Derek Brown - emulating the Ripper

[Chris Scott]

A killer who tried to emulate Jack the Ripper was convicted today of murdering two young mothers at the start of what could have become a killing spree.
Loner Derek Brown butchered DVD seller Xiao Mei Guo and prostitute Bonnie Barrett in his flat and disposed of their bodies, which have never been found.
Police believe he might have killed before and are combing crime files across the country to see if his details match up with other cases.
Brown, 48, who craved notoriety, picked up the young women in the same Whitechapel area of east London stalked by the Ripper more than a century ago.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Kandiah, who led the investigation, said: "He is clearly a very evil man. In my opinion, he was not going to stop."

Police think Brown was motivated by sex and a desire to become notorious like Jack the Ripper, who murdered prostitutes in the 19th century.

Mr Kandiah said: "If he kept killing prostitutes from the Whitechapel area, then that link would be made. If this was a spree, it seems likely that we stopped him at number two."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1067851/Killer-tried-emulate-Jack-Ripper-convicted-murdering-young-mothers.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4876571.ece

[Suzi]

Hi Chris-

Saw a snippet on the National News and then got onto London Today for a bit more- Amazing stuff It appears that Derek Brown picked up two women from around the Whitechapel Station area - Their bodies were never found,but the amount of packing and disposal kit that was found in his house- see Chris's link is terrifying!- and he was arrested at his house in Rotherhithe and was sentenced today

Interesting stuff- Good job they caught him 'eh (Seriously GOOD job!)

Just going to check your links -Thanks

Just checked them- One seriously frightening character- not sure it gives us an image of our man 120 years ago but quite seriously disturbing- When I was cooking earlier and hubby told me this was on the News I thought he was winding me up! (as you do!).. I insisted on finding London Today and there it all was in glorious technicolour!!

Thanks Chris! x

Suzi x

[Graham]

How was he caught? Anyone know?

Cheers,

Graham

[Suzi]

Hmm dunno- There was CCTV stuff - so I guess that was it- back to the articles- but they obviously searched his flat -and found all that nastiness and the rest is I guess 'history' -
- not as much 'history as he'd have liked I guess!

The Telegraph should be good tomorrow though- Always good at Cricket and Murders the old Telegraph!

That apart- a sad story

Suzi x

[Chris Scott]

Graham
It sounds as though it may have been reports by the neighbours:

"Weeks before the killing, Brown borrowed a book called Killers: The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Time from a library and boasted to a friend that he wanted to become famous, saying: "You will hear of me."

On August 29 last year he got chatting to Ms Guo as she sold counterfeit DVDs in Whitechapel market and tricked her in to coming back to his flat by saying he wanted to check the quality of the recordings. She was never seen again.

Three weeks later Miss Barrett, a well-known face in the red light area of Commercial Street, was seen by friends for the last time less than half a mile from where Miss Guo disappeared.

Brown was seen in Whitechapel that day and was known to Miss Barrett, who he had used for sex in the past.

In the days after the killings he made three trips to B&Q and bought items including a steam cleaner, sandpaper, gaffer tape, gloves, a saw, masking tape and a Stanley knife.

The Old Bailey heard how he "skillfully concealed" the bodies, but the walls, floor and ceiling were spattered with their blood and neighbours had heard women's screams coming from inside.

Brown, a delivery driver, tried to explain away the evidence against him by claiming he knew both women and had sex with them at his flat, but a jury convicted him of both murders after deliberating for less than three hours.

Detectives believe he has raped at least six women and sexually assaulted another half a dozen. He is also being linked to an unsolved murder in the north of England."

[Graham]

Chris,

That's scary. It kind of reminds me of the Ipswich Killer - he who confessed to having sex with his victims, but denied killing them.

Perhaps it also suggests that Jack the Ripper didn't have neighbours as such - that he moved from place to place willy-nilly before anyone living near him was able to take any notice of him.

I have to confess that I don't know very much about this case - how far back do his crimes go, as far as anyone knows?

