Colin Ireland

A huge publicity campaign began, with a press conference being called for the head of the police inquiry, Detective Superintendent Ken John, to report that five homosexual men had been murdered and were linked as a series, both pathologically and forensically. The murders of Walker and Collier had already been connected, but now Dunn, Bradley and Spiteri were added to the list. John appealed to the gay community to be on the alert and to let friends know of their whereabouts if they went anywhere with a stranger. He speculated that the killer may have AIDS and that the possible motive for the murders was revenge.

On 17 June 1993 John made a direct appeal, via the media, to the killer to give himself up, saying he wanted to talk to him and offer him help. On 19 June 1993, police handed out flyers at the London Gay Pride festival, attended by 50,000 people, appealing for anyone with information about the murders to come forward. Psychologist Dr Mike Berry was approached by the police to draw up a profile of the killer. In it he maintained that the killer was fuelled by violent fantasies but each murder was never as good as the fantasy and he therefore was driven to kill again. He also believed that the killer was not HIV positive and was not committing the murders as an act of revenge. Another psychologist, Dr Jonas Rappeport, agreed with this synopsis and added his belief that the killer was not himself homosexual, but posing as a gay man in order to attract his victims. He was well organised, probably of large build and physically strong, which made him confident in his ability to overpower his victims. The police gained further advice from criminal psychologists Paul Britton and Dick Walter, as well as ex-FBI Agent and serial killer specialist, Robert Ressler.

On 24 June 1993, the police issued a description of a man who had been seen with Spiteri on the train from Charing Cross to Hither Green, on the night in question. The description was of a white male, age 30-40, over 6 feet tall, clean shaven, a full to fattish face, short dark brown hair and dirty, discoloured teeth. From this, they were able to produce an E-Fit (Electronic Facial Identification Technique, a computer-generated likeness, based on verbal descriptions. A week later, on 2 July 1993, police released a picture of the man with Spiteri, taken on the train’s security camera, and he was very similar to the man on the E-Fit. They appealed for him to come forward for questioning, confirming that the lines of communication were open. The following day, police received over 40 calls, some of which were from men saying they had seen or talked to the man in the Coleherne pub.

On 19 July 1993, Ireland went to his solicitor in Southend-on-Sea and told him that he was with Spiteri on the night in question. He confirmed that it was he in the train’s security camera picture but that he had not killed Spiteri. He claimed to have left Spiteri in his flat with another man.

This collated information, combined with the fingerprints Ireland had left on Collier’s window ledge, was enough for him to be arrested and charged with Collier’s murder on 21 July 1993. Two days later, he was charged with Spiteri’s murder on 23 July 1993. Ireland was sent to prison, where he continued to maintain his innocence.