The Cumbria shootings were Britain’s worst since the tragic events of Dunblane in 1996. Memorial services in the towns affected were held on 9 June 2010, a week after the incident, when a minute's silence at midday was held.The Home Office Select Committee said that gun law in Britain “was a mess”, but no new laws would be brought in, and legislation would be kept under review. Instead an immediate review into gun law guidance was called, which resulted in anyone given a suspended sentence would not be able to own a firearms license.Issues had also been found with a particular health and safety rule. It had stopped paramedics giving urgent medical care to critical patients, because they were reliant on the police to declare an area safe. As a result this rule was scrapped. Instead crews would now be able to carry out their own independent safety assessments at serious incidents.

Successive Home Secretaries have upheld Neilson’s whole life tariff, and he has never sought to appeal his conviction.In November 2002, the Home Secretary’s power to set minimum terms was removed by the European Court, so there was the possibility that Donald Neilson, who was in good health at the time, may have become eligible for release in 2006 as he approached his 70th birthday, having served a 30 year term.But in 2008 High Court judge Mr Justice Teare ruled that Neilson should never be released and that he should die in prison.Neilson died in hospital on 18 December 2011 after being taken there from Norwich Prison whilst suffering from breathing difficulities.

Sithole was incarcerated at the maximum-security section of Pretoria Central Prison, the highest security cellblock in South Africa, known as C-Max. Ironically, the medical treatment for his HIV condition in prison far exceeds any treatment available to the average South African citizen, and may well secure him a far longer life, albeit in prison.

Peaceful demonstrations by Castro’s gay community outside City Hall turned violent. 5,000 policemen responded by entering nightclubs armed with truncheons and assaulting patrons. 124 people were injured, including 59 policemen. The episode is known in history as “The White Night Riots”.White served five years at Soledad State Prison and was released on parole on 6 January 1984. He lived undercover away from his family in Los Angeles for a year and then asked to return to San Francisco. New Mayor Dianne Feinstein issued a public statement asking him not to.Ignoring her wishes he returned to a city where he wasn’t welcome. Dogged by fears of retaliation his marriage fell apart and he became increasingly depressed, eventually committing suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 39.

Over 8,000 people attended the funeral of William Plommer. His murder had caught the headlines and shocked the nation. Questions remain to this day as to the guilt of the brothers who hung for his murder.Jail finally caught up with old gang-leader George Mooney. He was sentenced for biting a man’s ear off on a train coming back from a race meeting.Sillitoe became known as the saviour of Sheffield. He earned his own nickname as Britain’s first ‘Gangbuster’. With the Sheffield gangs destroyed, he was sent to Glasgow to deal with the razor gangs. Local historian and author JP Bean argues that Sillitoe picks up too much of the credit for finishing off what his predecessor had started. But Sillitoe’s five years in Sheffield coincided with the end of the gangs. After five years of ‘knifings, shootings and razor slashings’ the gangs were smashed.After Glasgow, Sillitoe would go on to become head of MI5 in 1946. His cockney hard man ways weren’t liked but he was successful. During his time he dealt with the threat of Communist spying and exposed the Cambridge spy ring and the ‘atom spies’. He left after seven years. He then became head of the International Diamond Security Organisation. There he successfully stopped the smuggling of diamonds from Sierra Leone.Aged 73, the ‘gangbuster’ died at home in Eastbourne in 1962.

Onoprienko decided to talk after the trial and allowed himself to be interviewed by the media, in his prison cell. Stating he had no regrets over what he had done, he explained further by saying he was under the control of conspiracies of higher powers from another world. It was their mission to destroy humanity and the fact that he possessed special hypnotic powers meant that he was able to communicate with these higher forces.Onoprienko told of feeling ‘like a robot driven for years by a dark force’, that he was commanded to do violent things by voices in his head. He argued that his trial should have been postponed until the authorities could find the source of this dark force. He also maintained there was a conspiracy against him and that he was part of some kind of experiment. He claimed to love all people, including his victims, stating that he would have killed his own son if commanded by the higher powers.In an extensive interview for the London Times, Onoprienko spoke about the first time he had killed. He had been in his early 20s and had shot a deer in the woods. The sight of the dead animal had upset him and he had felt sorry for it but that was the first and last time he felt that way about murder. Killing people became like hunting to him. He would be sitting at home feeling bored and would be struck by the idea of going out to kill.Chillingly, Onoprienko believes he should have been executed as, if he were ever to be let out of prison, he would begin killing once more. “But this time it will be worse, ten times worse. The urge is there… Seize this chance because I am being groomed to serve Satan. After what I have learned out there, I have no competitors in my field. And if I am not killed, I will escape from this jail and the first thing I’ll do is find Kuchma (the Ukrainian president) and hang him from a tree by his testicles.”Onoprienko was included in the book ‘River of Blood: Serial Killers and Their Victims’ (2004) by criminologists Amanda Howard and Martin Smith.

