Edith Alice Morrell was a patient of Dr Adams who had been partially paralysed after suffering a stroke. Adams supplied her with a cocktail of heroin and morphine to ease her discomfort, insomnia and symptoms of ‘cerebral irritation’ that was a condition of her illness.During the period of her palliative treatment, Mrs Morrell made several wills in which Adams received money and items of furniture. But in other wills he was omitted.However, three months before Morrell’s death on 13 November 1949, she added a clause to her will stating that Adams was to receive nothing. Despite this clause Dr Adams, who maintained that Morrell had died from natural causes, still received a small amount of money, cutlery and a Rolls Royce.The second alleged victim of Dr Adams did not occur until seven years after Mrs Morrell had died. Gertrude Hullett was another patient of Dr Adams who fell ill and then into unconsciousness. Despite not even being dead, Dr Adams called a local pathologist, Francis Camps, to make an appointment for an autopsy. When Camps realised that Hullett was still alive he accused Adams of ‘extreme incompetence’.On 23 July 1956, Gertrude Hullett died and Adams recorded the cause of death as having been the result of a brain haemorrhage. An official investigation however, arrived at the conclusion that she had committed suicide. Camps argued that she had been poisoned with sleeping pills. Like Mrs Morrell before her, Hullett left several valuable items to Dr Adams including a Rolls Royce.Gossip surrounding Adams began circulating around the close-knit seaside community. Whether there was truth in the allegations that Adams was an ‘angel of death’ preying on vulnerable wealthy widows or was an ‘angel of mercy’ kindly alleviating suffering, was up for conjecture.It appears that the death of Hullett in 1956 precipitated a state of affairs that was to bring Adams to the attention of the authorities.

Despondent at his fall from grace, he went to visit architect David Madson in Minneapolis, where he had moved, and discovered that he had become acquainted with Jeffrey Trail, who had left the Navy and coincidentally also migrated to the same city.Cunanan was reportedly jealous of the professional and financial success of both of his previous lovers, in stark relief to his own circumstances, and became obsessed with the belief that they were having an affair behind his back.This jealousy increased over the following months, despite their denials until, on 26 April 1997, Cunanan returned to Minneapolis determined to get the truth. Despite warnings from mutual friends about Cunanan’s state of mental health, Madson did not appear to have taken this seriously and he arranged for Trail to visit his apartment the next evening, so that they could both address Cunanan’s suspicions head-on.This proved a disastrous plan. Cunanan and Trail had a heated argument that quickly became violent, with Cunanan taking a kitchen hammer and bludgeoning Trail to death in front of the terrified Madson. They rolled his bloody corpse into a Persian rug, and made good a plan of escape. Why Madson agreed to assist Cunanan after the attack remains a mystery but, when concerned work colleagues reported that Madson had disappeared, an investigation of his apartment revealed Trail’s dead body and the two were forced to flee the city in Madson’s Jeep.Police discovered evidence at Madson’s apartment that immediately identified Cunanan as the killer but had no idea where the two had disappeared. On 29 April 1997, Madson’s body was discovered 45 miles north of Minneapolis, he had been shot three times. It became clear to the police that Cunanan had struck again.Cunanan’s next victim was a 72-year-old Chicago real estate mogul, Lee Miglin, who had the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. On 3 May 1997 Cunanan gained access to Miglin's home, where he tied up Miglin and subjected him to horrific torture which included punching, kicking and stabbing with garden shears, before finally sawing open Miglin’s throat with a small hacksaw. Following this brutal attack, Cunanan stole personal items from the house, including some gold coins, and made off in Miglin’s Lexus.This third death was also linked to Cunanan, who made no effort to conceal his tracks, and the FBI was alerted, quickly launching a countrywide manhunt. Although initially able to track his movements through his use of the in-car telephone in the Lexus, Cunanan’s trail went cold when he ditched the phone and began looking for a replacement vehicle.By this time, he had travelled to Pennsville, New Jersey where the caretaker of the local cemetery, 45-year-old William Reese, was Cunanan’s next victim of convenience. On 9 May 1997, Reese was shot dead for the keys to his red pickup truck.Cunanan then drove down to Miami, Florida in Reese’s stolen truck, where he arrived the next day. He took a long-term room rental in a beachfront hotel that had seen better days, intending to settle in Miami. Cunanan  was initially careful of frequenting the gay nightlife of Miami, as police were still conducting a nationwide search. However, as time passed, he grew bolder in his behaviour, using his well honed 'chameleon' skills to blend in with the locals.Despite three appearances on America’s Most Wanted, the nationwide hunt for Cunanan showed little progress. The killer’s lack of care about covering his trail was counter-balanced by the incompetence of the police forces hunting him, who wasted a number of opportunities to bring him to justice. In one instance he was recognised in a Miami shop but was allowed to leave unhindered while a shop assistant went to alert the police. On another occasion, he pawned the gold coins stolen from Miglin, which required him to produce identification for security reasons, which he did. This was sent to the local police, in accordance with regulations designed to identify wanted felons, but the information was never followed up and the connection was never made.It is not known whether Cunanan travelled to Miami specifically to seek out Versace or whether his selection as a target arose out of the fashion guru’s almost mystical status amongst the inhabitants of South Beach. Within a few weeks Cunanan had selected his target and made plans to establish an encounter with Versace, staking out the areas around Versace’s South Beach villa where the designer went to relax. The conjecture was that Cunanan selected Versace as the epitome of success and glamour to which he had always aspired, alternately that Versace symbolised the wealthy elder men who had let Cunanan down, forcing him into his current predicament.Whatever the reason, on the morning of 15 July 1997, Cunanan walked up to Versace on the steps of his Miami home, where he had just returned from his regular morning coffee, and fired two shots into the back of the designer’s head.

Cohen’s first taste of being part of the gangster fraternity was when he started working for the Chicago Outfit. Throughout this volatile period he met Al Capone and even worked as an associate with Mattie Capone, Al’s younger brother.For Cohen, meeting Capone was akin to a fan meeting their favourite movie star. He said, "I walked into his office kind of awed, because I was a young kid anyway, walking into the office of Al Capone. He did something which was a very big thing for me, he kind of held my head and kissed me on both cheeks.”Capone thought highly of Cohen and promised to back him up in anything he was interested in. Mickey’s role was to run illegal gambling and card games venues which finally led to a violent shootout between rival racketeers and prompted Cohen’s exile to California. Before he left for the Sunshine State Cohen experienced the first of what would be many assassination attempts when he was shot at by rival hoods while wearing his favourite camel hair coat. Shortly after this, mainly because there wasn’t enough for him to do, Cohen went to LA.Cohen was ill-educated, semi-literate and pugnacious. He was the perfect foil to Ben ‘Bugsy’ Siegel, and together as a team they were an effective extension of the East Coast Syndicate of gangsters on the West Coast. Before Cohen entered the frame, the money making machine from illicit activities on the West Coast was small fry until Bugsy and Cohen turned it into a lucrative operation that encompassed a deadly mix of gambling, narcotics and controlling the unions.West Coast Gangster Mickey flourished on the West Coast and appeared to have more lives than a cat. He didn't realise it at the time, but the places he was robbing were mob-controlled carpet joints - the illicit nightclubs and casinos that predated Las Vegas.Despite Hollywood being noted for its decadence and the place where all the gangster flicks were made, actual racketeering in the town was thin on the ground. The main mobster operating in this territory at the time was Jack Dragna whose speciality, apart from setting up off-shore gambling venues on boats, was a protection racket where he would send in men to threaten people and then get the victims to pay up to have Dragna chase away his own men.Dragna’s big problem as far as the East Syndicate was concerned was that he was from the old generation, limited in his abilities and not adept at putting the frighteners on his enemies. When Cohen and Bugsy arrived in California, Dragna hated the idea of playing second fiddle on his own patch, especially when the interlopers were pushing an alternative wire service for bookies.Cohen v Dragna In 1947, when Bugsy was assassinated by a sniper while sitting in a bungalow, Jack Dragna decided to take on Cohen who was primed to take over operations.Cohen & Hollywood As the Syndicate man on the West Coast, Cohen began meeting with the movers and shakers of Hollywood and the top politicians of Los Angeles. He ingratiated himself with the beautiful people, making friends with top Hollywood studio bosses and actors including Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. Cohen allegedly even stepped in and saved Davis from receiving a punishment beating, on the orders of a Columbia studio boss, for dating actress Kim Novak.But when Cohen wasn’t canoodling with the gliterati he was exploiting them. One of his specialities was blackmailing movie stars who had secrets, mainly sexual, that they’d rather keep hidden from public knowledge. Cohen arranged for the lovemaking of his targets to be surreptitiously filmed and recorded.One of his victims included Lana Turner, who he recorded making love to gangster wannabe John Stompananto in a motel room. The latter would later become a good friend of Cohen’s and be at the centre of a major headline grabbing murder scandal. Cohen’s secret recording of the pair having sex became a much sought after entertainment piece and made Cohen a good deal of money.Even J. Edgar Hoover was aware of Cohen’s sideline business that kept him both respected and feared by many of Hollywood’s most famous actors and studio figures.But now that Bugsy was dead, Jack Dragna considered it was open season on Mickey Cohen. Several attempts were made on his life including shoot-outs in the streets, restaurants and even a bomb that was detonated at his home but failed to injure anyone. After several more lucky escapes the war precipitated by Dragna attracted the attention of the Senate Select Committee on Organised Crime in Interstate Commerce.Ironically, the outcome of the Committee’s findings in 1950 was that Cohen was indicted, tried and convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to four years in federal prison.Lana Turner One of the most colourful episodes of Cohen’s life was his association with the scandalous Stompanato and Lana Turner affair.Johnny Stompanato was a friend of Cohen’s and although not a fully-fledged member of the mobster team, could be best described as an opportunist and discreet gigolo who seduced rich women with his macho looks and surfeit of testosterone.Stompanato’s relationship with the movie star Lana Turner was known to be a tempestuous one, in which the couple would often brawl and then make up once the dramatics were over. Cohen himself was no soul mate of Ms Turner’s and according to his autobiography she would often blame him for Stompanato’s many walk-outs on her.When news reached Cohen one night that Johnny had been killed by Lana’s daughter, the scandal took a particularly personal twist when Turner declared in the press that she feared Cohen would take revenge on her. According to Cohen, Turner used the studio to create an image of her life with Stompanato as one of abuse. He retaliated by disclosing intimate letters Turner had written to Johnny demonstrating how obsessed she was of him. In the end Turner’s daughter was found not guilty and Cohen maintained that the real killers, indicating rival hoods, had got away with murder.

Claiming he wanted to go straight Fontaine was in for a shock when an ex-cellmate from Hull Prison and former lover, David Wright, showed up. Lady Hudson employed 30-year-old Wright as a gamekeeper and gardener around the stately home, but he stole some of her silver and threatened to tell her about Fontaine’s past.On a rabbit hunting expedition in July, Fontaine shot Wright in the back of the head and buried the body under boulders in a stream on the estate. With a new found taste for blood Fontaine gave up the idea of living an honest life and in November 1977 moved back to London. He acquired the position of butler to a wealthy antique collector and ex-Labour MP Walter Scott-Elliot and his wife Dorothy. Planning to extort them he asked small time crook Michael Kitto to help.While showing Kitto round the couple’s home Mrs Scott-Elliot returned unexpectedly with her husband. The two men put their hand over her mouth and suffocated her with a pillow before she could raise the alarm. They then drugged her 82-year-old husband with whisky and sleeping pills.Mary Coggle put on a wig and wore Mrs Scott-Elliot’s clothes. They put the dead woman’s body in the boot of a car and set off for the 400-mile journey to Scotland. They buried Mrs Scott-Elliot by the side of a quiet road in Braco, Perthshire. Still sedated they beat her husband to death with a spade and buried him in a remote spot near Glen Affric, Inverness.The following day an argument broke out between the three of them. Coggle wanted to keep Mrs Scott-Elliot’s mink coat, but the men wanted the evidence destroyed. So Fontaine hit Coggle over the head with a poker and suffocated her with a plastic bag before dumping her in a stream in Dumfriesshire.The two men headed for Fontaine’s family home in Cumbria only to find Fontaine’s brother Donald released from prison three days earlier. Donald was too interested in Fontaine’s recent adventures and with murder now second nature to him, Fontaine held a chloroformed rag over Donald’s face and drowned him in a bath. A few days later the two murderers found themselves driving north to dispose of yet another body.

