In the dazed moments after the butchering of Lee Rigby, one of the women asked the two killers if they were going to harm anyone else. Adebolajo replied; “No. The women and children are safe. You need to keep back when the police and the soldiers get here’

Unarmed police arrived at 14:29. It will be another five minutes before armed response arrives. “They ...know that the police are not going to intervene immediately because they’re going to have to wait for armed officers. That means...10-15 minutes...waiting for armed officers. In truth they could have attacked members of the public during this time. They could have just gone after anyone who was there but they don’t do that...you have them talking to people allowing themselves to be filmed, knowing that this was going to be posted online in the aftermath. Even if some of the main stream news sources didn’t want to publish it, it was still going to get out there.” Professor Andrew Silke – Programme Director for Terrorism studies, University of East London.

Adebolajo and Adebowale had made their barbarically simple point. They didn’t need to kill anymore. Now, it was them who wanted to die. “...they wanted the armed police to shoot them dead.  So they would become martyrs.” Vikram Dodd - Crime Reporter, The Guardian.

At 14:34 the police shot the two men. Both Adebolajo and Adebowale went down. But the police had merely made sure they were wounded and incapacitated. Adebolajo had been shot through his bicep. The two killers would not be made martyrs. The same officers who shot them, now administer first-aid. And both men were then sped to hospital.

At 2am the next morning, Lee’s mother’s worst fears are confirmed. It was then she was informed of her son’s murder. Even the press realise the extraordinarily shocking and sudden nature of the killing. They agree to withdraw from the family’s immediate area and wait for a formal statement.

Bodies are discoverd

Unlike the first two victims, Kevin Lee had a wife and family and so was reported missing. His body was discovered on the 30th of March by a member of the public. Once he had been identified, and his affairs looked into a little, Joanna Dennehy became a person the police wanted to track down and interview in connection with the murder. 

Both Robin Bereza and John Rogers survived their frenzied attacks on the 2nd of April and so were able to describe their attacker to the police.The bodies of Lucasz Slaboszewski and John Chapman were discovered on the 3rd of April, but no initial connection was made between their deaths and Lee's.Upon her arrest Joanna Dennehy is said to have been calm to the point of coldness. As she was led to the cells, she is said to have sung “Singin' in the Rain”. 

Although the Krays were aware of the progress being made by the police, they continued their criminal activities until finally, on 8 May 1968, Read had all the information he felt necessary to proceed with arrests.Recognising the threat of intimidation posed to witnesses by any member of “The Firm”, a major operation was mounted, that resulted in the dawn arrest of both Kray twins at the Shoreditch home of their parents, as well as twenty four other principal “Firm” members in other parts of London, during the course of 9 May 1968.

West's reign of terror comes to an end

Summer 1992, A police officer patrolling Cromwell Street in Gloucester was approached by some children. One said they believed the Wests’ children were being abused. A meeting was called that day and as a result a joint team of social workers and police took away the children and began searching the premises.It was the beginning of the city’s biggest ever criminal investigation.At the time, the West children were aged between 11 and 15.The investigating team had to win their trust and establish the facts.As a result, their parents were charged.Fred was arrested for rape and sodomy of a minor, and Rose for assisting in the rape of a minor.

With Fred jailed and her children in care, Rose attempted suicide. She tried an overdose of pills.She failed.Later, she found solace in comfort food and children’s movies. But then, the charges against the Wests were dropped.None of the children would agree to give evidence.The social workers involved noted that the children talked about why they must not talk about the family outside the family. None of them wanted to end up under the patio, like Heather, the Wests’ first daughter.Interviews with Fred and Rose suggested Heather had left after suggestions she came out as a lesbian.But police could find no trace of her. She’d either left the country, or she’d never left the Wests’ house:“All enquiries to trace Heather had failed...And so an application was made for a warrant to go and search the garden- dig up the patio.”-Tony Butler, Former Chief Constable, Gloucestershire Constabulary

Mills the Murderer

Eddie is pronounced dead at the Queens Medical Centre at Nottingham.The police arrest Michelle Mills at the couple’s cottage. Eddie had moved in just two months previously.The police go to inform Sara that her son is dead. They knock on her door at 5:20am:“I can remember standing there thinking, ‘oh my goodness me, I must speak to Michelle. She must be devastated.’ It never occurred to me for one second that she would be the one that had done it. And I can remember saying to the policeman, ‘you best find the person that did this’.”Later that day, a family liaison officer informs Sara that Michelle is the killer:“Not only does Mills murder Eddie, she destroys Eddie’s mother’s life. This is a woman who believed that even though Mills was a messed up individual, she was somebody who deserved sympathy and empathy and help; and she’d given it her. And to know that that woman had ruined her son’s, and her own life, is a double betrayal.”Emma Kenny, Psychologist

Playing the victim card

But even in custody, Mills refuses to accept responsibility.She tells police she’s a victim of domestic abuse,“...she reverted back to what she’s used throughout her entire life, the victim status.”Dr. Keri Nixon, Forensic PsychologistMills is charged with Eddie’s murder. She pleads not guilty. Dr. Keri Nixon believes that Mills thought she could get away with murder. She believes Mills had tried to use her next-door neighbour Geri as a witness,“...she’s not a stupid woman...she knew that the neighbour could hear, and she would then stage her actions, thinking ahead of an alibi to get out of this. She knew what she was going to do. She was going to play the victim card.” 

Early in the morning on 14th January 1958, a little over two years since his first known victim was killed, Lanarkshire police finally arrested Peter Manuel. They raided the family home in Birkenshaw, searched for stolen items from the Smart murder scene and arrested Manuel and his father for housebreaking. The aim was to get him off the street and it was while Manuel was under arrest, that the case against him made real progress.

The police knew Manuel well, and were aware of his love of attention, so they left him alone in his cell for nearly 24 hours before interviewing him. This approach had the desired effect and Manuel called from his cell saying he wanted to help police with some "unsolved cases".

He confessed to killing Anne Kneilands, the Watts, Margaret Brown, Isabelle Cooke and the Smart family. It could be that Manuel did that so he would be allowed to see his parents, with whom he had a close relationship. But it could also be argued that psychopathic killers like Manuel need to be at the centre of the story.

Dunblane: Two decades later

The sense of disbelief and shock still reverberate across the nation, 25 years later

Friday 2 January 1981. Sergeant Robert Ring is on routine patrol with a colleague. He sees a woman in a car with a man and suspects a prostitute and client encounter. Olivia tells Sergeant Ring that the man in her car is her boyfriend. Ring thinks he remembers her for prostitution offences. Sutcliffe says his name is Peter Williams. He adds he’s desperate for the toilet. Ring allows him to go behind a storage tank.The police find the car’s license plates are false. And Peter admits so is the name he has given. He says he’s really Peter Sutcliffe. He’s detained overnight. Police notice Sutcliffe’s physical similarity to the Ripper profile. His blood test shows he’s blood group B, one of few the indisputable forensic details and relatively rare in the general population.

