Tobin - ALIVE – Scottish serial killer and sadist who is serving a whole life sentence at HMP Edinburgh* for the murder of three women between 1991 and 2006. Tobin was diagnosed as a psychopath by Professor David Wilson who also believes that Peter Tobin is the infamous “Bible John” – a Glasgow-based serial killer from the 1960’s who was never caught – hence Tobin’s body count may be a lot higher, although the true number, we shall never know. Learn more about "Bible John" and other serial killers who were never caught.
* Although England & Wales have nine Category A prisons (HMP Bellmarsh, Frankland, Full Sutton, Long Lartin, Manchester, Wakefield, Whitemoor, Woodhill and Bronzefield), Scotland & Northern Ireland have their own prisons and classifications. Read more about prison categorisation.
Robert Black - DEAD – Scottish serial killer Robert Black attacked four young girls aged 5 to 11 between 1981 and 1986 as he worked as a lorry-driver. Sentenced to life imprisonment at HMP Maghaberry (Northern Ireland) with a minimum of 35 years, Black has been linked to 13 other child murders and abductions across the UK, Ireland and Europe, but died of a heart attack on 12th January 2016, as he was about to be charged with the murder of a fifth young girl. The true scale of his heinous crimes may never be known.
John Cooper - ALIVE – Dubbed "The Bullseye Killer", burglar John Cooper got his nickname having chillingly appeared on ITV gameshow Bullseye, the same year he would tie-up, rob and brutally murderer holidaymakers – Peter & Gwenda Dixon – just one of two double murders he committed in the Pembrokeshire area. Cooper is currently serving a whole life tariff in HMP Wakefield, having also raped and sexually assaulted a 15 and a 16 year old girl. See The Bullseye's Killers TV appearance.
Patrick MacKay – ALIVE – Violent alcoholic, drug-abuser and psychotic, Patrick MacKay was charged in 1975 for the murder of 5 people (including priest Father Crean who he hacked to death with an axe and a homeless tramp he drowned in the Thames), convicted of 3 owing to a lack of evidence but later confessed to the murder of 11 people between 1974 & 75. MacKay was sentenced to a whole life tariff at the psychiatric prison HMP Wayland in Norfolk, where he has been for the last 40 years, and it is unlikely he will ever be released.
If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at; Serial Killers & Murderers Who Were Never Caught, London's Deadliest & Often Forgotten Disasters, Are More Serial KIllers Born During a Full Moon, Killer's Birthdays / Star Signs, Serial Killers Who Were On TV, Celebrities Who Have Killed, London's Railway of Death, Serial Killers as Kids and the World's Weirdest Death Rituals
Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten quirky & unusual things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.
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AuthorMichael J Buchanan-Dunne is a crime writer, podcaster of Murder Mile UK True Crime and creator of true-crime TV series. 
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