THE BULGER FAMILY

A month after James’ killers were found guilty, Denise gives birth to a baby boy called Michael James Bulger. Ralph and Denise finally have a reason to continue living. But their whole world has been turned upside down and sadly their marriage falls apart.

In 1994 Denise splits from Ralph. She later remarries in 1998 when she meets Stuart Fergus. Together they have two sons. Ralph remarries and has three daughters with his second wife.

The James Bulger Memorial Trust

In 2011, the year James would have turned 21, Denise Fergus launches ‘The James Bulger Memorial Trust’. For too long Denise has seen nothing good come from James’ death, so spurred on by Esther Ranzten and the Red Balloon Charity, she’s inspired to help benefit and support young victims of crime, hatred or bullying. Her plans are to reward those who have shown exemplary conduct in helping others. She wants to do this by providing cost-free travel and holiday accommodation for children and families. She creates James Bulger House.

'I want to see good things done in James’ name.'

Denise Fergus, BBC News Online, January 2011

THE KILLERS

The Lord Chief Justice raises the recommended minimum sentence for the two boys from eight years to 10. Then in July 1994 the Home Secretary raises it to 15 years. There’s public outcry that the government is interfering and the House of Lords overturns that ruling. In 1999 lawyers for Thompson and Venables appeal to the European Court of Human Rights that the trial had not been impartial. The European Court dismisses that charge but agrees that the case had not been fair. This leads Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf to review the minimum sentence. He reduces it from 10 back to the original eight years.

On 22 June 2001, having served their eight years, both Thompson and Venables are released on a lifelong license. Both men are given new identities and moved to different parts of the country to maintain their safety. An injunction prevents the press from publishing any details about the two killers.

On 23 July 2010, Venables, aged 27, is jailed after admitting downloading and distributing indecent images of children. He’s denied parole on 27 July 2011.

Since his release in 2001 Thompson has kept a low profile and done his best to maintain his anonymity. He came close to meeting Denise Fergus in 2004 when she managed to track him down. However, paralysed with anger and hatred, she couldn’t confront him.

The wrong man?

In 1967 Peter Alphon allegedly confessed to the A6 murder. However, he later ‘protested his innocence.’CAUSE CELEBREJohn Lennon and Yoko Ono met with Hanratty’s parents. They gave their celebrity backing to the growing campaign for James to be exonerated.“I have been involved in a lot of injustice cases...Birmingham 6, Guildford 4...and really everything that comes out in the Hanratty case just simply proves what went on in all of those cases. The same old story, that certainty, the certainty of having the suspects and bending the evidence to fit the suspects. This is exactly what’s happened in this case.”Paul Foot, Author, ‘Who Killed Hanratty?’

INNOCENT?Did the wrong man hang?Mary Lanz of the Old Station Inn, Taplow, where Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie had last been seen before they parked in the cornfield, was later able to identify Peter Alphon, the original suspect, as having also been there.A group of people called the 'A6 Defence Committee' was set up to assist Hanratty in his posthumous defence. Twelve years after the execution, the A6 Committee found the original statement made by Valerie Storie had not been referred to during the trial or the appeal. Storie had originally stated that the man who abducted her was in his 30s. In her second statement she changed this to 'mid 20s'. Hanratty was 25, but Alphon was 31.In 1968, the A6 Committee found six substantial witnesses to show that the defendant had in fact been to the north Wales coast town of Rhyl. A fairground worker called Terry Evans also admitted to letting Hanratty stay at his house early in 1961, and to fencing a stolen watch for Hanratty.Another man, Trevor Dutton, had just made a payment into his bank account and consequently his bank book was stamped with the correct date, 23 August, when minutes later he was approached by a man with a ‘cockney accent’ in a smart suit, trying to sell a gold watch.Richard Hanratty, the youngest of the brothers, said that his parents visited the Home Secretary in 1973. He is believed to have said that he could have freed their son if he was in prison and had not been hanged.In 1997, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) conducted its own inquiry into the original investigation. The CCRC multi-million pound investigation discovered enough serious flaws in the original police inquiry to justify re-opening the case.This led to a re-examination using forensic testing.Document specialist David Baxendale focused on two crucial police interviews with Hanratty. Using something called the ESDA test he established that pages were missing from both of these. Hanratty had always denied making the statements recorded by the police and that there were things missing.In fact, further investigations found ‘two or three thousand undisclosed statements’.The two main police in charge of the interviews and the original investigation, Detective Superintendent Acott and his deputy Kenneth Oxford were found to have withheld crucial evidence, including witness sightings and the car log book of the murder car.When James’ family discovered the extent to which the police had influenced the investigation, their response was both emphatic and emotive:“Alcott and Oxford murdered my brother.”Michael HanrattyJames’ mother and brother provided DNA samples to enable comparisons with the surviving evidence in order to clear their loved one.

GUILTY?But scientists found a familial match to exhibits used in the original trial. These were Miss Storie’s underwear, exhibit 26, and the handkerchief wrapped round the 38. Calibre pistol.Lawyers for the Crown said the DNA was two and a half million times more likely to belong to Hanratty than anyone else.To put it beyond doubt, an exhumation was ordered. DNA was now taken from James’ teeth.In 2002, after matches were made, appeal court judges said the tests put James’ guilt "beyond doubt".BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT?But many question the quality of the DNA where it is so degraded, of poor quality and is in such a small quantity. And the exhibits used were stored two decades before the technique of genetic profiling was invented. Clothing from Hanratty and Valerie Storie were transported to and from the court in the same cardboard boxes.“...those exhibits had been kept in custody for forty years. Contamination is possible.”John Eddleston, AuthorThe argument against this is that there is only one profile on Valerie’s clothing. If there was contamination, there would be expected to be evidence of Hanratty and another unknown. There wasn’t.In the hope of settling the matter once and for all, in December 2010 it was announced that a third appeal would be launched. The challenge will focus on doubts about the DNA tests used by Appeal Court Judges to uphold his conviction. The family’s long-standing solicitor, Sir Geoffrey Bindman confirmed he would be spearheading another attempt.But no matter what the verdict, James’ brothers will never give up.“My parents went to their graves broken-hearted over James.”Richard Hanratty

5 life sentences

Bamber needed to finance his ‘playboy’ lifestyle. If his plan had succeeded he would have received his parents’ leasehold farm, other prime land, the contents of the main house which he had reinsured and half a share in a holiday home caravan site. The total of the estate was estimated at £436,000.

Bamber was told by his trial judge, that he was "warped and evil" and added that he found it difficult to imagine anyone agreeing to release Bamber from jail in the future.

He has been told by each Home Secretary since his conviction that he will never gain his freedom through parole, although Bamber has always pleaded his innocence and has seen two appeals against his convictions rejected.

In July 2001 a team of police officers were given four months to complete fresh inquiries into the case. It was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.

In 2002 Bamber angered his relatives when he offered £1m as a reward for any information that would help quash his conviction.

In December 2002 he lost his appeal against his conviction and also lost a High Court case regarding a claim for £1.27m from his grandmother’s will that he thought he was entitled to.In 2004 Bamber was attacked by a fellow prisoner with a knife while talking on the phone and needed twenty stitches.

In 2004 and 2009, Bamber's defence team submitted what they claimed was new evidence to the CCRC, including a report from a photographic expert. However, February 2011 saw the CCRC provisionally reject the latest submissions.

The "Razor Gangs" Legacy

In 1942, Sillitoe was knighted. Sir Percy Sillitoe often spoke of Billy as a skilled fighter and an ingenious leader. Perhaps this was intended to boost Sir Percy by showing he hadn’t fought just any old criminal. The effect, however, was to mythologise his adversary. Later generations often confused the fictional Johnnie Stark (from ‘No Mean City’) with the flawed and only occasionally heroic Billy.The man himself died in poverty in 1962 aged 57 years in a single roomed tenement home just north of Bridgeton Cross.He was given a spectacular send off including flute bands as around 1000 marched in his funeral cortege. He was buried in the cemetery at Riddrie in an unmarked grave.COPPING A CARMONTWhen the razor gangs threatened to resurface in the 1950s, Lord Carmont, a city judge started handing down severe sentences. In one series of court sittings in Glasgow he passed sentences of up to 10 years, and in total 52 years, on eight men.For Glasgow knife carriers, being sentenced by him became known as ‘copping a Carmont.’By May 1954 Lord Carmont told the High Court in Glasgow he thought the city’s record of crimes of violence was improving. It was; but not for long.

FRED WEST DID WHAT?Fred West, the serial killer and child sexual predator used to sell ice creams in the Gorbals in the early 1960s. It is not clear if he used the opportunity to prey on children though he did run over and kill one in his van.In 1961, slum clearances and major regeneration, together with a sustained criminal crackdown, helped clear away the environment that had helped the gangs grow. But though the San Toi Boys of the razor gang era are gone, their descendants, the ‘Toi’ gangs are still active in Glasgow.And scars are still worn by some as badges of honour. The most sadistic is the ‘Glasgow smile’. The victim has both sides of his mouth slashed back to the ear leaving the impression they are grinning from ear to ear.AND NOW?In 2002 the World Health Organisation declared Scotland as one of the bloodiest nations in the Western World and Glasgow the murder capital of Europe.In 2007 there were 73 murders in the Strathclyde Police force area, 40 of which involved knives.Knife crime levels in Scotland were 3.5 times higher than in England or Wales.Karyn McLuskey, head of Strathclyde’s Violence Reduction Unit said knife crime was endemic and dated back to the ‘razor gangs’ of the 1920s.Since 2008, however, she spearheaded a Violence Reduction Scheme and nearly 500 gang members from eastern Glasgow engaged with it. Violent offending has fallen by 46%. Gang fighting is down by 73%. And weapon possession, still including still razors sometimes, has dropped by 85%.Glasgow is no longer the murder capital of Western Europe but the ‘booze and blades’ epitaph is hard to shift. Visitors should still be wary in certain parts of Glasgow, a place where there are more scarred faces than anywhere else in Britain.