Sergeant Ring returns to the scene of his arrest. Sutcliffe hadn’t emptied his bladder. He’d emptied his pockets of a ball-peen hammer and a knife.Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield, though not officially on the case, is invited to witness the unfolding events.On Sunday 4 January, Sutcliffe confesses.The Yorkshire Ripper calmly gives a 15 hour statement recounting his crimes. He claims that back when he was a 20-year-old gravedigger, the voice of God had commanded he kill prostitutesFinally, after confessing all, he requests to be allowed to inform his wife of his actions.The following exchange occurred between them at Dewsbury police station.Sonia:  “What on earth is going on, Peter?”Sutcliffe: “It’s me, I’m the Yorkshire Ripper. I killed all those women.”Sonia:  “What on earth did you do that for Peter?”The police press conference is called at 9pm. The euphoria of the police is barely disguised.Only the press questions on whether the killer has a Geordie accent dampens their elatio

Conviction

Four days after the disappearance of Angelika, the police release a picture of ‘Pat McLaughlin’. Two days later, the police find her remains. They quickly realise it’s the work of a serial killer. The mutilated corpse had been disposed of using an established methodology.

On 1 October 2006, Tobin, who suffers from a genuine heart complaint, gives another false name to staff at the National Neurology Hospital in Queen’s Square, London. He hopes the name change and distance will help him escape detection. It in fact hastens his end. Tobin is arrested after a staff member recognises him from a police alert. Six days later, he’s charged with the murder of Angelika Kluk.

Psychologists think it unlikely that Tobin started killing so late and believe there will be more bodies. The fact that Tobin lived just a mile from the Bathgate bus stop where Vicky Hamilton disappeared leads detectives to investigate and uncover his past killings. But the search of his properties turns up not one, but two bodies. In July 2007 police confront Tobin with damning DNA evidence linking him to Vicky Hamilton murder, but he insists that he’s never met her and refuse to help officers find her body. From this point on, he refuses to co-operate in any way with the authorities.

Peter Tobin frequented over 20 different UK locations, constantly changing jobs (everything from swimming instructor to carpenter), and constantly changing names. At last count, the police have found 20 aliases. He lived in at least nine different properties since his 20s and was linked to nearly 40 mobile telephone Sim cards. How many lives he touched and destroyed remains to be seen.

The Suspects

The police team, led by Detective Superintendent Stuart Cundy, launches a murder investigation. It is one of the largest ever undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service. As they make their enquiries, one person starts to stand out as the potential killer. It’s Lewis Sproston, Sally Anne’s boyfriend and the last person to see her alive. He’s arrested on the Sunday afternoon. When questioned, he appears to confirm his guilt when he utters “is this about last night?” The police believe they have got their man. Crucially DNA from the killer is recovered from Sally Anne’s body. All they need to do is match the sample to Lewis. Swab tests are taken and processed, but there is no match and Sally Anne's innocent boyfriend is released.

It emerges that the killer may have been responsible for an earlier attack on Sanderstead Road, just 40 yards from the murder scene. At around 3.30am a woman pulls over to use her phone. Having no signal she gets out of her car. As a man approaches, she sees a knife and holds out her handbag as she believes she’s being robbed. After saying ‘sorry’, her attacker beats her over the head with a blunt instrument. She’s only saved when a passing taxi scares him off. After she’s given first aid, she realises that she’s been bitten. She provides the police with their first e-fit of the killer, but it provides no leads in solving the case. Progress is eventually made when the police cross-reference the killer’s DNA sample and find it matches another crime committed in 2001. In that case, a young woman from Purley was making a call from a telephone box when a man exposed himself to her. He then performed an indecent act and disturbingly tried to get inside the telephone box. The perpetrator was never caught. However the victim got a good look at his face. So four years on, and six months after the murder, the police release his e-fit to the media explaining the two cases are linked. They believe a further six sex attacks in the area may also be linked to Sally Anne’s murder. But despite three Crimewatch appeals, two e-fits, a £40,000 reward and the killer’s DNA and fingerprint, the police still don’t have any answers. They resort to drastic measures when on 27 February 2006 they urge 4,000 men in the local area to take part in a DNA screening procedure which will help eliminate them from their enquiries. Unbeknown to the police, the murderer is back in Croydon and one of his friends asks whether he’ll be taking part in the DNA screening. Without warning, he gets very aggressive, asking whether his friend thinks he’s the murderer. During the next couple of days he moves abroad to Amsterdam. The DNA screening fails to find the killer and the police are fast running out of options to help solve the case.

THE BREAKTHROUGHThe breakthrough comes on 15 June 2006. England is playing Trinidad and Tobago in the FIFA World Cup and win the match. Mark Dixie, 35, is watching the game at his local pub with friends when an innocent man spills his pint over him. Erupting into a violent outburst, he gets the man outside, where in full view of two Police Support Officers, he pushes him. This fatal error sees him arrested and taken to Crawley police station. Here he is duly processed and a DNA swab taken. This will be all the police need. Two weeks later he will be arrested for murder.Luckily for the police Dixie gives them his correct address. He’s been living and working as a chef at Ye Olde Six Bells pub in Horley, Surrey. His job could make his arrest problematic, so the police decide to create a story to get him out of the kitchen. They needn’t bother. As the two officers turn around they notice Dixie taking a cigarette break, and they take their opportunity to arrest him. He’s calm and unfazed by the whole incident. Disturbingly one of the officers notes how Dixie’s heart rate fails to change, which he finds chilling. Taken in for questioning and still appearing cold and emotionless Dixie answers ‘no comment’ to every question asked.On closer inspection of his room, police make a sickening discovery. They find he has been masturbating to photos and video footage of Sally Anne Bowman, reliving her brutal and callous murder.

The police assemble a crack team but it’s hindered from the start by a lack of evidence. There is a minute speck of what’s considered at the time as organic material. But science in 1992 isn’t advanced enough to look at its DNA. And after a month of investigation, the police can’t even categorically say whether Rachel’s killer was male or female. So they take the unusual step of calling in a profiler, Paul Britton.

Britton is a renowned criminal psychologist, and has helped with the successful return of the abducted estate agent, Stephanie Slater. He provides two profiles.

Demographic: The killer is someone in their 20s or 30s, probably lives on their own, engages only in isolated hobbies, and probably doesn’t live far from the Common.

Sexual Fantasy: The killer will be interested in the occult and knives and will have sexually sadistic fantasies.

These profiles, along with a photo-fit, are featured in a national TV appeal. At least four people call in identifying the suspect as Colin Francis Stagg. Early one morning, Colin hears a knock on the door. Next thing he knows, he’s being interviewed at a police station. Having never been arrested before, Colin finds the experience like being in "a different world".

For the police, Colin is their only remaining lead. After ruling out 548 suspects, and arresting and releasing 32 other men, the fact that Colin has books on the occult seems to be the first piece of the jigsaw matching Britton’s profile. They question him over three days as they search for past matching incidents. Catastrophically, for all concerned, Colin is matched to a complaint by a woman that he exposed himself to her. Colin maintains he was just nude sunbathing in a secluded spot and she came across him. His solicitor advises to take the fine and Colin, desperate to leave, accepts and goes home. The police take this as proof of his sexual deviancy and are further convinced when a female factory worker contacts them. She says she’d exchanged letters with Colin in which he’d fantasised about making love in the open air. The police join the dots between this, and the fact that Nickell was killed in the open air.

'LIZZIE JAMES'

Under incredible pressure from the press and their own bosses, the police launch the fantastically misconceived Operation Edzell. An undercover officer, ‘Lizzie James’, under the guidance of Britton, starts writing to Colin. Lizzie says that she knows the female factory worker Colin corresponded with but hints to him that she is much more open minded. Colin, a virgin, is flattered and writes back in hope. His naive innocence is evident. As she writes of risqué fantasies, he responds with dreams of drinking parsnip wine on a veranda. So Lizzie talks of the need to be defenceless and humiliated. Colin, desperate for sex, responds virtually word for word to her fantasies. But desperate not to offend, he always adds that he’s sorry if he’s overstepped the mark, as he’d still really, really like to meet her.