Once the dust had settled, Sage was rewarded with $5,000 for her part in the affair. However, she was eventually deported, but not before she had gone public with the story in order to try and embarrass the government and stop her extradition back to Romania. She died in 1947 from liver failure.Purvis received great acclaim for his role in bringing Dillinger to book despite the controversy surrounding the mobster’s final demise. It’s not known whether it was the fact that Dillinger wasn’t brought in alive, or the fact that the agent received so much coverage, which made J Edgar Hoover so extremely jealous of the young hero.Years later, after having served in WW2, Purvis was to tragically shoot himself with the same gun he used on Dillinger, when the former agent was suffering from cancer.To this day, loyal fans continue to observe "John Dillinger Day" (22 July) as a way to remember the fabled bank robber. Members of the "John Dillinger Died for You Society" traditionally gather at the Biograph Theatre on the anniversary of Dillinger's death and retrace his last walk to the alley where he died, following a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace".

On 10 February 1946, Luciano started a new life in Naples. But the Italian government restricted his movements to just a few miles of the city. It also kept tabs on his visitors and any business he was up to. Nevertheless these constraints didn’t stop him from still running his notably smaller empire back in the States, mainly through the telephone.Despite falling out with long-time friend Meyer Lansky, he still remained a rich man. On 26 January 1962, as Luciano greeted a scriptwriter at Naples airport to talk about his life with a view to a movie being made about him, he suddenly had a heart attack and died.

Milat was incarcerated in the maximum-security wing of Goulburn Prison, near Sydney. Milat has always maintained his innocence, and later staged self-mutilation attacks, and hunger strikes, in a bid to get his appeals heard.In May 1997 authorities foiled a well-planned jailbreak attempt masterminded by Milat. His accomplice was found hanged in his cell the next morning.In July 2001 his initial appeal against his sentence was denied.Police maintain that Milat may have been involved in many more murders than the seven of which he was convicted. In the summer of 2001, Milat was ordered to give evidence at an inquest into the disappearances of three other female backpackers, but no case has been brought against him, due to lack of evidence. Similar inquiries were launched in 2003, in relation to the disappearance of two nurses and again in 2005, relating to the disappearance of hitchhiker Anette Briffa, but no charges have resulted.On 8th November 2004 Ivan Milat gave a televised interview, in which he denied that any of his family had been implicated in the seven murders.On 18th July 2005, Milat’s former lawyer, John Marsden, who had been fired before the murder trial, made a deathbed statement, in which he claimed that Milat had been assisted by an unknown woman, in the killings of the two British backpackers.On 7th September 2005 his final appeal was refused, and Milat is likely to remain in prison for the rest of his natural life.

Milat was incarcerated in the maximum-security wing of Goulburn Prison, near Sydney. Milat has always maintained his innocence, and later staged self-mutilation attacks, and hunger strikes, in a bid to get his appeals heard.In May 1997 authorities foiled a well-planned jailbreak attempt masterminded by Milat. His accomplice was found hanged in his cell the next morning.In July 2001 his initial appeal against his sentence was denied.Police maintain that Milat may have been involved in many more murders than the seven of which he was convicted. In the summer of 2001, Milat was ordered to give evidence at an inquest into the disappearances of three other female backpackers, but no case has been brought against him, due to lack of evidence. Similar inquiries were launched in 2003, in relation to the disappearance of two nurses and again in 2005, relating to the disappearance of hitchhiker Anette Briffa, but no charges have resulted.On 8 November 2004 Ivan Milat gave a televised interview, in which he denied that any of his family had been implicated in the seven murders.On 18 July 2005, Milat’s former lawyer, John Marsden, who had been fired before the murder trial, made a deathbed statement, in which he claimed that Milat had been assisted by an unknown woman, in the killings of the two British backpackers.On 7 September 2005 his final appeal was refused, and Milat is likely to remain in prison for the rest of his natural life.

In prison Harris wrote an autobiography and two other books. She spent much of her time working in the prison’s children’s centre and during her term she suffered two heart attacks. After serving 12 years of her sentence in 1992 Governor Mario Cuomo granted her clemency on grounds of ill health.

In March 2004 a new investigation was ordered. Inspector Giuttare, the head of the serial murder squad, believed that Pacciani was too unsophisticated to have both orchestrated such brutal killings and to have evaded capture for so long. He speculated that there was a mastermind behind him or even a larger ‘satanic cult’. Investigations still centred around Pacciani’s village but now more ‘respectable’ and professional people were interviewed.In 2006, Francesco Calamandrei, a bespectacled, overweight retired pharmacist was informed by Italian prosecutors that he was the alleged mastermind behind the Monster of Florence. It was said that he ordered Pietro Pacciani, Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti, the three men convicted of the murders, to obtain pieces of female bodies.In 2008, 20 years after his ex-wife first accused him of the murders, Calamandrei was exonerated because of a lack of evidence.That same year, authors Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi, release ‘The Monster of Florence’ and say that they have definitively identified the killer. The man named denies the accusation. It will be interesting to see how Hollywood tells the story. George Clooney is set to play the inquisitive author, Douglas Preston, in a forthcoming movie. 

