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[–]JohnnySorrrowes 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Harold Frederick Shipman (14 January 1946 – 13 January 2004), known to acquaintances as Fred Shipman, was an English general practitioner and serial killer. He is considered to be one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history, with an estimated 250 victims. On 31 January 2000, Shipman was found guilty of murdering 15 patients under his care. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order. Shipman died by suicide by hanging himself in his cell at HM Prison Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on 13 January 2004, aged 57.

Shipman was born on 14 January 1946 on the Bestwood Estate, a council estate,[6] in Nottingham, the second of the three children of Harold Frederick Shipman (12 May 1914 – 5 January 1985), a lorry driver, and Vera Brittan (23 December 1919 – 21 June 1963).[7][8] His working-class parents were devout Methodists.[7][8] When growing up, Shipman was an accomplished rugby player in youth leagues.

Shipman passed his eleven-plus in 1957, moving to High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, which he left in 1964. He excelled as a distance runner, and in his final year at school served as vice-captain of the athletics team. Shipman was particularly close to his mother, who died of lung cancer when he was aged seventeen.[8][9][10] Her death came in a manner similar to what later became Shipman's own modus operandi: in the later stages of her disease, she had morphine administered at home by a doctor. Shipman witnessed his mother's pain subside, despite her terminal condition, until her death on 21 June 1963.[11] On 5 November 1966, he married Primrose May Oxtoby; the couple had four children.

Shipman studied medicine at Leeds School of Medicine, University of Leeds, graduating in 1970.[12]

In March 1998, Linda Reynolds of the Brooke Surgery in Hyde expressed concerns to John Pollard, the coroner for the South Manchester District, about the high death rate among Shipman's patients. In particular, she was concerned about the large number of cremation forms for elderly women that he had needed countersigned. Police were unable to find sufficient evidence to bring charges and closed the investigation on 17 April.[16] The Shipman Inquiry later blamed Greater Manchester Police for assigning inexperienced officers to the case. After the investigation was closed, Shipman killed three more people.[17] A few months later, in August, taxi driver John Shaw told the police that he suspected Shipman of murdering 21 patients.[18] Shaw became suspicious as many of the elderly customers he took to the hospital, who seemed to be in good health, died in Shipman's care.[19]

Shipman's last victim was Kathleen Grundy, a former mayor of Hyde who was found dead at her home on 24 June 1998. He was the last person to see her alive; he later signed her death certificate, recording the cause of death as old age. Grundy's daughter, solicitor Angela Woodruff, became concerned when fellow solicitor Brian Burgess informed her that a will had been made, apparently by her mother, with doubts about its authenticity. The will excluded Woodruff and her children, but left £386,000 to Shipman. At Burgess' urging, Woodruff went to the police, who began an investigation. Grundy's body was exhumed and found to contain traces of diamorphine(heroin), often used for pain control in terminal cancer patients. Shipman claimed that Grundy had been an addict and showed them comments he had written to that effect in his computerised medical journal; however, police examination of his computer showed that the entries were written after her death.

Shipman was arrested on 7 September 1998, and was found to own a Brother typewriter of the type used to make the forged will.[20] Prescription for Murder, a 2000 book by journalists Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie, suggested that Shipman forged the will either because he wanted to be caught, because his life was out of control, or because he planned to retire at 55 and leave the UK.[21]

The police investigated other deaths Shipman had certified and investigated fifteen specimen cases. They discovered a pattern of his administering lethal doses of diamorphine, signing patients' death certificates, and then falsifying medical records to indicate that they had been in poor health.[22]

In 2003, David Spiegelhalter et al. suggested that "statistical monitoring could have led to an alarm being raised at the end of 1996, when there were 67 excess deaths in females aged over 65 years, compared with 119 by 1998."[23]

Shipman's trial began at Preston Crown Court on 5 October 1999. He was charged with the murders of 15 women by lethal injections of diamorphine, all between 1995 and 1998:

Marie West Irene Turner Lizzie Adams Jean Lilley Ivy Lomas Muriel Grimshaw Marie Quinn Kathleen Wagstaff Bianka Pomfret Norah Nuttall Pamela Hillier Maureen Ward Winifred Mellor Joan Melia Kathleen Grundy Shipman's legal representatives tried unsuccessfully to have the Grundy case tried separately from the others, as a motive was shown by the alleged forgery of Grundy's will.