The police decide it’s time. Colin meets his attractive blonde pen friend in a public park swamped by undercover officers. Over lunch, Lizzie claims her former boyfriend was into black magic and they have done a human sacrifice involving a pregnant woman and a baby. Colin first thoughts are that she’s a nutter. His second thoughts are, however, that she is very attractive, and that he still wants to sleep with her. On one of their next meetings, Lizzie says she could only have sex with the man who did the Nickell murder. Colin actually apologises. He says he’s not that man. Despite this, the police arrest Colin in August 1993.

In the interview room, the police read him back his letters and introduce him to ‘Lizzie’. On his solicitor’s advice, he responds "no comment" to every question. The murder squad celebrate that their prime suspect is in jail. In fact, one of the worst killers in British history is spending the autumn preparing for his next brutal rape and murder.

Mob Justice

National television and print media coverage, featuring his prison photo, flushed Ramirez out from where he was hiding in East LA the very next day and, when he tried to escape the growing lynch mob, it was only the arrival of the police that saved him from violent death at the hands of the mob, when he confessed to being “The Night Stalker”.

Mob justice: 5 Serial killers who got a taste of their own medicine

Image: Shutterstock

Just 50 minutes after the attempted murder of PC Rathband, Moat taunted the police again. “Are you taking me serious now?...I’m going to destroy a few lives like you’ve destroyed mine...I tell you now I am absolutely not going to stop...you’re going to have to kill me.”

At some point before 2am Karl Ness, an accomplice in the crime spree, knocked on Andy's door to tell him that Moat wanted to see him. Andy tried again to convince Moat to hand himself in, but Moat took his phone instead and gave him pages and pages of his "innermost thoughts". He wanted the police, press and public to know his motivation:

Moat then headed for Northumbria and told the police he had two hostages. However, the hostages were his co-conspirators, Karl Ness and Qhuram Awan, the owner and driver of the black Lexus. The police warn the public that Moat is armed and should not be approached under any circumstances. Extra firearms officer from forces including Cleveland, Humberside, West and South Yorkshire and Cumbria were brought in to join the hunt. Furthermore, Northern Ireland sent 20 armoured cars and the Met police sent 40 armed officers. In total 19 police forces joined the hunt, making one of the biggest British police operations ever mounted.

Samantha came out of her critical condition and begs the father of her child to stop: “Please give yourself up. If you still loved me and our baby you would not be doing this.” But Moat went into a chip shop, threatened the staff and stole £100 at gunpoint. A letter from Moat, promising not to stop until he was dead, was released to the public.

The police found the black Lexus next to some industrial units on the edge of Rothburt, a quiet market town. The three fugitives had split up and Ness and Awan had walked on the main road away from Rothbury. They were tracked by a helicopter and disoriented by a stun grenade before armed police moved in to arrest them. Letters they had written to their families revealed they were willing accomplices rather than hostages.

Just after 11:00am, a two mile exclusion zone was set up in the Rothbury area and residents were advised to stay indoors. It's an area that Moat knows well from camping in his twenties, and he's hoping to lose himself in the dense woodlands, cliffs and undergrowth. Sniper units began combing the area.

The police found a campsite and a Dictaphone on which Moat had excused and justified his actions. He compared his situation to that of King Kong on top of the Empire State Building and to feeling like The Incredible Hulk. He also said the public, as much as the police, were now in his sights.

Press reports about him highlighted his disturbed personality: how he’d disciplined a child by making her stand in the street with a ‘naughty’ sign wearing a jesters hat; how he’d beaten a family pet to death in front of another child. Even his mother, Josephine, joins in his condemnation and said he was better off dead.

Moat wanted revenge on the reporters and threatened to kill one person for each 'inaccurate' report he heard. The press then agreed to report on the manhunt, rather than the man after hearing how precarious the situation was. His brother Angus tried to tell the media that Moat has had a breakdown, that his family hadn't abandoned him and that the killings were out of character. But the blackout was already in force and Moat never heard his sibling’s words of support.

On Wednesday, police offered £10,000 for information leading to Moat’s capture. An RAF Tornado jet equipped with heat seeking equipment circled in the sky. Thursday saw police agree to station officers outside schools. CCTV images showed Moat with his new Mohican hairstyle. Surprisingly, panic didn't grip the quiet, genteel, rural town and the police were able to focus on the manhunt, not on crowd control.

Survival expert and television star Ray Mears was brought in to help the search. He found tracks that potentially belonged to Moat.

"bring em in"

Two of the ‘likely robbery days’ resulted in aborted attempts. On the first, in early October, the boat was malfunctioning and on the second attempt, the day before the actual robbery, they misjudged the tides, which were too low to ensure a safe getaway, and they aborted at the last minute, although the police took the precaution of substituting the real gems with the fake crystals. The police were convinced that the next day, 7 November 2000, would be the heist day, and the Dome was flooded with undercover policeman, disguised as Dome employees.At 9.30 am that morning the plot was afoot, with all of the villains in place. Meredith in the getaway boat on the Thames outside the Dome, Millman in a van nearby, and four more men in a JCB earth-digger, which would be used to break through the perimeter fence and punch a hole in the side of the Dome itself. The occupants of the JCB were in body armour, wearing gas masks and armed with smoke bombs, sledgehammers and nail guns to penetrate the security glass protecting the exhibit.

Having successfully broken through into the vault area using the JCB, and discharging their smoke bombs, the police overwhelmed the gang through sheer force of numbers. They were able to apprehend most of those involved, seven in all, without firing any weapons, including the boat pilot, Millman in his van, and a number of others who were waiting further downriver in Kent.The largest robbery in history was over almost before it had begun and the real Millennium Jewels were nowhere near the Dome at the time. Disruption to the public was restricted to the temporary closure of the North Greenwich Underground station, and later that morning the Dome was opened for visitors as usual.

Enough

“What is happening is that we are making thieves.”- Chief Constable Lieut. Col. Hall-Dalwood, 1925Chief Constable Hall-Dalwood was the man responsible for stopping the Sheffield gangs. He saw the problem as both a lack of police presence and a lack of prosecution in the judicial system. He complained that the punishments weren’t a deterrent to the crimes. He argued that small fines and light sentences meant that it paid to be a thief. Sheffield was becoming as good at making thieves as it had done steel.The police were often unable to secure willing witnesses as they couldn’t ensure their protection. After the derisory fines, it’s said that some gang members took taxis back to their gambling patches and immediately resumed business. It was rumoured that the prosecutors were being pressured by the gangs. And further that the police were corrupt. A few years later, three constables and nine bookmakers were indeed charged with bribery.His force was overwhelmed.THE SPECIAL DUTY SQUADFour days after Plommer’s murder, on 1 May 1925, Chief Constable Hall-Dalwood formed the Special Duty Squad. This soon became known as the Flying Squad. Like a similar unit set up in London to deal with the Birmingham racecourse gangs, it had a simple remit:Strike fast and hit harder.It was formed with four of the toughest police in the force. All of them were First World War veterans. Their leader was Sgt Robinson, an ex Coldstream Guard. Then there was PC Walter Loxley. At 6ft 2in, and nearly 20 stone, this former Artillery man was an immoveable force. P.C Herbert Lunn had been awarded the military Medal in France for saving wounded comrades under heavy enemy fire. Lastly, there was Jack Farrily. Before joining the army and the police, this Irishman had earned his money as a street-fighter.Chief Constable Hall-Dalwood used them to target the gangsters at street level. But such was his effectiveness and such were the political and criminal connections, that he was forced to resign. His Scotland Yard replacement, however, would turn out to be the country’s first ever gang buster. 