In April 2013, as Mick Philpott began his life sentence in Wakefield prison, a national debate erupted over the state of welfare dependency in Britain. Even the Chancellor George Osborne joined in by questioning whether the welfare state should subsidise such people.In May, Mairead’s own father said her appeal against her sentence was a waste of taxpayer’s money adding;“She should have got as long as Mick did for what she did.”In June it was revealed that Mick Philpott was being interviewed by police in his high-security prison. Witnesses, who had been interviewed during the investigation into his arson, had broken down and revealed their rapes by Philpott. One dated back to 1996. The demolition of the burnt out house at 18 Victory Road also began that month.In July, fourteen months after their deaths, the six children finally had gravestones put on their graves. The local community had raised the £15,000 necessary for their funeral and memorial.“And the saddest thing is that I doubt anybody will remember the names of those six children: Duwayne, Jade, John, Jack, Jesse, and Jayden. But I guarantee every one of us will remember Mick Philpott. And that's a tragedy.” Emma Kenny, PsychologistFor Kim Hill, Philpott’s first victim, the damage he inflicted never seems to end. She was forced to have a hysterectomy because of a prolapsed womb caused by Philpott’s stabbings.And then Kim’s mother Shirley was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the liver. The family remain convinced that the cancer resulted from the scarring inflicted by Philpott when he stabbed her eleven times. They believe that she is the last victim of Mick Philpott.

In 1972, Speck’s death sentence was commuted to 50 to 100 years in prison, when the US Supreme Court abolished capital punishment. Having served 19 years of that sentence, he died of a heart attack on 5 December 1991.Speck was never officially charged with the murders of which he was suspected, prior to the events that took place in the South Chicago townhouse and officially those cases remain unsolved.In 1996, five years after Speck's death, a television journalist made public a prison video, which showed Speck taking drugs and engaging in sex with another inmate during the 1980s, whilst he was an inmate at Statesville Correctional Institute; Speck appears to have breasts in the video, apparently as a result of hormone treatment received whilst in prison, and is wearing women’s underwear. In the video, Speck also casually admits to the killing of the nurses, describing the strangulations in some detail, and bragging about the strength required to kill someone in this manner.The video’s release caused a major scandal within the Illinois Department of Corrections and was widely cited as justification for the reintroduction of death penalty.

Haigh finished his life story for the newspaper that had paid for his trial. He also wrote letters to Barbara Stephens and to his parents who did not see him before he died. His mother sent greetings through a reporter. Haigh told Barbara he believed in reincarnation and that he would be back to complete his mission. Madame Tussaud’s requested a fitting for a death mask and Haigh was happy to oblige.On 6 August 1949, Haigh was hanged at Wandsworth Prison.Madam Tussaud’s erected a wax figure of Haigh, complete with his very own clothes that he bequeathed to the institution.

Haigh finished his life story for the newspaper that had paid for his trial. He also wrote letters to Barbara Stephens and to his parents who did not see him before he died. His mother sent greetings through a reporter. Haigh told Barbara he believed in reincarnation and that he would be back to complete his mission. Madame Tussaud’s requested a fitting for a death mask and Haigh was happy to oblige. On 6 August 1949, Haigh was hanged at Wandsworth Prison. Madam Tussaud’s erected a wax figure of Haigh, complete with his very own clothes that he bequeathed to the institution.

Giancana Dethroned In 1966, Giancana was forced to step down as Mafia boss because he refused to share the profits of his Latin American gambling operations. This was a major violation of Mafia protocol and reflected Sam’s greed.Another aspect of his behaviour that worried the mob was Sam’s excessively high-profile lifestyle, hobnobbing with Hollywood stars and popular entertainers like singers Phyllis McGuire and Frank Sinatra. He had also been put under close surveillance by the FBI for serious legal problems.Exile and Assassination The dethroned Giancana spent the next seven years (1967-74) in exile in Cuernavaca, Mexico, until the Mexican government capitulated to US Justice Department pressure and deported him to the United States.Giancana was meant to appear before a Senate committee investigating CIA and Mafia links to kill Castro. Whoever decided to carry out an assassination plot on the former Mob King did so to perhaps insure that Sam didn’t reveal anything too incriminating on his return to Chicago.On 19 June 1975, in the basement of his home in Oak Park, Illinois, an unknown assassin shot Giancana in the head seven times with a silenced .22 calibre handgun. He was found with a wound to the back of his head and six bullet holes in a circle around his mouth. Some suspect the CIA was responsible, others the mob carried out the act with its tradition of omerta – the vow of silence adhered to by all mob members.CIA Director William Colby was quoted as saying, "We had nothing to do with it."In fact many researchers believe that Giancana's onetime friend and Chicago Mafia boss, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa ordered the hit on the disgraced "Momo" because he had become too talkative. Aiuppa may have feared Giancana would reveal everything he knew about Chicago mob operations.Giancana has been the subject of many biographies. One of them, ‘Mafia Princess’, was written by his daughter Antoinette and filmed as a TV movie starring Tony Curtis as Giancana.