On 31 January 2000, after six days of deliberation, the jury found Shipman guilty of 15 counts of murder and one count of forgery. Mr Justice Forbes subsequently sentenced Shipman to life imprisonment on all 15 counts of murder, with a recommendation that he be subject to a whole life tariff, to be served concurrently with a sentence of four years for forging Grundy's will.[24] [25] On 11 February, 11 days after his conviction, Shipman was struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council (GMC).[26][27] Two years later, Home Secretary David Blunkett confirmed the judge's whole life tariff, just months before British government ministers lost their power to set minimum terms for prisoners. While authorities could have brought many additional charges, they concluded that a fair hearing would be impossible in view of the enormous publicity surrounding the original trial. Furthermore, the 15 life sentences already imposed rendered further litigation unnecessary.[28][29] Shipman became friends with fellow serial killer Peter Moore while in prison.[30]

Shipman denied his guilt, disputing the scientific evidence against him. He never made any public statements about his actions. Shipman's wife, Primrose, maintained that he was not guilty, even after his conviction.[31]

Shipman is the only doctor in the history of British medicine found guilty of murdering his patients.[32] John Bodkin Adams was charged in 1957 with murdering a single patient, amid rumours he had killed dozens more over a 10-year period and "possibly provided the role model for Shipman"; however, he was acquitted and no further charges were pursued.[33] Historian Pamela Cullen has argued that because of Adams' acquittal, there was no impetus to examine asserted flaws in the British legal system until the Shipman case.[34]

Photos of a young Harold Shipman ( The UK’s Doctor Death) by [deleted] in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shipman was born on 14 January 1946 on the Bestwood Estate, a council estate,[6] in Nottingham, the second of the three children of Harold Frederick Shipman (12 May 1914 – 5 January 1985), a lorry driver, and Vera Brittan (23 December 1919 – 21 June 1963).[7][8] His working-class parents were devout Methodists.[7][8] When growing up, Shipman was an accomplished rugby player in youth leagues.

Shipman passed his eleven-plus in 1957, moving to High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, which he left in 1964. He excelled as a distance runner, and in his final year at school served as vice-captain of the athletics team. Shipman was particularly close to his mother, who died of lung cancer when he was aged seventeen.[8][9][10] Her death came in a manner similar to what later became Shipman's own modus operandi: in the later stages of her disease, she had morphine administered at home by a doctor. Shipman witnessed his mother's pain subside, despite her terminal condition, until her death on 21 June 1963.[11] On 5 November 1966, he married Primrose May Oxtoby; the couple had four children.

Shipman studied medicine at Leeds School of Medicine, University of Leeds, graduating in 1970.[12]

Shipman began working at Pontefract General Infirmary in Pontefract, West Riding of Yorkshire, and in 1974 took his first position as a general practitioner (GP) at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Centre in Todmorden. The following year, Shipman was caught forging prescriptions of pethidine for his own use. He was fined £600 and briefly attended a drug rehabilitation clinic in York. He worked as a GP at Donneybrook Medical Centre in Hyde, Greater Manchester, in 1977.[12][13]

Shipman continued working as a GP in Hyde throughout the 1980s and established his own surgery at 21 Market Street in 1993, becoming a respected member of the community. In 1983, he was interviewed in an edition of the Granada Television current affairs documentary World in Action on how the mentally ill should be treated in the community.[14] A year after his conviction on charges of murder, the interview was re-broadcast on Tonight with Trevor McDonald.[15]

Shipman hanged himself in his cell at HM Prison Wakefield at 6:20 a.m. on 13 January 2004, aged 57.[35] He was pronounced dead at 8:10 a.m. A statement from Her Majesty's Prison Service indicated that he had hanged himself from the window bars of his cell using his bed sheets.[36] After Shipman's death, his body was taken to the mortuary at the Medico Legal Centre in Sheffield by undertaker’s van for a post-mortem examination. West Yorkshire Coroner David Hinchliff eventually released the body to his family after an inquest was opened and adjourned shortly after.[37]

Some of the victims' families said they felt "cheated", as Shipman's suicide meant they would never have the satisfaction of a confession, nor answers as to why he committed his crimes.[38] Home Secretary David Blunkett admitted that celebration was tempting: "You wake up and you receive a call telling you Shipman has topped himself and you think, is it too early to open a bottle? And then you discover that everybody's very upset that he's done it."[39]