GANG BUSTEROne of the first recruits the new Chief Constable Percy Sillitoe added was PC Pat Geraghty. At 6ft 5in, Geraghty was said to be able to pick up five tennis balls in one hand. Sillitoe also introduced the European Ju-Jitsu Champion Harry Hunter to train the force in self defence. After seven weeks, each man could deal with 60 methods of attack.And attack they did. The Flying Squad lived up to their name by throwing people through doors and windows. They rarely opened them first. To set an example, they started beating criminals in plain public view. They then took to taking them round back alleys. On one occasion they battered a criminal in a pub and the landlady fainted. The gangs had relied on brawn, not brains to make their money. On every level, they were now outmatched.“...these were not the brightest of men.”-JP BeanWith the murder of William Plommer, the stupidity of gang members would be their undoing. Wilfred and Lawrence Fowler hung around sitting on the steps of a chip shop near to where they’d beaten Plommer to death. When the police arrived, Lawrence Fowler admitted to hitting Plommer on the head.When the police took the brothers to their station they told them it looked like the assault could be very serious. So Lawrence changed his story and said he didn’t hit him.Sam Garvin was smarter. He’d immediately jumped on a tram, travelled a distance, got off and assaulted the first man he could find. His assault was to be his alibi.But his ploy failed. He and nine others, amongst them the Fowler brothers, were taken to West Bar Station.

Justice

David had to tell his story over and over to increasingly senior police. Eventually, convinced by David’s tale, the police arrived at the couple’s home. Police superintendent Bob Talbot dressed as a bakery delivery man in order to fool Hindley into opening the door. Talbot asked Hindley for the key to the room where Evan’s body was believed to be. She reluctantly gave him it.

The Perfect Murder

Inside the property of Hindley and Brady’s the police find the bloodied body of murder victim, Edward Evans and the murder weapon. They arrested Brady immediately. Hindley supported Brady’s story that that there had been an argument between Brady, Evans and David and that it had got out of hand. The 23-year-old Hindley is brought in for questioning but said she had been horrified by what had happened. With no evidence to charge her, she remained at liberty for four more days. She used the time to go to the company where they worked and dispose of incriminating evidence.

The police were dealing with a unique criminal couple. It was the first time in British history that a woman and a man had together committed serial sex murders on children. It simply didn’t occur to them to suspect her.

Killer couple caught

The investigation would probably have gone no further than the death of Evans, if David had not mentioned Brady’s claim that other bodies were buried on Saddleworth Moor. The police were all too aware of the unexplained disappearances.Then police found a document in Hindley’s car describing in detail how Brady had planned to carry out Evan’s murder. When they find a victim’s name in one of Brady’s notebooks, they become convinced David is telling the truth and arrest and charge Hindley.

Police at the time remember she was still the ‘bold and brassy blonde...hard’ and defiant. They take a black and white mugshot photo of her.It would haunt Hindley for the next five decades.

When the police searched Myra’s home, they came upon a claim check tucked into the spine of her communion prayer book. This ticket linked her to the suitcases the police had found in the left luggage in Manchester Central train station. In them were photographs of Lesley Ann, bound and gagged in Hindley’s bedroom. It also included the tape recordings of the final screams of Lesley Downey begging for her life. Also recorded were the sometimes harsh, sometimes indifferent voices of Hindley and Brady.

When police played Hindley the tape, she sobbed, but not out of remorse:

“I think she realised that it was almost the final nail in her coffin. Because there was no jury ever, ever going to find her not guilty when her voice was on that tape.” Ian Fairley, Former Detective Chief Superintendent

But Hindley wouldn’t admit it was Lesley. To be certain it was Lesley on the tape, police had to play it to her mother. Because of Hindley’s refusal to help, a mother had to listen to her daughter’s tortured last moments.Hindley still denied killing Lesley saying that she only adopted a harsh tone because she was worried the neighbours would hear and interfere. But according to Hindley, Lesley was fine when she left their home and any harm came from David, not her.

The evidence linking Brady and Hindley with John Kilbride’s murder was not as strong, but still sufficient to charge them. They were also charged with the murders of Edward Evans and Lesley Ann Downey. Having not been able to find the bodies of the other two victims, despite exhaustive searches, no charges could be brought.On the afternoon of Saturday 16 October, the police were about to give up searching for the day when a constable found a fragment of something white. He’d found a grave 150 yards from the A635 Barnsley to Manchester road. Ten months after her disappearance, the body of ten-year-old Lesley Ann Downey had been found.Her parents were called to a room where all her clothes were folded up. They were taken to another room and when the white covering sheet was pulled back. They confirmed it was their daughter.

The Game is Up

The police were starting to realise the photos of the couple on the Moors may be more than just filmic memories. They were particularly interested in one with Hindley holding a dog. It was close to where Lesley had been buried. Initially it looks like Hindley is looking at the dog. She wasn’t. She was looking at a grave.So the police took in the couple’s dog, ‘Puppet’ in order to establish its age and therefore when the photo was taken. But the tests on the dog killed it. Hindley was said to have screamed ‘murderers’ on being told the news.

The police were able to match the pattern of the rocks nearby. They then dug there. The search area was enormous. It stretched for two miles.Five days after the discovery of Lesley, the police found another body. It was that of 12-year-old John Kilbride. He had been missing almost two years. It was only 400 yards from the Lesley Downey’s grave.Hindley had posed for a photo on the exact site of Kilbride’s grave.

Upon their return from a drug run to Ecuador in May 1976, Escobar and a number of his men were arrested on charges of drug possession: cocaine.

Initially Escobar tried to bribe the judge to drop the charges but this had no effect. His lawyers then entered into several months of legal argument, to no avail. Escobar put an end to the matter by having two of the arresting officers killed and the case was duly dropped.

Los Narcosatánicos: Drugs, Cults, Voodoo & Human Sacrifice

Half drug-peddlers, half black magic cult, Los Narcosatánicos practised occult rituals in order to ‘bless’ their deals

On 18th November 1986, Escobar was once more arrested on charges of drug smuggling and racketeering, and once more through use of terror, the charges were dropped. As this became Escobar’s standard way of obliterating any opposition, he was never arrested again.

An evil killer who loved his wife

Throughout Kurten’s reign of terror he maintained a fond attachment to his wife and, recognising that he would eventually be caught for the rape of Budlick, now that the police knew his identity, he devised a plan to ensure her financial security following his arrest. He confessed to her that he was the “Dusseldorf Vampire”, detailing all the killings and attacks, and he insisted that she would be paid a large reward for turning him over to the authorities.On 24 May 1930, Frau Kurten reluctantly did as he had advised, and took the police to their designated rendezvous site, a local church, where Kurten surrendered quietly.

Once under arrest, Kurten provided an astonishingly detailed account of his string of crimes to Professor Karl Berg, a distinguished psychologist, who later published the confession in a book entitled “The Sadist”. He claimed 79 individual acts of crime in all, and went to great lengths to convince the authorities of his guilt, perhaps in the hope that his full cooperation would ensure the maximum financial benefit for his wife. His memory was near eidetic, and his own “action-replay” of each offence obviously provided him with great pleasure; less so the attending stenographers.