Gein was regarded as a model patient during his incarceration, and died of cancer on 26 July 1984. He was buried next to his mother, in the same cemetery that had provided him so much pleasure in life. Fittingly, vandals desecrated his grave.The American public viewed Ed Gein as the quintessential product of a disturbed childhood, and his persona was forever immortalised in the film “Psycho”, in which Norman Bates murders women out of loyalty to his domineering mother. The character of Leatherface, in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, also pays homage to Gein, where the killer wears a mask made of human skin.More recently, his character appears in the chilling tale of the transvestite serial killer Buffalo Bill, who murders women for their skin, and then dresses in it, in 'The Silence of the Lambs'.

Fugate’s defence was built around her hostage status, but the jury were unconvinced and returned a guilty verdict on 28 November 1958. Because she was 14 years old at the time, she received a life sentence and was sent to the Nebraska Centre for Women, where she remained until she was paroled in June 1976.Starkweather’s death penalty was enforced on 29 June 1959, when he was electrocuted to death at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. He is buried in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska, the same cemetery as five of his victims: the three members of the Bartlett family and the Ward couple.

Fontaine attempted suicide several times whilst he was in custody and in 1999 wrote his autobiography 'A Perfect Gentleman' and said that there was “a side of me, when aroused, that is cold and completely heartless”. He died in 2002 in Kingston Prison in Portsmouth, aged 78.

Following his death, the media interest in Cunanan died almost as quickly as it had begun. Within a month, perhaps the only person more famous in the world than Versace, his friend Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident in Paris.This event overwhelmed the media and dwarfed the importance of any post-mortem of the events surrounding the Versace killing. Law enforcement officials and mental health professionals were left the task of pondering exactly what had motivated Cunanan’s killing spree. They have yet to reach a consensus.  

During the month between Burke’s sentencing and his execution, he made two comprehensive confessions, which detailed 16 murders that he and Hare had committed, although the sheer number of victims meant that he was unclear of the exact order in which each murder was committed. It didn’t seem to occur to the authorities that Dr. Knox might have kept a record of disbursements, and he was never questioned, or charged with any offences. His reputation was irreparably damaged, however, and he was forced to leave Edinburgh and move to London.Helen McDougal was held in her cell at Calton Prison until 26 December, the day after the trial, for fear that the crowds around the courthouse would attack her.  She was driven from Edinburgh by public condemnation, heading first to England, and then to New South Wales in Australia, where rumour has it she died in a house fire in 1868.Margaret Hare was released from jail on 19 January 1829, and was similarly pilloried by her neighbours. She fled for Ireland and was never heard from again.Jamie Wilson’s mother tried to bring a separate case against William Hare for his murder, but it was decided that his immunity from prosecution prevented charges being laid. He was released from Calton Prison on 5 February 1829, using the alias Mr Black to confound the public, and he left Edinburgh immediately. He was rumoured to have ended his life a beggar in the streets of London, although the last reliable sighting of him placed him in the town of Carlisle.The hanging of William Burke was a festive occasion, and between 25,000 and 40,000 people turned out for the event, on 28 January 1829. Sensing unrest in the crowds, the police proceeded swiftly, and a huge cheer went out as Burke was taken to the gallows and blindfolded. There were calls for Hare and Dr. Knox to be hanged as well. The trapdoor was released at 8.15 am, and every twitch of Burke’s body was greeted with roars from the crowd. A half hour later, his body was cut down and taken directly to Edinburgh University, where public interest was so intense, and the mood so volatile, that authorities were forced to place his remains on display, an extremely unusual occurrence. An estimated 25,000 people filed past Burke’s body for a final look, and some students managed to hack off pieces of his skin, and preserved them for sale later. Following dissection, Burke’s skeleton was preserved, and it is now permanently held at the Anatomical Museum at the University of Edinburgh, a fitting, if ironic, epitaph.As a direct result of the Burke and Hare case, the 1832 Anatomy Act was passed, which required that all cadavers used in dissection come only from persons who had died in hospitals, and only if they remained unclaimed after 72 hours. It also enabled any individuals to choose to have their bodies donated to science. The Act prevented unscrupulous operators, like Dr. Knox, from continuing to support the cadaver supply business, and the practice of grave robbing died out as a consequence.