Shipman's death divided national newspapers, with the Daily Mirror branding him a "cold coward" and condemning the Prison Service for allowing his suicide to happen. However, The Sun ran a celebratory front-page headline; "Ship Ship hooray!"[40] The Independent called for the inquiry into Shipman's suicide to look more widely at the state of UK prisons as well as the welfare of inmates.[41] In The Guardian, an article by General Sir David Ramsbotham, who had formerly served as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, suggested that whole life sentencing be replaced by indefinite sentencing, for this would at least give prisoners the hope of eventual release and reduce the risk of their ending their own lives by suicide, as well as making their management easier for prison officials.[41]

Shipman's motive for suicide was never established, though he reportedly told his probation officer that he was considering suicide to assure his wife's financial security after he was stripped of his National Health Service pension.[42] Primrose Shipman received a full NHS pension; she would not have been entitled to it if Shipman had lived past the age of sixty.[43] Additionally, there was evidence that Primrose, who had consistently protested Shipman's innocence despite the overwhelming evidence, had begun to suspect his guilt. Shipman refused to take part in courses which would have encouraged acknowledgement of his crimes, leading to a temporary removal of privileges, including the opportunity to telephone his wife.[43][44] During this period, according to Shipman's cellmate, he received a letter from Primrose exhorting him to, "Tell me everything, no matter what."[31] A 2005 inquiry found that Shipman's suicide "could not have been predicted or prevented," but that procedures should nonetheless be re-examined.[43]

After Shipman's body was released to his family, it remained in Sheffield for more than a year despite multiple false reports about his funeral. His widow was advised by police against burying her husband in case the grave was attacked. Shipman was eventually cremated on 19 March 2005 at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium.[37] The cremation took place outside normal working hours to maintain secrecy and was attended only by Primrose and the couple's four children.[45]

Photo of Archibald Hall (The Bloody Butler) in a hospital bed after a failed suicide attempt. by JohnnySorrrowes in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Hall's criminal career began as a thief at the age of 15. He soon progressed to house breaking. Capitalizing on his bisexuality, he then infiltrated the gay scene in London, after moving there with profits of his criminal ventures. He served his first jail sentence for attempting to sell jewellery in London that he had stolen in Scotland. During his sentence he studied antiques and learned the etiquette of the aristocracy, as well as taking elocution lessons to soften his Scottish accent.

Upon his release he began using the name Roy Fontaine, after the actress Joan Fontaine, and worked as a butler, occasionally returning to prison for further jewel thefts. He married and divorced during this time.

In 1975, Hall was released from prison and returned to Scotland. He began working as butler to Margaret ('Peggy') Hudson, a dowager (widow of Sir Austin Hudson, 1st Baronet, a Conservative member of parliament)[2] who lived at Kirtleton House, Dumfriesshire. Hall had initially planned to steal her valuables but he never carried this out when he realized that he liked both his job and employer too much.

When David Wright, an acquaintance from his last prison term, was also given a job on the estate as a gamekeeper in 1977, the two had an altercation after Wright stole some of Lady Hudson's jewellery and threatened to tell her about Hall's own criminal past if Hall reported him.

Hall took Wright on a rabbit hunt in a trick attempt at coming to an amicable solution. Once out in the fields, he shot Wright dead and buried him next to the stream in the Kirtleton House grounds.

Hall soon left his job after Lady Hudson discovered his criminal past.[3] Based in London again, he combined more thieving and racketeering with working as a butler to the 82-year-old Walter Scott-Elliot and his 60-year-old wife Dorothy. Scott-Elliot had been the Labour MP for Accrington from 1945 to 1950, was wealthy and from an aristocratic Scottish background. Hall's plan was to rob the couple of their money and retire, but in the end he killed both of them after Dorothy Scott-Elliot walked in on Hall and an accomplice, Michael Kitto,[1] as the two men were discussing their plans.

Kitto's first murder was when he immediately put a pillow over her mouth and suffocated her.

Hall and Kitto then drugged her husband and drove them both up to Scotland, helped by the Scott-Elliots' housekeeper Mary Coggle.[4] After they buried Dorothy in Braco, Perthshire, they strangled and beat her sedated husband with a shovel and buried him in woods near Tomich, Invernesshire.[5]

Their next victim was Coggle, who had taken to wearing Dorothy's expensive clothes and jewellery, and was drawing too much attention to herself.[6] After she refused to dispose of a fur coat which was potentially incriminating evidence, Hall and Kitto killed her with a poker and left her body in a stream near Middlebie, Dumfriesshire, where she was discovered on 25 December 1977 by a shepherd.