By the time of his third marriage, it has been established that he had already claimed his first victim, 10-year-old Jack Blake, a neighbour’s child, on 7 April 1972. Shawcross had taken him fishing just a few days before he disappeared but denied any knowledge of the disappearance, and it was five months before the boy’s body was finally located. He had been sexually assaulted and suffocated.In September 1972, the body of eight-year-old Karen Ann Hill was found under a bridge. She had been raped and murdered. Mud, leaves and other debris had been forced down her throat and inside her clothing. Neighbours remembered that Shawcross had been seen with Karen in the vicinity of the bridge before her disappearance and Shawcross, who had a history of minor run-ins with local children, came under immediate suspicion.He was arrested on 3 October 1972, and finally confessed to both killings, although he was only charged with Karen Hill’s murder, given the lack of evidence tying him to Jack Blake’s death. He received a 25-year jail sentence and third wife Penny divorced him shortly thereafter.After serving less than 15 years of this sentence, he was released on parole in April 1987. The well-publicised resettlement of a child killer in the Binghamton area of New York State was greeted by a public outcry and he was forced to leave the area after a few months, along with his new girlfriend, Rose Whalley. His criminal record meant that he would be unwelcome almost anywhere, and the authorities made the decision to seal it, to prevent a recurrence of the public alarm in Binghamton, before moving Shawcross and Whalley to Rochester, New York, where she became his fourth wife.In Rochester, Shawcross took on a succession of menial jobs, and his lacklustre marriage to Whalley meant that he was soon seeking solace elsewhere, both from prostitutes and his new girlfriend, Clara Neal.It did not take long for Shawcross to return to his murderous ways. Whether he made a conscious decision to target prostitutes, whose disappearance might not cause as much of an outcry as children, or whether the women taunted him for his sexual inadequacies, as he later claimed, was never clear. His first victim was discovered by hunters on 24 March 1988. She was 27-year-old prostitute Dorothy Blackburn, and her body was found in the Genessee River, dumped there following a vicious attack, which included bite marks in the groin area and strangulation.With little evidence and no public impetus to solve the murder of a prostitute, her case languished for over a year. There were other murders of prostitutes in that time but, given the danger of the profession, nothing untoward was noticed that linked any of the cases, until the discovery of the body of another prostitute, Anna Steffen, on 9 September 1989. She had also died of asphyxia and her body had been dumped in a similar way to that of first victim, Blackburn. However, her body was found far from the original murder scene, so once again the possibility that a serial killer was at work was not recognised by police investigators.On 21 October 1989, the body of a homeless woman, Dorothy Keeler, 59, was discovered, followed six days later by another prostitute, Patricia Ives, in the same area. Both women had been asphyxiated and the press started to show an interest as the cases were linked, coining the term 'The Genessee River Killer'. In all cases, at least some attempt at concealment had been made, which police felt indicated previous criminal or military experience. They began to advise prostitutes working in the area to exercise caution, and sought as much information as possible about strangers operating in the area, as well as checking criminal records for offenders who might be living in the immediate area. Shawcross’ sealed criminal record meant that he escaped police attention at the time.As prostitutes continued to disappear, it became apparent that the killer must be someone familiar to the women who worked in the area, and police were able to piece together a description from a number of women of a regular punter called 'Mitch' or 'Mike', who was prone to violence.The body of 26-year-old June Stott, who was neither a prostitute nor a drug user, was found on Thanksgiving Day. She had been strangled, anally mutilated after death, had her labia removed and was gutted from throat to crotch like a wild animal.With the body count mounting, the police sought assistance from FBI profilers, who divided the 11 unsolved prostitute murders into sub-groups according to method and position. They developed a profile that described the killer as a white male in his 20s to 30s, strong, probably with a previous criminal record, familiar with the local area, and comfortable enough with the victims that they would enter his vehicle without question; to all outward appearances a 'regular guy'. The lack of sexual interference indicated it might be someone with sexual dysfunction. The post-mortem injury inflicted on June Stott, and not on any other victim, indicated that the killer was becoming more comfortable around corpses, probably returning to the crime scene again later to relive the attack.The discovery of the body of Elizabeth Gibson, on 27 November, brought a breakthrough. Suspect 'Mitch' had been seen with her shortly before her disappearance but they seemed no closer to establishing his identity. Police tried various tactics, including canvassing all the local bars, to no avail.

By November 1923, Leopold and Loeb had explored and discarded a number of criminal scenarios, which they felt would test their intellectual skills. They decided that a kidnapping of a wealthy young boy for ransom would provide the greatest challenge; especially the skill and planning that would be required in retrieving the ransom without being caught. Loeb maintained that the killing of the kidnap victim was essential to preserve their anonymity, Leopold was less sanguine about this element of the plan but, as usual, went along with Loeb’s demands: his infatuation with his friend was undiminished.After an extensive amount of research, they decided on a complicated plan that involved sending the victim’s father to a pre-arranged place, where they would call him and demand that he board a specific train, with very little notice, to reduce the possibility of police being able to follow. Once on the train, a hidden note would inform him exactly where to throw the ransom money from the train, where the pair would be waiting to retrieve it, before making good their escape.Despite the depth of planning, they decided that the victim would be a purely random choice: there was no shortage of wealthy victims in their own neighbourhood and they merely required that the victim be known to one of them, in order to ensure that he could be lured into their car with ease. As they planned to kill the victim immediately, there would be no problem with later identification. Leopold was a keen ornithologist, and was familiar with an area called Wolf Lake, where he had discovered a secluded culvert suitable for dumping the body: in addition to it being a relatively isolated area, it would avoid the necessity of digging a grave.On 21 May 1924 they put their plan into action, collecting a rental car, obscuring its number plates and then driving to their old alma mater, the Harvard School, in search of a convenient victim who met their prerequisites. They considered and rejected a number of candidates, until 14-year old Bobby Franks emerged. A neighbour of the Loebs, who often played tennis on the Loeb’s courts, he met the wealth and familiarity criteria, and his fate was sealed.Lured into the car, he was hit over the head with a chisel by Loeb and then gagged, before being hidden under some blankets on the back seat of the car. It is unclear whether he died immediately from the blow, or later from suffocation. They stopped briefly on the trip to Wolf Lake, to strip the boy and discard his clothing, as well as calling the Franks’ family home to tell them to await a ransom demand. When they arrived at Wolf Lake they took the now-dead boy out of the car, and poured acid on his face & genitals, apparently to delay his identification (his circumcision would have identified him as Jewish). A later post-mortem indicated that Bobby Franks’ rectum had been dilated, but there were no signs of overt sexual activity, the development of forensic science being then in its infancy.After depositing Franks’ body in the culvert, they returned to Kenwood, meticulously cleaned the hire car, disposed of their own clothes and the chisel, and prepared the ransom note, which demanded $10,000 in used notes, to be prepared for delivery by Bobby Franks’ father the next day, to a destination that would be revealed in a phone call. The note was signed George Johnson.The next morning they called Jacob Franks with an instruction that he should take a taxi, which the pair had pre-arranged, to a drugstore where they would call with further instructions, namely to board the designated train for the final drop. Unbeknownst to Leopold & Loeb, Franks had contacted the police, and Bobby Franks’ body was found and identified far sooner than they expected: as Jacob Franks was about to leave to deliver the ransom, he received a call confirming that a body of a young boy, found near Wolf Lake, was that of his son.When Leopold and Loeb tried calling Franks at the drugstore, as arranged, and received no reply, they realised that their meticulously planned ‘perfect murder’ had gone awry, although at that stage they had no idea exactly what had caused its failure.Given the wealth and social standing of the victim’s family, not to mention their political connections, the case was front-page news from the outset. Several rewards for information were offered, and a large contingent of local authorities was assigned to investigate the case.

By December 1957 Starkweather had just turned 19, and was desperate to escape from the drudgery of his impoverished life. He convinced himself that crime was his only route to financial gain and, within a week of his birthday, he took his first victim. Robert Colvert was a 21-year-old petrol station attendant who refused Starkweather credit to buy a stuffed animal for Fugate. Starkweather was incensed by this refusal and returned to the petrol station the following day, 1 December 1957, in the early hours, and held Colvert up with a shotgun. Colvert surrendered about $100 from the till, most of which was in change. He then took Colvert to a deserted area, and shot him twice with the shotgun.Despite bringing attention upon himself as a possible suspect, by spending large sums of small change on new clothing and other items, police were convinced that a transient had been responsible for the murder and robbery, and local investigations were minimal. Buoyed by his newfound wealth, Starkweather confessed to Fugate that he had committed the robbery, although he claims to have denied the murder but, given that the two events were inextricably linked, she must have suspected the truth. Enjoying the fruits of the robbery cemented their relationship further, and the power associated with having escaped undetected fuelled Starkweather’s belief that crime did indeed pay.The euphoria and cash soon disappeared, and his dismissal from his refuse collecting job meant that by mid-January he was broke, evicted from his boarding house, and in trouble with Fugate’s parents, who were convinced that she was pregnant. Driving over to her parent’s house on the afternoon of 21 January 1958, he got into a heated argument with Fugate’s mother and stepfather, Velda and Marion Bartlett. He shot them both dead with a .22 rifle that he had carried with him to the house, also killing Fugate’s two-year-old half-sister, Betty Jean, by striking her on the head with the butt of the rifle. Fugate was present at the time and claimed that she had been terrorised by Starkweather, but this seems unlikely, as she assisted Starkweather in hiding the bodies in the outhouse and the yard and cleaning the blood from the house. She then remained in the house with him for another week afterwards, without making any attempt to escape, despite numerous visits from friends and relatives, who were concerned at the Bartlett’s disappearance. She concealed the crime by telling people that her parents were sick with the flu.Fugate’s grandmother, not convinced by the flu story, contacted the police, but a cursory inspection of the property, which didn’t include the yard, drew no cause for concern. When further requests were made that the police investigate further, including one from Starkweather’s father, a more thorough search revealed the three bodies, and a police bulletin for their arrest was issued. By this time Starkweather and Fugate, unnerved by the first police visit, had already escaped in his battered old Ford.Their first port of call, on 27 January 1958, was the farm of a 72-year-old Starkweather family friend, August Meyer. For some reason, Meyer and Starkweather had an argument, and Meyer was shot. Starkweather hid his body, stole food and money, and then he and Fugate spent the night at Meyer’s farm.The next day, they were forced to hitch a ride from Meyer’s farm, as Starkweather’s car had become mired in mud, and they were picked up by a teenage couple: 17-year-old Robert Jensen and 16-year-old Carol King. Starkweather repaid their kindness by holding them at gun-point, forcing them to return to the farm, where they were robbed, both were shot, and then King was stabbed multiple times in the stomach and groin area, and left naked from the waist down, although there were no signs of sexual activity. Starkweather claimed later that Fugate had stabbed Carol King in a jealous rage, when he had implied that he found King attractive. Fugate denied this, claiming that she had been in the car while the attack took place. When Starkweather’s car, described in the police bulletin, was spotted at Meyer’s farm, a search revealed the three bodies and a major manhunt was initiated.Inexplicably, given their fugitive status, Starkweather and Fugate decided to return home to Lincoln in Robert Jensen’s car, even driving past Fugate’s home, where the police cars outside made it obvious that the bodies in the yard had been discovered. Seeking refuge, they randomly chose the home of wealthy industrialist, C. Lauer Ward, in an affluent part of Lincoln, which Starkweather knew from his refuse collection days.When the Ward maid, 51-year-old Lillian Fencl, answered the door, Starkweather threatened her with his gun, gaining access and also taking Ward’s wife, Clara, hostage. Fencl was locked in the basement and Clara Ward made food for him and Fugate, who had come into the house by that time. Ward then asked to go upstairs to her room. Starkweather claims that she returned with a gun, tried to shoot him and missed. He overpowered her, stabbing her repeatedly with a knife.Starkweather and Fugate then ransacked the house, loading Mrs Ward’s Packard car with valuables. During the afternoon a newspaper was delivered to the house, and Starkweather and Fugate’s pictures were on the front page: both fugitives were thrilled at their notoriety. When Mr Ward returned home that evening, he was greeted by Starkweather, who shot him dead. With regards to the killing of the maid, Starkweather and Fugate’s accounts diverge yet again: each claiming that the other was responsible for her death. She was tied to a bed and stabbed to death.The death of the industrialist and his wife, both friends of the State governor, galvanised the law enforcement agencies, and the National Guard and the FBI were called in. In addition, a $1000 reward was offered for the capture of Starkweather. Aerial searches for the stolen Packard were also initiated. Clearly lacking any sense of preservation, the fugitives decided to return again to Fugate’s home but, recognising the danger there, they decided to drive to Washington State, to seek refuge with Starkweather’s brother, who lived there.

But how and who Pickton killed is still difficult to comprehensively establish even today because of both the method of his disposal and the judicial ban on reporting. The prosecution allege that he would lure his victims with money and drugs and cocaine traces were found in a lot of recovered tissue samples. After sex, he then strangled or shot his victims. (Bizarrely, a revolver was found with a dildo on its end, believed to have been an improvised silencer.) He would then feed their remains into his wood chipper, and serve the remains to his pigs.

How infamous killers disposed of their victims

The stomach churning ways Dennis Nilsen and other serial killers disposed of their victims

As Harold Schechter points out in ‘The Serial Killers’, Pickton is not the first to use animals to dispose of evidence. Joe Ball, a 1920s bootlegger, used the bar he opened after Prohibition to lure waitresses and ex wives to his adjacent alligator pond. And as The Wineville Chicken Murders showed, (depicted in the Angelina Jolie/Clint Eastwood film, Changeling) a farm set up for the slaughter of animals, is also suitable for the slaughter of humans.

One of the few first hand witnesses to Pickton’s work was Lynn Ellingson. She lived briefly in a trailer on Pickton’s farm and said she walked in on a blood covered Pickton as a Ms Georgina Papin’s body dangled from a chain in the farm’s slaughterhouse. He disposed of Sereena Abotsway’s head, hands and feet in a bucket which he placed in a freezer where he also left bits of Andrea Joesbury’s body including her severed head. He disposed of other parts, such as the jawbones of Marnie Frey and Brenda Wolfe, and the head and hands of Mona Wilson in dustbins, manure and pig pens.When Pickton slaughtered the pigs that had been fed on slaughtered humans, he would sell on the pork.