During his twelve years on death row, Chessman became a cause celebre. His case won media exposure as he presented himself not only as an innocent man but also as one rehabilitated from his prior life of crime. His case attracted interest and support among leading criminologists, liberal intellectuals, and ordinary citizens, many of whom engaged in protests to halt Chessman's execution.Among the many notables who supported Chessman’s fight against execution were former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, writers Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, William Inge, Norman Mailer, Dwight MacDonald, Christopher Isherwood, Carey McWilliams and Evangelist preacher Billy Graham.Wenzell Brown, Chairman of the American Writers Committee wrote, “Chessman is guilty of other crimes, to wit, robbing bordellos and gambling dens operating in California. However, justice cannot be served by convicting a man of one crime because he committed another.”Chessman’s own talent for writing convinced many that a prisoner, even one guilty of murder, could make a great contribution to society and its understanding of the criminal mind.'Cell 2455 Death Row' (1954), Chessman’s first book, was an autobiographical account of his own life in prison. By producing this work Chessman demonstrated to his supporters and critics that he was a talented intellectual and the kind of prisoner who exemplified the notion of the rehabilitative ideal.Over the years more books followed such as 'Trial by Ordeal' and 'The Kid Was A Killer'. But it was in his last book 'The Face of Justice', completed in secret and just hours before his death, that he commented on why he was likely to go to the gas chamber. He wrote that to the authorities he represented, "A justice-mocking, lawless legal Houdini and agent provocateur assigned by the Devil (or was it the Communists?) to foment mistrust of lawfully constituted Authority."In 'Justice' Chessman wrote about the conditions of the penal system of the time. The book was well received and revealed that he was a great thinker and writer. Actually writing the book in prison was an achievement in itself due to the fact that Chessman’s cell was constantly checked. In order to hide his daily prose he would transcribe his long drafts into shorthand and dispose of the original draft down the toilet. The shorthand pieces were then camouflaged with legal notions so that the wardens dismissed them.All four of Chessman's books are now out of print, and the unpublished writings that were known to exist at the time of his death have never seen the light of day.But at the time Chessman’s lawyer, George T. Davis, believed that the media exposure of the case had brought the issue of capital punishment to the forefront of American politics.Despite Chessman’s protestations of his innocence, his own memoirs, somewhat ironically testified to his criminal personality. It was clear from a young age he seemed to be on a collision course with prison.Davis himself, although declaring a fondness for Chessman, also admitted that his client was hard-headed and unyielding. Unfortunately for Chessman this attitude was often interpreted as arrogance and he was depicted by the media as a ‘monster’ or ‘psychopathic wild beast’.If anything, Chessman was more likely to be an intelligent sociopath who had difficulty feeling empathy for others. Whatever the view of him, he had become an embarrassment to the authorities and for some, in an ultraconservative era, had undermined the judicial system.Davis himself is not entirely sure why the authorities decided to carry out the death sentence after eight stays of execution over twelve years. He concedes that Chessman’s languishing on death row, gaining celebrity status and media exposure, was a source of embarrassment to the government."The state of California's attitude then is like President Bush's now," said the 94-year-old Davis forty-one years later. "That is, 'well, he got his trial, so let's carry out the sentence'. No matter what. Expediency is all they were interested in."Chessman had to deal with the psychological impact of preparing himself for death on eight separate occasions. He would take the ‘dead man’s walk’ to the gas chamber that was housed just below his cellblock. Then at the eleventh-hour a stay of execution would be approved and Chessman would take the elevator back up to his cell. It is difficult to think of many people being able to survive such a continuous ordeal without breaking down.However, on 2 May 1960, time finally ran out for Chessman. At 10 a.m., Chessman’s execution was given the go ahead. Davis had anticipated that the petition for leniency would be rejected and had arranged for a cab to take him to the US District Court by 9 a.m. This was the cliff-hanger of all cliff-hangers for at precisely 10 a.m. the cyanide pellets were to be dropped into the gas chamber.What followed was the kind of nail biting scene expected in a Hitchcock thriller as Davis had to rush over to the district court several blocks away and re-present his petition after the State Supreme Court had rejected it by 4 to 3.With astute foresight, Davis had sent the 15 page document to the Judge the day before. Unfortunately the Judge had still not read it.Standing in the courtroom, with one eye on the clock and the other watching him carefully leaf through the thick manuscript, the opportunity to save Chessman’s life was hanging on a thread. With only one minute before the cyanide pellets were to be dropped, the Judge finally agreed to a stay of execution.All it needed was a direct call to the chamber phone to stop the execution. Whether it was a planned operation by the State or a genuine case of bad luck and bad timing, the secretary who was to make the call, misdialled.By the time she got through to the warden, the pellets had been dropped and any attempt to open the chamber or stop the process may have endangered other people. After twelve years maintaining his innocence on Death Row, Caryl Chessman was finally executed at San Quentin prison.

Despite the not guilty verdict, the police still thought Adams was guilty, not just of two murders, but the deaths of many patients. The press appeared to share this opinion. A Fleet Street journalist at the time is known to have said that word on the street was that Adams had killed so many, and seemed so likely to kill so many more, that the police had been obliged to prosecute even though their case was ‘not quite ready’.After the trial Adams resigned from the National Health Service. He was later convicted that same year for forging prescriptions, and ordered to pay a fine of £2,200. As a result he was struck off the Medical Register. Despite the bad press he received he successfully sued several newspapers for libel.Adams spent his remaining days in Eastbourne, in spite of his tarnished reputation with some still believing that he had murdered at least eight people. Others, notably patients and friends, remained convinced of his innocence.In 1961, he was reinstated as a general practitioner. On 4 July 1983, Adams died aged eighty-four. At the time of his death, his fortune was £402,970. He had been receiving legacies until his death.