A MONKEY IN A CAGE BEING POKED BY A STICK                                                        The bisexual Brady maintained a long distance relationship with Hindley for his first years in jail. But from love letters and requests for marriage, rifts soon started to appear. Brady accepted he would never again be free. Hindley couldn’t. The couple drifted apart. And when Hindley ended their connection, he said that she was a manipulative liar and as evil as him. Betrayed, he plotted his revenge.

“How many instruments of murder do you suppose there are in this room?”                        Brady’s first question to Dr Alan Keightley

Dr Alan Keightley was requested to meet Brady by Anne West, the mother of Brady’s fourth victim, Lesley Ann Downey. It was hoped that Dr Keightley, an ‘eccentric academic’ and former head of religious studies, would form a relationship with Brady based on their mutual interest in religion.

For the next 25 years, he became Brady’s confidant.

In jail, Brady mixed with Buster Edwards, the Great Train Robber and Ronnie Kray of Kray Twins infamy.

In 1985, Brady was diagnosed as a criminally insane psychopath and was transferred from prison to high security Ashworth psychiatric Hospital, Merseyside. He would be there for nearly the next thirty years. It was there that he confessed to tabloid reporters that he had in fact killed Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett. But it wasn’t remorse that prompted his revelations. It was revenge. He wanted to hurt Hindley for cutting him out of her life and his confessions hurt her bid for freedom.

In 1987, he returned to the Moors with the police.

In 1997 Brady strangled another patient after mocking the patient’s coughing fit. Only the intervention of staff saved the man.

In 1999 he went on hunger strike. He was therefore force fed. A feeding tube protruding from his left nostril became a permanent feature. Some might believe it unnecessary as every morning he eats toast and soup. But he’s embarrassed to admit this so if his nurse observes he’s eating, she’ll knock before entering so he has time to clear his food away.

His daily diet also consists of being dosed with sedatives. He chain smokes Gauloises and has complained often that they are not killing him fast enough.

LAUREL AND HARDY

He wanted to be judged sane and be transferred back to prison where he could starve himself to death. At this time, he believed that he could ‘talk to Laurel and Hardy.’

Brady’s demands to die were refused by the High Court in March 2000, which upheld the hospital’s right to force-feed him. They judged that his desire to die through starvation was simply part of his ‘obsessive need to exercise control.’

In April 2001, the High Court in London again rejected Brady’s appeal ‘for the right to die’.

Brady continued to write and offer his opinions:

“I’m glad I’ve lived to see an enemy prepared to die for something other than their bank balance and pensions... They’re even being trained to die at schools. Admirable commitment."

Brady’s take on the 9/11 suicide bombers

Brady’s confidant, Dr Keightley, smuggled out Brady’s book ‘The Gates of Janus’.

In August that year, Brady was front-page news once again, when it was revealed that he stood to earn £12,000 for his analysis of serial killers. Brady did not talk about his crimes in the book.

In February 2006, Brady sent the mother of victim Keith Bennett a letter. In the letter he complained of his treatment at the high-security hospital saying he was being kept alive by force-feeding for "political purposes". Brady also claimed that he could take police to within 20 yards of where Keith Bennett is buried.

It was revealed in December 2011 that Brady would face a public mental health tribunal hearing on whether he should be returned to prison, having been detained at Ashworth hospital since 1985.

In August 2012, Brady was in the news again as police investigated whether he had given details of the location of Keith Bennett’s grave to his mental health advocate, Jackie Powell. Keith’s mother Winnie, after a lifetime of hoping that Brady would reveal where her boy was, sadly died that month.

RECREATIONAL KILLINGS

In June 2013, the 75-year-old Brady spoke in public for the first time since his 1966 trial. Brady went to tribunal seeking permission to be transferred from a psychiatric hospital back to prison. It was believed to be only the second time in English history that such a hearing had been heard in public.

He received legal aid for his bid. The cost to the taxpayer was initially estimated to be £250,000. In his evidence he referred to his torture and murder of five children as ‘recreational killings’ and an ‘existential experience.’ He also bemoaned his lack of control and that he was nothing more than a ‘monkey in a cage being poked by a stick.’

The medical panel decided that Brady was still a paranoid schizophrenic and rejected his appeal.

On 30 July 2013 The Daily Mirror revealed through a Freedom of Information application that Brady’s transfer attempt had cost the taxpayer twice the expected amount and the bill was now £500,000. The NHS had had to pay £200,000 of that to prove the serial killing paedophile was insane. The Mirror reported that NHS costs alone were ‘equal to the annual salary of nine nurses or maternity care for 70 women.’

Around this time, there were claims that the grave of Keith Bennett may have been 40 miles away from the Saddleworth Moor.

Brady has been collaborating on an autobiographical book to be published on his death. The manuscript is said to be in the safe of his solicitor. In it, it’s claimed he will admit to nine murders, four more than the five known. He has written that he killed two men in Glasgow and a man and a woman in Manchester. It is also believed the book is intended to implicate Hindley in the sexual abuse of the children.

Brady suffered from cataracts and spondylitis meaning he has chronic back pain before passing away at age 79 on Monday 15 2017. Brady had revealed that he had chest and lung issues in December 2016. Although the NHS Spokesman stated that the cause of Brady's death was unknown, they confirmed that he was on oxygen for a while. 

It is reported that Brady had died hours after being urged to "do the right thing" and reveal the location of Keith Bennett, however Brady has taken this to the grave with him:

“Keith Bennett’s unfound body is very important to Ian Brady. He has one actual murder which he can consider to be perfect.”

Dr David Holmes, Criminal Psychologist

“If there is a hell, that will be where Ian Brady is going to go.”

Professor David Wilson, Criminologist

A number of inquiries, launched by then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, investigated the failures of both the police and other social and vetting agencies, in stopping Huntley sooner. System wide communication and intelligence-sharing errors were identified, which led to the suspension, and early retirement, of the chief of Humberside Police. Since being jailed, Huntley has reportedly admitted to his father that he lied when giving evidence at his trial, alleging that he killed Jessica Chapman to prevent her from calling for help on her mobile phone, rather than suffocating her accidentally, as he claimed in court.

On 23rd July 2004, Carr’s mother, Shirley Capp, was sentenced to six months in jail for intimidating a witness during the trial. Capp’s neighbour, Marion Westerman, had told police that she had seen a crying Carr, and Huntley, looking in the boot of a car outside Carr’s mother’s house, shortly after 10-year-old Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman had gone missing. Carr’s mother’s threats to Westerman had nearly resulted in her retracting her statement at the time, and not testifying in court.

On 5th September 2006, Ian Huntley was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious in his prison cell. He was taken to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield to receive treatment for a suspected drug overdose and was returned to prison the next day. Following this incident, the Home Office released a statement to the media: "Huntley continues to be managed according to Prison Service policy on the prevention of suicide and self-harm. In particular he will be subject to Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) procedures through which his risk will be continually assessed. The Prison Service works to minimise the risk of any prisoner taking their own life, but it cannot eliminate that risk entirely."

Huntley had been considered a suicide risk after he took 29 anti-depressant pills, which he had hidden away in a box of teabags, in June 2003.

Decades unsolved

Short was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California because she had loved the state of California and her sister lived nearby in Berkeley. Six family members and a few police officers attended the quiet ceremony.Myths and misconceptions surrounding the Short killing were rife and soon after her murder, newspapers reported that she had been nicknamed “Black Dahlia”. It was supposedly coined during her time spent in Long Beach in the summer of 1946 and was a play on the then-current film ‘The Blue Dahlia’, about an ex-bomber pilot suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. Some believed the nickname was due to the fact that Short behaved mysteriously, dyeing her hair black, having a preference for black clothes and often wearing dahlias in her hair. An investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney reported that it was a name invented by the newspapers covering the murder and that her friends had known her simply as Bette. Film studios denied that she had ever worked as an actress or even as an extra in movies. Short’s sister, Muriel, claimed that in one of her last letters home, Short had written that she was to be given a screen test by an important film director, although Muriel could not remember the director’s name.The horrific nature of the crime stirred intense public interest and over time, approximately 60 people, mostly men but including a few women, confessed to the murder. Over the years, the stories surrounding the Short murder became increasingly outrageous. Fiction writers claimed variously that Short was a prostitute, that she was a woman who enticed her assailant, that she wanted to be killed, that her lifestyle made her ideal victim material, that she had participated in pornographic films and that she was pregnant at the time of her murder. None of this was true and no evidence was found to substantiate the claims. The coverage in the press was always sensationalist and often incorrect. Another myth was that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse due to a condition known as Infantile Genitalia. The autopsy report described Short’s reproductive organs as anatomically normal and stated that she was not pregnant.

Joseph A. Dumais, a 29-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, confessed to the murder a few weeks after Short’s body was found. It was later discovered that Dumais was in Fort Dix at the time of the murder and he was cleared of any involvement.Leslie Dillon, a 27-year-old bellhop and aspiring writer began writing from Florida to LAPD psychiatrist Dr J. Paul De River in October 1948. Dillon had formerly lived in Los Angeles and proposed another man, Jeff Conners, as a suspect. It transpired that Conners had been living in Los Angeles around the time of the murder and that Dillon had been in San Francisco and both men were cleared of involvement.One theory was that the perpetrator was a woman and the reason Short’s body had been bisected was to make it easier to move, as the killer was not strong enough to carry it in one piece. One suspect is simply referred to as “Queer Woman Surgeon” in the LAPD case files. Newspaper stories claimed that Short was lesbian or bisexual whilst the district attorney files state that “Short had no use for queers”.Public relations specialist and former professional singer, Janice Knowlton, in her book ‘Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer’, blames her own father, George Knowlton, for the murder. Whilst there is little reliable information on him, Knowlton lived in Los Angeles at the time of the Short murder and died in a motor vehicle accident in 1962. Janice Knowlton claims that through therapy, she regained childhood memories of being forced to watch her father torture, murder and cut up Short’s body. Her book was a flop and she committed suicide with a prescription drug overdose in 2004.