On admission, Victoria’s core temperature was so low doctors didn’t have any instruments with the capacity to record it.Dr Nathaniel Carey, the Home Office pathologist assigned to examine Victoria finds 128 injuries. He believes it to be,‘…the worst case of child abuse I’ve encountered'.

Marie-Therese is immediately arrested at the hospital and a murder investigation is launched. Police interview her but find her evasive and obstructive. She doesn’t co-operate in any way.

The following day, Carl is arrested at his flat. In his police interview, detectives are shocked by his openness. He talks of punching Victoria or of using a shoe to beat her. Other times, he’d take a bicycle chain to her body and head.During police interviews both claim that Victoria was possessed by demons.

Detectives search their flat for forensic evidence and find Carl’s tried to cover up evidence of the abuse by cleaning it with bleach. Despite this, they recover blood samples from the bath and the walls. And there’s blood on the furniture in the living room; And in the bedroom.

'We managed to recover many, many samples of blood. Now, given that they had already been cleaned I think that gave an indication of exactly what had happened there. She had been assaulted regularly and severely and she had bled and even though they had attempted to cover this up, it must have been in abundance.'

Detective Superintendent Keith Niven, Metropolitan PoliceIn the bins, they find the discarded tapes used to bind Victoria’s feet and wrists.They also find a passport in the flat which seems to confirm the dead girl as Anna. But detectives soon realise the photo in the passport isn’t that of the girl who’s lying in a London mortuary.They manage to track down and contact her real parents by establishing which family Marie-Therese targeted. Victoria’s parents then have to make the terrible 3,000 mile journey to identify their dead daughter.

Carl Manning and Marie-Therese Kouao are charged with the murder of Victoria Climbié.

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What drove James Bulger's underage killers?

ACCIDENT OR ARSON?On 11 May, as a shocked nation watches the news footage of the smouldering wreckage of 18 Victory Road, Lisa Willis is arrested. As a result of Philpott’s accusations to everyone and anyone, the police must deal with their prime suspect. Lisa’s children are taken into care. Of the six children that went to bed at 18 Victory Road the night before, only the eldest, Duwayne, survives. He is on a ventilator in Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Various people keep a bedside vigil by him. Philpott and Mairead are concerned that the hospital hasn’t provided them with food. They order a Chinese takeaway. Onlookers are appalled when Mick and Mairead Philpott have a food fight. On 12 May Lisa is released without charge. The police confirm the fire was started deliberately. Three days after the fire, Philpott and Mairead switch off Duwayne’s life support machine. Grief and shock overcome the community. Many raise money so that the children can have decent funerals and donate it to the Philpotts. The reaction of Mr and Mrs Philpott seems inappropriate. They go on shopping sprees. “The way they was acting...I started to have my suspicions. They were going downtown shopping for clothes...you know, I couldn’t function if that was me. I wouldn’t want to get up in the morning.” Sharon Russell, family friend With no home, the Philpotts stay at a local hotel. When Mairead tries to discuss what has gone on Philpott tells her to ‘shush’. He’s paranoid the police may have bugged their rooms. He’s right. Just four days after the fire, police have been given permission to secretly record the parent’s conversations. They record Philpott telling Mairead; “You make sure you stick to your story.” Five days after the fire, Philpott tells the police he wants to hold a press conference. He gives what he thinks is a masterful performance: “I’ve actually been down to my...our home, and...what we saw .. we just cannot believe it.” Neighbour Darren Butler can’t believe it either. He thought Philpott was mimicking grief on the night of the fire and put it down to shock. He’s now suspicious enough to pass on an almost unbelievable suggestion: A father and mother deliberately burnt their six children to death. Many are now thinking the same. Some of Philpott’s press statements ring alarm bells. Philpott says he’s overwhelmed by the help and support he and Mairead are receiving. Some think this is the last thing a distraught father would be feeling at such a time: “The only thing on your mind, during that press conference is ‘Please find who killed my children.’ That's all you concentrate on. And when I watch that press conference, I struggle to see that at all. All I can see is a man, almost with a script, thinking it’s important to let everyone know how grateful he is. And let me tell you, psychologically, the last thing you are after all your children have died in a house fire, is grateful.” Emma Kenny, Psychologist “There was not one tear on that man’s face. There is not one part of that man that feels any remorse for those children. Because the only person that he has ever felt anything for, is Mick Philpott.” Dr Keri Nixon, Forensic Psychologist Philpott’s first victim, Kim Hill, also watches the conference. She knows he’s killed his children. When Philpott hears his neighbour Adam Taylor is being accused of starting the fire, he passes this onto the police. Taylor and his wife are arrested on six counts of murder. Philpott’s initial plan is unravelling. He’s now pointing the finger at anyone who will take suspicion away from him. But with mounting evidence of who the real fire-starters were, on 29 May, police arrest Mick and Mairead Philpott on suspicion of murder. When the children’s funeral is held, prison authorities refuse to let their parents attend.

CCTV holds the key

"He's a cunning individual, violent. He can switch from being nice to being nasty, instantly."

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, BBC News Online, February 2008

First arrest in connection with the murder of Amelie Delagrange

With growing fears that a serial killer is on the loose, the police are eager for the murder of Bellfield’s final victim Amelie Delagrange to be solved. But they have absolutely nothing to go on. Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton leading the investigation decides that clues might be found on CCTV cameras within the vicinity. They track down over 2,000 hours of footage and painstakingly view everything, not knowing exactly what they are looking for.

Eventually a white Ford Courier van comes to light. It arrives at Twickenham Green just before Amelie is murdered, and waits for eight minutes before speeding off. The police need to talk to the owner, but they have 26,000 vans to eliminate first. Even help from the DVLA can’t help them and the trail for the killer goes cold.

But a mobile police unit stationed at Twickenham Green has been taking statements from various people in the area. One officer remembers a woman coming in saying that her ex-boyfriend, Levi Bellfield, is a potential suspect. His name is added to the 129 names on the ‘Ex-girlfriends list’. Detectives decide to cross reference this list to see if any own a white van. Bellfield’s name fits the brief. Armed with this information it doesn’t take long to match him to the murder of Marsha McDonnell and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy. In all three cases Bellfield owned cars that could be placed at each scene.

Bellfield is their prime suspect and in March 2006 he’s arrested at his house in West Drayton, London.

Second arrest in connection with the Milly Dowler murderIt’s only after Bellfield is convicted of the murders of Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell that police start to realise that he may also have murdered Milly Dowler in 2002.

During the course of the investigation officers carry out 3,500 house-to-house inquiries, take 1,850 statements, search 350 sites and trawl through 35 miles of waterways. They discover that at the time of Milly’s disappearance Bellfield lived with his girlfriend Emma Mills at her own home in Collingwood Place, Walton-on-Thames. It’s less than 100 yards from the train station where Milly had last been seen. CCTV also reveals a red Daewoo Nexia was seen in the vicinity the day that Milly disappeared. It’s no coincidence when it’s discovered that Mills owned a car of the same make and model, although to this day, it’s never been found.

During his questioning in July 2005, Bellfield is unable to account for his whereabouts on 21 March 2002. Police also become aware that Bellfield is familiar with Walton-on-Thames and Yateley Heath, where Milly’s body was found. He owns a wheel-clamping business where he’s a frequent visitor to Blackbushe car auctions nearby.