Canada's most infamous unsolved murders

It is still not known who killed billionaire pharmaceutical magnate Barry Sherman, one of the wealthiest men in Canada, and his wife, Honey

At around midnight on 13 June 1994, the bodies of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown were discovered by a dog-walker outside Brown’s condominium in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Brown’s 5'5", 129-pound frame was bloodied from a massive gash in her neck; she was almost decapitated, such was the depth of the wound. She had also been stabbed in the neck and head, and her hands were in a defensive position as if to ward off the attack. Goldman, 5'9", 171 pounds, lay 10 feet away from Brown; his neck was slashed, and he had been stabbed 19 times in total. Both of them had large contusions on the back of their heads, indicating blunt force trauma. Nearby, police found a brown leather left-hand glove and a knitted cap.

At 8:18pm on 1 November 2007 , Knox receives a text message from her boss, Lumumba, saying there’s no work that night. She’s now at a loose end. Coincidentally, her boyfriend, Sollecito, is soon told that he doesn’t have to give a lift to a friend so both are now free. They decide to meet up with Guede at Knox’s flat to buy some cannabis. They then both turn off their mobile phones. Knox is seen at Sollecito’s flat at 8.40pm.Around 9pm Meredith Kercher returns alone to the flat she shares with Knox. At some point that that evening an assailant gains access to the flat and attacks Meredith. She is sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed.The death of Meredith Kercher is slow and painful because despite the fact that her throat has been cut, the carotid artery is not severed, which would have quickly starved her brain of oxygen and so she would have lost consciousness. Instead, she slowly suffocates on her own blood as she bleeds out. Meredith dies sometime before 4am.Perhaps feeling remorseful, the murderer or murderers then cover her semi-naked body with a duvet leaving one leg sticking out from underneath. Later a neighbour finds Meredith’s mobile phone in their garden and reports it to the police. The police trace the owner of the phone and set off to return it.

At 8:18pm on 1 November 2007 , Knox receives a text message from her boss, Lumumba, saying there’s no work that night. She’s now at a loose end. Coincidentally, her boyfriend, Sollecito, is soon told that he doesn’t have to give a lift to a friend so both are now free. They decide to meet up with Guede at Knox’s flat to buy some cannabis. They then both turn off their mobile phones. Knox is seen at Sollecito’s flat at 8.40pm.Around 9pm Meredith Kercher returns alone to the flat she shares with Knox. At some point that that evening an assailant gains access to the flat and attacks Meredith. She is sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed.The death of Meredith Kercher is slow and painful because despite the fact that her throat has been cut, the carotid artery is not severed, which would have quickly starved her brain of oxygen and so she would have lost consciousness. Instead, she slowly suffocates on her own blood as she bleeds out. Meredith dies sometime before 4am.Perhaps feeling remorseful, the murderer or murderers then cover her semi-naked body with a duvet leaving one leg sticking out from underneath. Later a neighbour finds Meredith’s mobile phone in their garden and reports it to the police. The police trace the owner of the phone and set off to return it.

As it was past closing time, and the girls still weren’t home, their families began to worry. “I remember going to my bed normal time and then I woke up. My bedroom door was a jar and there were lights still on.  I got back up and went downstairs and my mother was just sitting in the lounge...She was waiting up for Helen to come back.” Kevin Scott, Helen’s brother Tragically, each of the girl’s mothers reassured themselves that their daughter is probably round the other’s house. The next day, when they realised this hadn’t happened, the panic really started. They went to Edinburgh Police Station and reported Helen and Christine as missing.Just when their worst fears were forming, they heard truly terrifying news.“We then heard on the radio...that a body had been found.”Kevin Scott  At the same time as the parents reported their girl missing, dog walkers from the beach down in East Lothian found the body of Christine. She had been left on a long sweeping bend of a road. It would have allowed her killer time alone because he could have seen vehicle lights coming from far away.Christine was lying on her back. She’d been stripped of her clothes and those clothes had been use to bind and strangle her. “No attempt made to cover the body or conceal the body. It was just as if she’d been abandoned there, discarded there...just the callous disregard for a person, just dumped like that.”Tom wood, Former Det. Chief Constable, Lothian & Borders Police And then the radio brought news of another body. It was Helen. She was found about a mile up a country road in a field. She was wearing a coat; but nothing else.Like Christine, she’d been strangled with her own clothing. “He clearly treated both Helen and Christine just like, bits of meat.”Kevin Scott A police officer came to the Scott home and asked Helen’s father to identify her belongings. Whatever little hope the parents had that these bodies reported on the radio were not those of their little girls was, piece by piece, slowly removed. “The fact that in safe quaint old Edinburgh two young girls could just be whisked off the street and then brutally murdered, it just stopped the clock, almost like a death of innocence.”Tom wood

Anyone living in Edinburgh at the time was aware of the threat of the “Resurrectionists”, and it seems likely that Burke and Hare, on the lookout as they were for an easy source of income, might have discussed the possibility of getting into the trade, but grave robbing was a strenuous and dangerous proposition, and both denied that they ever robbed graves, contrary to popular belief.When one of Hare’s tenants, a pensioner named Donald, died in the house on 27 November 1827, Hare was furious: the man had owed him £4 in rent. Burke and Hare came up with a plan to recoup the loss, filling the dead man’s coffin with tanning bark, and spiriting his body away to the Anatomy School of Dr. Robert Knox, situated at No. 10 Surgeon’s Square, Edinburgh. Dr. Knox paid them £7, 10 shillings, and asked no questions about the origins of the body; Hare’s loss had been neatly converted into a modest profit. Dr. Knox made it clear that any other bodies they might bring would be similarly rewarded.Some weeks later, another one of Hare’s tenants, an elderly man named Joseph, fell ill and, recognising the opportunity for profit, Burke and Hare decided to help him on his way. They plied him with whisky, then suffocated him by blocking his mouth and nose: the old man put up very little resistance, and soon he was delivered to Dr. Knox’s offices for a £10 fee, and they didn’t even bother with the charade of a funeral this time. Hardly believing their good fortune, the money was soon spent, and it became apparent to them that waiting for tenants to show signs of illness would not be the best way to secure an income; they would need to go out and actively recruit victims for Dr. Knox’s dissecting tables.Initially, they sensibly concentrated their efforts on the old and indigent; those least likely to be missed. On 11 February 1828, Burke and Hare met Abigail Simpson, an elderly woman from Gilmerton, in the streets, slightly the worse for drink, and invited her back to Hare’s lodging house in Tanner’s Close, where she spent the night and the following day. They plied her with alcohol, and smothered her in much the same way as their hapless tenant, Joseph, and enjoyed a similar benefit: a trip to Surgeon Square yielded another £10.Burke and Hare spent with increasing abandon, so much so that they had to pretend to have inherited money, to explain their new affluence to curious neighbours. Yet another tenant fell ill, with suspected jaundice, and he was despatched swiftly and exchanged for cash, further augmenting their new lifestyle. Another elderly female victim soon followed.Flush with cash, and success, Burke and Hare became increasingly brazen, as each new victim was despatched without detection. On 9 April 1828, Burke invited two prostitutes, Mary Paterson and Janet Brown back to his home, where they began to drink heavily. An argument broke out and Brown left Paterson alone with Burke and Hare. When she returned later, there was no sign of Paterson, her dead body having been swiftly exchanged for the usual fee. But Paterson was a well-known local girl, and some of Dr. Knox’s students, punters perhaps, recognised her at her dissection. This was the first of many of Burke & Hare’s errors, which lead eventually to their arrest. It’s not known whether Knox reproached them for bringing in a local body, but for a while they were more careful in their victim selection: an old beggar-woman known to Burke, called Effie, was next, followed by another old woman and her deaf 12-year-old grandson, both of whom were stuffed in a barrel and transported to Surgeon Square, in June 1838.Sometime around June it is believed that Burke and Hare had a falling out, ostensibly over the fact that, while Burke was away from Edinburgh that month for a holiday, Hare had “worked” solo in his absence and didn’t split the proceeds. Whatever the reason, Burke and McDougal moved out of the Hare lodging house, although they continued to “work” together.A washerwoman named Mrs Ostler vanished after visiting the lodging house, and suffered a similar fate, as did Ann McDougal, the cousin of Helen McDougal. On one occasion Burke even had the temerity to approach two policemen, who were supporting an elderly woman who was drunk, claiming to know her and promising to sort her out. She was swiftly smothered and added to the body count. This steady stream of victims produced a healthy income for both Burke and Hare, and the anonymity of the victims, none of whom were locals, kept Dr. Knox satisfied.Again they became careless and an elderly local prostitute, Mary Haldane, was their next victim, followed swiftly by her unfortunate daughter, Peggy, who suffered the same fate when she came to the lodging house looking for her mother. Neighbours became concerned about the disappearances, and again Knox’s students became aware of the identities of these local women. In October, a retarded 18-year old called James Wilson, who was known locally as “Daft Jamie”, raised further questions about the source of Dr. Knox’s cadavers. Burke and Hare had enticed Wilson home and then overpowered him, subduing the strapping lad only after a prolonged struggle. Not only was he locally known, he had a distinctive birth defect: a clubfoot. When he arrived on the dissection table this made him easily identifiable, and Dr. Knox was forced to deny his identity, whilst hurriedly dissecting all of the dead boy’s recognisable characteristics.Their final victim was the Irishwoman Mary Docherty who, on 31 October 1828, was lured back to Burke’s home on the pretext that they were from the same Irish town, and might be related. Burke summoned Hare, and Docherty was duly despatched, her body hidden under a bed until she could be transported to Surgeon’s Square for payment. During the day, Burke’s lodgers, Ann & James Gray, became suspicious at Docherty’s disappearance, especially when Burke warned them away from the bed where her body was hidden. Waiting for him to go out, they quickly discovered the body, confronting Helen McDougal. Realising what they had seen, she tried to bribe them into silence, recruiting Margaret Hare’s help as well, but the Grays refused payment and made off to summon the police.

Anna Slesers, a seamstress and devout churchgoer was the first victim to be murdered on the evening of 14 June 1962. She lived on her own in a modest brick house apartment on 77 Gainsborough St in Boston’s bedsit land. Her son Juris was meant to call by to pick her up for a memorial service. When he discovered her body in the bathroom with a cord around her neck tied in a bow, Juris assumed she had committed suicide.Homicide Detectives James Mellon and John Driscoll found her in an obscene state; nude and stripped of dignity. She had been sexually assaulted. The apartment looked as though it had been ransacked with Anna’s purse and contents strewn on the floor. Despite what appeared to be a robbery, a gold watch and pieces of jewellery were left behind. The police settled on the hypothesis that is was a botched burglary.Just under three weeks later on 28 June 1962, eighty-five year old Mary Mullen was also found murdered in her home. Two days later the body of sixty-eight year old Nina Nichols was also discovered in the Brighton area of Boston. Again, it appeared to be a burglary despite valuable silver having been left untouched. The ransacking didn’t seem to make sense to detectives.Nichols was also found in a state of undress, her legs wide open and her stocking tops tied in a bow. Was this the trademark of the same killer?Then, on the same day a second body was discovered a few miles north of Boston in the suburb of Lynn. Helen Blake was a sixty-five year old divorcee. Her murder was more gruesome. She had suffered lacerations to her vagina and anus. Again the bow trademark was evident; this time made from tying her bra around her neck. Like the previous crimes, the scene appeared to be a burglary.After this brutal slaying the penny dropped that what Boston had in its midst was a psychotic serial killer. Police Commissioner Edmund McNamara cancelled all police leave due to the severity of the situation and a warning went out via the media to Boston’s female population. They were advised to lock their doors and be cautious of strangers.It wasn’t long before McNamara’s fears were realised. A fourth brutal slaying took place at 7 Grove Garden in Boston’s West End on 19 August. The victim was seventy-five year old widow Ida Irga. Again she had been strangled. She lay on her back on the floor wearing a brown nightdress, which was ripped and exposed her body. Her legs were apart and resting on two chairs and a cushion had been placed under her buttocks. Again there was no sign of forced entry.Less than 24 hours later the body of Jane Sullivan was found not far from the previous victim at 435 Columbia Rd in Dorchester. The sixty-five year old nurse had been murdered a week before and was found dead in the bathroom. She had been strangled by her own nylons.Terror spread throughout Boston with fears of another attack, but the Strangler wasn’t to strike until three months later. This time the victim was young.Twenty one year old Sophie Clark was an African-American student who was very security conscious and rarely dated. Her body was found on 5 December 1962, a few blocks away from the first victim, Anna Sleser. Sophie was found nude and had been sexually assaulted. She had been strangled by her own stockings and semen was discovered for the first time. Somehow, despite Sophie having been a very careful woman, she had still let in the murderer.Although Sophie did not fit the same profile as the other victims, the police were sure it was the work of the same killer. Furthermore, this time they had a lead regarding the killer’s possible identification when a female neighbour informed the police that a man had knocked on her door insisting that he had been sent to paint her apartment. He finally left after she told him that her husband was sleeping in the next room.Three weeks later another young woman’s life was to end tragically. Twenty three year old Patricia Bissette was pregnant when she was found dead in her apartment – again near the vicinity where Anna Slesers and Sophie Clark had lived. Bissette was discovered by her boss when she didn’t turn up for work. Her body lay in her bed covered by sheets, but she had been sexually assaulted and strangled with her own stockings.While the city appeared to have been spared another attack for several months, the police desperately tried to find any connection between the women and people they may have known. Every sex offender on the Boston Police files was interviewed and checked yet still nothing turned up.Then a series of murders started again. This time the body of sixty-eight year old Mary Brown was found strangled and raped twenty-five miles north of the city in March 1963.Two months later the ninth victim associated with the same madman was to be Beverly Samans. The twenty-three year old graduate had missed choir practice on the day of her murder on Wednesday, 8 May 1963.Samans was found with her hands tied behind her back with one of her scarves. A nylon stocking and two handkerchiefs were tied around her neck. Bizarrely a piece of cloth over her mouth hid a second cloth which had been stuffed in her mouth. Four stab wounds to her neck had most likely killed her rather than strangulation.There were a further twenty-two stab wounds to Samans’ body, eighteen in the shape of a bulls-eye on her right breast. She had been raped, but there was no evidence of semen. It was thought that because of her strong throat muscles due to singing, the killer had to taken to stabbing her instead of strangulation.The police, who were now desperate, even sought the help of a clairvoyant. He described the killer as being a mental patient who had absconded from Boston State Hospital on the days the killings took place. However, this was soon discounted when another murder was committed. On 8 September 1963, in Salem, Evelyn Corbin, a young looking fifty-eight-year-old divorcee became the latest victim.Corbin was found nude and on her bed face up. Her underwear had been stuffed in her mouth and again there were traces of semen, both on lipstick stains and in her mouth. Corbin’s apartment had been ransacked in a similar fashion.On 25 November, Joann Graff, a twenty-three year old industrial designer, was raped and killed in her apartment in the Lawrence section of the city. Several descriptions of her attacker matched those of the man who had asked to paint Sophie Clark’s neighbour's flat. The description detailed a man wearing dark green slacks, dark shirt and jacket.On 4 January 1964, one of the most gruesome murders was discovered when two women came across the body of their flatmate. Mary Sullivan was found dead sitting on her bed, her back against the headboard. She had been strangled with a dark stocking. She had been sexually assaulted with a broom handle. This obscenity was rendered even more disturbing by the fact that a Happy New Year card lay wedged between her feet. The same hallmarks of the killer were evident; a ransacked apartment, few valuables taken and the victims strangled with their own underwear or scarves, which were tied into bows.The city was panic stricken and the situation prompted the drafting in of a top investigator to head the hunt for the Strangler. Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke, the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in the state, began work on 17 January 1964 to bring the serial killer to book. Pressure was on Brooke, the only African-American Attorney General in the country, to succeed where others had failed.Brooke headed up a task-force that included assigning permanent staff to the Boston Strangler case. He brought in Assistant Attorney General John Bottomly, who had a reputation for being unconventional.Bottomly’s force had to shift through thousands of pages of material from different police forces. Police profiling was relatively new in the early sixties but they came up with what they thought was the most likely description of the killer. He was believed to be around thirty, neat and orderly, worked with his hands and was most likely a loner who may be divorced or separated.Actually finding the killer came about through chance rather than any member of the police force tracking him down.