In the early 1980s, actor and crime writer John Gilmore accused Jack Anderson Wilson, an alcoholic drifter also known as Arnold Smith, of the Short murder. In an interview, Wilson apparently revealed details about the murder that only the killer would know, such as a vaginal defect, which would have prevented Short from having sexual intercourse. Wilson was not a suspect until Gilmore brought him to the fore.Norman Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times was accused of involvement in the Short murder by Donald Wolfe in his book ‘The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles’ (2005). Wolfe also mentions Jack Anderson Wilson in the book.Another suspect was Dr Walter Alonzo Bayley, a Los Angeles surgeon, who lived a block away from where Short’s body was found. Whilst he had not personally known Short, his daughter was a friend of Short’s sister Virginia and brother-in-law Adrian and had been a matron of honour at their wedding. Bayley was 67 at the time of the murder and had no known history of violence or criminal activity. He died in January 1948 of degenerative brain disease.Folk singer Woody Guthrie was accused of the murder, due to some sexually explicit letters he had written to a woman he fancied. The woman, disturbed by what he had sent, showed them to her sister, who lived in Los Angeles and contacted the police. Guthrie was cleared of any involvement with the murder.Mary Pacios, a childhood friend of Short’s, blames movie director Orson Welles as he had once performed a magic act where he ‘sawed’ a woman in half. She believed this gave the killer the idea for Short’s murder.There was a speculated link between the Short murder and the Cleveland Torso Murders (also known as the Kingsbury Run Murders) that took place in Cleveland between 1934 and 1938. The Los Angeles Police Department investigated the case in 1947 but discounted any relationship between the two.Crime authors linked the Short murder and the 1945 Chicago murder of Suzanne Degnan, who was dismembered. It transpired that when Short’s body was discovered, William Heirens, also known as the “Lipstick Killer”, had confessed to the Degnan murder and was already in jail.The unsolved status of the Short murder has inspired dozens of books, a video game and even an Australian swing band. Generations of armchair detectives have speculated over who the murderer was. Based on the 1987 novel by James Ellroy, Brian De Palma’s film ‘The Black Dahlia’ starred Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank and Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Short and was released in 2006.

The West's awful Legacy

Rose West’s sentence was later extended to a “whole life” sentence by the Home Secretary, effectively removing any possibility of parole.There remains a widespread belief that Fred and Rose West’s victims numbered far more than the twelve with which they were charged.She refused to accept her fate, and launched appeals in 1996 and 2000, claiming variously that new evidence clearing her had come to light, and then that the huge media interest had prevented her from receiving a fair trial, but both of these appeals were rejected, and she remains incarcerated at Winchester Prison.No 25 Cromwell Street, or the “House of Horrors”, as it was dubbed by the media, was eventually razed to the ground in October 1996, and in its place is a pathway that leads to the town centre.Rose was again the focus of media attention in January 2003, when it was claimed that she was to marry Dave Glover, the bass player of rock band Slade, following a year-long courtship via letters, but Glover pulled out when the media attention became overwhelming.

Prison Life for a triple child murderer

Elsie, the mother of Samantha, Dawn and Paul, took an overdose six months after their murders;“...I tried to commit suicide...I was on such a high dosage of sedation from the doctors to try and get me through this thing...my husband come to me one day and he just said he couldn't cope with it anymore and he was putting in for a divorce.”Elsie Urry, Children’s MotherIn prison, McGreavy becomes one of the country’s most notorious and long serving prisoners. At one time he challenged Ian Brady, the Moors Murderer, to a fight to prove that he was the most notorious of the pair.PREDATOR TO PRISONER TO PREYIn prison the molesters and murderers of children are often persecuted and frequently physically attacked.David McGreavy was no exception.“McGreavy’s time in prison has been very much up and down, and that’s hinged on the extent to which his fellow prisoners are aware of the crimes that he’s carried out. When they have been aware of them, he’s had a rather unpleasant time, being subject to everything from mild threats of violence to full-on serious physical assaults. This has led to him spending much of his time in segregation, or in vulnerable prisoners’ units.“Dr Elizabeth Yardley, CriminologistIn 1975 he is seriously assaulted by fellow prisoners. Three years later he is threatened with violence.In 1991 his cell is fouled by other inmates. Just four days later he goes into closed conditions.In 1994 he is transferred to category D open conditions. But his transfer to Leyhill Prison in South Gloucestershire broke down after press reports meant prisoners learnt of his past crimes.In 1995 several prisoners try to attack him in an open prison. They’re prevented.In 1996 McGreavy is again the victim of a serious assault.In 2006 McGreavy, now 54, prepared for parole. He stayed in a bail hostel in Liverpool. It transpired that he had been allowed to walk around Liverpool unsupervised in preparation for his release from Ford Prison in Arundel, West Sussex. Local papers started publishing his photo. It showed his long locks of hair were long gone. The balding, bespectacled face that stared down the camera lens now looked haunted. McGreavy once again became headline news. He was sent back to prison.“...an interesting theme in the post-Leveson era...someone in the prison service or the police service...or the Home Office, tipped off the press about this, who photographed McGreavy wandering the streets in Liverpool.”Paul Connew, Media Commentator & Ex Editor Sunday MirrorThe Home Office said it was normal procedure to let lifers out temporarily.The idea of his release galvanised the local community. The then MP for Worcester, Mike Foster, called for McGreavy to be barred from ever returning to the city:“These were indescribable acts of brutality that still sicken...My gut instinct is that this man should spend the rest of his life in prison.”“...they'd seen him in an internet café and when I got to hear that I went straight to Sir George Young the MP and spoke to him about it and I said to him, ‘They're supposed to keep me informed of any movement like that of him.’Elsie Urry, Children’s Mother

In April 2007, McGreavy’s latest bid for parole was refused. Elsie was still in disbelief he was even allowed to apply for freedom;“This man took three children’s lives. He should have got the electric chair...If he was released, I’d be waiting outside with a gun.”PRISONER MThen the Parole Board recommended McGreavy for open conditions. Not everyone agreed.In 2009, McGreavy underwent his seventh review hearing. His legal team challenged the then Secretary of State’s refusal to recommend their client be transferred to open prison.McGreavy was told he must remain under closed prison conditions but the judge imposed a ban on naming McGreavy to protect him from other prisoners.He could only be referred to as prisoner M.McGreavy, therefore, joined a notorious set of human beings. Such anonymity is more usually applied to released prisoners such as the murderers of toddler James Bulger. People like Maxine Carr, the former partner of Ian Huntley who killed Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, have been granted lifelong anonymity.THE RIGHT TO LIFEDavid McGreavy’s legal team had used four sections of the Human Rights Act to keep his identity secret:Article 2 - the right to life.Article 3 - the right to protection from ill-treatment.Article 5 - the right to liberty and security.Article 8 - the right to privacy and a family life.Quincy Whitaker, McGreavy’s lawyer, insisted that if fellow prison inmates learned of his identity through the media, there was ‘a serious likelihood of a serious attack’.For some, such an attack would be justice.“He doesn’t deserve human rights, he’s not even human...I think about what he did every minute of every day because he took my life away. I can’t go to family parties any more, I can’t celebrate anything...I can’t and will never move on. For what he did to my three children and me he deserves the same treatment that they got - death.”Elsie Urry, Children’s MotherIn January 2013 McGreavy applied to be transferred to an open prison and was refused. With his anonymity in place the press were unable to report this.“...this order lasted for 4 years. It was challenged in 2013 by a group of media organisations, and the Secretary of State as well, who said, we have principles of open justice. We have freedom of expression of the press...we have the principle of open justice, that justice shouldn’t just be done, but it should be seen to be done.”Dr Elizabeth Yardley, Criminologist

By 2013, McGreavy had been in jail for forty years, twice his original sentence.On 22 May, his anonymity order was lifted. As soon as fellow prisoners knew his identity, his cell was trashed and his bed was urinated on. Human excrement was smeared on his walls.McGreavy currently lives in closed conditions in a vulnerable prisoners’ unit:“We still don’t know why he committed those murders and so, for me, my feelings towards McGreavy are; this is a man who would still pose a risk to other children should he be released back into the community. We know of no reason why he behaved in this way. And because we know of no reason as to why he behaved in that way, it would be impossible to treat him, to change his behaviour. I don't know if he's expressed remorse, I don't know if he now realises the gravity of the offences that he committed. I wouldn’t want to be part of the process that ever took the risk of three other children dying.”Professor David Wilson, CriminologistIn failing to explain his motives for his actions publicly, and in trying to remain anonymous, McGreavy had probably ensured he would indeed die in jail.However, there may come a time when some believe he has served his time. And then, like other notorious child killers like Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, McGreavy will be given anonymity:“...we may never know what happens next and what the future holds for the Monster of Worcester...David McGreavy.”Fred Dinenage

"He studied to be a serial killer"

'When you have somebody who wasn’t insane, that’s much more worrying because we could all do that.' Mike Berry, Forensic Psychologist and Police Profiler of Colin Ireland.

British author Anna Gekoski, who specialises in British sexual predators, contacted Ireland directly and in correspondence, put forward numerous questions, which Ireland answered, apparently truthfully. What Ireland really wanted was recognition. Now classed as a serial killer, he was ready for his story to be known. His communication with Anna was fascinating for a number of reasons. Unlike serial killers like Myra Hindley, Ireland wasn’t after any understanding in the hope of reducing his sentence. And because he so self consciously became a serial killer, he was able to calculatedly employ counter measures to avoid detection. 

