British Serial Killers

[George Hutchinson]

No one mentioned Jeremy Bamber yet?

I thought the criteria for a serial killer was 3+ - didn't Peace (as just one example) 'only' kill 2? Then again, if I'm being pedantic, Bamber would technically be a mass murderer rather than an SK.

PHILIP

[anna]

Hi guys, personally, it's not the number of murder's they've done, it's the number of serial killers that bothers me!

[sdreid]

Hi Philip,

The # for serial killer is not settled and probably won't be. The National Institute of Justice says 2 as long as they're separate acts. Some say 3 or even more. In the latest edition of The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, they use the 2 number also. I use that number myself although I think there should be at least 5 weeks between the first and last murder. If it's less than that, they are spree killers to me.

[Mike Covell]

The case of William Burkitt from Hull intrests me, not because it is a local case but more what happened with the case.
Burkitt killed his first victim in 1915 with a penknife, slitting her throat.
At the court he was sentanced and released in 1923,
He took his sencond victim in 1925, he was locked up again and upon his release murdered again in 1939.

All the victims were wounded with a penknife,
All whilst Burkitt was under the influence of alcohol,
All were lovers of Burkitt,
The reason he was allowed out after the second murder is because back then the local courts wouldn't allow previous cases to discussed!!

After 1939 he was locked up for the rest of his natural life.

The problem we have with couple's killing is we don't really know who killed what victim, for example, it's easy for Rose West to blame Fred for all the murders because he is dead!

Keep those windows and doors locked,

Mike

[DarkPassenger]

Well seems you can add Mark Dixie to you list of english serial killers with his recent conviction but what about Australia?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/23/2170658.htm?section=justin

seems like he lived here for a while and is suspected of more

Mark Dixie is not a serial killer, and as for the Claremont murders, as yet he know of no official connection.

[DarkPassenger]

No one mentioned Jeremy Bamber yet?

I thought the criteria for a serial killer was 3+ - didn't Peace (as just one example) 'only' kill 2? Then again, if I'm being pedantic, Bamber would technically be a mass murderer rather than an SK.

PHILIP

Also not an SK.

[DarkPassenger]

Crimezzz is a good site but lacks details - who is the Colchester Ripper, or the Devon Slasher? Or the London Executioner? Or the Humberside Prostitute Mutilator? Or the Portsmouth Strangler?

Although I am planning to write a book which covers all of these killers.

Every. Single. One.

I would love it if someone out there wrote one first.

[sdreid]

What about killers who killed in the UK as well as other countries like Styllou Christofi and Frederick Deeming? Also, do you want to include pirates, hit-men and people connected to the strife in Northern Ireland?

[Mike Covell]

Hi DP,

Please elaborate on the Humberside Prostitute Mutilator, thats my neck of the woods, and I would love to take a deeper look at that.

Regards Mike

[Mayerling]

Hi all,

I wanted to mention Deeming, who definitely killed five in England, and one in Victoria (it wasn't Australia yet), and may have killed some people in South Africa.

His contemporary Reginald Birchall was hanged for killing Frederick Benwell in Blenheim Forest, Ontario in 1890. Birchall, a con-man (albeit a better educated one than Deeming) lured Benwell and another man to Canada to buy shares in his farm there, shot Benwell and tried to drown the other man at Niagara Falls.

During and after his trials there were rumors (that I admit were never proved) that Birchall may have been doing this for some time, and there were other investors who may have been killed.

Clements' case bothers me - did he or did he not murder those wives. You see, while logic says the death of four wives may be poisonings, the case never went to trial. Suicide may have been a round-about confession of guilt by Clements, but his suicide note attacked so-called "friends" who were spreading rumors about the deaths. And the other doctor who killed himself did so because of doubts about his work doing autopsies. Sort of 55% of me says Dr. Clements did it, but 45% of me is quite disatisfied with the case.

I'd also add Warder in the same boat - a curiously unreported case. Dr. Warder was one of the handful of expert witnesses in 19th Century poison trials, and his career was blackened by his appearance for the defense in Palmer's trial in 1856.

Others I'd have added with Deeming.