A spell as a carpenter was short-lived and he was soon in trouble again. Virgil Harris, 65, was viciously raped and robbed in her own home on 2 April 1966 and on 13 April 1966 a barmaid in his local tavern, Mary Kay Pierce, was brutally beaten to death. Speck managed to deflect police questioning and made good his escape once again but police discovered some of Mrs Harris’ personal effects in his vacant hotel room, that conclusively tied Speck to her attack.Speck found work on a ship and it began to seem like bodies turned up wherever Speck had been. Indiana authorities wanted to interview Speck regarding the murder of three girls who had vanished on 2 July 1966 and whose bodies were never found. Michigan authorities also wanted to question him about his whereabouts during the murder of four other females, aged between seven and sixty, as his ship had been in the vicinity at the time. Speck however, seemed to have a knack for making a quick escape and keeping police forces guessing.These attacks however, paled into insignificance on Saturday, 13 July 1966, when Speck arrived on the doorstep of a townhouse in South Chicago, which served as a communal home for a group of eight young student nurses from a nearby South Chicago Community Hospital.When 23-year-old Corazon Amurao opened the front door to Speck’s knock, he forced his way in at gunpoint. Speck then rounded the nurses up and ordered them to empty their purses, before tying them all up. He proceeded to brutalise them in the most horrific fashion over the following few hours. Those who had been fortunate enough to be out at the time of his arrival, found themselves also subjected to brutal attacks when they returned home later that evening.A total of eight woman, aged between 19 and 24, were robbed, raped, beaten, strangled and stabbed during Speck’s frenzy; the body count so high that he failed to notice that Amurao, who had opened the door for him on his arrival, had managed to hide herself under one of the beds. When he left, hours later, taking the money he had stolen, terrified, she cowered in her hiding place for hours before finally summoning the courage to seek help. She climbed out on a window ledge and screamed for help, at which point concerned neighbours summoned the police.

A routine arrest by police officers to a shoplifting scene at a South City lumberyard in South San Francisco initiated the unearthing of one of the most grisly discoveries of mass murder that the country had witnessed. A clerk had called the police after an Asian man had been seen stealing a vice. He ran off, but another middle-aged man with a beard was apprehended when he was caught with several firearms including an illegal silencer. The man, who had a multitude of aliases, turned out to be one Leonard Lake, ex Marine and partner in crime of Charles Ng.At the time the police had no idea what they had uncovered, believing Lake to be a petty criminal. Not long after having been taken into custody Lake committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill - one of several he had hidden in his belt – but not before he had written a note to his wife.The police soon realised that they were onto something bigger than petty theft and illegal gun ownership. The Honda truck that Lake had been found in possession of was actually owned by a man called Paul Cosner. He had been missing for months. Among the items found in the Honda were several stolen bank cards and an electric bill in the name of Claralyn Balasz. The South San Francisco police wasted no time in contacting Balasz who turned out to be Lake’s ex wife and who lived in Bruno, a place just a few miles from where her now dead ex -husband had been arrested.On 3 June 1985, two detectives from San Francisco’s Missing Persons dept, Tom Eisenmann and Irene Brunn, went to interview Balasz. The electricity bill was for an address in Wilseyville, California, a remote region at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Balasz informed the detectives that the address was a cabin belonging to her father. The detectives were given instructions about where to find the place. But Balasz made sure that she got there first in order to remove several home-made pornographic videotapes that she feared would embarrass her.When Balasz finally took them to the cabin the detectives asked her to unlock it. The cabin itself comprised of two bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom. Red stains which appeared to be blood were found on the ceiling. There were also two small calibre bullet holes in both the living room wall and kitchen floor. Most disturbing of all was a four-poster bed in the bedroom that had electric cords tied to each post. A 250-watt floodlight was fastened to the wall.Blood stained mattresses and women’s lingerie together with video duplicating equipment all suggested that something sinister had taken place in this remote environment. Elsewhere in the area an incinerator with fireproof walls and a mysterious looking bunker precipitated further investigation that was to reveal a horrifying tale of abduction, torture and death.Claralyn Balasz became irate at being questioned about her connection to the property, which she maintained had been bought by her father and rented out. When asked by detectives if they could search the concrete bunker, Balasz suggested that they talk to Charles Ng, an Asian man who was the ‘business’ partner of her ex.Balasz informed them that she had recently gone to Ng’s apartment to collect a pay cheque before driving him to the San Francisco airport. She had no idea where he was heading. After Ng’s details were relayed to the authorities a task force was set up to search the entire property.The next day the task force set about their grisly work. A cleared area around the bunker saturated in lye, revealed a trench deposited with clothing. Even at this stage the detectives feared that they were about to unearth a gravesite. Two bones were later found and sent off for analysis.Once the bunker had been accessed it appeared smaller on the inside suggesting hidden rooms. Meanwhile, investigations revealed that the bunker property was rental and had been occupied by a couple, Lonnie Bond and his partner Brenda O’Connor with their young baby. A real estate agent informed officers that the couple had fallen behind on their rent and left the property together with a lodger by the name of Robin Stapley. All these people were now registered missing.Inside the bunker a main room appeared to be a workshop filled with an assortment of hand tools and power saws that hung on one wall. On closer inspection many of them appeared to be encrusted with bloodstains. A plywood tool rack served as an entrance to a hidden, smaller room revealing a double bed, side table and reading lamp. There were also several books, one ‘The Collector’ by John Fowles was about a butterfly collector who abducted a young girl and kept her in his basement.This novel would have chilling parallels to real life events that had taken place inside the bunker.Akin to something out of a ‘militia’ magazine, the room was filled with an armoury of weapons, gun paraphernalia, magazines and tomes on how to make chemical weapons. On one wall were plastered 21 snapshots of young girls taken in various form of undress.One of the most important finds was a diary, written by Lake himself which described how he and Charles Ng had abducted, raped, tortured and then killed various victims.Another room that appeared to be a ‘hostage cell’ was discovered behind a bookcase door. This small room, only seven feet by three, contained a single bed and chemical toilet. Holes had been drilled in the walls to provide ventilation but not light. More insidiously was a two-way mirror, which allowed viewers from one side to see and listen to the room’s occupants by switching a button.At the time of excavating the area, Gloria Eberling, Leonard Lake’s mother, turned up at the site. She had come to the murder scene in order to find out about her other son Donald, who had disappeared two years earlier.It was at this point that detectives quizzed her about Balasz removing videotapes from the cabin. Eberling admitted that her daughter-in-law had taken them in order to spare herself embarrassment by the content, which showed her in the nude and having sex with Lake. Balasz was ordered to return all tapes.The FBI was now investigating a full-scale murder enquiry as it was suspected that Lake and Ng had carried out multiple kidnappings, rape and murder. Although one suspect was now dead from suicide, the other, Ng, was still on the run.Kathleen Allen and boyfriend Michael Carroll’s bodies were found at the site. Ms Allen had been lured to the cabin by Lake after he told her Carroll, a felon and one time cellmate of Ng, had been shot. Other victims included Robin Scott Stapley who Lake has impersonated on the day of his arrest for theft. Strangely, one victim was Charles Gunner, known as ‘The Fat Man’ who had been Lake’s best man during his wedding to Claralyn Balasz.Lake’s neighbours Brenda O’Connor, partner Lonnie Bond and their baby son Lonnie Bond Jr. were also tragic victims of the two callous sociopaths, as were second couple Harvey and Deborah Dubs who had become unfortunate targets after their killers visited their home when Harvey advertised audio equipment to sell. The couple along with their baby Sean were abducted and later killed. One of the video tapes showed a terrified Brenda O’Connor being horrifically abused and told by Ng on the tape “If you say no (to co-operation) we’ll rape you and then we’ll take you outside and shoot you. Your choice."Ng wasn’t averse to also attracting men as sexual prey. He placed an ad in a sex magazine offering ‘oral’ and when answered went to the home of Donald Giuletti, a 38 year old disc jockey from San Francisco. He was later found dead, shot three times in the study of his home. Giuletti’s roommate identified Ng as the man who came to the apartment.Other victims were raped and taunted, the heinous acts filmed on video, while other captives watched in horror. Sheriff Ballard who conducted the enquiry told journalists that the videos were like horror films. Police estimated that around 21 ‘missing’ women were shown as victims being sexually assaulted, raped and sodomised on the tapes, their ages ranging from twelve to their early twenties. Six women in the tapes were thankfully found alive but many more remain missing today, their bodies most likely to have been incinerated.