6 serial killers who were murdered in prison

Jeffrey Dahmer was cleaning bathrooms at the Columbia Correctional Institute in Wisconsin when he was beaten to death by Christopher Scarver

DeSalvo was incarcerated in what is now known as MCI-Cedar Junction prison in Massachusetts. In November 1973 he got word to his doctor that he needed to see him urgently. DeSalvo had something important to say about the Boston Strangler murders. The night before they were to meet DeSalvo was stabbed to death in prison.

Because of the level of security in the prison it is assumed that the killing had been planned with a degree of co-operation between employees and prisoners. Whatever the case, and although there were no more murders by the ‘Strangler’ after DeSalvo had been arrested, the Strangler case was never closed.

In 2001, DeSalvo’s body was exhumed and DNA tests were taken and compared to evidence taken from the last Strangler victim, Mary Sullivan. There was no match. Although this only proved that DeSalvo had not sexually assaulted Ms Sullivan it didn’t rule out his involvement in her murder.

The family of DeSalvo and the nephew of Mary Sullivan continue to believe in Albert DeSalvo’s innocence of the murders of thirteen women. They are convinced that the killer is still alive. Despite calls from both families for evidence to be brought forward so they can reactivate lawsuits, the state of Massachusetts has so far declined.

Dahmer is reported to have adjusted well to prison life, although he was kept apart from the general population initially. He convinced authorities to allow him to integrate more fully with other inmates which led to an attack, on 3 July 1994, by another inmate.On 28 November 1994, in accordance with his inclusion in regular work details, he was assigned to work with two other prisoners, one of whom was a white supremacist murderer, Jesse Anderson, and the other a delusional, schizophrenic African-American murderer, Christopher Scarver. Twenty minutes after they had been left alone to complete their tasks, guards returned to find that Scarver had crushed Dahmer’s skull, and beaten Anderson fatally with a broom handle.Following his death, the city of Milwaukee was keen to distance itself from the horrors of Dahmer’s actions, and the ensuing media circus surrounding his trial. In 1996, fearing that someone else might purchase Dahmer’s fridge, photographs and killing tools collection and start a museum, they raised more than $400,000 to buy his effects, which they promptly incinerated.

Conspiracy TheoriesThere are many theories still in circulation as to the supposed real events that led to the alleged mass suicide at Jonestown. Most of these conspiracy views involve CIA figures.It has also been noted that a number of deaths occurred after the tragedy, namely the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, just nine days after the event. Both men had received financial support from Jones while he was in San Francisco and were involved in an ongoing investigation into their involvement in the disappearance of People’s Temple funds.Conspiracy advocators also focus on the fact that no autopsies were carried out on any of the bodies by the American authorities, except pathology examinations conducted by Guyanese coroner Leslie Mootoo. His own belief was that as many as 700 of the victims were murders, not suicides.Mootoo’s assistants examined the bodies of 137 victims on site, all of which were said to have been injected with cyanide in areas of their bodies, which could not have been reached by their own hand, such as between the shoulder blades.Other victims had been shot and it is alleged that as many as 500 members may have originally escaped into the jungle only to be hunted down, killed and dragged back to the Temple.The assassins at the Port Kaituma airport were never identified and links between Larry Layton, one of the victims in Leo Ryan’s ambushed party, had not only a father who had been chief of the army’s Chemical Warfare Division during the 50s, but also had a brother-in-law who had negotiated with the Guyana government, on behalf of Jones, for the establishment of “Jonestown.”The main jewel in the conspiracy theory crown is that Congressman Leo Ryan, was a harsh critic of the CIA and author of the Hughes-Ryan Amendment. If passed, the ruling would have required the CIA to report to Congress on all of its covert operations before they commenced. Soon after Ryan’s murder, the Hughes-Ryan Amendment was quashed in Congress. The Temple mass suicide, conspiracy theorists argue, was simply a ‘smokescreen’ to distract attention from his assassination.

Chikatilo’s appeal centred around the claim that the psychiatric evaluation which had found him fit to stand trial was biased, but this process was unsuccessful and, 16 months later, he was executed by a shot to the back of the head, on 14 February 1994.The psychiatrist who had been instrumental in his capture, Aleksandr Bukhanovski, went on to become a celebrated expert on sexual disorders and serial killers.  