Cheers,

Graham

[Suzi]

Excellent Chris- Been onto this too- the neighbours are definately in there but the B &Q bit is seriously chilling isn't it

Suz x

[Chris Scott]

Graham
The two killings for which he was tried go back to August 2007 but the police are looking at other cases as well
Chris

[Graham]

Graham
The two killings for which he was tried go back to August 2007 but the police are looking at other cases as well
Chris

Chris,

I was thinking of Suzy Lamplugh, but maybe that's too far back.

Cheers,

Graham

[Limehouse]

Chris,

That's scary. It kind of reminds me of the Ipswich Killer - he who confessed to having sex with his victims, but denied killing them.

Perhaps it also suggests that Jack the Ripper didn't have neighbours as such - that he moved from place to place willy-nilly before anyone living near him was able to take any notice of him.

I have to confess that I don't know very much about this case - how far back do his crimes go, as far as anyone knows?

Cheers,

Graham

That's an interesting thought Graham. He may have lived in lodging houses out of choice rather than necessity for the period covering the murders simply so that he could come and go and check out likely locations to select victims. Looking at the behaviour of this individual, it is also plausible that Jack did actually have sex with prostitutes from time to time, although not on the night of the murders. It also seems likely that Brown and Jack chose these women because they were easy to pick off the streets rather than for what they actually did.

[DarkPassenger]

JTR probably lived in Flower and Dean Street - he knew the victims, or knew of them, as prostitutes.

Derek Brown is yet ANOTHER British serial killer seeking to be a famous serial killer;

Colin Ireland - killed 5 gay men so that he could be a famous serial killer, selected gays because they were easy targets (1993)

Daniel Gonzalez - mental patient who killed four people in a bid to be a notorious killer (2004)

Mark Martin - strangled three prostitutes in order to be known as Nottingham's first serial killer (2004)

Derek Brown - killed two women in Whitechapel to achieve fame as a serial killer like Jack the Ripper.

How many more? Is this the "self-actualizing killer" of Colin Wilson's Maslovian theory?

[caz]

Psychiatric nurse Mark Papazian was 50 in 2005 when he started his quest to become a serial killer, keeping a diary to record his progress. He scoured Hampstead Heath for men to encounter and befriend but was caught after his first murder. The judge at his trial said the diary made it clear that he had been planning further murders and there was no doubt he would have carried them out had he not been stopped.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4817544.stm

Papazian's fingerprints were not on the database (implying no previous) and he was tracked down because his mobile phone number was found among his victim's call records. Stolen items from the victim were tracked down to an innocent friend of Papazian's.

And of course, there was the diary, which added substance to his admissions to the police.

'I am a genius.'

'I have it down to a fine art.'

Yet he didn't even make it to murder number two.

Love,

Caz
X

[DarkPassenger]

Thank you - I forgot him. Then there's Stuart Harling, who killed a nurse on a quest to be a serial killer.

[caz]

Thanks DP.

Stuart Harling is an interesting specimen. Just shows how the unsuccessful wannabe serial killers can also provide some useful insight.

http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/c_crime_magazine__the_latest_stories/a_stuart_harling/crime_vaults/

Here are some extracts:

'Harling had been a church altar boy and a promising pupil aged 11 at Campion Grammar School, Hornchurch, where he impressed teachers with an obvious academic talent. But they also noticed his 'bizarre' sense of humour and his problems interacting with other children.'

'The long walks he took alone in Hornchurch Country Park, soon turned into to 'dry-runs' for murder as Harling revelled in the idea of becoming his town's first serial killer.'

'Harling chose the first suitable victim he came across - the nurse who had popped outside for her usual cigarette break.'

'Harling stabbed Mrs Moss 73 times as he lost control in an 'explosion of violence.''

'Within an hour Harling was logging back on to the internet, desperate to see the first news flashes about the murder.'

'He revealed he had felt nothing when he killed Mrs Moss, as if she was just another animation on a computer screen.'

Chilling - and several similarities with how I imagine JtR may have operated.

Love,

Caz
X

[DarkPassenger]

Except Harling didn't actually do it, it was all them nasty video games - violent ones like LittleBigPlanet and Ridge Racer