A crackdown on racketeering in Chicago meant that Capone’s first mobster job was to move operations to Cicero. With the assistance of his brothers Frank (Salvatore) and Ralph, Capone infiltrated the government and police departments. Between them they took leading positions within Cicero city government in addition to running brothels, gambling clubs and racetracks. Capone kidnapped opponents’ election workers and threatened voters with violence. He eventually won office in Cicero but not before his brother Frank had been killed in a shoot out with Chicago’s police force.Capone had prided himself on keeping his temper under wraps but when friend and fellow hood Jack Guzik was assaulted by a small time thug, Capone tracked the assailant down and shot him dead in a bar. Due to lack of witnesses, Capone got away with murder, but the publicity surrounding the case gave him a notoriety that he had never had before.After the attempted assassination of Capone’s friend and mentor Johnny Torrio the frail man left his legacy of nightclubs, whorehouses, gambling dens, breweries and speakeasies to Capone. Capone’s new found status saw him moving his headquarters to the luxurious Metropole Hotel as part of his personal crusade to become more visible and to court celebrity. This included fraternising with the press and being seen at places like the opera. Capone was different from many gangsters who avoided publicity. Always smartly dressed, quiet and with political nous, he set out to be viewed as a respectable businessman and pillar of the community.Capone’s next mission involved bootlegged whiskey. With the help of his old friend Frankie Yale in New York, Al set out to smuggle huge quantities into Chicago. The events would lead to what became known as The Adonis Club Massacre where Capone had Yale’s enemies brutally attacked during a Christmas party.Capone’s bootlegging whiskey trail from Chicago to New York was making him rich, but an incident involving Billy McSwiggin, known as the "hanging prosecutor", was to prove a major setback for the unassailable gangster.McSwiggin was mistakenly shot and killed by Capone’s henchmen during a shoot out between rivals outside a bar. Capone was blamed but once again due to lack of evidence he escaped arrest. However, the murder was followed by a big outcry against gangster violence and public sentiment went against Capone.High profile investigations against Capone failed. The police therefore took their frustrations out by constantly raiding his whorehouses and gambling dens. Capone went into hiding for three months during the summer. But eventually he took a huge risk and gave himself up to the Chicago police. It proved to be the right decision as the authorities did not have enough evidence to charge him. Capone was a once again a free man having made a mockery of the police and justice system.Ironically, Capone took on the role of peacemaker, appealing to the other gangsters to tone down their violence. He even managed to broker an amnesty between rival gangsters and for two months the killing and violence ceased.But Chicago was firmly in the grip of gangsters and Capone appeared beyond the reach of the law. Somewhat ironically it was the pen pushers from the tax office who were to pose the greatest threat to the gangsters’ bootlegging empires. In May 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that a bootlegger had to pay income tax on his illegal bootlegging business. With such a ruling it wasn’t long before the small Special Intelligence Unit of the IRS under Elmer Irey was able to go after Al Capone.Capone left for Miami with his wife and children and bought Palm Island estate, a property that he immediately started to renovate expensively. This gave Elmer Irey his chance to document Capone's income and spending.But Capone was clever. Every transaction he made was on a cash basis. The only exception was the tangible assets of the Palm Island estate, which was evidence of a major source of income.Meanwhile, internal infighting between rival gangsters escalated into street violence and frequent hijackings of Capone’s whiskey transports became a big problem.Another thorn in the side for Capone was Frank Yale. Once a powerful associate, he was now seen as the main instigator of disruptions to Capone’s whiskey business. One Sunday afternoon, Yale met his end with the first use of a ‘Tommy gun’ against him.Capone also had to deal with rival gangster Bugs Moran and his North Siders gang. They had been a threat for years. Moran had even once tried to kill Capone’s colleague and friend Jack McGurn. The decision by Capone and McGurn to avail themselves of Moran was to lead to one of the most infamous gangland massacres in history – The St Valentine’s Day Massacre.On Thursday, 14 February 1929 at 10.30am Bugs Moran and his gang were lured by a bootlegger into a garage to buy whiskey. McGurn's men would be waiting for them, dressed in stolen police uniforms; the idea being that they would stage a fake raid. McGurn, like Capone, made sure he was far away and checked into a hotel with his girlfriend.When McGurn’s men thought they saw Bugs Moran, they got into their police uniforms and drove over to the garage in a stolen police car. The bootleggers, caught in the act, lined up against the wall. McGurn’s men took the bootleggers' guns and opened fire with two machine guns. All the men except Frank Gusenberg were killed outright in cold blood.The plan appeared to go brilliantly except for one major detail; Bugs Moran was not among the dead. Moran had seen the police car and took off, not wanting to be caught up in the raid.Even though Al Capone was conveniently in Florida, the police and the newspapers knew who had staged the massacre. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre became a national media event immortalising Capone as the most ruthless, feared, smartest and elegant of gangland bosses.Even while powerful forces were amassing against him, Capone indulged in one last bloody act of revenge – the killing of two Sicilian colleagues who he believed had betrayed him. Capone invited his victims to a sumptuous banquet where he brutally pulverised them with a baseball bat. Capone had observed the old tradition of wining and dining traitors before executing them.

21 August 1968 is a hot, but black, moonless night. And undercover of the darkness, a couple drive to a cemetery for a quick bit of adultery in the front seat of their car. The married 32 year-old Barbara Locci certainly doesn’t expect her cheating session with Antonio Lo Bianco, a bricklayer, to last long. Her six year old son, Natalino, is asleep in the back. The couple begin to undress. Entranced in each other, they don’t notice the approach of a gunman. He shoots eight times, killing them both. But the boy is not only left unharmed, the killer drops him off at the safety of a farmhouse.The police don’t have far to search for a suspect. Antonio is not Barbara’s first lover. Her prolific encounters earned her the nickname ‘Queen Bee’, and her much cheated on husband, Stefano Mele, confesses to the murders just two days later. His confession, however, has many flaws, not least of which is why he decided to shoot into a car he knew contained his only son. He soon retracts his confession but two years later, the courts, believing him partially insane, sentence Stefano Mele to 14 years in prison.

14 September 1974: Six years have passed since the first killings. 19-year-old Pasquale Gentilcore parks his father’s car. He’s picked a romantic spot that overlooks a river few miles north of Florence. But on such a dark, moonless night, he and his teenage lover, Stefania Pettini, haven’t come for the view. Pasquale begins to undress and they start to kiss. Then, ten bullets rip into their car. Pasquale is shot five times and is stabbed twice. Her boyfriend is dead but Stefania, who has been shot three times, is still breathing. She’s dragged from the car. At some point during her 96 stab wounds, Stefania Pettini mercifully dies. She is spared the sickening acts that follow. Her naked body is spread-eagled behind the car and a vine branch is partially inserted into her mutilated vagina. The killer then empties the contents of her handbag onto the ground and leaves.

It’s June 1981, seven years after the sickening killing of the young lovers. An off duty policeman is spending his weekend walking with his son in the Florentine countryside. He comes across a Fiat with a handbag and its contents emptied beside the driver’s door. On closer inspection, he finds 30-year-old Giovanni Foggi sitting in the driver’s seat with his throat slashed. The police investigation found that eight shots had been fired into the vehicle. And nearby, they find the spread eagled body of Giovanni’s 21-year-old lover, Carmela De Nuccio. She had been repeatedly stabbed. This time, the killer had tried to remove her vagina with an almost surgical like approach. The autopsy showed that both lovers had died from the gunshots and hadn’t endured the subsequent stabbing, slashing and slicing. Ballistic tests showed a .22 calibre weapon had been used and detectives made a match to the 1974 murder. Did Florence harbour a serial killer?

Confirmation comes that October. Stefano Baldi, 26, and his girlfriend, Susanna Cambi, 24, park in a scenic area north of Florence. They are still alive when the shooting stops. Then the stabbing starts. Later that evening, another young couple discover the bodies. For the second time, the woman’s vagina has been removed. The police alert the press to their serial killer suspicions.

The next year, in June, the killer opens fire on a couple making love in their car. Unusually, it’s the 20 year old girlfriend, Antonella Miglionni that dies first. Her 22 year old boyfriend Paolo Mainardi manages to start the car and reverse it away. But he reverses into a ditch and is trapped. The killer approaches again. He empties his pistol into the victims. With his usual routine disturbed, the killer leaves before mutilating the female.Amazingly, Paolo was still alive when the scene was discovered. When he did die a few hours later, the authorities ask the press to state that Paolo had given a description of the killer before dying, in the hope of forcing him into the open. One of the medics who accompanied Paolo to hospital receives two telephone calls asking for details of the description. In the second call, the person identifies himself as the killer. But no new lead opens up. The only development is that a detective remembers the first 1968 double murder and calls for ballistic tests. They confirm the same weapon was used.Two years pass. On 9 September 1983, the killer shoots two German boys, Horst Meyer and Uwe Rusch Sens. But he doesn’t mutilate either. Investigators speculate that the killer mistook the long blonde hair of one of the boys to be that of a girl.On 29 July 1984 the killer ends the lives of another young couple. On the top of the shooting and stabbing (this time, the female is slashed over 100 times), and the genital removal, the killer removes her left breast.The Monster of Florence strikes one last time on 8 September 1985. A French couple are on a camping holiday. As they make love in their tent, the killer places his gun just 20 inches from them. He fires four bullets into each of them. Three bullets rip into the skull of Nadine Mauriot. But despite one of the bullets hitting his mouth, 25-year-old Jean-Michel Kraveichvili manages to escape the tent. He runs 30 yards. Then the killer catches up with him. He stabs Jean-Michel to death. The killer returns to the tent and over the next 10 minutes, he removes Nadine’s vagina and left breast.The next day, the assistant District Attorney receives an envelope. Her address on the envelope has been created using letters cut from a magazines and newspapers and contains one spelling mistake. Inside is a small plastic bag. Inside the plastic bag there is a bit of Nadine’s breast.

“When men are very much in that mode of feeling...their life has been successful...if something threatens to remove all that...then for some men that loss of power and control will lead to them expressing themselves in this extreme form of violence...it’s perverse but it seems to be a way of regaining some control...it’s like saying if I can’t have all of this, if I can’t have my beloved wife and child and if I can’t have my business and my beautiful home then no one else is going to have them.”

Dr Marilyn Gregor, Researcher of suicide after homicide

It was a Bank Holiday Monday on 25 August 2008 that the Foster family enjoyed their last day together.

Christopher Foster, his wife Jill and daughter Kirstie attended the gated mansion of John Hughes. Hughes, a millionaire luxury car dealer, was having a barbecue and clay pigeon shoot. Christopher spent the afternoon doing exactly that. Later, he said to Jill:

“I’ve had enough. I want to go home.”Despite Jill wanting to stay, they returned in her black Range Rover. Jill went to bed first. After midnight, his daughter Kirstie chatted to a friend online. That ended when Christopher turned the internet off. Soon after, Kirstie went to sleep.Her father then fitted a silencer to a .22 rifle.

Dads who kill: 6 famous familicide cases, from Chris Watts to Chris Benoit

Whether the cases involve secret affairs, money issues or mental illness, family murders can be some of the most tragic and shocking

FAMILY ANNILHATOR

It is likely that Christopher Foster shot his wife of 21 years first. As the only other adult, she would have posed the greatest threat to Foster’s plan. He shot her in the back of her head in her bedroom.Foster then crossed the hallway to his daughter’s bedroom.He also shot his daughter in the back of the head. It was as if he was too ashamed to look them in the face.

FIRESTARTER

Foster then calmly set about destroying everything that could be burnt.

The man who had made a fortune out of preventing fires, now created one that would obliterate all traces of his existence.

It is estimated that he flooded his mansion with 200 gallons of oil. He spread the accelerant and oil soaked rags throughout the house to ensure the fire took hold.

At 3:09AM, CCTV footage showed Mr Foster set fire to his luxury home.

He then killed all the family animals. He shot dead the dogs and the horses. As with his family, he shot all the animals in the head.He also jammed the horsebox against the entrance gate and shot out the tyres. He takes out the keys. Both measures were to prevent anyone driving in and intervening.

He then returned home. As the flames burnt through his house, he climbed the stairs one last time. He lay down next to the wife he’d shot.He brought a loaded gun with him. But he did not shoot himself. Nor did the flames burn him alive. Instead, smoke inhalation kills him.

999 Neighbours rang the emergency services. The first fire crew arrived at 4.29AM. But they first have to move the horsebox out of the way. By the time they can get close enough, there is little they can do but contain the scene. The heat from the flames was so intense that all emergency services are unable to attempt entering.

For the police, it was equally frustrating. Vital evidence was being destroyed before the investigators very eyes.“It was like a clay oven turning everything to ash.”

Jon Groves, Detective Superintendent

But first attendees did notice gun cartridges around the grounds.Four days later, the ruins were still smouldering. Finally, on the Friday, despite the risk of falling debris, investigators entered. Two burnt bodies are found together, ‘top to tail’. Forensic tents are erected for examinations.

It is later concluded that they’d died on the same bed and it had collapsed three floors down to the ground floor fireplace. On the Sunday, dental records identified one of the bodies as Jill Foster.

On the Monday, Kirstie’s body was found.On the Tuesday, the unawares bailiffs arrived.

Christopher Foster had feared their arrival.

He had left them nothing to collect.

Read more:

The Watts family murder: What really happened?

“What would you do if I killed you? I have done it before.” (John Straffen talking to 13-year-old girl who reported to police that a boy called John had assaulted her) The Trial of John Thomas Straffen, Letitia Fairfield and Eric FullbrookOn 15 July 1951, Straffen is walking near Bath, on his usual Sunday outing to the pictures. He comes across 6-year-old Brenda Goddard who is happily collecting flowers not far from her home. Straffen engages her in conversation. Although he is a grown man Straffen has the mental age of a child and so probably doesn't seem threatening to the little girl. They walk together for a while before Straffen takes her into nearby woods and strangles her.A few weeks later, on 8 August 1951, Straffen meets 9-year-old Cicely Batstone at the cinema. As a treat, she has been allowed to see a film called “Tarzan and The Jungle Queen”. Straffen befriends her and persuades her to go with him by bus to another cinema across town. He promises they will see “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”. But instead he takes her to a field and strangles her.By 1952 Straffen has been locked up in high security psychiatric hospital, Broadmoor, after being found unfit to plead in the case of the murder of the two little girls from Bath. It is assumed that he is no longer a threat to the general public. But at 2.40pm on 29 April 1952, he jumps over the wall and with the alarm ringing all around him he evades the guards and escapes. Two members of staff pursue him on bicycles and he is eventually recaptured four hours later, seven miles away in Arborfield.The timings of Straffen’s escape are crucial because at 10.30pm that evening 5-year-old Linda Bowyer is reported missing in Arborfield. Her body is found the following morning – she has been strangled. The finger of blame is immediately pointed at Straffen and he is charged with his third and final murder.