THE WATCHDOG BITING THE HANDLER

As Ireland had studied serial killers and specifically read ex-FBI Agent Robert Ressler’s book ‘Whoever Fights Monsters’, some suggested such books should be removed. Ressler argued that if a person was going to commit murder, his book could not be blamed. Ireland himself said that the TV crime series, ‘The Bill’ had given him so many of his ideas and police evasion methods that it should be banned.

One of the very few positives to emerge from the Colin Ireland case was a fundamental change in the approach of the police to investigating the gay community.

'The fact that we now have LGBT liaison officers, the fact that anti-gay hate crime is actually treated seriously by the police... We see ourselves more as citizens and we expect to be treated as citizens by the police in a way that we didn’t before.' Paul Burston, Author.

OTHER KILLINGS?

It is common for serial killers to withhold all of their murders from the police. It is believed the lack of disclosure allows them some semblance of control even when physically imprisoned.

And the police did look at one particular case they believed might have been Ireland’s work but which was never claimed by him.

In January 1993, a gay man living alone in South London had been found dead in his home. He had been partially eaten by his dogs.

But it is likely this will never be properly attributed to the ‘gay slayer.’

For Colin Ireland, the man who had tortured five other human beings in their last moments, and had suffocated them all to death, died of natural causes in February 2012. He was 57 years old.

"Sicko"

"He was weedy and needy. He was the ultimate epitome of the banality of evil...He was like a nightmarish version of a wannabe X Factor contestant, desperate to grab the attention of the British public...Stephen Griffiths saw murder as his passport to fame."- David WilsonTHE LAWMany, including Wilson, believe the case again highlights the need for reform of Britain’s laws where prostitution is not in itself illegal, but working in a brothel is. So instead of being able to operate in a controlled environment, vulnerable women are forced to work alone on the streets, making them easier targets for the very worst elements in society. It is claimed that in Holland, where prostitution has been decriminalised, there has never been a case of a serial killer targeting them, precisely because they work in the open, and together.Even the women’s groups, who oppose such measures as decriminalisation (believing they legitimise the sexual abuse of women), agree that the present situation is the worst of all worlds.

THE FAMILIESOn 4 August 2010, the remains of Shelley Armitage are laid to rest. So little of her is recovered, a child’s coffin, measuring just two and a half feet, is used."My daughter’s pieces are still missing. What I have got of my daughter, I can’t bury my daughter."- Daryl Armitage, father of Shelley ArmitageThe body of Susan Rushworth can’t be buried as it has never been found."As a family, we have not been able to put our daughter to rest...so we want to appeal to this man to tell us what he has done with Susan."- Christine Thompson, mother of Susan Rushworth"People say oh it gets easier with time. I’m not quite convinced that I believe that."- Nicky Blamires, mother of Suzanne BlamiresGriffiths has refused to reveal any further details about the murders.He has never expressed any remorse for taking away three daughters from their families.Now in Wakefield Prison, Griffiths has repeatedly self-harmed, including a ten month hunger strike, and attempted suicide. He is 42 when he makes his sixth attempt. However, none of this should be seen as the actions of a repentant man who is in some way overcome by guilt. They are the only options left to a narcissist who craves attention and wants his name repeated in the papers. And his suicide bids are indeed duly reported and printed by the press.

Will We ever find a motive?

No one will truly know what drove Blackwell to murder his parents but, thanks to his case, Narcissistic Personality Disorder is now considered under British law to be a serious mitigating circumstance in murder cases.Little is known about NPD. Psychiatrists do not know what causes it and have very little idea of how to treat it. All they can really do is diagnose it.Blackwell had no evidence of a troubled background, which confused most people trying to find motives for his heinous and seemingly unprovoked actions. For the most part, there was an overwhelming sense of sadness felt for the entire Blackwell family and their dismal fate.

“(Susan) is my unforgettable girl, a special baby...when she was born she had the (umbilical) cord round her neck three or four times...I believe that that baby in heaven chooses to come to you. And she chose me knowing what was going to happen to her eventually.”Susan’s mother, Muriel Blatchford“Gary’s death has destroyed my family.”Gary’s mother, Beryl HanlonOn 28 March 2000, Ronald Jebson was charged with the murders of Susan Blatchford and Gary Hanlon at Brent Magistrates Court.On 9 May at the Old Bailey, the 61-year-old white haired and bearded Jebson pleaded guilty. His defence said in mitigation that Jebson was on drink and drugs at the time of the offences. They added that Jebson had now confessed because he didn’t want to take his crimes to his grave.Detective Donnelly believes that Jebson didn’t confess to clear his conscience. He did it to build his status in prison. He called him a ‘highly dangerous, fixated, sadistic paedophile’ and added;“If he got out, he could never be trusted, I believe he would kill.”Jebson received two life sentences. As with his confession, he showed no emotion on receiving his sentence.

Thirty years after he destroyed their lives, Gary and Susan’s relatives saw some sort of justice.The mothers of his victims, Beryl, 66, and Muriel 79, implored the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, to make sure Jebson dies in jail. They hoped that because Straw had already ensured this with the child-killing Myra Hindley, he might do the same for them.Also present in court was the now retired Inspector Read. He felt vindicated for his decades of suspicion. He kissed Gary’s mother on the cheek and said;“We was right wasn’t we Beryl”Jebson, a paedophile serial killer, had wrecked the lives of at least half a dozen families.To this day, when there is a ring on the doorbell or from the phone, just for a moment, Beryl wonders if it is her Gary?“I’ve forgiven him for what he’s done to me, because when he passes life, he’ll have a lot more than me to contend with...but I judge myself. I can’t help it.If I could take my whole insides out, give them a damn good wash, and put them back, I’d be fine, but I can’t do that.”Michaela OdwellIt is likely that Jebson will die behind bars.Some believe he has other crimes, including killings, for which he should confess.

END NOTEPredators like Jebson are mercifully exceptional. The press are not alone in focusing a lot of attention on the relatively rare phenomenon of ‘stranger-danger.’In fact, sadly, the majority of child killing and abuse is perpetrated by the children’s parents or immediate circle.The age group of children most likely to be murdered is below the age of twelve months.

Unlikely he will ever be free

Bob Meade and others believe that Roberts will never change. If he’s released, he’ll reoffend.“He deserves to stay in prison. He spent far too long out of prison. As far as I’m concerned he should have gone to prison 20 years ago.”Sarah Mustoe, forensic investigator“There was no need to beat them black and blue, to break their jaws, to do the terrible things that he did to them. It was just...dreadful, evil violence.”Brian Bowden-Brown, Detective Chief InspectorIn November 2012 Roberts had his sentence reduced to twenty five years on appeal.He will be eligible for parole in 2037.The judge said, however, release was unlikely.Another judge has said that locking up some criminals for the rest of their lives is not in breach of their human rights.

Justice for the victims?

Rather than going to prison, Allitt was incarcerated at Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottingham, a high-security facility mainly housing individuals detained under the Mental Health Act. As an inmate at Rampton, she began her attention seeking behaviour again, ingesting ground glass and pouring boiling water on her hand.

Allitt subsequently admitted to three of the murders for which she was charged, as well as six of the assaults. The appalling nature of her crimes placed her on the Home Office list of criminals who will never be eligible for parole.

There have been accusations, most notably by Chris Taylor, father of baby Liam, Allitt’s first victim, that Rampton Secure Hospital is more like a Butlin’s holiday camp than a prison. The facility, which has some 1400 staff to deal with around 400 inmates, costs taxpayers around £2000 per week, per inmate, to administer. In 2001 there were reports that Allitt was to marry fellow inmate, Mark Heggie, although she is currently still single.

Allitt was the subject of a 'Mirror' newspaper enquiry in May 2005, when it was revealed that she had received over £25,000 in State benefits since her incarceration in 1993. In August 2006, Allitt applied for a review of her sentence which led the Probation Service to contact victims' families about the process. The review remains pending.

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filling the power vaccum

With the Brummagems away in jail, the Sabini’s stepped up their control with a clever power play. In August 1921, Walter Beresford became the first President of the Racecourse Bookmakers and Backers Protection Association. One of the alleged motivations for setting up the association was that a bookmaker had been forced at gunpoint to pay protection. Until then, the gangs had threatened the bookies livelihoods. Now, they were threatening their lives. With the racing authorities and police unable to guarantee safety and only occasionally able to ensure convictions, the Association turned to the Sabini gang to provide protection. The association’s vice president was a noted criminal, ‘the Jewish Al Capone’. And one of the salaried stewards employed was none other than Darby Sabini.When many of the Brummagems were released from jail, the racetracks again descended into violence. During 1922, there was a series of razor attacks and slashings. Then the shootings started.

4 vintage gangsters from British history

One of the most notorious gangs associated with racecourse betting was The Brummagem Boys, who operated in the 1910s to the 1930s

It’s said that Sabini imported some Sicilian mafia to finish the gang war. Eventually, bloodied and beaten, the Brummagems largely withdrew from the South.Darby Sabini wasn’t able to enjoy his victory for long. His own gang members started turning on each other, desperate for a bigger share of the takings. Even Darby’s gold teeth were broken at one point.In 1925 the Home Secretary declared that something had to be done to break the gangs hold on the racetracks. Under Chief Inspector Frederick ‘Nutty’ Sharpe the Flying Squad began to target more and more race meetings. But the original Squad had just 12 detectives. Each had to be almost recklessly brave to do their job. On one occasion, about forty of some of the worse thugs from the Sabini gang surged onto a racetrack. Detective Fred Sharp walked on to the course and simply said ‘Clear off’. When one gang member resisted, Sharp hit him. The rest fled. But the Flying Squad couldn’t be everywhere.

THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

When in 1927, a racecourse related riot broke out outside Duke of Wellington, eight people were killed. The government focused even more on the gangs. With so much attention on the racecourses, the gangs started to diversify into night clubs and casinos.The next year, Kimber shot into a Sabini club and then left. Sources are unclear but it seems he fled, along with his old London ally, ‘Wag’ McDonald to America.Once in the US, Wag McDonald is said to have found work as a bodyguard to a fellow Londoner, the silent film star and comedian, Charlie Chaplin.In 1932 The National Bookmaker’s Protection Association was set up to make pitch allocation fairer and to eradicate the intimidation of bookmakers. Only a bookmaker approved by the BPA locally and the Jockey Club could now have a pitch. That pitch could not be sold or passed on. A key profit stream of the racecourse gangs had been stopped.The now ageing Brummagems were now without their leader and their usual funding. They weren’t even involved in the last great racecourse war at Lewes racecourse on 8 June 1936. It was this bloody battle that inspired Graham Greene to write ‘Brighton Rock’.In the end, the so called racecourse wars were finally finished off by the global conflict of the Second World War. Darby Sarbini, despite being unable to speak Italian, was placed into an internment camp.

As to the fate of Billy Kimber, no one is certain.

Loss of appetite

According to a report in October 2007, by German newspaper Bild-Zeitung, Meiwes was helping investigators in the analysis of two suspected cannibal murders from 1998 and 2000, in which two young boys were found horribly mutilated, possibly by the same murderer.Upon entering prison Meiwes became a vegetarian, worked in the prison library and joined a prisoners' group which stands for Green Party politics.Meiwes has also rejected substantial offers from film companies and publishers to bring his story to the big screen and has instead assigned the global rights to his story to Stampf’s Hamburg-based company, Stampfwerk, for no charge, on the condition it gives an accurate account of his case.

Chance of Freedom

In 2002, Hutchinson could have been free.By then, he would have served the 18 years the original judge gave him.And if the Parole Board had ruled him remorseful and no longer a threat, Hutchinson could now be free to walk the streets.It was only the intervention of the then Home Secretary that stopped this. By being given a whole life tariff, Hutchinson joined nearly 50 prisoners who can never be released unless the Justice Secretary decides to on compassionate grounds.NO REASON AT ALLIn 2007 the Court of Appeal kicked out Hutchinson’s domestic challenge to whole life tariffs. They rejected his appeal under the Human Rights Act and said there was ‘no reason at all’ to depart from it.INHUMAN AND DEGRADINGIn July 2013 European judges ruled that whole-life tariffs breached human rights. The Strasbourg court ruled that to be jailed without the possibility of parole was ‘inhuman and degrading.’The British government could not appeal their ruling:“To be told this breaches human rights is absurd...What about the rights of the victims and their families.”Chris Grayling, Justice Secretary

FEAR AND DISTRESSOn 21 August 2013 the convicted triple murderer and multiple rapist Arthur Hutchinson became the first ‘lifer’ to challenge his whole-life tariff under the new ruling.“You couldn’t get a better example of a case where life should mean life.”-Dominic Raab, MPThe 73-year-old Hutchinson was again in the headlines and attracting the attention he so desperately craved. This was deeply upsetting to the familes of his victims.In an attempt to put their past behind them the surviving members of the family left the area. On hearing of Hutchinson’s appeal, a spokesperson for them said;“Whenever even the name Arthur Hutchinson rears its ugly head, it does nothing but create fear and distress to the victims of this heinous crime...Let the Human Rights judiciary members be thrust into our position for just a day and maybe they would understand this.”However, some, like Janet Crowe, of the Penal Reform Trust believe that prisoners need the hope of reform:“If a prisoner has no hope and they feel they have nothing to lose...it may make them far more dangerous to work with inside the prison.”If Hutchinson was to be successful, others like Ian Brady could challenge their whole-life terms. Hutchinson’s victims are not alone in believing Hutchinson must die in prison:“He should be on the list and he should STAY on the list.”-Diane Simpson, Behavioural Psychologist

"I'm one who seriously hates human life"

When it was discovered that her first victim, Richard Mallory, had served a 10-year prison sentence for sexual violence, there was speculation that Wuornos would be offered a retrial, on the basis that the jury might have viewed her self-defence motive more sympathetically, had this been known at the time, but no new trial was ever forthcoming.Wuornos was consistently in favour of execution as soon as possible, and was eventually granted permission to fire her appeal lawyers, by the Florida Supreme Court in April 2001, in order that her execution could proceed. In her supporting correspondence to the Supreme Court, she claimed that: “I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again”, and psychiatrists who examined her accepted that she was fully aware of the impact of her decision to progress her execution. Given the political pressure against the death penalty, at the time, in the wake of a number of false convictions, she might well have languished in prison indefinitely, had she not ‘volunteered’ for execution in the manner in which she did.

Her final media interview was with British reporter Nick Broomfield, days before her execution. He was convinced that she had lost her mind completely. Her initial sentence of execution, handed down by Judge Blount, was by electrocution. Despite this, Wuornos was given the choice of method, and she chose death by lethal injection, preferring this to the electric chair.On 9 October 2002, the date of her execution, she declined her right to a final meal of her choice. Her final words were reported to have been: “I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock and I'll be back like Independence Day with Jesus, June 6, like the movie, big mother-ship and all. I'll be back.”The sentence was carried out at 9:47 a.m., and she became only the tenth woman in the United States to be executed, since capital punishment had been reinstated in 1976. Her remains were cremated, and her ashes were buried in her hometown of Rochester, Michigan. In 2003 actress Charlize Theron won the Best Actress Academy award for her portrayal of Wuornos in the film ‘Monster’.

With her gang largely gone, the ageing Alice Diamond focused on teaching the next generation of shoplifters. She passed on her skills to Shirley Pitts. Diamond hoped that Shirley would take her crown and become a new Queen of a new gang of Forty Thieves. And under Diamond’s tutelage, Shirley was able to largely replicate her success during the 1950s.Diamond herself went from being a ‘Queen’ to a broken down, crippled old lady. All her life she had fought against the role prescribed to her by society. She wasn’t going to be a mother or a wife. But in the end, she became a carer to her sister who was dying from Multiple Sclerosis. It exhausted her. And then, in a cruel twist of fate for a shoplifting legend, Diamond lost the use of her arms. She died in Lambeth in around 1952.QUEEN OF THE SHOPLIFTERS Her skills, however, lived on in the work of Shirley Pitts. Pitts started off by playing the part of an innocent schoolgirl. Dressed in the perfect private school uniform, the pretty and quiet girl would let her ‘mother’ and ‘aunt’ try on dresses against her. With the hanger and outfit concealing her hands, Pitts would stuff merchandise into her school bag.“I used to love Harrods' fur department. I think it was me hoisting, not the vegetarians, that led to it being closed down." Shirley PittsA great actress and a great leader, Pitts would go onto inherit Diamond’s title and be dubbed by the newspapers, the ‘Queen of the Shoplifters’. She even brought some new techniques to the shoplifting manual. She used tin foil to stop the new security buzzers installed at the entrance/exit of shops. To avoid being recognised like Diamond was she donned over 30 wigs. Once, she posed as a mannequin in a shop window to escape store detectives. And rather than be limited like Diamond to London and England, Pitts went European and shoplifted from Geneva to Berlin.The seven year old who had started out nicking milk bottles from doorsteps, spent the sixties drinking champagne with the Krays. She enjoyed the same criminal connections as Diamond - her father died in jail and her brother was a bank robber - so she was able to fence all her gear easily through the underworld.Her other sidelines included fraud, bank robbery and an escort business specialising in S&M prostitutes. When she was inevitably jailed, despite being pregnant, she broke out. She didn’t want her first child to be born in prison.When in 1992, Shirley Pitts, mother of seven, died from cancer, she was broke. But the royalty of the criminal underworld turned out in full to mark the 57 year olds passing. And fittingly, she was buried in a £5,000 frock said to be stolen from Harrods. Numerous Daimler cars drove her wreaths and floral tribute. And the flowers that went by on the side of the hearse spelt out her catchphrase:“GONE SHOPPING”

Whilst still in prison, Leeson wrote an autobiography ‘Rogue Trader’ (1996) that detailed his acts, published by Little Brown and Company, in Boston. It was later made into a film of the same name, released in 1999, starring Ewan McGregor and Anna Friel. In the autobiography, Leeson placed much of the blame for his crimes on Baring bank’s own deficient internal auditing and risk management practices. There were many observers who agreed with this view.When diagnosed with colon cancer, with dire forecasts, Leeson was released from prison in 1999. He returned to the UK where he underwent chemotherapy, losing both his hair and a great deal of weight. He was a shadow of his former self and his lavish lifestyle had certainly evaporated. He had no home and no work but friends and family supported him during his recovery period.Always the survivor, Leeson overcame his illness and went on to make money from his bad experiences. He was paid a considerable fee for his book to be serialised in The Mail newspaper. In 2001 he began studying for a Psychology degree at Middlesex University, which he completed.Describing himself as one of Britain’s most sought-after speakers, Leeson is a regular guest on the after-dinner speaking circuit. He presents talks to companies on Risk Management and does conference speaking, based on his experiences. He says: “With cancer as with other problems, it’s amazing how adaptable human beings are, and you will be able to cope provided you keep a strong frame of mind.”In April 2005, Leeson was appointed Commercial Manager of Galway United Football Club and was made General Manager in November 2005. Following the success of his autobiography, Leeson co-authored ‘Back from the Brink: Coping with Stress’ with British psychologist Ivan Tyrrell. Published by Virgin Books and released on 23 June 2005, the book picks up the story where the first left off, including in-depth conversations with Tyrrell.Leeson now lives in Barna, County Galway in the west of Ireland with his second wife, Leona Tormay, an Irish beautician and their three children – Leona’s son and daughter from her first marriage and their own son, born in 2004. Leeson still deals on the stock market but uses his own money.