With this compelling evidence Surrey Police submit their report and findings to the Crown Prosecution Service. They in turn decide there is sufficient evidence to charge Bellfield with Milly’s murder. He will once again face a court-room.

Exactly a year after the murders, on 9th July 1997, the desperate police allowed the case to air on Crimewatch UK, a popular television show that shows reconstructions of hitherto unsolved or ongoing crimes, with the aim of gaining information from the public. 

The move seemed to have worked, as the police received a call from a Dr Philip Sugarman, a psychiatrist, who told them about his patient, Michael Stone. Sugarman revealed that Stone had nightmarish fantasies that corresponded to the murders. A week later, Stone, 37, was arrested and held in Canterbury jail. On 6th October 1998, he went on trial for the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell, at Maidstone Crown Court.

Killer Caught

On 16 August 1975, Bundy was picked up, after a short chase, in Salt Lake County, after a local policeman recognised his VW Beetle. A vehicle search revealed handcuffs, a ski mask and a crowbar, and Bundy was arrested. Police were convinced that they had their serial killer, and Carol DaRonch picked him out of an identity parade, strengthening the case against him considerably.A full-scale investigation of Bundy’s past was launched, and Meg Anders provided assistance to the police. Bundy continued to plead his innocence however and, despite credit card evidence linking him to the Taylor Mountains area, police were not able to conclusively tie him to the multiple murders there.

Returning to the scene of the crime

Later that night, McCrave felt drawn to return to the scene of his crime to see the subsequent spectacle. But he was recognised and identified to Samuel. Samuel sought out a policeman who arrested the surprised onlooker.McCrave protested his innocence saying he had witnesses who would prove he wasn’t the murderer. Questioned further, he pointed the finger at two of his gang, Campbell and Mullen.

Mullen had fled the scene and returned to his and his brother’s lodgings. He’d woken up his brother Thomas and said they needed to immediately stow away on a ship to America. They were later discovered and arrested aboard a ship on the river.To catch Campbell, the police followed his sister. She boarded a train and was trailed to Bolton. Campbell was found to be hiding with relatives there.

"Finally got em" but did they?

After nearly ten years of lawsuits and investigations and media appearances by the Ramseys and all associated with the case, Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on 24 June 2006. Two months later, on 16 August 2006, John Mark Karr was arrested in Thailand for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, following a four-year exchange of emails with a journalism professor at the University of Colorado. He was extradited to the United States to face the murder charges.Karr gave a long and detailed confession of how he committed the crime and actually tied up many loose ends that had puzzled investigators. In particular, he claimed he had actually been in the house for many hours before actually taking JonBenet from her bed, therefore he had plenty of time to draft and write a ransom note. Karr, also arrested on child pornography charges, claimed that he was in love with JonBenet and had asphyxiated her for sexual reasons, in the process accidentally killing her. He then hit her on the head to make sure she was dead, so that she would not wake up brain-injured. Karr also claimed to have previously met and befriended her, although he was cagey as to the exact nature of this meeting, thus explaining why there had been no signs of a struggle.

The charges against Karr were dropped after it was determined that the DNA recovered from JonBenet’s underwear did not match that of Karr. Moreover, there were many inconsistencies between his exhaustive account of what had happened and the physical evidence at hand. It was implausible for the girl to have sustained her injuries if what Karr said happened actually did take place.After the charges were dropped in the Ramsey case, Karr was extradited to the state of California to face child pornography charges. He was released once again due to the investigators losing his computer that would have provided the evidence needed.The murder of JonBenet Patricia Ramsey remains unsolved.

The Drop Off

On 1st February the kidnappers called the McKay’s son, Ian, and told him to bring £500,000 to a crossroads on the A10. A policeman went in his place, but the kidnappers suspected a potential ambush and did not arrive at the meeting point.The 6th February became the new transaction date and the kidnappers insisted Alick and his daughter deliver the money in two suitcases. Detectives were to play the parts once again, with another hidden in the boot of the car.The McKay’s were to go by tube to Epping where they would receive a call, telling them to take a taxi to Bishops Stortford and to leave the money opposite a mini van near a garage, then they were to return to Epping. However, someone who knew nothing about the operation reported the suitcases to the local police.A Volvo had been spotted repeatedly driving past the cases and the number plate led the police to 34-year-old Arthur Hosein of Rook’s Farm in Stocking Pelham on the Hertfordshire/Essex border. Hosein's fingerprints matched those found on the ransom demands. Police scoured the farm for several weeks but could find no trace of Mrs McKay or of what had happened to her.Police were certain Muriel McKay was dead and charged the Hosein brothers with her murder.

Fritzl's evil is finally exposed

“I knew that with every passing day, what I had done would be more severely judged.”Extract from Josef Fritzl’s statement released shortly after his arrest in April 2008

Fritzl starts to make plans to free Elisabeth at the end of 2008.But in the middle of March that year, 19-year-old Kerstin becomes seriously ill:

“The only medication at their disposal was aspirin, so she had been given aspirin for weeks, but obviously that didn’t help. Elisabeth managed to convince Fritzl to take Kerstin to the hospital, and this was probably the first time in those 24 years that she really put her foot down. She was adamant that she would just not go on if he were to allow Kerstin to die.”Bojan Panchevski, European Correspondent

On 19 April 2008, Elisabeth helped her father carry 19-year-old Kerstin upstairs before returning to join Stefan and Felix.Fritzl tells Dr Reiter at the hospital that Elisabeth is unwilling to care for the sick and severely malnourished Kerstin. But Dr Reiter needs more medical information; information only her mother could provide.The police put out a television appeal for Elisabeth.She sees it on her underground television.She persuades Fritzl that she has to go to the hospital to explain what’s been happening to Kerstin.

8516 days after first entering, Elisabeth leaves her dungeon.

Fritzl takes Elisabeth to the hospital:

“Dr Reiter interviews Elisabeth, tries to get as much information as possible, and once that interview is finished, the police arrest Elisabeth, take her into a room and begin to interrogate her. And it’s only when they threaten to take away her children that Elisabeth reveals for the first time what Josef Fritzl has been doing to her. And the police arrest Josef Fritzl. And the game is, in effect, up.”Professor David Wilson, Criminologist

Fritzl’s other children, Stefan and Felix are exposed to the world for the first time;

“...they were in an extremely bad condition... Their skin was all pale. They had all sorts of infections, because of the filth, of the humidity of the place where they lived. It was infested with bacteria, with insects.”

Forensic experts enter the cellar of 40 Ybbstrasse in Amstetten. Police find the conditions so difficult they organise limited shift patterns. They also have to drill extra air-holes;

“What I will never forget is the smell, the smell of the cellar.”Dr. Hans-Heinz Lenze, District Commissioner

On Sunday, 27 April 2008, police in Amstetten hold a press conference. The name of Josef Fritzl is soon known around the world.

The first journalist to break the story worldwide was British born Mark Perry working for a Vienna based newspaper;

“Josef Fritzl was the most horrific story I’ve ever reported in thirty years of journalism. And it was the most touching story; especially when the little children were coming out, and they saw the daylight for the first time in their lives.”

Mendez murderers ?