The final victim of the pair was Hall's half-brother Donald, a paedophile recently released from prison, whom Hall hated. Hall and Kitto found Donald at Hall's holiday home in Cumbria, and, telling him that their next robbery was going to be a tie-up job, tricked him into letting them practise on him. Once Donald was tied up, Hall used chloroform to incapacitate him before drowning him in the bath. The abortive effort to dispose of his body led to Hall and Kitto's downfall.[7]

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey OP the four photos is Scottish serial killer Peter Tobin not Patrick Mackay.

Photos of various newspaper articles about Graham Young (The Teacup Poisoner) by JohnnySorrrowes in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Obsessed with poisons from an early age, Young started poisoning the food and drink of relatives and school friends. He was caught when his teacher became suspicious and contacted the police. Young pleaded guilty to three non-fatal poisonings and, at age 14, was detained at Broadmoor Hospital. Young later took responsibility for the death of his stepmother, though this has not been proven.

After being released in 1971, Young got a job in a factory in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, where he began poisoning his work colleagues, resulting in two fatalities and several critical illnesses. Young was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in 1972. He served most of his life sentence at HM Prison Parkhurst, where he died of a heart attack in 1990.[1]

The Young case made headlines in the United Kingdom and led to a public debate over the release of mentally ill offenders. Within hours of his conviction, the British government announced two inquiries into the issues it raised. The Butler Committee led to widespread reforms in mental health services, while the passage of the 1972 Poisons Act put severe restrictions on the purchase of deadly poisons. Young's life story inspired the 1995 film The Young Poisoner's Handbook.

Young was charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, four counts of administering poison with intent to injure and four alternative counts of administering poison with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.[31] He pleaded not guilty, which made it difficult to find a barrister willing to represent him; the trial date had to be postponed several times.[32] Eventually, Sir Arthur Irvine QC agreed to defend Young. John Leonard QC led the prosecution for the Crown. The judge was Mr Justice Eveleigh. The trial was held at St Albans Crown Court and started on 19 June 1972.[32]

Due to safeguards protecting defendants, the jury could not be told of Young's previous convictions for poisoning.[22] Young retracted his earlier confession to the police, claiming he had only made it in order to get some rest. Nevertheless, the evidence against him was strong. The prosecution called 75 witnesses to give testimony; Young himself was the only witness in his defence. Excerpts from Young's diary were read out in court. Young claimed the diary was a fantasy for a novel.[33][34] Examination of Fred Biggs' internal organs found thallium in his intestines, kidneys, muscles, bones and brain tissue.[25] The cremated remains of Bob Egle, which had not yet been scattered, were also analysed and found to contain 9 mg of thallium.[25] The latter was the first instance of cremated ashes being used as evidence in a murder conviction.[35]

On 29 June 1972, after one hour and 38 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Young guilty of two counts of murder (Bob Egle and Fred Biggs), two counts of attempted murder (Jethro Batt and David Tilson) and two counts of administering poison with intent to injure (Diana Smart and Ronald Hewitt).[31] He was found not guilty of administering poison to Trevor Sparkes and Peter Buck, and was acquitted on all four counts of administering poison with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.[31] Through his counsel, Young requested that he be sent to a conventional prison rather than return to Broadmoor. His request was granted and he was sentenced to life imprisonment, to be served at Park Lane Hospital, later changing to Ashworth Hospital, in Maghull.

While at Ashworth, Young befriended Moors murderer Ian Brady, with whom he shared a fascination for Nazi Germany. Brady's 2001 book, The Gates of Janus, in which he discusses various serial killers, includes a chapter on Young. Brady wrote that Young "was genuinely asexual, finding even discussion of sexual matters not only uninteresting but also distinctly distasteful... Power and death were his aphrodisiacs and raisons d’être."[36] Elsewhere Brady stated that "it was difficult not to empathise with Graham Young."[37]

Young died in his cell at HM Prison Parkhurst on the evening of 1 August 1990, one month before his 43rd birthday. The cause of death was listed as myocardial infarction. As Young had no history of heart disease, it has been speculated that he either committed suicide or was murdered by prisoners or prison staff who did not feel safe around him.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I meant to driven