When the jury were informed of his previous conviction, and his release as a “cured” mental patient only months before the crimes took place, they recommended an urgent review of the law regarding the public sale of poisons.The Home Secretary also announced an immediate review of the control, treatment, assessment and release of mentally unstable prisoners, despite the fact that Young had been regarded as legally sane during his trial. The Aarvold Report, published in January 1973, led to the reform of the way these prisoners were monitored upon release, and resulted in the creation of the Advisory Board for Restricted Patients.When asked whether he felt any remorse over his sadistic killings, he is said to have replied: “What I feel is the emptiness of my soul.”Young was incarcerated at the maximum-security Parkhurst prison, on the Isle of Wight, the home of Britain’s most serious criminals, usually reserved for those with severe mental conditions. Here he befriended Moors Murderer, Ian Brady, who became infatuated with the 24-year-old Young, although the attraction was not reciprocated. Brady described Young as genuinely asexual, excited only by power, clinical experimentation, observation and death. They spent considerable time together, playing chess and bonding over their fascination with Nazi Germany; Young regularly sported a Hitler moustache.Young was thrilled when a waxwork of himself was added to the Madame Tussaud’s ‘Chamber of Horrors’, alongside his boyhood hero, Dr. Crippen.Young died in his cell at Parkhurst on 1 August 1990, aged 42. The official cause of death was heart failure, although there remains conjecture that fellow inmates, who, with the exception of Brady, were always extremely wary of Young, may have poisoned him or, alternately, that he grew tired of prison life and poisoned himself, in one final gesture of control.Young’s worldwide notoriety brought the effectiveness of thallium as a deadly poison into focus for the first time: it was used extensively as a coating on US missiles fired during the first Gulf War, to devastating effect.In 1995, a black comedy about Young’s life, entitled ‘The Young Poisoner's Handbook’ was released in cinemas.In November 2005, a 16-year old Japanese schoolgirl was arrested for poisoning her mother with thallium. She claimed to be fascinated by Young, having seen the 1995 film, and kept an online blog, similar to Young’s diary, recording dosage and reactions.

When his defence team prepared to appeal the sentence on his behalf, Gilmore fired them: he wanted to die. There was huge media interest in what was to be the first U.S. execution in 10 years. Although only outlawed for 4 years, there were no executions for a considerable period before the 1972 ruling, when all US states were ordered to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.Despite Gilmore resigning himself to his fate, and accepting his punishment, protestors were determined to prevent the return of capital punishment, and a stay of execution was granted despite Gilmore’s protests; the civil liberties lobbies in the United States simply had too much political power to be ignored.The media interest enabled Gilmore to sell the rights to his story for $50,000, which was distributed amongst his relatives. He also tried to commit suicide on 16th November, in collusion with his girlfriend, Nicole, but was unsuccessful.His execution date was rescheduled for 6th December 1976, but was again delayed, this time by the intervention of his mother, who insisted that he was incapable of acting in his own best interests: he had been on hunger strike since the foiled suicide attempt had separated him from Nicole.Gilmore wrote his mother a letter, which was published widely in the press, urging her to allow the law to takes its course, and he ended his hunger strike when the stay of execution was overturned. When he found out that it would be at least another month before the sentence could be carried out, he again tried to commit suicide, failing again.Finally, his execution was scheduled for 17th January 1977, and the media interest was heightened even further. The night before his execution, Gilmore was even contacted by Johnny Cash, who sang to him over the phone, while friends and family, who had been allowed special access, surrounded him.The likelihood of the execution proceeding seemed uncertain right up until the morning of the 17th January, when the U.S. Supreme Court finally decided that it would proceed as planned.At 8:00 a.m. Gilmore was strapped into a chair in front of a wall of sand bags, with a black hood over his head. A paper target was placed over his heart to help the volunteer firing squad hit their target. Gilmore’s last words were “Let’s do it”, and the shots marked the instant when capital punishment was reinstated in the United States.At Gilmore’s request his corneas were harvested for organ donation, and his remains were then cremated, and distributed in three designated areas of Utah.

Volz’s defence team immediately appealed his conviction. Several members of the American government investigated the case and made appeals on Volz’s behalf and the Free Eric Volz movement continued to advocate for his release in the United States. On 17 December 2007 a three-judge panel overturned Volz’s conviction and set him free. Despite the ruling, some in the Nicaraguan judiciary seemed determined to keep Volz in prison. The prosecution tried to appeal the decision and the trial judge, Ivette Turuno Blanco, who had to sign the papers releasing him, did not come to work on the afternoon she was supposed to perform the task or for several days thereafter. Eventually, Volz’s mother appealed to the courts to free her son and an appeals court signed the release papers. On 21 December 2007, after over a year in jail, Volz was freed.Many Nicaraguans were still very much against Volz and had been suggesting he had only been released because of US government pressure. Fearing vigilante justice and reportedly suffering mentally and physically from his year in jail, Volz left Nicaragua the afternoon he was released from prison.

Time Magazine referred to the case as the social-media trial of the century. CNN and NBC set up two-storey air-conditioned structures outside the court building. Anthony had posted the following message on MySpace on 7 July 2008: “What is given can be taken away. Everyone lies, everyone dies.” Time Magazine referred to the Twitter account NinthCircuitFL as the most trustworthy, giving live feedback to ardent followers. Posts on Facebook came in too fast to be counted.

One newspaper predicted the trial would cost more than that of OJ Simpson. Another headline read: 'Monster Mom partying four days after tot dies'. People fought with each other outside the courtroom to gain access to one of the fifty seats allocated for the public. More than five hundred people waited outside the courtroom for the verdict and a female news anchor was so upset when she had to read the verdict that her colleagues had to assist her.

Members of the jury later indicated that lack of evidence was the reason for the verdict.

Besides the civil law suit of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzales, Anthony is facing suits from the Texas EquuSearch who assisted in the search for Caylee. A Florida judge also ruled that she pay almost $ 250 000.00 to law enforcement agencies for investigation costs.

Law makers in four states have begun drafting legislation enforcing parents or guardians to inform authorities of a child’s disappearance within a specific timeline. This law is dubbed Caylee’s Law.

Some of the letters Anthony wrote when she was incarcerated have been released. In one she writes: 'I had a dream not too long ago that I was pregnant. It was like having Cays all over again.'

Despite the severe conditions at Tihar, Sobhraj managed to lead a leisurely prison life, bribing, threatening and blackmailing officials to get whatever he wanted. He enjoyed good wine, gourmet food, had access to a television, a typewriter, a fridge, a large library and even drugs, with fellow inmates apparently nicknaming him ‘Sir Sobhraj’.

Sobhraj kept prison officials in fear of him by threatening to file a petition against them in the Delhi High Court for even the smallest of issues. He banded together with fellow criminals, Vipin Jaggi and Sunil Batra, arrested for Delhi’s first big bank robbery in 1973. The group intimidated other inmates and often encouraged them to file petitions against prison officials. Sobhraj behaved as if he owned the place and had the entire run of Tihar prison. It is alleged that he could even be found on occasion having tea with prison superintendent.

In 1977 Thailand issued a 20-year arrest warrant for Sobhraj, for crimes committed on Thai soil. Leclerc maintained her innocence but was found guilty of drugging the French post-graduate students. She was later paroled and returned to Canada where she developed ovarian cancer. Vehemently declaring her innocence and loyal to Sobhraj until the end, she died in April 1984.

Sobhraj began to worry about the fact that he had been given a 12-year sentence in India, but upon his release, he still faced the 20-year Thai arrest warrant. As this would involve extradition to Thailand and almost certainly execution, Sobhraj formed new plans to escape from Tihar jail. He did this in order to be caught and sent back to jail in India, to wait for the warrant to fall under the Thailand statue of limitations and expire.

In 1986, Sobhraj’s tenth year in Tihar prison, he hatched his escape plan and had a number of people helping him. Among the 23 conspirators relating to Sobhraj‘s jailbreak were Rajinder Sethia, an infamous charlatan and Raju Bhatnagar, facing a number of charges for murder and kidnap for ransom.

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The 16th March 1986 was a carefully chosen date for Sobhraj’s escape. It was a Sunday, with only a skeleton staff on duty between one and three in the afternoon. In celebration of his impending birthday, Sobhraj ordered sweets for the prison staff that guarded the gates. He had drugged the sweets and when the guards collapsed, he simply took their keys and let himself out. Superintendent B L Vij, deputy superintendent V D Pushkarna and a number of other prison officials in charge of Jail 3, Tihar, were suspended for dereliction of duty. Sobhraj had even worked his charm on a lady advocate, who agreed to join him in Goa after his escape from prison. However, the police arrested her before she could do so.

Three weeks after his escape, Sobhraj was tracked down and arrested by inspector Madhukar Zende, of the Bombay police, in Goa on 6 April 1986 and taken back to New Delhi. Jailbreak, with a potential 10-year maximum sentence, was added to the charges against Sobhraj, just as he had hoped. Maximum security was finally imposed and Sobhraj was kept handcuffed and fettered at Tihar, in an isolated cell and not allowed to mix with other inmates.

As the years passed, this tight security was somewhat lessened and Sobhraj was allowed to fraternise with others. He began befriending Western journalists who were desperate to get his story and who would visit him in jail. Sobhraj was selling his interviews to the media for as much as £2,500 and spoke openly of the murders, whilst never actually admitting to them. He maintained that his actions were purely in protest against Western imperialism in Asia.