Donald Merritt/Ronald Chesney

Donald Hume (remember - he shot that man in Switzerland after a robbery there years after his prison time for killing Setty)

James Greenacre - yeah, he is recalled for killing Hannah Brown in 1836, but if you read his biography in the old Dictionary of National Biography he also
was suspected of being responsible for the death of an earlier "wife" in the U.S. about 1830.

James Blomfield Rush - Besides killing the Jermys and injuring the daughter - in - law and the servant in the Stanfield Hall attack, he was suspected of killing his step father and even his mother.

Emmanuel Barthelemy - (and a voice comes up and says, "Who?"). He was an import from France. He served time there in the galleys for killing a gendarme. During the Paris Revolution of 1848 he made a reputation of sorts, but went to England when Louis Napoleon declared himself Emperor Napoleon III in 1852. Shortly after he shot and killed Lt. Courdet (I think that's his name, poor fellow) in a duel that may have been fixed by Barthelemy. Pretending to be a great revolutionary, this bully was actually sending reports back to France's secret police about revolutionary activity in London. The Lieutenant may have suspected this. Because it was a duel on English soil a jury acquitted Barthelemy stupidly. Then, two years after (in 1855) the Frenchman murdered a merchant in the man's home - possibly in a blackmail scheme that went bad - and then shot a retired policeman who tried to stop him. This time he was found guilty and hanged.

[Believe it or not, Barthelemy had one real defender - Victor Hugo speaks well of him in LES MISERABLES. Hugo's love for the underdogs is commendable but he could take it too far. It was not until these underdogs ransacked his home in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War that he began being more quiet about how good they were.]

Samuel Dougal - the "Moat Farm" killer of Camille Holland had a curious record of dead wives in Canada when he was stationed there (near Halifax, Nova Scotia) in the 1880s.

Jeff

[mercurior]

theres a few good sites about serial killers probably seen before.

crimelibrary.com, and http://mayhem.net/Crime/serial.html warning image and sound intensive. forgive me if i repeat names. mayhem puts the killers by body count.

theres denis neilsen, and dennis nilsen. theres graham young, the moors murderers, the monster of london in 1780's, the camben ripper 1980's.

I live near ashworth mental hospital for the really dangerous people, my neighbour used to work there, and these are people who some have never been to trial as they are too.. dangerous and sick.

jesse pomeroy, he was another child killer killer, but he tortured more than he killed (2) so would he have killed more.. yes

[sdreid]

I think there are those who think Pomeroy actually killed more than the 2 that he is charged with. He was an American though if I recall.

[sdreid]

The Devon Slasher supposedly attacked and killed two women who were walking their dogs in 1998.

Mike-Have you heard of the "Hull Strangler"? As per The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, he murdered three prostitutes there in 1997-1998. There is a fourth woman missing who is also thought to be a victim. That's about all they say about the case other than that the killer is male.

[George Hutchinson]

People are forever mis-spelling Nilsen's name so let's get this clear : it's Dennis Nilsen.

Not to be confused (as he often is) with Donald Nielson (AKA Donald Nappey AKA The Black Panther).

PHILIP

[Mike Covell]

Hi Stan,

Prostitute murders/beatings are fairly common in Hull and I have heard of quite a lot over the years.
One that shook me the most was the brutal murder of prostitute Maria Toomey.
Marie was found with her head caved in by a hammer (popular method of killing here) and died instantly.
What set this apart was the fact I was in the same class as Maria for 5 years and although we weren't close we used to talk.
They eventually got her killer who claimed it was self defence, but Maria was knee high to a peanut and although that was her trade she was always a shy girl.

There was another case several years back were a prostitute was found (still alive but badly beaten) in a skip, when they revealed the full story she was over 60 years old!! Some young kid had got what he wanted but refused to pay and beat her within an inch of her life!

There have been dozens of "Hammer Attacks" in the City but they are not linked and the Police always get there man.

Now what about Bruce Lee, the infamous arsonist, he lived in the West of the City and was prone to Homosexual feelings, when he was knocked back he would go on a spree setting fire to anything and everything.
The method of setting these buildings alight was so clever even the specialists argue over wether he actually carried out some of the attacks.

I will try and find out his exact body count but i am sure it was fairly high.
(Bruce Lee is not his real name but he changed it to that of his hero!!)