Carlos was held in solitary confinement from the time of his arrest in 1994, until 2002.In November 1998 Carlos went on a three-week hunger strike to protest against conditions on the prison.On 23 June 1999 the French court of appeal turned down Carlos’ petition against his life sentence.In October 2001 he announced his engagement to his lawyer, Isabelle Coutante-Peyre. They were married under Islamic rights shortly after.In June 2003 he released a book praising Osama bin Laden, and the 9/11 attacks. He also claimed to have completed his memoirs, which are to be published after his death.As of January 2006, he continues to pursue a case against the French government, in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming an infringement of his human rights, for the eight years he was held in solitary confinement. A lower court has already ruled that his human rights were not infringed.In December 2011 a French court sentenced the self-styled revolutionary to life imprisonment once again after convicting him of masterminding four separate bomb attacks in the 1980s. He reportedly intends to appeal and has demanded to be extradited to Venezuela.

By today’s standards such an incident would precipitate an investigation, particularly when a maverick law enforcer such as Hamer clearly took the law into his own hands. Despite there having been no warrants against Bonnie to justify killing her, Hamer and the Louisiana authorities had decided that execution was the preferred option.Whatever the view of such an act from a moral perspective, what certainly was questionable behaviour by Hamer and some of his posse was to keep several of the stolen guns found in Bonnie and Clyde’s car as souvenirs and then later sell them.In the town of Gibsland, Louisiana a ‘Bonnie & Clyde Festival’ is held every year on Highway 154 on the anniversary of their deaths. Sadly the innocent victims of the Barrow gang, which number around 34, are not remembered with the same degree of idolatry.Along with ghoulish memorabilia, a romanticised Oscar winning movie and even a poem by Bonnie herself published for the world to read, the mythology of the two illiterate, cold-hearted criminals, continues unabated.

By 2000 bankruptcy trustees had recovered about £500,000 of embezzled money, but authorities are not really sure how much the former financial adviser stole and how much he lost in failed business ventures. There was possibly £150,000 in gold bullion that was never recovered, but Walker has never revealed how much money remains hidden.Sheena and her children were allowed to return to Canada after the trial and Britain signed an agreement with the Canadian authorities in June 2004 to transfer Walker back. He was returned in February 2005 after nearly seven years in prison. The Canadian police have said they fully intend to proceed with the 37 outstanding fraud and theft charges against him. Walker is eligible for parole on 6 July 2013.The true identity of the father of Sheena’s children has never been revealed.

Both Leopold and Loeb were transferred from Cook County jail to Joliet Penitentiary on 11 September 1924. Authorities initially separated them, by transferring Leopold to Statesville Prison, but they were eventually reunited at Joliet in 1931. Leopold continued his language studies, and the pair devised a plan to open a school for prisoners in 1932, which would ensure that they were kept together thereafter.On 28 January 1936, Loeb’s cellmate, James Day, viciously attacked Loeb in the shower block, slashing him 58 times with a straight razor. He claimed that Loeb had made sexual advances to him, and was cleared of murder in the subsequent enquiry. Faithful to the end, Leopold was allowed to attend to Loeb immediately after his death, and spent considerable time washing the blood from his dead friend’s body. When his body was taken away Leopold said: “I felt like half of me was dead.”Devastated by the death, Leopold continued his studies, and then began to make attempts to cultivate the press, in order to rehabilitate his image, playing on the hypnotic hold that Loeb had exercised over him, with a view to securing parole. His plea for parole in 1953 was unsuccessful, but he persevered and was finally released in March 1958. He fled to Puerto Rico, to avoid the press, where he taught mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico, and also published an ornithological book.In 1961, he married a widowed American social worker named Trudi de Queveda, although a framed picture of Loeb always retained pride of place in their home. The rare interviews that he granted made it clear that his friend retained a profound influence over his life, even from beyond the grave.On 30 August 1971, Leopold died of a diabetes-related heart attack, at home in Puerto Rico.

At the age of 27, Ellis made history when she went to the gallows at Holloway Prison on 13 July 1955, becoming the last woman to hang in England. As was customary with hangings, Ellis was buried in an unmarked grave in the Holloway Prison Cemetery.

Following extensive rebuilding of the prison in the early 1970s, all the bodies of female executions were exhumed and their remains reburied in Brookwood Cemetery. Ellis was the exception, as she was reburied at Saint Mary Churchyard in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, with her headstone bearing her birth name, Ruth Hornby.

The Ellis hanging provoked much controversy and on the day of her execution, the Daily Mirror newspaper ran a story attacking her sentence, written by columnist Cassandra, that later became famous. The general public also felt the need for their opinions to be heard and 50,000 people signed a petition to the Home Office, asking for clemency. The appeal was rejected by the Conservative Home Secretary, Major Gwilym Lloyd George. The force of public support finally won and 10 years after Ellis was hanged, the death penalty was abolished in Britain in 1965. People were starting to realise that politics played a far greater role in judicial sentencing than previously realised and that capital punishment was becoming arbitrary.

The last person to be sentenced to death in England was David Chapman in November 1965; in Wales it was Edgar Black, who was reprieved on 6 November 1963; in Scotland it was Patrick McCarran in 1964, who died in prison in 1970; and in Ireland it was William Holden in 1973, who was removed from his death row cell in May 1973.