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Richard Neville from OZ magazine reported Sobhraj as saying, “If I have ever killed, or have ordered killings, then it is purely for reasons of business, just a job, like a general in the army.”

More than 20 years after he was first jailed for murder, Sobhraj was released on bail from Tihar prison on 17th February 1997, at age 52, pending a court hearing to decide what to do with him. The New Delhi chief metropolitan magistrate ordered Sobhraj’s bail conditions require him to provide two personal bonds and sureties, worth Rs20,000 and Rs10,000 respectively. He turned for help to an old cellmate, Ranbir Singh Rathore, who, along with his wife, Swaran, provided the bail.

The 20-year extradition warrant from Thailand had expired and Sobhraj was not in possession of legal travel and identity documents. This issue had to be resolved at a court hearing before he could be deported anywhere. Fearing he may go on the run again, authorities kept Sobhraj in custody at a police station during this time.

Sobhraj was represented by lawyer, Jacques Verges at the court hearing. The Indian government decided to deport Sobhraj to France, as he had always claimed French nationality, having been born in Vietnam when it was under French rule. The government also withdraw all pending cases against him, taking this decision, as they believed his further stay in India might have created law and order problems.

New Delhi additional sessions Judge Y S Jonwal finally allowed the public prosecutor to withdraw the remaining 1986 jailbreak case against Sobhraj, as he had already served more than twice the maximum 10-year sentence. The French Embassy in New Delhi issued Sobhraj with a travel permit and Indian authorities received the order of his expulsion from the country.

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On 8 April 1997, two days after his 53rd birthday, Sobhraj was deported to France accompanied by two officials of the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. Sobhraj had become quite a media celebrity and the press crowded into Charles De Gaulle airport, awaiting his arrival. Sobhraj was detained at the airport for a number of hours, waiting for the media mob to leave.

Keeping in telephonic contact with his lawyer, Sobhraj settled in the suburbs of Paris to enjoy his retirement. Loving the attention and behaving like a celebrity, he hired an agent and began charging thousands for personal interviews and photographs. He entered a £7 million deal for an Indian film based on his life.

In 2003, Sobhraj surprisingly returned to Nepal, where he had committed crimes for which he had not yet been acquitted. This journey was to be his downfall, as a journalist saw him in the streets of Kathmandu on 17 September and reported it to local police. Sobhraj was arrested on 19 September 2003 at the Royal Casino in Kathmandu’s five-star Yak and Yeti Hotel.

On 20 August 2004, in the Kathmandu District Court, Sobhraj was found guilty of the 1975 murders of Laurent Carriere and Connie Bronzich and sentenced to life imprisonment. A substantial portion of the evidence in this case was provided by Interpol and Dutch investigator, Knippenberg, who had been collecting documentary evidence against Sobhraj for almost 30 years.

In late September 2004, Sobhraj’s long-suffering wife, Chantal, filed a case against the French government before the European Court of Human Rights for refusing to provide Sobhraj with any assistance. In 2005, Kathmandu’s Court of Appeals confirmed Sobhraj’s conviction. It is entirely unclear as to why Sobhraj would choose to return to Nepal when he had settled quite comfortably in France but there are some who claim it was ultimate arrogance combined with his constant need for attention that drove him to it.

Whilst latterly believed to be a psychopath, Sobhraj’s motives for murder were dissimilar from most other serial killers. He seemed not to be driven by any deep-seated violent impulses or twisted sexual fantasies, but rather by the need to find a ready source of finance for his outlandish lifestyle. In some people’s eyes, this only served to make him all the more chilling.

Thus ended the manhunt for one of the most famous cultural and political icons of his time, and Einhorn was finally brought to justice for the crime he had committed. However, the debate still rages on whether or not he should have been brought to trial in the first place. The arguments put forward by his lawyers, Ted Simon and Norris Geldman, at the French extradition hearings were impeccably sound, based upon trite principles of a just legal system that one should always have the right to represent and defend oneself, and that the presumption of innocence must always be preserved.The American reaction to those arguments, while understandable, was vitriolic and at times jingoistic. It was not uncommon to hear the sentiment, “Why are the French interfering in a matter that concerns an American suspect committing a crime against an American citizen, on American soil?”, conveniently ignoring the terms of the extradition treaty between the United States and France, stating that local law must be applied in extradition matters.Rather more persuasive are the arguments that the trial in absentia had to be conducted by 1993 because many of the material character witnesses, such as Maddux’s parents, were dying or getting old. Fred Maddux killed himself in 1988 and Elizabeth Maddux died of emphysema in 1990. The emotional arguments focusing on the heinous character of Einhorn, the wonderful or youthful attributes of the victim, or the grisly nature of the crime, while again understandable, are beside the point.The point, and also the principle at stake, is that justice is as much in the process as it is in the final result. A full-scale trial in absentia complete with verdict and sentence offends the principles of observance of due process. These principles may have protected Ira Einhorn in this case, at least temporarily, but they also protect an innocent person every day from the excesses of government. A person cannot be arbitrarily sentenced to punishment without having the chance to enter a defence. It obviously need not be stated that proof of absence is not proof of guilt, not by a long measure.The Einhorn case saw the clash across the Atlantic of two differing viewpoints on law. The resulting politicisation saw Einhorn alternately reviled as a disgusting and cold-blooded murderer and celebrated as a human rights cause. In the end, while it appears that Einhorn got his just deserts and that justice for Holly Maddux was finally achieved, it also appears that human rights and the rule of law suffered a blow and that emotion and politics triumphed over the law.

There were several people who believed that Georges could have been caught sooner and that some of his horrendous crimes could have thus been avoided. During the police investigation, officers had failed to match DNA results for several months and at least one murder was committed whilst Georges was on day release from prison.The intense focus on the case did have a positive effect in that this was the first case of using DNA evidence to convict a criminal in France. After the Georges case, French Minister of Justice, Elisabeth Guigou, established the precedent of storing the DNA of all sex offenders in a national register.Georges is still a suspect in a few other murders previously considered part of the Bastille series. It is believed that he will never be released from prison, as psychiatrists have described Georges as a narcissistic psychopath and warned that his urge to kill could not be cured. There are some who believe he will commit suicide whilst in prison, as he was reported as saying, “You can rest assured, I know that I will never leave prison but I can assure you that I will never serve my sentence. …The sentence that you are going to impose on me is nothing, I will inflict a sentence upon myself.”

The woman in the floppy hat, Helena Stoeckley died in 1982 from liver failure. What MacDonald’s lawyer also didn’t know at the time of the trial was that she had contacted the FBI and informed them that she was involved in the MacDonald killings. She had even confessed to Prosecutor Brian Murtagh just before the trial, but this had been withheld from the defence team.Additionally, an Army polygraph expert confirmed that Helena said she was present at the crime scene and had explained that her companions chose to punish MacDonald for refusing to give out methadone to drug addicted soldiers. It is this admission that adds considerable weight to speculation about what really happened that night.In a highly contentious book ‘Fatal Vision’, written about the case, the author Joe McGinnis suggested that the reason why MacDonald, a pillar of the community and family man killed his family, was due to him developing psychosis after taking amphetamines, namely slimming pills.A few years later MacDonald, feeling heavily betrayed by the author who benefited from large sales and a movie deal, instigated a civil suit against him for breach of contract. The original suit seeking up to $15m in damages was finally settled when McGinnis agreed to pay just over $325,000. Most of this went to pay MacDonald’s legal fees.An alternative theory on the killings emerged that supported the defence’s case that MacDonald was innocent of the brutal murders of his family. It was one based on the fact that during the late 60s drug addicted soldiers were becoming a problem together with a local ‘hippy’ community, in the area where the MacDonald worked.New Army policies required physicians to report soldiers who were using drugs and MacDonald was known for his unsympathetic attitude towards drug users.Many addicts felt threatened by these new enforcements. Helena Stoeckley’s admissions that she and her drug addicted friends were aware of MacDonald’s endeavours to make accessing drugs more difficult, add credence to the suspect’s original claims that he was attacked by several people, one of them including a woman fitting Stoeckley’s description.One of Stoeckley’s friends, and the man she implicated in the killings was Greg Mitchell, a drug addicted teenage soldier who served in Vietnam. Stoeckley claimed that Mitchell targeted MacDonald and killed his wife Colette. However, Mitchell also died of liver failure in 1982.Since 1997 new forensic evidence has come to light to support MacDonald’s case, but a request by the lawyers for hair strands to be subjected to DNA testing has been refused by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Despite this order from the federal court, the government is still refusing to turn over the evidence on the grounds that it is a violation of the writ of habeas corpus.MacDonald and his supporters continue to claim his innocence and collect evidence to present to future judges.

THE POLICE

The Macpherson inquiry was held at the Elephant and Castle in South London. Even its setting, in one of the most mixed inner city communities of London, demonstrated its desire to reflect the reality of modern Britain.In February 1999, the Macpherson report was published. It famously labelled the Metropolitan Police ‘institutionally racist.’ There were 70 recommendations; many aimed at improving police attitudes to racism. And everything, from recruitment, to training, through to accountability, changes. So total is the overhaul, that now, The Metropolitan Police advises the police of other countries on the best methods of ‘colour blind’ policing practice. And along with these dramatic changes there were detailed ones too. For example, the reason that every police officer can now administer First Aid is because of the Macpherson recommendations. Officers failed to do so when they found Stephen. There are legislative recommendations as well, including strengthening the Race Relations Act to dissuade against discrimination, the criminalisation of racist remarks made in private, and the ending of ‘Double Jeopardy’ so that the same person could be tried again for a crime of which they’d been acquitted.