“The ferocity of the way he struck him was quite incredible. He must have really used all his strength and he was strong, he was strong at 17.” Ken Tappenden, Former Detective Inspector, Kent PoliceIn early 1974, the map in the police incident room at Scotland Yard is covered with red dots, pinpointing areas in South West London where a mugger has struck, repeatedly targeting old ladies. The perpetrator was Patrick Mackay, and his violence was about to escalate.On 26 Feb 1974, police discover the body of an elderly lady, Isabella Griffiths. The door to her home has been forced open and she has been strangled. She has also been repeatedly struck with a heavy instrument and has lain dead in her Chelsea flat for 12 days. The murderer has placed the body in the kitchen, covered it up, closed her eyes then stabbed her through the chest, pinning her body to the floor. Police find evidence that the murderer has also hung around in the house for a substantial period of time listening to the radio.At this stage police do not realise there is a serial killer at large.On 10 March 1975, a year after the murder of Isabella Griffiths, the body of Adele Price is discovered in a flat on Lowndes Square, in Knightsbridge, London. Again, there are disturbing details to this murder.The murderer has forced his way in to the flat and strangled Mrs Price. He then stays in the flat for several hours after the murder, falling asleep in an armchair with the dead body lying in the kitchen. He is rudely awoken when Mrs Price’s granddaughter calls on the intercom and makes his escape before she lets herself into the flat upon getting no reply.The police realise that the murders of these two elderly ladies are connected but they have no suspects to investigate.In the sleepy village of Shorne in Kent, Father Anthony Crean is preparing for Easter. He is well known in the community and has a strong commitment to helping the homeless. He had extended a helping hand to Patrick Mackay, whom he had met whilst out walking a couple of years before. They had become friends, but on one occasion Mackay had stolen a blank cheque from the Father’s house, forged his signature and obtained £80 in cash over the counter of a local bank.Mackay was caught and ordered to pay the money back to Father Crean. This money is never repaid and leads to another incident on 21 March 1975.Mackay lets himself into Father Crean’s cottage in his absence, and when the Father returns they fight in the hallway of the house. Crean manages to break free and locks himself in the bathroom but Mackay finds and axe and uses it to break through the door. He then stabs the old man repeatedly in a frenzied attack, finally killing him by striking in the head with the axe.Later that evening a nun, who is concerned about the whereabouts of Father Crean, makes a horrific discovery. She finds him, floating in a bath full of bloody water.

“Sometimes you just don’t know why … No “why” would really explain this. There is no why.” Lead prosecutor, Michael Fabbri talking about Neil Entwistle’s possible motive for double murder. Jonathan Raban: Two Clicks, the life of Neil EntwistleWith the excitement of moving into their own home, Rachel Entwistle was looking forward to the weekend; her plans were to play host to her mother and her best friend. Full of anticipation, Rachel speaks with her mum, Priscilla, on the evening of 19 June 2006. It was the last time anyone has contact with Rachel. Within 24 hours, both she and her baby daughter would be dead.Unable to get a reply, the frustrated visitors alert the police who visit the Entwistle house. Remarkably, they find nothing. When they return a day later they make a grim discovery: lying on the bed in top floor bedroom as if asleep, are Rachel and Lillian Rose.A single gunshot to the head ends Rachel’s life. Lillian has sustained a fatal gunshot to the abdomen. Poignantly, it seems Lillian was killed as she was being cradled by her mother.There are no signs of a murder weapon, an intruder or motive. The unexplained murders of the mother and child are among the most mysterious in American criminal history. The newspaper headlines talk of the horror of a slain mother and daughter.By the time the bodies are discovered by the police, Neil Entwistle has flown thousands of miles away travelling to his parents’ home in England.

“Life in parts of Manchester is as unsafe and uncertain as amongst a race of savages” Mr Justice Wills comments upon jailing Owen Callaghan for manslaughter of Joe BradyFIGHT CLUB The gangs would actually chalk an invitation to fight on a wall or the pavement. This would specify the day and the time for battle to commence. It might even detail the numbers expected and the weapons to be used. Though street gangs usually targeted their immediate neighbours, they sometimes banded together against another area’s combined gangs. So, all the gangs in Ancoats would join to take on those of Salford. These group gangs would walk three to four miles to engage in mass bloody brawls. These close combat confrontations could involve a couple of dozen to hundreds of young people. The so called ‘Rochdale Road War’ of 1870-1, led to the conviction of around 500 scuttlers. Their battlegrounds ranged from streets, to graveyards and pubs. With no restriction on teenagers drinking, much fighting could be alcohol fuelled. The results of these clashes were captured in the next day’s headlines:“Knocking a Man’s Eye Out”    “Murder in Manchester”       ‘Stabbing in Pendleton’           “Breaking a Woman’s Jaw”During one particularly bloody period, the doctors at Ancoats Hospital were said to be overwhelmed by having to stitch and sew up so many victims.But despite the frequent ferocious fighting, deaths were surprisingly rare. This is all the more astounding because the battles always involved weapons.ORNAMENTAL AND OFFENSIVE The Glasgow Razor gangs were known to sew razors into their clothing but the scuttlers took this approach one step further. They made their wardrobe into weapons.The coloured, patterned neckerchiefs could be loaded with stones, tied and turned into a swinging cosh. Their heavy brass belt buckles, sometimes shaped like serpents, were sharpened so that they could whip and slash with them. And if the blade bit didn’t slice you, the heaviness of the buckle was sufficient to fracture the skull. And when their opponent was beaten to the floor, their brass toe capped clogs would help finish the job.But like most street fighters, the scuttlers would use anything to hand, including broken bottles and paving stones.

“It was like a lynching from the days of slavery.” Duwayne Brooks, survivor of the attackIt’s 22 April 1993.

The Conservative Prime Minister, John Major, is struggling to lead the country out of recession. The Bluebells, ‘Young at Heart’ is No.1 in the charts and Madonna’s ‘Body of Evidence’ is the most watched film at the cinema. But that’s only part of the world Stephen lived in. He lives in South East London, very close to Eltham. Eltham is a ‘notorious white enclave’. Ethnic minorities account for just six per cent of its population. The HQ of the British National Party is close by. Racism is simply everywhere.

For Stephen that day, it’s the usual routine, of school, a bit of window shopping, and then meeting up with his best mate, Duwayne. The two go to a relative’s house and play video games until late. At around 10:20pm, Stephen and his friend Duwayne go to catch a bus home. The quickest route back means waiting at a bus stop on Well Hall Road, Eltham.

Stephen goes to the end of the road to see if the bus is coming. A group of white youths approach. Gary Dobson is 17, his friend, David Norris is just 16. They are with at least three, possibly more, other white youths. Their meeting with Stephen and Duwayne is a chance encounter.

When Duwayne shouts to ask Stephen if he could see the bus, one of the gang of white youth yells back, ‘what, what n****r?’. They surround Stephen, and unprovoked, attack as one. Their targets, Stephen and Duwayne, are random. But their intended violence against their skin is premeditated. Duwayne manages to make a run for it. Bizarrely, Stephen, one of the fastest sprinters at his school, doesn’t.

In a hate filled ten seconds, two stab wounds are delivered. One of the stab wounds penetrates five inches into his flesh. Both sever arteries. The gang move as one in the frenzy, and move off together.

Critically injured, Stephen now tries to run towards to Duwayne. Blood is pouring from both shoulders and drenching his clothes.After 120m, he collapses. At 10:30pm, everything that Stephen is, and hoped to be, ends.

In the early hours of Saturday morning on 3rd July, Moat approached his former partner’s friend’s home. He was armed with a sawn-off shotgun and a bag of homemade bullets. When Samantha Stobbart and her new 29-year-old partner, Christopher Brown, left the house at 2:40am, Samantha saw Moat and screamed a warning. Christopher tried to protect Sam and Moat shot twice at him at close range. Christopher staggered bleeding, defenceless and fell onto the grass. Moat walked up and shot him point blank. Moat didn't know the man he had just killed and believed he had killed a policeman. Christopher Brown was though a father of three.

Moat went after Samantha who had fled back inside. He fired through the window hitting her twice in the stomach. According to Agnes Hornsby, Samantha's grandmother: "[Raoul] said himself the only reason that he shot her where he shot her was so she couldn’t wear a bikini and show other men her figure - that was typical Raoul. Nobody else was allowed to look at Samantha.”

Doctors later had to cut the 22-year-old’s stomach open to examine the extent of her internal organ damage. CCTV captured Moat just once as he sauntered off into the night.

The next morning Moat rang a friend to say that the shootings had lifted a huge cloud off his shoulders and now he’s "full of beans". That afternoon, police announced they were after Raoul Moat. They made 28 arrests while trying to track him down. The shootings occurred just four weeks after gunman Derek Bird killed 12 people in Cumbria and national news channels began speculating that another spree killer was on the loose.

Andy McAlistair, an old friend of Moat's, answered a knock at the door and "nearly s**t [himself]" when he saw the wanted criminal standing there. He tried to persuade Moat to turn himself in and claim the murder was a crime of passion in a ploy to reduce sentence. However, Moat was unimpressed with the plan and left. Andy rang the police...but so did Moat.

On Saturday 4th June at 12:31am he told a 999 operator: “Hello there, this is the gunman from Birtley last night, er, my name is Raoul Moat...um, what I’m phoning about is to tell you exactly why I have done what I have done right? Now my girlfriend has been having an affair behind my back with one of your officers, this gentleman that I shot last night...I am hunting for officers now.”

He had declared war on the police in revenge for a lifetime of perceived persecution. Minutes later Moat spotted an unarmed police patrol officer sat in his car at a roundabout west of Newcastle. The experienced officer knew the intersection was a favourite getaway route for criminals. Video from the police car showed Moat circling in an accomplice's black Lexus. Moat shot twice at 42-year-old father of two, PC David Rathband. He was blinded by the first shot and played dead to avoid being fired at again. After Moat left the scene David used his radio and was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Slaughter on a warm summer's day: The Hungerford massacre

While the physical injuries from that fateful day have long since healed, the emotional scars in Hungerford still run deep

“Garry lost his life, my daughters lost their father and I lost a husband.” Helen NewloveIt’s Friday 10 August 2007.In the afternoon, a gang of lads gathers in the local park. They’re drinking strong lager. Fuelled up, they go to an off license. Despite some of the group being under age, the gang now have several bottles of cider.SWELLHEAD One of the gang will consume 3-5 litres of 7.5% proof cider. He is 18-year-old unemployed Adam Swellings. He’s one of the oldest and what passes for their leader. They call him ‘Swellhead’. ‘Swellhead’ has just been released on police bail at midday. The hot summer’s day dehydrates and exaggerates the effects of the alcohol. The gang embark on a spree of violence along the back alleys, parks and streets they think is their territory.A Police Community Support Officer stops them in their tracks. He confiscates all of their alcohol. As soon as the Officer is gone, they simply buy more. They spot two teenagers. Before the two can run, one of them is punched.The gang moves on. They find three teenagers at a bus stop. One of them is disabled. They shout and swear at them forcing them down the street. They separate off the disabled boy. They punch and kick him to the ground.They then relax in the main park, smoking and drinking. They head off to a local pub where a large number of youths are already sitting on benches outside. The pub is close to where Garry Newlove and his family live.Garry’s eighteen-year-old daughter Zoe isn’t at home as she’s working at IKEA. His wife Helen has gone to bed early feeling tired and unwell. As she doesn’t like the TV Talent Show on that night, Garry, Danielle and Amy are happy enough that they’ll be able to watch the final without her minding. Garry takes her up a boiled egg and makes sure she’s all right. Helen’s touched. She’s looking forward to watching her favourite TV programme; a murder mystery series.It’s now nearly 10:40pm.The gang are walking up Garry’s road. They break a light on a neighbour’s car. They move on. Then one kicks Helen’s car.Inside, the family hears breaking glass. It sounds like it’s going to be the usual tense Friday night. Helen shouts down to Garry asking him to see what’s happening. Garry replies with the last words he will ever say to his wife:“Yup, not a problem, I’ll just go and check.”Barefooted, Garry goes out and demands to know which one of the gang damaged his wife’s Renault Scenic. The gang simply laugh at him. They circle him, shouting and swearing and goading him. One of them, Adam Swellings comes up from behind. He is the first to punch him.Once this line is crossed, the rest attack as a pack. Garry is kneed in the back and he falls to his knees. Now he’s at the right height for them to kick him in his head.At the same time, Zoe returns home from work with her boyfriend. They try to intervene. But the frenzied gang make it clear that nothing will stop them. There’s nothing Amy and Danielle can do. They can only watch in horror as each of the 14 blows to Garry’s head is inflicted. Garry has instinctively pulled himself into the foetal position.Sorton kicks Garry on the ground so hard that he loses his trainer under his beaten body. In total, Garry receives 40 internal injuries. His hands are bruised from trying to protect himself.“They did not stop kicking Mr Newlove even while he was lying on the ground dying from his injuries." Ian Rushton, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS CheshireIn just two minutes, Garry has head and other injuries inflicted that will end his life.As Garry isn’t reacting anymore, the gang move off. They go straight to a chip shop for their dinner. 15-year-old Danielle cradles her dying father in her arms.Amy runs inside and screams for an ambulance. She collapses. Zoe’s boyfriend gives mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Garry. The ambulance arrives. They stretcher in Garry. Helen tries to join him in the back of the ambulance. But Garry starts to fail and the crew have to ask her to step down. Helen, in shock, sits on the curb and phones her family screaming that Garry’s hurt.Then they’re in A&E and they’re asking Helen to go into the family room but she’s seen the BBC medical drama ‘Casualty’ and she knows that you only go in there for bad news and she doesn’t want to go but the nurses persuade her in.A doctor enters and says that Garry is in a coma. His pupil is dilated and bleeding. Helen asks her to see her husband.“It’s horrible. You see the neck collar, but his head was so swollen...it made me feel physically sick. I still say to this day that there was a footprint on his forehead that was a footprint of a trainer.”A violent kick to the back of Garry’s head has caused a brain haemorrhage.Amy writes a letter to her father begging him to come back to her:“I know you can fight this as you are a strong, loving man who knows me no matter what. I will stick by you while you are in hospital and I will take care of mummy.”Helen takes her daughters to see their father. She doesn’t want their last memory to be of their father broken and bleeding on a dirty floor. They all kiss, cuddle and hug him.The family hold a bedside vigil. Garry had battled and beaten stomach cancer. He had confronted a street gang. But the brain haemorrhage they’d inflicted was fatal. Helen is told that her husband is brain dead.She agrees to switch off his life support.Two days after asking some boys to stop kicking a car, Garry Newlove stops breathing.