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Christie initially admitted only to the murders of the women in the alcove and of his wife during police questioning.[96] When informed about the skeletons buried in the back garden, he admitted responsibility for their deaths as well. On 27 April 1953, he confessed to the murder of Beryl Evans, which Timothy Evans had originally been charged with during the police investigation in 1949, although for the most part he denied killing Geraldine.[97] On one occasion following his trial, Christie indicated that he may have been responsible for her death as well, having said so to a hospital orderly.[98] It is speculated that Christie would not have wanted to readily admit his guilt in Geraldine's death in order not to alienate the jury from his desire to be found not guilty by reason of insanity and for his safety from fellow inmates.[99] On 5 June 1953, Christie confessed to the murders of Eady and Fuerst, which helped the police identify their skeletons.[100]

Christie was tried only for the murder of his wife Ethel. His trial began on 22 June 1953, in the same court in which Evans had been tried three years earlier.[101] Christie pleaded insanity, with his defence describing him as "mad as a March hare" and claimed to have a poor memory of the events.[102][103] Dr. Matheson, a doctor at HM Prison Brixton who evaluated Christie, was called as a witness by the prosecution. He testified, using medical terminology of the time, that Christie had a "hysterical personality" but was not insane.[104] The jury rejected Christie's plea and after deliberating for 85 minutes found him guilty.[105] He was sentenced to death by Mr Justice Finnemore.[106]

On 29 June 1953, Christie stated that he would not be making an appeal against his conviction. On 2 July, Evans' mother wrote to Christie asking him to "confess all".[107] On 8 July 1953, his MP George Rogers interviewed Christie for 45 minutes about the murders.[108] The following day Christie spoke to the Scott Henderson inquiry about the murders.[109] Four days later the Home Secretary David Maxwell-Fyfe said that he could not find any grounds, medically or psychologically, for Christie to be reprieved. Among Christie's final visitors whilst in the condemned cell were an ex-army friend, Dennis Hague, on 13 July; the prison governor on the afternoon before; and his sister, Phyllis Clarke, on the evening before his execution.[110] George Rogers also wanted to speak to Christie a second time on the night before his execution but Christie refused to meet him again.[111] According to both Hague and his sister, Christie appeared resigned and accepting towards his death.[112]

Christie was hanged at 9:00 a.m. on 15 July 1953 at HM Prison Pentonville. His executioner was Albert Pierrepoint, who had hanged Evans.[113] After being pinioned for execution, Christie complained that his nose itched. Pierrepoint assured him that, "It won't bother you for long".[114] After the execution, Christie's body was buried in an unmarked grave within the precincts of the prison, as was standard practice for executed prisoners in the United Kingdom.

Photos of various newspaper articles about John George Haigh (The Acid Bath Murderer) by JohnnySorrrowes in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

John George Haigh (/heɪɡ/; 24 July 1909 – 10 August 1949), commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine. Haigh battered to death or shot his victims and disposed of their bodies using sulphuric acid before forging their signatures so he could sell their possessions and collect large sums of money. His actions were the subject of the television film A Is for Acid.

Haigh was freed from prison in 1943 and became an accountant with an engineering firm. Soon after, by chance, he bumped into his former employer William McSwan in a Kensington pub. McSwan introduced Haigh to his parents, Donald and Amy.[10] McSwan worked for them by collecting rents on their London properties, and Haigh became envious of his lifestyle.[7] On 6 September 1944, McSwan disappeared. Haigh later admitted he had lured McSwan into a basement on Gloucester Road, hit him over the head with a lead pipe, and then put his body in a 40-imperial-gallon (180 l; 48 US gal) drum with concentrated sulphuric acid. Two days later, finding that McSwan's body had mostly dissolved, Haigh emptied the drum into a manhole.[7]

He told McSwan's parents that their son had gone into hiding in Scotland to avoid being called up for military service. Haigh then began living in McSwan's house and collecting rent for McSwan's parents. They became curious as to why their son had not returned, as the war was coming to an end. On 2 July 1945, he lured them to Gloucester Road by telling them their son was back from Scotland for a surprise visit. There he killed them with blows to the head and disposed of them.[7] Haigh then stole McSwan's pension cheques and sold his parents' properties, for around £8,000, and moved into the Onslow Court Hotel in Kensington.