Public opinion had it that there were various factors working against Ellis in her sentencing, including her appearance and lifestyle, the fact that she wounded a passer-by and not least, her apparent lack of remorse. It also transpired that the murder and Ellis’ arraignment occurred during the 1955 General Election campaign, which was won by the Conservatives who supported the death penalty. The new Home Secretary could not be seen to be influenced by the public furore and media debate, in granting Ellis a reprieve.

Tragedy seemed to surround the deaths of Blakely and Ellis. A few weeks after her execution, Ellis’ younger sister died suddenly at the age of 18, supposedly of a broken heart. Ellis’ husband, George, had been a heavy drinker and after sinking into the depths of alcoholism, committed suicide by hanging in 1958. Ellis’ son, Andrea, was deeply psychologically affected by what had happened and was living in a squalid bedsit when he committed suicide in 1982.

Films have been made, telling the tragic story of Ruth Ellis. These include Mike Newell’s ‘Dance with a Stranger’ (1985), starring Rupert Everett as David Blakely and Miranda Richardson as Ellis; and Adrian Shergold’s ‘The Last Hangman’ (2005) (UK title: ‘Pierrepoint’), with Mary Stockley playing Ellis. A film that bears a close resemblance to the Ellis story, about a doomed murderess, is ‘Yield to the Night’ (1956) starring Diana Dors. The film was in fact based on the 1954 Joan Henry book of the same name.

At 4pm, on 2 April 2011, a car bomb explodes in Omagh. It kills Constable Ronan Kerr, a 25 year old Catholic policeman intending to drive to work. He only graduated from the police college three weeks before. It’s been 13 years since the bombing and as tragic and repetitive as his death appears, much has changed. Ronan served in the PSNI, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the replacement for the much hated RUC, an organisation not known for attracting Catholics.And because the mass killings of the first Omagh bombing so revolted everyone and was so counter-productive, terrorism is no longer the daily threat it once was. And now, British soldiers no longer patrol the streets of Northern Ireland.On the streets of Omagh itself, life has largely returned to normal. You may notice occasionally that a shopper is missing a limb. Suzanne Travis, the young lady who had her foot removed by the blast while out shopping with her mother, has, along with her mother, adjusted to life with her injuries. And now Suzanne is married and has her own daughter.For some though, there can be no recovery."There was only one Anne" Stanley McCombe, who lost his best friend, his wife and mother of his two children

Arthur Shawcross died on 10 November 2008, aged 63, while serving his life sentence at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in New York State.Following a complaint about leg pain earlier in the day, Shawcross was moved to an Albany hospital for treatment. He passed away at 9.50 pm. The cause of death was deep vein thrombosis of the leg, leading to fatal cardiac arrest.Shawcross is survived by his only daughter, Margaret Deming, who resides in New York.

An appeal of Crippen’s sentence was refused, and his execution was set for 23 November. Ethel visited Crippen in prison every day, and followed each visit up with a letter.When he was executed at Pentonville Prison in London, on 23 November 1910, he requested that the letters, and a photograph of Ethel, be buried with him. He also bequeathed his estate to her.On the day that he was executed, Ethel left the country by ship, bound for New York; from there she travelled to Toronto, where she worked as a secretary for 5 years, before returning to the UK, where she married and settled in Croydon. She died in hospital in 1967, aged 84.Given the publicity surrounding Number 39 Hilldrop Crescent, it is unsurprising that the house remained empty for most of the next 30 years. It was destroyed in a German air raid during the Second World War.Captain Kendall of the SS Montrose narrowly escaped death himself, when his ship, the SS Empress of Ireland, was wrecked in 1914, with the loss of more than 1000 lives, in the exact spot where Crippen had been arrested four years earlier, Father Point in Quebec. Kendall was one of the few to survive the disaster.

After the verdict, Johnson sat on death row in a prison in Huntsville, Texas, for 10 years. He received several stays of execution and lodged numerous appeals. Central to his case was a supposed confession, signed by Vest, after the two were arrested.Johnson’s attorney appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that Vest’s confession had been improperly suppressed by the prosecutors. Police later explained that the two men had both been indicted as if they were the shooters; Vest’s signature was to affirm that the indictment was correct and was not in any way a confession.The court’s verdict was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1997 and a judicial review appeal to the Supreme Court was denied in 1998. An application for a writ of habeas corpus was denied in 2000. Three other appeals and attempts at judicial review were lodged but all failed.Johnson’s date for execution was finally set at 6pm on 19 October 2006. He was put on suicide watch for 36 hours before his execution, in keeping with normal procedure, and was checked every 15 minutes.At 2.45am on 19 October 2006, Johnson was found in a pool of blood in his cell. He had sliced open an artery in his arm with a blade attached to a wooden ice-cream stick and had written in blood on the wall, “I did not shoot him”. He had then slashed his throat with the homemade knife.Johnson was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, aged 29, on 19 October 2006.