“Any mother...would recoil in horror at the idea of lighting a fire beneath where your children are sleeping. I have never come across such selfish disregard for their children...Mairead doesn’t protect her children, in fact, she actually puts them in harm. And that’s unforgivable.” Dr Keri Nixon, Forensic PsychologistIt’s 10 May 2012. Mick and Mairead Philpott put their six children to bed. At 13, Duwayne is the eldest and is the ‘protector’ of his siblings. Ten-year-old Jade is the ‘mother hen’ of her younger brothers. They are nine-year-old John, eight-year-old Jack, six-year-old Jesse and the youngest, Jayden, is five.“Imagining them being put to bed that evening, they’re kissing their mum and dad goodnight, they are talking to each other, being like children, you know, excited little boys and girls, in bed. And Philpott and Mairead are doing that knowing what they are about to do.” Emma Kenny, PsychologistThey then invite over Paul Moseley. All three start drinking heavily. Mairead gets stoned. She then has a threesome with Philpott and Moseley on the snooker table.At around 3am, they pour petrol on the floor. Paul Mosley removes the petrol containers so there’ll be no incriminating evidence. At 3:30am Mick sets the petrol alight. He starts the fire in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. He’s now cut off the children’s escape route. They exit and as the fire takes hold, they move to a neighbour’s garden. Mairead then rings the emergency services.OPERATOR: What’s your name duck? MAIRHEAD: Mrs Philpott OPERATOR: How many kids are in the house Mrs Philpott? MAIRHEAD: There’s six of them.Mick Philpott joins in the conversation:OPERATOR: Michael, can you see any flames? PHILPOTT: Nah, all I can see is black smoke. I can’t see anything else than black smoke... OPERATOR: ...Have you any idea what caused the fire? PHILPOTT: I’ve no idea mate. We’ve just been woke up by the alarm.Philpott starts to tell neighbours he thinks Lisa started the fire. Frantic neighbours are struck by his behaviour.“There was no emotion out of none of them. If he would have grabbed hold of me and said ‘Please, come on, let’s get in there. My kids are in there!’ I know that would have been a true man as a father.” Jamie Butler, neighbourJamie tries to get into the back bedroom. It’s impossible. Sickeningly quickly, all realise the smoke and flames are impenetrable. The children are trapped inside inhaling poisonous fumes.Fire fighters arrive. Professionally they’re experienced enough to know the children are lost. Personally, each one battles to save them.A small mercy is that the autopsies will later show the children’s deaths are ‘swift and, it would seem, without pain.’When it is possible, the first body is brought out. It is ten-year-old Jade. The last is thirteen-year-old Duwayne.“...you just knew as soon as you see them come out, their little souls were gone.” Darren Butler, NeighbourPhilpott asks his friends Sharon and Mick Russell to accompany him to the mortuary. Philpott looks at his dead children and shows no emotion. Bizarrely, when Mick starts to break down in tears, it’s Philpott that tries to console him:“...he was comforting me. I was sitting there crying my head off and he was comforting me. You know, I am supposed to be the one comforting him.” Mick RussellBut not all of Philpott’s children are dead. Duwayne is on life support. So they go to see him. Despite the life and death situation, Philpott and Mairead wonder off and leave their dying son several times. On one occasion, Mick Russell is appalled by what occupies Philpott’s attention:“All of a sudden I heard him shout, ‘Mick!’ And I turned round and I said ‘What?’ And he’s grabbing this girls arse and saying, “This is what I like.’ I said, ‘You got a lad in there dying mate and five of your kids are dead. Is that what you’re still thinking about?”

“(Hazell) convinced himself that Tia loved him.” Nick Scola, Detective Chief InspectorHazell’s now obsessed enough to watch child pornography, violent child pornography: “He was looking at illegal underage incest pictures, daddy and daughter incest pictures. He is getting off on the voyeurism, but at the same time it’s not going to be enough.” Emma Kenny, PsychologistTia is entering puberty. For Hazell, this means she’s becoming sexually available. He starts secretly filming her. He covertly captures her doing everything from moisturising to sleeping. He films his shadow standing over her unconscious body in bed. Police believe he removes the door in the bathroom and tampers with a light fitting in Tia’s bedroom to create spy holes:“...voyeurism is something that we see in violent sexual offenders. Once offenders go to the next level, they don’t go back.” Dr Keri Nixon, Forensic PsychologistJUNE 2012Tia’s twelfth birthday is spent at Chessington. She goes with her mum and grandma and she has the choice of one friend to go with them. She picks Hazell. Hazell is by now viewing violent pornography on his mobile phone. His search terms include ‘schoolgirl rape’ and ‘incest sex’:“Fantasies are really important in understanding what leads to murder.” Dr. Keri NixonSome of Hazell’s online searches have the key word ‘glasses’ in them. Tia wears glasses.2 AUGUST 2012 The country is in full Olympics mode. Tia texts her grandma and Hazell, asking if she could stay the night with them. Hazell texts Natalie back saying he doesn’t mind if Tia comes: But adds that Christine won’t be there. So Natalie asks Tia if she still wants to go? Tia replies, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.”“I wished I hadn’t have read the text message. I wished I hadn’t have read it out to her. I wished I’d told her no, she wasn’t staying there.” Natalie SharpHazell meets her from the tram. A CCTV captures the last images of Tia alive. Hazell and Tia are shopping.  That night, Christine phones Hazell. He says they’re playing computer games. Christine hears Tia laughing in the background. Sometime later, stoned and drunk, Hazell makes sexual advances to Tia. Tia says she’ll tell her mum. Rather than feel shame, he’s instead filled with sadistic, sexual lust.It is not known at what point he kills Tia, or even how he kills her. It is suspected that he suffocates Tia. What is certain is that he uses a vibrator on her. Tia’s blood is later found on it. Hazell strips her naked. He arranges her dead body into a ‘sexually posed position.’ It’s then alleged he uses his mobile phone camera to take a photo of her from behind:“After murdering a girl that he has brought up as his own granddaughter...he totally dehumanises and humiliates the body, using it for his pleasure with absolutely no moral care, no emotional feelings towards somebody that, from two years of age, he has held as his own. That demonstrates just how dark, detached and sinister his personality is. This is a man who is capable of anything.” Emma Kenny, PsychologistHe saws her body up in a bathtub.He places the pieces of her body into black sacks. “Tia’s body was taped up, almost cocooned, in the black bed sheet and the black plastic.” Nick Scola, Detective Chief InspectorHazell places Tia’s dismembered remains in between the rafters where the loft meets the roof. He carefully wraps Tia’s clothes and her broken glasses in small black bags and places them next to her. He covers it all in general debris:

“For someone who wasn’t intelligent, Hazell had done a remarkable job in hiding the evidence of his crime.” Nick Scola, Det Ch InspThe one thing that Hazell hadn’t calculated was the impact his one moment of sickness would have on the family that had taken him. “I think he’s worse than Ian Huntley, for the simple fact is he done it to his own.” Christine Bicknell  

“…I am not responsible for the murder of Christine Darby…” Raymond Morris, Sunday Mercury, 17 April 2011

On 1 December 1964 in Leamore, a man believed to be Morris pretends to be an uncle of nine-year-old Julia Taylor and persuades her to get into his car. She is sexually assaulted, strangled and left for dead in Bloxwich Lane. A passing cyclist saves her from freezing to death.

On 8 September 1965, six-year-old Margaret Reynolds is travelling to school in Aston, Birmingham. She vanishes on the way. Within hours, two thousand people are searching for her. Their search is in vain.

On 30 December 1965, five-year-old Diane Tift says goodbye to her brother, Terrence, and walks to her grandmother’s house on nearby Chapel Street, Bloxwich. She never arrives.

On 12 January 1966, the body of a young girl is discovered by a workman, in a Cannock Chase ditch at Mansty Gully. Police are called and when the body is lifted out, another is discovered underneath. They have found Margaret Reynolds and Diane Tift.

On 14 August 1966, ten-year-old Jane Taylor goes missing during a bicycle ride near Cannock Chase. Her body is never found. Morris is widely considered to be guilty of her disappearance.In October 1966, Morris is brought in by police, accused of taking two girls to his home, putting them in separate rooms and undressing them. During their interviews, neither girl is able to accurately corroborate the other's testimony and so no charges are brought.

On 19 August 1967, seven-year-old Christine Ann Darby is playing near her Camden Street home in Caldmore. Her friend, Nicholas Baldry, is asked by a man with a local accent in a grey car for directions to Karmer Green - the local pronunciation for Caldmore Green. This same man then approaches Christine and persuades her to get into his car. Nicholas is the last person to see her alive.A grey car is later seen on Cannock Chase and reported to be an Austin A55 or A60. Search parties are launched and three days later, a soldier finds Christine’s naked body under bracken at Parr’s Warren, just one mile from where Margaret and Diane’s bodies were found. She has been raped and suffocated.

On 4 November 1968, ten-year-old Margaret Aulton is building a bonfire for Guy Fawkes Night on waste ground in Bridgeman Street. Raymond Morris pulls up beside her in his green and white Ford Corsair and tells her to get in, saying he has fireworks for her. She refuses but Morris is insistent and too strong to resist. Mrs Lane, a young housewife, happens upon the scene and shouts at Morris to stop. Morris jumps back into his car and flees. Mrs Lane makes a mental note of his registration number and calls the police.

"There was a chilling gothic clarity about the method by which he killed his victims." Professor David Wilson - CriminologistIt’s a beautiful afternoon in August 2011. A family is having a barbeque. In just fifteen minutes, this picture postcard family moment will be turned into a scene from a slaughterhouse...Damian and Izabela have been married for six years. The once romantic lovers have grown increasingly apart due to the pressures of family. Damian’s work colleagues notice a change in his behaviour. The 30 year old was quieter, less communicative. The previous month, unbeknownst to many, he had attempted suicide. He couldn’t face Izabela’s revelation that she had had a two month affair. The couple thought a trip home might heal the rifts in their marriage. It hadn’t.Damian drives the family home, all the way from Poland to St Malo. It’s an exhausting 23 hour trip. He drives them onto the very early Sunday morning ferry. When it docks in St Helier, it’s just 8am. He drives everyone straight home.The date is 14 August 2011.It’s a Sunday. All over the island families decide to enjoy the warm weather with a barbecue. Damian and Izabela decide the same. Izabela invites her best friend Marta and her five year old daughter Julia to join the family.At around 12:30 Izabela and her father Marek set off to pick up Marta and Julia. Damian is left to look after the two children. Marta’s husband Craig is looking after his other daughter and her friends after a sleepover so he doesn’t come along.When Izabela returns, she finds her children have been left alone. Damian is nowhere to be found. When minutes later he walks through the door, he can’t, or won’t explain where he’s been. Izabela is furious with him. Nearby neighbours hear their raised voices.Nevertheless, they have their barbecue. Damian drinks some whiskey. The barbecue finishes.All of the children are in the front room of the flat. Kacper is sitting on a chair at the dining room table playing with some toys. Kinga is painting. Julia is close by. Izabela supervises them.Damian takes two kitchen knives. First he stabs Izabela’s father.“Instrumentally, by killing the only other adult man first, he is removing immediately the one person who physically might have been able to have overcome him and prevent the family annihilation.” Professor David Wilson - CriminologistMarek is watching TV. The violence comes so suddenly that he barely moves. Finally, after a frenzied attack, Damian plunges the knife into Marek’s spinal cord. It severs it. Damian leaves the knife in Marek’s back. Armed with the other knife, he moves on.But remarkably, the 56 year old Marek is still alive. Unable to walk because of his wounds, he crawls into the hallway. He is trying to reach and protect the children in the living room.As 18 month old Kacper plays with his car toys, Damian stabs him five times in the chest. Kacper slumps forward, still seated. Damian stabs him another eight times in the back. Kacper falls to the floor. He is dead.Damian’s six year old daughter is painting. Kinga is stabbed 16 times. The first three wounds are to her front, the rest in her back.Next is Julia. She’s stabbed several times but survives and manages to move to the hallway. Damian sees her efforts and administers the last of 16 stab wounds.“His wife would’ve viewed those other murders taking place and have been powerless to have done anything to prevent those murders so there’s a way in which she is being punished even in the order of the victims that has been chosen. It prolonged her pain, not only her pain physically but her pain psychologically.” Professor David Wilson - CriminologistIzabela leaves a bloody palm print on the wall next to the door of the living room. This indicates she is first stabbed either there or in the hallway. She sustains three fatal stab wounds to the chest. She still has enough life to run through the flat trying to escape. She goes through both bedrooms and seeks safety in the bathroom. She uses Marek’s phone to ring 997. This is a Polish emergency number. It doesn’t connect.Unanswered, she drops the phone. She tries to flee the flat. At around this time, Marta is attacked and killed.At 14:58, a 999 call is made. A witness reports Damian chasing Izabela down the street attacking her. She’s shouting and screaming for help. Witnesses think he’s hitting her. In fact, every time his hand lands on her, it holds the knife and she receives more stab wounds to her back.A witness shouts at and approaches Damian. He points the knife at them. They stop. Damian walks back in the flat, closes the door, and starts to use the knife on himself. In just fifteen minutes, Damian has stabbed his wife, daughter, son, father-in law, his wife’s best friend and her daughter to death.Damian now stabs himself repeatedly in the chest, puncturing and collapsing one lung.He attempts to cut his wrists. He is either overcome by his actions, or suffering from blood loss because he slumps to the floor and sprawls face down in the back room.