THE LAW

The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 placed a new duty on public bodies to eliminate discrimination and promote racial equality.In 2005, the double jeopardy rule was abolished. Originally intended to protect the individual from repeated investigation by the superior power of the state, breakthroughs in science and forensics meant new evidence was constantly becoming available. And now, if such evidence is found later, an application for retrial can be made.

THE COUNTRY

The conviction of Dobson and Norris seems to confirm the Lawrence murder as a watershed moment in British history. Before Lawrence, overt racism was not always criticised. Now, in both professional and social circles, it is simply unacceptable, and often illegal.

“For the first time the British public saw parents, a family, whose grief was so patent and whose dignity was so clear, that everybody could identify with them. White Britain realised that, actually, black Britain and black Britons aren’t really that different. "

Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality & Human Rights Council

And Stephen probably wouldn’t recognise the area in which he grew up. His local council drew up an action plan after his death and the number of ethnic minorities has gone up five-fold. There are even black and Asian families now living on the Brook estate. But many, including the Lawrence family, believe much more still has to be done.

THE TEENAGER

Big brother Stephen is still greatly missed by his younger siblings, Stuart, and Georgina. Stephen’s mother wouldn’t let her son be buried in Britain. Instead, he was laid to rest in Jamaica. Doreen believes that if Stephen’s grave was in his home country, it would become a target for racist desecration.

“I don’t think the country deserves to have his body there anyway because they took his life.”

Doreen Lawrence

The myth of Ma Barker has inspired movies, TV shows, books and music. A 1970 low budget film ‘Bloody Mama’ starring Shelley Winters and a young Robert De Niro as Freddie was directed by horror maestro Roger Corman. The film depicts Ma as a corrupt mother who encourages and organises her children's criminality. The story is also the inspiration for the 1977 Boney M music single 'Ma Baker', and countless screen characters including actress Anne Ramsey’s Mama Fratelli in the 1985 film, ‘The Goonies’.

The Mafia put a contract out on Brasco for $500,000 and he and his still family live under secret identities in an undisclosed location. In 1986, Brasco retired from the FBI and he currently works as an FBI consultant and lectures internationally. He’s also the author of several books and the co-owner of a production company.Two days after the FBI pulled Brasco out of the operation they informed Napolitano that he had been working undercover and soon after Napolitano’s death was ordered. On 17 August 1981, accepting his fate, Napolitano gave his favorite bartender his jewellery and the keys to his apartment so that his pet pigeons could be looked after. On 12 August 1982, his body was found in a creek on Staten Island. Another Bonanno boss, Joe Massino, was found guilty of ordering his death in 2004.On 30 August 1981, the FBI arrested Ruggiero for his own protection, the same day that a contract was put out on him. He was sentenced to serve twenty years in prison, but was released on parole in 1992. On Thanksgiving Day 1995, Ruggiero died of cancer in his New York home. He was 72.The evidence collected by Brasco led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions. New York Mafia families have instituted new rules to thwart future undercover penetrations. Before a new member is made a soldier he will have to kill someone, and two family members, instead of one, must vouch with their own lives for him.

The harshness of the sentence was unprecedented. David Greenglass, who was the actual source of the atomic secrets, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He had been led to expect a sentence of five years when he initially agreed to co-operate with the prosecution. Given the severity of the Rosenberg sentence, however, it was felt that a five-year term would be seen as too lenient.The date of execution was stayed until the appeals process could run its course. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict, on 10 January 1952, and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case in September 1953.The Communist Party of the United States formed the ‘National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case’, and the Rosenbergs pinned their hopes on a reversal, in the face of widespread public support, but they were disappointed. Their execution date was set for 17 June 1953, and the Supreme Court refused a petition for a stay of execution. President Eisenhower was petitioned for clemency but he too refused to intervene.On 16 June, just a day before the execution was due to take place, a legal motion was filed, claiming that the Rosenbergs should have been tried under the Atomic Secrets Act 1946, which superseded the Espionage Act of 1917. The 1946 Act stipulated that a jury should pass the sentence, not the judge, as had occurred with the Rosenbergs. This legal challenge should have provided them a further stay of sentence of at least six months, while the case was heard, but the Chief Justice decided to hear the case immediately, and the court ruled that, as both laws were still in force, the use of the 1917 was legally permissible, and the stay of execution was lifted.The Rosenbergs were scheduled to be executed at 11 pm on Friday 19 June 1953. Yet again, a plea for presidential clemency was refused. In a last desperate effort, their defence lawyer asked that the sentence again be delayed, as sunset marked the start of the Jewish Sabbath. To his horror, instead of delaying the execution, the schedule was moved forward to 8 pm, to avoid the Sabbath, and the last hope of delay was finally extinguished.Julius Rosenberg was electrocuted first, at 8 pm, Ethel Rosenberg followed, and was still alive after the first attempt. As a result of her small stature, the electrodes fitted poorly, in a chair designed for larger male occupants, and she required two further charges of electricity to kill her.There seems little doubt that Julius Rosenberg did engage in the transfer of secrets from the US to the Communists, but the true role of Ethel Rosenberg in the affair has always been questioned.In 2000, David Greenglass claimed he had committed perjury, falsely implicating his sister in order to satisfy the authorities, who wanted Ethel implicated so that she could be used as an emotional lever against Julius, to induce him to confess and name his conspirators. There appears little doubt that the authorities manipulated the evidence against Ethel to coerce Julius to confess, a plan that failed abjectly, both during and after the trial, since neither Julius nor Ethel implicated anyone else.The irony of their case is that the information they acquired and passed on was of little real use in the development of atomic weapons. The Rosenbergs were, to a certain extent, victims of the political climate that pervaded the United States at the time.Other spies tried since, on far more serious charges of treason and espionage, have generally received far more lenient sentences.

The fate of Margaret Joyce, who had followed much the same path as her husband, in terms of treasonable actions, was markedly different to that of her husband.

There are two main theories about her treatment after their arrest in Flensburg, and her return to the UK: firstly, that the authorities felt that she had suffered enough through her husband’s trial, and that they had no appetite for a further trial, and secondly, that Joyce agreed to keep his connections to MI5 secret, in exchange for the freedom of Margaret. Certainly, as a British citizen, born and raised, a treason case against her could more easily have been made than against her husband, although she was not as well known a broadcaster as her husband had been.

For whatever reason, she was never charged, and was instead shipped out of Britain shortly after his execution, but was allowed to return back to the UK some years later. She died in Soho, reportedly from alcohol-related illness, in 1972.On 18 August 1976, William Joyce's remains were exhumed from their site within Wandsworth Prison and returned for burial to Ireland, where they were re-interred at the New Cemetery in Bohermore, County Galway.

The fact that a doctor had killed 15 patients sent a shudder through the medical community, but this was to prove insignificant in light of further investigations that delved more deeply into his patient case list history.A clinical audit conducted by Professor Richard Baker, of the University of Leicester, examined the number and pattern of deaths in Harold Shipman's practice and compared them with those of other practitioners. It found that rates of death amongst his elderly patients were significantly higher, clustered at certain times of day and that Shipman was in attendance in a disproportionately high number of cases. The audit goes on to estimate that he may have been responsible for the deaths of at least 236 patients over a 24-year period.Separately, an inquiry commission chaired by High Court Judge, Dame Janet Smith, examined the records of 500 patients who died whilst in Shipman’s care, and the 2,000-page report concluded that it was likely that he had murdered at least 218 of his patients, although this number was offered by Dame Janet as an estimation, rather than a precise calculation, as certain cases presented insufficient evidence to allow for certainty.The commission further speculated that Shipman might have been “addicted to killing”, and was critical of police investigation procedures, claiming that the lack of experience of the investigating officers resulted in missed opportunities to bring Shipman to justice earlier.He may in fact have taken his first victim within months of obtaining his licence to practise medicine, 67-year-old Margaret Thompson, who died in March 1971 whilst recovering from a stroke, but deaths prior to 1975 were never officially proven.Whatever the exact number, the sheer scale of his murderous activities meant that Shipman was catapulted from British patient killer to the most prolific known serial killer in the world. He remained at Durham Prison throughout these investigations, maintaining his innocence, and was staunchly defended by his wife Primrose and family. He was moved to Wakefield Prison in June 2003, which made visits from his family easier.On 13 January 2004 at 6 am, Shipman was discovered hanging in his prison cell at Wakefield, having used bed sheets tied to the window bars of his cell.There remains some mystery about the whereabouts of his remains, with some claiming that his body is still in a Sheffield morgue, while others believe that his family have custody of his body, believing that he may have been murdered in his cell, and wishing to delay his interment pending further tests.

The double murder of PC Hughes and PC Bone shocked the nation - it has been described as the worst police killings in a generation. Cregan’s next move was equally unexpected, as he handed himself in to the nearest police station, in Hyde. He claimed that his actions were in retaliation for the way the police had hounded his family while he was on the run.

The devastating impact of losing two officers in the line of duty is summed up by Chief Superintendent Nick Adderley of Greater Manchester Police, “I’ve got one officer that the Inspector is telling me is dead, I’ve got another officer he’s saying they’re working on - that was Nicola. What did working on mean? It seemed I was stood there forever and almost as if I was looking down on the situation. I feel in a way quite annoyed with myself about that, because you would think you’d know what to do. But I’ve said this many a time - we’re just ordinary people. We’re just ordinary people.”

Manchester came to a standstill as thousands lined the streets for the funerals of the two fallen officers, which were held on consecutive days at Manchester Cathedral. As police officers - many of whom hadn’t known Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone - bowed their heads in a mark of respect, it was clear that the loss was profound.

PC Fiona Bone’s father Paul says that she enjoyed her job, and how she shielded her family from the more dangerous aspects of policing, “She liked it. Anything that was a bit risky or dodgy, or could upset anyone, wasn’t told to us. We only got to hear the good bits.”