Detective Les Zoeller and his partner detective Tim Linehan headed the investigation into the Menendez murders. It was a momentous task, spanning opposite coasts of America, involving countless interviews, numerous suspects and various theories as to who had committed the crime and for what reason.Adding to police suspicions about Lyle and Erik’s involvement in the murders was the fact that they had begun a spending spree days after their parents’ death and had continued to lead extravagant lives of luxury ever since. In addition, it emerged that on 31 August 1989, Lyle had hired the services of Glen Stevens, a computer expert, to erase files on Kitty’s computer. Lyle told Stevens that he had deleted the latest version of José and Kitty’s will and instructed him to ensure that no trace of it could be found. This was to ensure they would benefit from the older will which bequeathed the entire Menendez fortune to Lyle and Erik.ShotgunsThe investigation team finally found a link between the Menendez brothers and two Mossberg 12-gauge shotguns, bought on 18 August 1989. The receipt for the sale of the shotguns had been signed Donovan Jay Goodreau and listed to an address in San Diego. Goodreau, a friend of Lyle’s, proved that he was at work in New York City at the time of purchase, that the signature did not even resemble his own and that the address given was false. Police finally had physical evidence in the case against the Menendez boys.Ideally, police would have arrested the brothers at the same time but on 7 March 1990, Lyle and some friends flew from New Jersey to Los Angeles. Police believed Lyle was not planning on staying long and would shortly be returning to New Jersey. At that time, Erik was playing in a tennis tournament in Israel, so they decided to go ahead and arrest Lyle first.

ArrestOn 8 March 1990, at around 1pm Lyle was arrested at the south end of Elm Drive, whilst driving with some friends to a restaurant for lunch. He and his friends were taken to the West Hollywood Sheriff’s station, where Lyle was booked and transferred to the Los Angeles County Men’s Jail.Erik learned of Lyle’s arrest whilst still in Israel and immediately called his uncle for advice. He was told the most sensible thing to do would be to turn himself in. On 11 March 1990 detectives Zoeller and Linehan met Erik at Los Angeles International Airport, where they arrested him and took him to the Los Angeles County Men’s Jail.On 26 March 1990, supported by friends and relatives, the brothers were arraigned for the first-degree murder of their parents with special circumstances, in Judge Judith Stein’s courtroom at the Beverly Hills Municipal Court. Smirking and behaving as if they had nothing to worry about, they both pleaded not guilty. They were held without bail, pending trial, at Los Angeles County Men’s Jail. Lyle and Erik were in the prison’s 7,000 section, which has also held OJ Simpson and Richard Ramirez, ‘The Nightstalker’.

LAPD get their man

Bianchi’s previous residence in LA was quickly established, and a liaison with the LAPD soon flagged up the similarity in MO to the Hillside Strangler killings. A search of his Bellingham home also produced jewellery belonging to a couple of the LA victims, tying him conclusively to those as well. Forensic evidence eventually tied Bianchi to five of the LA killings, and he was charged with these murders in June 1979.Bianchi did everything possible to avoid prosecution, at first feigning multiple personalities to support an insanity plea. He convinced a number of mental health experts, but was thwarted by a shrewd prosecution psychiatrist, who tricked him into inventing even more personae, exposing the ruse.

Police were already aware of Angelo Buono through their investigation of Bianchi’s background, and the proximity of his car upholstery business to a number of the body dumpsites, but could not tie him conclusively to the killings. Determined to avoid the death penalty, which was certain in Washington State, but not in California, Bianchi agreed to testify against his cousin in exchange for prosecution in LA. Bianchi gave a detailed statement about the LA murders, implicating Buono, and pleading guilty to five counts of homicide in LA. Buono was arrested on 22 October 1979, and he was indicted on ten counts of first-degree murder.With the trial now looming Bianchi, always the charmer, and desperate to escape the charges, convinced a female admirer, Veronica Compton, to commit a murder on his behalf. The plan was that she would kill a stranger, mimicking his MO to prove that a “Hillside” murder had taken place while he was incarcerated: he even smuggled a semen sample out of his prison cell so that she could plant it on the murder victim. Although willing to proceed, Compton bungled the murder attempt on 16 September 1980, and she was arrested on 3 October for attempted murder.Following this disaster, Bianchi began to contemplate his own treatment in prison, once it was realised that he had turned informer on his cousin to save himself, and he again tried to influence judicial proceedings by issuing contradictory statements about his pre-trial testimony in July 1981, in the hope that the case would be thrown out of court. The prosecution, knowing how important Bianchi was to any prosecution of Buono, began to waver, but the judge insisted that the case proceed as planned, in November 1981.

Extremely dangerous nature

John Taylor, 45, was arrested on 16 October 2001 and taken to a police station in Leeds for questioning. Police immediately sealed off his house in Cockshott Drive, putting up seven-foot high wooden screens and began their search. Investigators dug up the garden and discovered the bodies of 28 ferrets and the skeletons of four dogs, one with a crushed skull. Detective Superintendent Gregg commented, “Taylor appears to have been an ordinary man but he is not. He has a dangerous, extremely dangerous nature. This is displayed in the way in which he treated animals throughout his life.”Further investigation provided more evidence in their case against Taylor. The tan leather dog collar found on Tiernan’s body, had been made by a company in Nottingham. This company sold the collars to wholesalers, including a mail order company in Liverpool, one of whose customers was Taylor.

The twine that had been used to tie the green bin-liners around Tiernan’s body was of an unusual composition. It was traced to a manufacturer in Devon and, having originally been made for the Ministry of Defence, had more recently been sold for rabbit netting. Later, in a search of Taylor’s house, police found an exact march of the twine, as well as a piece of green plastic, identical to the bin-liners used to wrap Tiernan’s dead body.The yellow cable ties, used to bind and gag Tiernan, had been manufactured by an Italian company who sold 99% of them to the Royal Mail. Taylor worked for Parcelforce, a division of Royal Mail.Red nylon fibres were discovered on Tiernan’s jumper and found to have distinctive dye patterns. These fibres were matched to those found clinging to nails in the floor of Taylor’s house. He had previously ripped out a red carpet and burned it, in order to destroy evidence of Tiernan’s presence in his home.Police investigators questioned Taylor’s ex-girlfriends, who revealed similar stories of Taylor’s love of tying up women, unusual fantasies and enjoying sado-masochistic sex. One woman claimed Taylor had told her of his desire to have sex with her 15-year-old daughter.The West Yorkshire police were certain that Tiernan had not been Taylor’s first victim. Gregg’s team were further investigating other major crimes committed over the previous 20 years, to see if Taylor may have been involved in them. They focussed on four in particular. The first was the 1992 murder of Yvonne Fitt, a prostitute from Bradford, whose body as found in a shallow grave in the same woodland where Tiernan was buried. The other three were Lindsey Jo Rimer, who disappeared in 1994; Deborah Wood, whose body was found in 1996; and Rebecca Hall, found in an alley in Bradford in 2001.

Zodiac Caught?

Two years later, on 18 June 1996, during a fight with his sister, Gladys, Seda fired one of his zip guns first into the wall and then into his sister’s back as she tried to flee from the apartment.A neighbour took her in and they called 911 for help. The ambulance arrived and went to help Seda’s sister. However, they were unable to leave the neighbour’s apartment, as Seda was now firing at the police who had arrived at the scene.After a number of hours, detective Joey Herbert of the 17th precinct, talked Seda into giving himself up. He was arrested and taken to the police station.In his written confession, Seda displayed poor spelling and grammar and signed it with the crossed-circle symbol. It was agreed that Seda was the New York Zodiac and he was immediately fingerprinted. During Seda’s intense interrogation, in which he told his story in detail, his fingerprints came back a match to the Zodiac crimes.