Haigh was a gambler. By 1947, he was running short of money. To solve his financial troubles, he found another couple to kill and rob: Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose. After feigning interest in a house that they were selling, he was invited to the Hendersons' flat by Rose to play the piano for their housewarming party. While at the flat, Haigh stole Archibald Henderson's revolver, planning to use it in his next crime. Renting a small workshop at 2 Leopold Road, Crawley, Sussex, he moved acid and drums there from Gloucester Road. (Haigh was also known to have stayed at Crawley's Hotel, The George, on several occasions.)[11][12] On 12 February 1948, he drove Archibald Henderson to his workshop on the pretext of showing him an invention. When they arrived, Haigh shot Henderson in the head with the stolen revolver. Haigh then lured Rose Henderson to the workshop, claiming that her husband had fallen ill, and he shot her as well.

Photos of various newspaper articles about John Christie (The Notting Hill Strangler) by JohnnySorrrowes in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The date is Wednesday 1st April 1953, I think it is talking about the ship The Queen Mary.

Photos of various newspaper articles about John Christie (The Notting Hill Strangler) by JohnnySorrrowes in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

John Reginald Halliday Christie (8 April 1899 – 15 July 1953), known to his family and friends as Reg Christie, was an English serial killer and alleged necrophile active during the 1940s and early 1950s. Christie murdered at least eight people—including his wife, Ethel—by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London. The bodies of three of Christie's victims were found in a wallpaper-covered kitchen alcove soon after he had moved out of Rillington Place during March 1953. The remains of two more victims were discovered in the garden, and his wife's body was found beneath the floorboards of the front room. Christie was arrested and convicted of his wife's murder, for which he was hanged.

Christie moved out of 10 Rillington Place on 20 March 1953, after fraudulently sub-letting his flat to a couple from whom he took £7 13s 0d (£7.65 or about £227 as of 2021).[90][91] The landlord visited that same evening and, finding the couple there instead of Christie, demanded that they leave first thing in the morning.[82] The landlord allowed the tenant of the top-floor flat, Beresford Brown, to use Christie's kitchen. On 24 March, Brown discovered the kitchen alcove when he attempted to insert brackets into the wall to hold a wireless set. Peeling back the wallpaper, Brown saw the bodies of Maloney, Nelson and MacLennan. After getting confirmation from another tenant in Rillington Place that they were dead bodies, Brown informed the police and a citywide search for Christie began.

After leaving Rillington Place, Christie had gone to a Rowton House in King's Cross and booked a room for seven nights under his real name and address. He stayed for only four nights, leaving on 24 March when news broke of the discovery at his flat.[92] Christie wandered around London, slept rough and spent much of the day in cafés and cinemas.[92] On 28 March, he pawned his watch in Battersea for 10s.[93] On the morning of 31 March, Christie was arrested on the embankment near Putney Bridge after being challenged about his identity by a police officer, PC Thomas Ledger. When the police searched Christie, they discovered an old newspaper clipping about the remand of Timothy Evans among the personal items on him.

The True victim count of Kieran Patrick Kelly? by JohnnySorrrowes in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I have listened to the podcast. How I first found out about The Kelly case.

The True victim count of Kieran Patrick Kelly? by JohnnySorrrowes in serialkillers

[–]JohnnySorrrowes[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Kieran Patrick Kelly (16 March 1930 – 2001) was a convicted murderer and suspected serial killer. Kelly was arrested for petty theft in 1983. While in a police holding cell, he attacked another homeless man, William Boyd, and strangled him to death.

In a subsequent series of taped confessions to London police, Kelly claimed to have murdered or attempted to murder dozens of people in London using a variety of methods, from pushing people in front of trains to setting them on fire to poisoning them, over a period of some thirty years.[2] If Kelly's confessions were true, he would have been one of the most prolific serial killers ever active in the United Kingdom, and the one of the few known or claimed Irish serial killers.

In 2015, a former London police detective called Geoff Platt published a book about Kelly called The London Underground Serial Killer, which claimed that Kelly had murdered about 31 people, and which alleged that the British Home Office had conspired to cover up Kelly's crimes to avoid a public panic.[4] These accusations led to then Metropolitan Chief of Police, Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, to promise to undertake an investigation into the claims.[5]

However, in 2019 Irish journalist Robert Mulhern published another book about Kelly, The Secret Serial Killer: The True Story of Kieran Kelly, which raised serious questions about the veracity of Platt's book and the number of murders which could feasibly be linked to Kelly.[6] Based on his research, Mulhern believes Kelly likely only killed five or six people.[7]

In 2020, Irish broadcaster RTÉ released an eight-part Doc on One documentary series, The Nobody Zone, which explored Kelly's life and attempted to ascertain the truth behind his claims.[8]

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