"The next thing I knew was a hand covering my mouth and nose.”

The police were first alerted to Grant’s reign of terror, when in 1992 he broke into a Croydon home. An 89-year-old woman was settling down to sleep when a loud noise woke her. She headed to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Once back in bed she suddenly saw Grant standing in her doorway.

He raped her twice, causing horrific injuries; he also stole money, a watch and her jewellery. The ordeal was terrifying, and lasted for hours, but crucially his DNA evidence is left behind.

His next offence occurred cured in 1998. Six years had elapsed and this time he subjected an 81-year-old woman to burglary, indecent assault and attempted rape. Another DNA sample was left at the scene allowing the two crimes to be linked. The hunt was on for a predatory rapist, attacking the elderly.

Interview with Colin Sutton: 'The real manhunter'

Ex-Senior Investigating Officer for the Met Police Murder Squad who led the investigations to convict Levi Bellfield and the Nightstalker

In 1999 he struck again in Beckenham, Coulsdon, Croydon, Kent and Orpington. He burgled six times, indecently assaulted four times and raped two elderly women. The burglaries and indecent assaults continued from 2002 to 2008. Many of his victims aged between their 70s and 80s, were blind, deaf or suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

In 2009 he broke in to a Polish man’s house in Croydon that he’d robbed before. However, that time the 88 year-old man hadn’t gone to bed yet. Grant’s sadistic side emerged once more and he sexually assaulted him. It’s believed that the assault was carried out to embarrass the man into not calling the police. Sadly this was an effective method of silencing the elderly, as it’s believed Grant had committed over 200 offences.

The police hoped this recent spate of burglaries would end in his capture. The media named him the Night Stalker.

"Further away in another industrial bin, the police found the right arm belonging to Elizabeth Valad, the left arm and left foot also belonging to Valad, and the lower torso of Bridgette MacClennan." Richard Horwell, Prosecutor at Hardy’s murder trial Martin Beckford, Court News UK Anthony Hardy starts 2003 with allegations of assaults and rapes against him; he ends the year as a triple murderer who faces ending his days in prison. In the winter of 2002, a tramp looking for food in rubbish bins in Camden comes across a grim discovery: human body parts. Further searches by the police indicate there are at least two victims. They launch a double murder inquiry. The location is yards from the council estate in North London where Hardy had made his home for the past three years. Neighbour June Gentleman, points the police towards Hardy. “When the police asked me if there was anyone suspicious...the only person I could think of was Mr Hardy”. After years of living in hostels, Hardy’s Camden flat was free from prying eyes and meant he was able to carry out his horrific crimes. Prosecutors at his trial would later say his motive for murder was to take pornographic pictures of his victims after he had indulged in a sado-masochistic sex ritual with them. Piecing together the evidence, it seems that Hardy had butchered the bodies of his victims with an electric saw and dumped the parts in a number of rubbish bags near his home. Evidence was to come closer to home, when police find a square shaped package covered in black bin bags in Hardy’s flat. Inside the bags is a female torso. Unable to find the victim’s head or hands, police are forced to use the serial number of her breast implants to identify the victim as 31-year-old prostitute, Elizabeth Valad. Similarly, 35-year-old Bridgette MacClennan is identified through DNA. The deaths are in keeping with the warnings given by Hardy’s psychiatrist, Dr Ian Collins in 2002: Hardy is a dangerous and violent man – particularly towards women and prostitutes. Police film inside Hardy’s squalid flat revealing the contents and a grim insight into Hardy and his thirst for violence and sex: pornographic films, satanic dubbings on the walls, tools of torture and blood stains. Drag blood mark show how Hardy’s victims were moved from the bathroom to the living room; called the dismemberment room by police. It is here where police found the hacksaw and knives Hardy used in the killings. As is common with some serial killers, Hardy takes souvenirs from his victims; most incriminating were the photographs of the dead women, with their faces obscured and posed by Hardy in obscene and degrading positions. This was not the first time that Hardy had used the level of sadistic violence he that had employed in the killing and dismemberment of Elizabeth and Bridgette. Unbeknownst to the police, Hardy had killed before. Hardy killed Sally White in January 2002. Investigating a neighbour dispute, Sergeant Nick Spinks had visited Hardy at home. In his flat the police discovered the naked corpse of 31-year-old Sally. Like Hardy’s later victims she is a prostitute working in the nearby Kings Cross red light area. In what seems contrary to the physical evidence, and the police’s expectations, the pathologist, Freddy Patel, deems the cause of death as a heart attack. But at his trial almost two years later, Hardy confesses to killing Sally. In August 2012, Freddy Patel is struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council after he is found to be guilty of misconduct by a tribunal. It emerged that he had made errors in a number of cases, including that of Sally White.

‘It was like a way of getting out of the gutter...Be it a boxer, or a footballer or something. I chose something different. The only trouble with mine was that it always led to the Old Bailey.”Frankie Fraser’s criminal career stepped up after the Second World War. He started doing smash-and-grab raids and bank hold ups. He claimed to be the first man in Britain to have worn a stocking over his head.COOL AND CRUEL But money made was soon spent. Fraser liked to be seen out in tailor made Savile Row suits. And he liked to go out and party a lot. He later claimed that he distributed any surplus profits to his less successful criminal counterparts. Like much of the Frankie Fraser story, this is hard to either substantiate or disprove. It does, however, reveal much about how Fraser likes to portray himself.After a stint in prison for attacking the gangster Jack Spot, Fraser’s sister introduced him to the heavy smoking Charlie Richardson and his business minded brother, Eddie. The scrap metal business they ran would soon be the scene for some of the most sickening torture of the sixties. Fraser and Charlie had a similar attitude to conscription. Charlie had tried but failed to fake insanity to avoid the army and ended up court-martialled instead. Fraser would later find he had no problem being certified. He once said he was meant to have worn a policeman’s ear on a chain round his neck. He neither denied nor confirmed the allegation. He simply repeated it.Initially, it was the Richardson’s instalment of one-arm bandits in pubs and clubs that made Fraser his first big money. Thousands of pounds came his way, whether he was inside or not. Their joint criminal enterprise soon included fraud, gambling and protection rackets. And it was said that it was all enforced under the threat of torture.THE DENTIST Fraser was alleged to take part in kangaroo court trials of enemies. In addition to using an axe to kill and dismember an adversary, Fraser was said to have used pliers to extract teeth. Fraser later denied this. He stated that anyone who crossed him would have been so comprehensively punched that he wouldn’t have had any teeth left to extract.But allegations persist of torture. The police stated that enemies of the gang were first partially drowned and once wet, electrocuted. After further beatings, bloodied and burnt, victims were always given a clean shirt with which to return home.Relations at this stage with the Krays were still amicable. When Fraser was doing seven years for cutting a rival, the twins used to send his sister by taxi to whichever prison he was in. After another release from yet another prison, the twins organised a party and a whip round. And during the ‘60s, East London based Reggie Kray sought Fraser’s services. Fraser chose to stay with the South London based Richardsons. Fraser claimed that later reports of gang rivalry were exaggerated.In 1963, Fraser reported that he had the opportunity to take part in the Great Train Robbery. It was decided, however, that because he was on the run at the time, he would be a liability. He was proud, however, to have known the mum of his future girlfriend, Marilyn. She was the woman who made the balaclavas for the Great Train Robbery. She caused the robbers extra problems when she didn’t make the eyes level.Back in London, gang rivalries were about to explode. When George Cornell, another Richardson crony, insulted Ronnie Kray, calling him a ‘fat poof’, Ronnie shot him through the head. In March 1966, the Richardson’s revenge attack failed to wipe out the Krays. During the gun battle, Fraser was shot in the hip - Eddie was shot in the backside. The seedy side of the swinging sixties and its bloodstained backstreets were about to be brought out into the spotlight.On the day England won the World Cup in 1966, the police arrested Charlie Richardson. Fraser would stand trial with him at the Old Bailey in 1967.

‘I’m not asking nobody’s forgiveness. I got no apologies to make for my life. I always had my reasons for everything I ever done.’ (Donald Gaskins)Gaskin kills around once every six weeks. He does it for pleasure and to calm his ‘aggravated and bothersome’ feelings. His first predatory kill occurs after a female hitchhiker laughs at him when he suggests sex. He beats her unconscious, rapes, sodomises and mutilates her, before drowning her in a swamp.Hunting along the coastal highways, he terms the murders that follow this pattern his ‘Coastal Kills’. He tries to keep his victims alive for as long as is inhumanely possible. He tortures and mutilates before stabbing and suffocating and cannibalising his victims. He sometimes even forces them to have a last supper of their own flesh.He claims to kill around 90 people this way. But this figure has never been corroborated.When his murders aren’t random he terms them ‘Serious Murders’. His first is in November 1970. His niece, Janice Kirby, is 15. He tries to sexually assault her, and her friend. He then beats them both to death. Other victims are dispatched because he’s paid to kill; they owe him money, or simply because he felt they’d insulted him. Unlike his ‘Coastal Kills’, these murders are usually quick executions.But sometimes there’s no distinction. Doreen Demsey is an old friend of Gaskins. She’s 22, unwed, pregnant, and already a mother of a two year old girl. She decides to start afresh somewhere new and accepts a lift from Gaskins. He asks for sex in exchange for the lift to which she agrees. He then asks for the same off her two year old. When the mother refuses, he rapes and kills her. And then does the same to her two year old daughter. He later says“It was the best sex of my life.” (Donald Gaskins)

He's a local person

On the morning of 2 October, a police helicopter spots Mark Bridger walking his dog.The fact that he doesn’t look at up the helicopter above him immediately raises suspicions.He is challenged on the roadside, detained and arrested.His arrest unsettles an already troubled community. “It was quite scary because he’s the sort of person you’d be like, ‘Hey you. Alright?” to when you walked down the street. I didn’t know him well enough but I’d say you know, ‘Hello’ to him and when his picture popped up on TV it was like, ‘I know that guy, seen him around town, he’s a local person”.Jazmin Jones, April’s Sister At the police station, surprisingly, Mark Bridger calmly admits his involvement in the disappearance of April.He explains he was driving his Land Rover and had knocked April over as she was riding her bike. He’d placed her in his vehicle and tried to give her CPR. But because he was unable to revive her, he’d panicked and driven off.As dubious as his account sounds – and police found none of her blood on his car or on the road - Bridger has admitted killing her and so the police feel they have to inform April’s family. “The police did tell us everything, and that’s what we really appreciated. They never kept us in the dark or nothing.”Coral Jones, April’s Mother 

Where April is, however, is still unknown. The search for her continues. Leaflets with her image are handed out.Though a forensic search of Mark Bridger’s cottage suggests hope of finding her alive would be misplaced. “...there was evidence of a clean-up at the property, particularly in the bathroom area...the other key piece of evidence ...was...the remains which were recovered from the hearth of the fire, which was the subject of some very, very detailed examinations forensically and which we believe are those remains of April Jones.”Andy John, Det. Superintendent, Dwfed-Powys Police Forensic officers find traces of blood throughout the cottage. In particular, there’s evidence of a substantial pooling of her blood near the hearth. It indicates April suffered significant harm there. The family is told of the implications of what this probably means. “...that night I put myself to bed at half past five and cried myself silly until one, two o clock in the morning.  I actually soaked my pillow right through I cried that hard.”Paul Jones, April’s father And when forensics examine Bridger’s computer, it reveals his obsession with child pornography and child murders.As Professor Laurence Alison observes, we can be disgusted, but we shouldn’t be surprised. “The reality is there is a significant number of men that are interested in children...The best estimates on prevalence rates around paedophilia in the UK is between 1 and 3 percent or 1 in every 100 men will have a paedophilic interest in children...And there’s a significant number, albeit a small number, of men that would act on that impulse.”Prof. Laurence Alison, University of Liverpool

“On his computer he had cartoons of a kid being molested by an adult. He had pictures of other children. He had pictures of my...other daughter Jazmin, and April. He tried to say that he didn’t know April but (she was) there, with my other daughter Jazmin”Coral Jones, April’s mother In fact, Bridger had tried to make friends with Jazmin online saying he was a friend of her father’s. Suspicious of, amongst other things, the age difference, she’d deleted the request. Back at the police station, Mark Bridger is interviewed 13 times for over 18 hours.He’s confident, calm even - until he’s challenged on the evidence the detectives are finding.He’s charged with April’s abduction and murder.