Ordering your own death

Both boys initially told police that a stranger had attacked John and dragged him into the alleyway, where he was stabbed. They gave police a false but detailed description of the attacker and the police, believing the incident had been a mugging that went wrong, launched a manhunt.Once investigators, led by Detective Chief Inspector Julian Ross, were able to view the CCTV footage of the area, they discovered the awful truth that the boys had been alone in the alleyway and there had been no unknown assailant.During police questioning, Mark told of how he had been recruited via an internet chat room by Dobinson from the British Secret Service.

At that point he still had no idea that it was in fact John who had given the orders to kill.Sally Hogg, a criminal intelligence analyst, was called in to discover who Dobinson really was. Hogg examined 58,000 lines of disjointed chat room conversation from Mark and John’s laptop computers. Initially the investigation team were somewhat puzzled by what they found and they arrested a young woman from whose email account some of the conversations regarding the killing had come. Investigators soon realised that her email address had been hijacked and used by someone else.

Hogg had made an important discovery and that was that five of the six characters who had contacted Mark had misspelled the word ‘maybe’ as ‘mybye’, leading her to conclude that all these internet characters were in fact one person. The computer experts were also able to ascertain that the last person logged on to John’s computer was ‘Dobinson’.After ruling out John’s family members, his mother, stepfather and sister, they concluded that the only person using the computer at the time of Mark and Dobinson’s final online conversation was John himself. When police investigators confronted John, he broke down and admitted to what he had done. Detective Chief Inspector Ross believed that it had been a deliberate suicide attempt from a sad and confused young man.

My God I've got to ring her in

"Mary Bell was standing in front of the Howe's house when the coffin was brought out. I was, of course, watching her. And it was when I saw her there that I knew I did not dare risk another day. She stood there, laughing. Laughing and rubbing her hands. I thought, My God, I've got to bring her in, she'll do another one."- Detective Chief Inspector James Dobson, Newcastle Police(Robert Musel, United Press International, March 1975)On hearing of Mary’s arrest, her schoolteacher, Eric Foster, looks over his troubled pupil’s exercise books. He finds that Mary has made notes about Martin’s death and drawn pictures which contain information about the murder scene that was never revealed to the public. There was only one explanation: Mary was there when the little boy died.

The investigation has identified an eye-witness, the killers themselves have left clues to their identity on their victim's body and there are confessions to Martin’s death in childishly scrawled notes. Forensic evidence also finds fibres from the victims on both Mary and Norma’s clothing.The girls deny any involvement in the crimes; the detectives are amazed at Mary’s intelligence and agile mind. She would answer one question and correctly anticipate the further series of questions from police and give answers to those as well.Chief Inspector Dobson formally charges Mary Bell with the murder of Brian Howe. "That's all right with me," she replies. He then charges Norma Bell, who in anger at the charge, declares, "I never. I'll pay you back for this."The first night in their small jail cells, the girls are restless. The police station is not accustomed to housing such young offenders.

personal or political?

On 10 December 1999, it was reported in the Sun newspaper that a man, strolling along the shore of the Thames, had found a black 9 mm automatic Baretta, wrapped in newspaper, a gun similar to that used in the Dando shooting. The same day, police revealed that it was likely Dando had been shot by a stalker rather than a professional killer.There were certain indicators leading them to this conclusion. These included the public location of the murder, with nowhere to hide and the lack of a getaway car. There was a strong element of chance, as Dando seldom went to her own house, spending most of her time at her fiancé’s home. Whilst the police never found the murder weapon, they found that not only had the muzzle made contact with the victim but both the firearm and ammunition was homemade. All these factors were contrary to a professional killer’s work. The Baretta gun was later found to have no connection to the crime.

After a year the case was reviewed and a man, who had previously been overlooked, became the new focus. His was known as Barry Bulsara, 40-years-old and unemployed. He lived half a mile from Dando’s home and his behaviour had been described as odd by some of the murder witnesses. Police set up surveillance on Bulsara and discovered that he regularly followed women along the street, often right to their front doors.Based on their findings, along with the witness reports, police arrested Bulsara on 25 May 2000, withholding his name from the public. A few days after the arrest, they discovered he had been known by other names, including Thomas Palmer and Steve Majors, and finally learned his real name was Barry Michael George. George had told acquaintances and neighbours he assumed false identities due to his work in a high security government position. This was untrue, as was his claim that he was related to the late Freddy Mercury, rock group Queen’s lead singer, whose original surname was Bulsara.There was little forensic evidence to be found but in an initial search of George’s apartment, police discovered that he had an unusual fascination for the BBC, celebrities, the military and guns. He had a large collection of books and magazines on those subjects and police found photographs he had taken from his television of female newsreaders. They also found two articles, cut out from the Metro newspaper, referring to Dando’s death.George was held in custody for 84 hours, during which time, police found a small particle of gunpowder residue on the lining of his coat pocket. It was consistent with gunpowder found at the murder scene and in Dando’s hair. Investigators also discovered a strand of fibre at the crime scene that matched the material of a pair of trousers owned by the suspect. George appeared at the West London Magistrate’s Court on 29 May 2000, where police were granted an extension to hold him for further questioning before they formally charged him for the crime.

DNA doesnt lie

Two days after the Crimewatch appeal was filmed, the police got their breakthrough. They had become increasingly suspicious as to why Vincent Tabak had fed them misleading information about Jefferies. Tabak had told police that on the night of Joanna’s disappearance Jefferies car had been moved. This was a lie, but the information had prompted Jefferies arrest. On 20 January, 32-year-old Tabak, was himself arrested.During his arrest he refused to cooperate with the police and largely answered questions with “no comment”. However the evidence against him was mounting. He couldn’t argue with DNA proof that linked him to Joanna’s death. Three days later he was charged with her murder.

While on remand at HMP Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire Tabak spoke to the chaplain, Peter Brotherton. Believing the chat to be confidential Tabak made the mistake of revealing that he had killed Joanna.Tabak entered a plea of manslaughter at the Old Bailey on 5 May, but denied murder. The prosecution team rejected this and had the murder trial set for 4 October.

With the flat now empty, another Rillington Place tenant was permitted by the landlord to use the kitchen and, when he was renovating the space, he discovered the concealed cupboard and the bodies, and immediately notified the police. Given the previous murders that had been committed there, a thorough search was initiated, which revealed not only the three kitchen cupboard corpses, but also Ethel’s body under the parlour floorboards, and two further bodies in the garden.

The hunt for Christie began, and he was apprehended ten days later, on 31 March 1953, having run out of money. He made statements about four of the murders willingly, but had explanations for all. His wife’s had been a mercy killing, as she had been choking to death anyway when he strangled her; and the three prostitutes had been aggressive and taken advantage of him, driving him to defend himself. His confessions were riddled with lies and evasions. When confronted with the evidence of the garden corpses, he admitted those murders too and, at one point, also confessed to the murder of Beryl Evans, although he described it again as a mercy killing.

Duffy is exposed

In October 1986, a 14-year-old schoolgirl miraculously managed to get away with her life after she was raped by both men.After this attack, on 21 October 1986, Duffy’s luck began to run out. While stalking a woman in a park on 7 November 1986, he was discovered and arrested. The next day, Duffy was charged with three murders, and seven counts of rape.Mulcahy was also arrested, but later released due to lack of evidence. It was to be two years before Duffy would speak out and admit that he carried out the attacks with an accomplice.